appreciated, that the inhabitants on the 22nd of January honoured him with a public dinner, at which the vicar presided, and presented him with a gold locket, with an inscription on one side, and an oyster engraved on the other, and also a purse of gold. We learn also from the same correspondent that the cause of the Church is progressing satisfactorily in this long-established Society. BURY. The annual tea party and entertainment of the Bury Sunday school was held on January 2nd, 1878, and was of an agreeable character. Our correspondent is quite correct in his estimate of the importance of Swedenborg's scheme of scriptural interpretation; and a careful study of one of his expository works, "The Arcana Coelestia, or the Apocalypse Revealed," will furnish sufficient evidence of the soundness of the great law of correspondence. A law which is found to act as a key to the plain narratives of Scripture history and the mystic utterances of the darkest prophecy, which manifests alike the internal sense of Genesis and the Apocalypse, evidences its truthfulness by the results of its application. The intellectual movement at present so active in the Church is not always in the About 150 members, scholars, and direction of Swedenborg's exposition. friends sat down to an excellent tea Too frequently it tends to a rejection of provided in the large room of the Bury all true idea of the Bible as the written Happy Home Temperance Society, which Word of God. This negation, however, was beautifully decorated for the occaonly shows the impossibility of main- sion. Tea being over, Mr. Larkin, of taining the Divine authority of the Manchester, took the chair, and was Word while regarded only from the supported by Mr. Sunderland, of Bacup. letter, and the necessity of a knowledge The proceedings commenced by the of the law of correspondence to make choir singing a glee in good style, when known the true nature of the Word the Secretary read the annual report of and restore faith in its teaching and authority. BLACKBURN. —The general public interest which was taken in the Sundayevening lectures which Mr. Cameron (the resident minister) delivered in the winter of 1876 induced him to adopt a similar plan this winter. This course has been on the "Constitution of Man in Relation to Internal Objects;" and it is satisfactory to be able to report that these lectures have been as well, if not better, attended than last year's course. There is now evidence of the good which has resulted from these efforts, and the Church Committee are sanguine that some practical good will be the result of this last course. the Society, which was most encourag- The ter of this church, Rev. Dr. Tafel, has LONDON (Camden Road).—The minisgiven during the winter a series of Sabbath-evening lectures on attractive BRIGHTLINGSEA, ESSEX.-We learn and interesting subjects. Reports of from a correspondent that the minister of some of these discourses have appeared the New Church, the Rev. Joseph Deans, in the local papers. From the one on has performed recently a signal service "Man the End of Creation," we make to the inhabitants of this village, and the following brief extract :— "After several adjoining ones, by undertaking briefly recapitulating the concluding their cause as Secretary and Counsel portion of his previous discourse, the in a very lengthened Board of Trade reverend gentleman delivered an elaboinquiry, respecting the "Blackwater rate and eloquent exposition of his subOyster and Mussel Fisheries," held at ject, of which we can only furnish our Colchester. The abilities of Mr. Deans readers with a résumé. To the question, were so well exercised, and so warmly Why did the infinite God create the universe, and what is the final object of creation? he answered that as God is Love itself, He desired to have some one whom He might love and make happy, and with whom He might be conjoined and made, so to speak, one; for it is only when you are conjoined with others, and loved by them, that you can make them completely happy and be in true love; because the very nature of love demands an object out of oneself that one may love, for to love oneself is not a true love; and if man, who is finite, should desire to love and to be loved again, how much more should God-who is infinite, and is in His inmost essence, Love-desire to create beings out of Himself, whom He could love and render happy, and by whom He could be loved in return, and with whom He could be reciprocally conjoined on earth, and finally receive into heaven. Man is the only being through out creation that is able to love the Creator, for man alone is able to know his Creator and to love Him; for you must know a person in order that you may love and be loved. God created the natural universe first, and placed man in it, before receiving him into heaven, in order that man might prove himself to be worthy of God's love." NOTTINGHAM.-A custom which prevails in some of our large towns, of occasional critical visits to the churches by agents of the press, has been introduced into this town. The Nottingham and Midland Counties Daily Express of January 29 gives, as its thirty-first notice of this kind, an account, extending over two and a half columns, of a visit to the Bluecoat Street Church, the place of worship belonging to the New Church. This neat and comfortably appointed church is carefully described and commended. The preacher is next admiringly criticised. "The features altogether are classical and well formed, and, if I may be allowed to say it, writes the reporter, the Rev. Mr. Wilkins struck me as being a very handsome man. Then follows an account of the sermon, from which we give the following extract:-"Men tell us that God has been pleased in His wisdom to keep the doors of heaven closed and the faces of His earthly children veiled. God has told us nothing about heaven, and therefore it is And wrong to wish to know. This is sup posed to settle the whole matter. so it would if it were only true; for all would agree that it could not be wise to force a door which had been closed,to rend a veil which had been woven by the hand of that Wisdom which never errs. But is it true that God is enamoured eternally of veiled faces and of fastened doors? The Divine Humanity is the door,—the door into all things, the very greatest and the very least; and is that a door that is always closed? Is it not rather a door through which the pasture-seeking sheep of God can 'go in and out' to find it? Short and swift (speaking according to the flesh) was the earthly life of Jesus; but was it finished' until 'from the top to the bottom' the veil of the Temple had been rent in twain'? Did any blind man ever cry to Him for sight and go back to his unillumined home again with his eyelids sealed as fast as ever, and with the Saviour's praises of blindness clamouring at his ears? Was it darkness that received the first Divine benediction? or light that trembled beneath the first curse? No! He, the Infinite Seer, and the Infinite Light, is neither the Author nor the Patron of sightless eyeballs or of starless nights. The darkness calls us its father, not Him. The veils are woven by our fingers, not His. We have but to lay our eyes beneath His fingers and they will see. We have but to cry to Him for the morning, and there will be no more night. But the cry must be a living cry, not the corpse of one. It must spring into utterance from the inmost love, and through the outmost life. And if we now will but thus cry to Him for power to see, in His light, that world which is our fatherland, and His throne, we shall soon be sure that the wish to know more of heaven is not wrong, because it will be a wish that He in His wisdom has satisfied." observing the external duties of religion, as well as obeying the laws of its internal life. The institution of public worship has existed wherever there has been the acknowledgment of God. The laws relating to this worship in former conditions of society have been given by authority, and been exacting and unalterable in their nature. Under the Christian dispensation the laws of worship are an outgrowth of the inward life. The Lord has given no laws for regulating the form of worship beyond His general instruction respecting the sacraments and the public preaching of the gospel. Christian worship, therefore, may be simple or ornate; it may be celebrated in gorgeous temples or humblest buildings. All that is essential is that there be sincerity and piety in worship, the orderly administration of the sacraments, and the faithful preaching of the Word of God. The subject of the evening's discourse was the conversion of the kingdoms of this world into the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, from Revelation xi. 15. The large church was comfortably filled at each service. The hymns and anthems were very efficiently rendered by the choir; and the collections amounted to over £46. The services were throughout cheerful and interesting, and seemed to yield instruction and pleasure to the large congregations assembled. Birth. On Monday, February 4th, at 51 Kempster Street, Lower Broughton, Manchester, Mrs. A. Humboldt Sexton, of a daughter. Obituary. GEORGE MEEK, Esq.-The Church has lost by the death of this esteemed member of the New Church in Manchester, who closed his earthly pilgrimage on the 5th of January, aged seventyone years, one of its most esteemed members. A man of strong Christian piety, his place was rarely vacant at the public assemblies of the Church. His intense love of the truth, and deep sense of its inestimable value, led him to avail himself of every orderly means of making it known to others. To within a short period of his departure he taught a class in the Sunday school, and aided by his presence and sympathy every movement in the Society of which he was a member for the promotion of religious culture and social harmony and usefulness. The early life of Mr. Meek was spent among the Wesleyan Methodists. His father, who was a man of exemplary piety, was one of the circuit ministers of that body. In the domestic training of the childhood of our departed friend was laid the foundation of the life of piety, and of Christian sincerity and earnestness, which distinguished his riper years. Mr. Meek's reception of the doctrines of the New Church did not arise from any want of affection for the body with which he was connected. He was naturally thoughtful and inquiring, and his inquiries, combined with his strict religious integrity of mind, prepared him for the reception of the doctrines of the New Church. And when he was fully convinced of the truth of these doctrines he united himself to the Church in which they are publicly taught, and joined heartily in every orderly effort for their dissemination. Many features of the Christian life were eminently exemplified in the character of our departed brother. He was an intense lover of the Church and of all good men. He cherished a deep interest in the spread of truth and goodness; and while he took an active part, and exercised a useful influence in the work of his own Church, he was not inditferent to the labours of other Christian communities, but so far as they tended to promote wisdom and holiness in the world, was warmly interested in their success. Narrowness or bigotry seemed an impossibility to his generous and cultivated Christian nature. Mr. Meek was always intent on the acquisition of Christian knowledge. Christian thought and Christian literature constantly occupied his attention. His love of truth and delight in its acquisition was one of the most marked features in his Christian character. His delight was in the law of the Lord, in which he meditated day and night. And next to his delight in the written Word of God, was his interest in the writings of the Church, by which he was enabled to understand the Word, and to enter rationally into its interior truth and inexpressible beauty. The heavenly doctrines from the late Mr. truth which was in his heart found ready Hugh Becconsall, and had been a diliexpression by his lips. Those who gent reader and student of them for knew him intimately will long remem- more than fifty years. As far back as ber the cheerful and interested manner the year 1820 he frequently walked in which he drew their attention to to Accrington for the purpose of some subject of heavenly wisdom, or to hearing Mr. George Haworth, the some instructive and elevating illustra- eloquent and esteemed leader of the tion of the spiritual life. No one could Society at that time. Before the erecbe long in his company and not feel tion of the church in Avenham Road by that they had enjoyed for a time that Mr. Becconsall, Mr. Stones, in connechighest privilege of earth, association tion with other members resident in with one of the children of God. And Preston, arranged public lectures in the what was precious and delightful to theatre by the Rev. J. Bayley, then of himself he was ever ready and wishful Accrington. The interest excited ento communicate to others. To him the couraged the small body to rent a truth was more precious than rubies, room in Cannon Street, which they and its dissemination was regarded as a fitted up and opened for New Church Christian duty and felt to be the highest worship and preaching. In this work delight. He was a member of all the Mr. Stones took great interest, and New Church institutions in Lancashire acted for some time as treasurer. established for the dissemination of the After the opening of the church in truth, and usually occupied a seat on Avenham Road he was the first to their committees. As the son of a sign the members' roll, and ever afterminister he sympathized with the wards, to the time of his decease, ministers in their work, and was anxious took an active interest in all that to relieve them of the oppressive worldly concerned the Society's welfare. The cares to which so many of their number high estimation in which he was held are exposed. When it was proposed, by his fellow-members may be gathered therefore, to establish a Sustentation from the fact that he filled the office of Fund, he cheerfully contributed £100 secretary for upwards of twenty-five for immediate use. As a trustee of years, and when he tendered his resigthe General Conference, a member of nation he was unanimously elected to the Conference Council, of the several the office of treasurer. Mr. Stones local committees, and of the Church, enjoyed the best of health until a few Mr. Meek was held in high and general days before his removal, when he was esteem. At the last General Confer- seized with an apoplectic stroke, which ence he tendered his resignation as a deprived him of his speech and the use trustee on the ground of his declining of his right side. On the date given health. So highly, however, was he above he passed gently and peacefully esteemed that the Conference unani- away, and doubtless is now in the mously desired him to continue in his society of the many loved ones who had office. gone before him. The last illness of our departed brother was a peaceful close on earth of his At Ramsbottom, on Tuesday, Deexemplary Christian life. There was cember 18th, 1877, Mr. Adam Wilson no anxiety for the future, but a quiet departed this life at the age of fifty composure in the prospect of his ap- years. He had for many years been a pointed change. At the close of a short regular attendant at church, and it was religious service, a short time before his a sore trial to him when his illness departure, after the benediction, he became so severe as to prevent him added, "The Lord has given me peace.' ." from joining his fellow-members in Of this we are certain that every one worship. During the last days of his who knew him will be fully assured. earthly life he was greatly comforted by the consoling views given in the doctrines of the New Church respecting the other life; and he was enabled to meet the approach of death without fear, and with a cheering hope of soon entering into "the rest which remaineth December 12th, 1877, George Stones, Esq., Preston, after a brief illness, and in the seventy-fourth year of his age, was removed into the spiritual world. The subject of this notice received the to the people of God." His kind and "Forgive, dear friend, the tributary generous disposition gained him numer- tear.' ous friends in other denominations, some of whom were present at the funeral sermon delivered by the minister of the Society in the evening of the last Sunday in the year from Psalm xc. 12. On the 2nd of January, at Accrington, Mr. Robert Riley departed this life, aged sixty years. During a period of nearly forty years he has laboured earnestly in the Accrington Sunday school as a teacher; and during fifteen years he also worked in the same way in the Sunday school at Warren Lane. From his youth he was an intelligent and diligent student of the writings of the New Church. He was a quiet and unassuming man, and the sterling qualities of his character were fully known only to the few who enjoyed an intimate acquaintance with him. Departed this life, at Heywood, Lancashire, January 15, Miss Lydia Hope, in the thirty-first year of her age. The religious education and culture of our departed friend had been in connection with the Sunday schools and Society of the New Church. Her general conduct was cheerful, orderly, and good. While in health she manifested the most dutiful attention to the requirements of a sick mother; her eager ness in this duty having accelerated the progress of the disease which removed her from earth. She was called to pass through a long and severe illness, which she bore with patience and hope. The certainty of her departure did not depress her; and the pain she had to pass through was borne with Christian fortitude. The end of earthly life has come to her earlier than falls to the lot of many, but we doubt not her departure from earth will be her introduction into the higher associations of her Heavenly Father's kingdom. Entered the spiritual world, at Bath, on January 19th, 1878, after a fortnight's illness, Emma, aged thirty-two, only unmarried daughter of Mr. Joseph Young, Secretary of the Bath Society. A funeral sermon was preached on the occasion by the Rev. T. Child, and an appropriate service offered, the wellknown words, given in our version as hymn 557, being sung as an anthem, To those who knew Miss Young it is needless to say that she was unassuming and gentle, affectionate and helpful; an ornament to our Society, and as the right hand to her parents. Her tastes lay in the direction of the finer sensibilities, those of music and of flowers, and in that finest of all which has its satisfaction in services of beauty and of use. She gave her sweet voice to the Church; and her presence was never withheld when she could be in her place in the choir. In this way, too, the social meetings of the Society owed a share of their pleasure to her aid, and in them, as in the Sabbath worship, she will truly be missed; but how much more in the home she served and brightened! So it is that the living beautiful things about us vanish inexorably, leaving, each of them, a blank which they only could fill. But we can take comfort in the Lord's words, "He that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." Died on the 29th January, at Dyke Nook, Accrington, in his sixty-seventh year, Mr. Joseph Barnes. The announcement of the departure of one of the most genial and kind-hearted men of his generation will come home to many of our readers in different parts of Great Britain as a personal and heavy sorrow; and we are again reminded that the wise and good whose names have been amongst the most familiar during the last forty years are dropping off one by one. Of Mr. Barnes, as of these friends with whom his name will now be naturally associated, it may be truly said that he has left the world better for dwelling therein, and that his memory will remain to those who knew him as a life full of earnest desire to make his fellow-creatures better and happier. He would have been one of the last to wish for anything like a public record of his good deeds, but nothing would have given him greater consolation than the hope that his conduct in life would impress on those who observed it a firmer trust in Providence, and a deeper love of honesty and truth. This is the least that can be said of Mr Barnes, though the tale of his works and words of kindness, his sympathetic assistance to the troubled, his kindly encourage |