was literally fulfilled. The whole of the Psalm, however, is equally Messianic and predictive. Is there one literalist in the world who will venture to assert that all the rest of the predictions of the Psalm were literally accomplished in the closing agony of the Saviour's earthly life? The very basis of the only system of interpretation which admits of this Psalm being regarded as Messianic violates the notion of literal interpretation. The Psalmist is speaking of himself: we refer the words to Jesus; the Psalmist is using, with regard to his own mental sufferings, the most extreme metaphors: we apply, and rightly apply, them to the suffering Christ. In what literal sense can we believe that Christ should say of Himself, "I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men;" "Many bulls have compassed Me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round;" "I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels;" "Dogs have compassed Me about ;" "I may tell all My bones: they look and stare upon me;" "Deliver My soul from the sword; My darling from the power of the dog;" "Save Me from the lion's mouth: for Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the unicorns"?

It has been clearly seen by students of Scripture that the patriarchs, prophets, and kings named in the Word are in various degrees types of the Saviour. Thus Jesus was a High Priest after the order of Melchisedec; He is the true Head of the Church, the "Father of the Faithful;" He is the Prophet like unto Moses raised up among His brethren; He is the eternal Joshua or Jesus, the two names being the first the Hebrew, and the second the Greek word for "Saviour;" He is the abiding David, whose kingdom endureth throughout all generations; He is the archetypal Solomon, the Builder of the Temple of God, the Temple of His glorified Humanity, which should never be thrown down. Rightly seen, the lives and life-work of all the prophets were predictive types of Jesus; just as, in like manner, the whole economy of Judaism, in its laws, sacrifices, ceremonies, was typical of Him, of His nature, or of His work. He is the "Word made flesh," realizing, verifying, and fulfilling the whole written Word. Because of this all-embracing fact, the spiritual experiences of David, recorded in Psalm xxii. and elsewhere, were typical and predictive of the inward anguish of the Great "Anointed," the Christ, King of kings, and Lord of lords. But the system of interpretation which evolves these transcendently important and suggestive results is the very reverse of "literal." The instant that we accept as true the

law of types we depart from merely literal interpretation of prophecy or of history in its predictive signification.

Viewed in this broad light, the fact that, in relation to a long series of predictions, a few circumstances in the prophecy and its fulfilment were even literally coincident, is not sufficient evidence to justify a merely literal system of interpretation. Take Psalm xxii. for instance. There certainly is verbal coincidence between verse 1 and the words of the Saviour on the cross, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But it will not be said that David foresaw that Jesus would use these very words, which in the mouth of the Saviour were not original, but an apt quotation of the Psalmist's words, accurately expressing His own state at the moment. If the contrary is claimed,

why did not the Saviour also say, "Why art Thou so far from helping Me, and from the words of My roaring"? Or why did He not likewise recite verse 2, "O My God, I cry in the day-time, but Thou hearest not; and in the night I am not silent"? Or the actually inappropriate fourth verse, "Our fathers trusted in Thee: they trusted in Thee, and Thou didst deliver them"? The seventh and eighth verses are coincident with some of the circumstances of the Crucifixion, and so also is the closing clause of verse 16 and the whole of verse 18. If, however, it is asserted that these fragmentary sentences were literal predictions, concerning Jesus, to be literally fulfilled, it may well be asked, Why ought not the other statements of the same Psalm to be regarded in the same light? Against the theory which would split up prophecies in this inconsistent, disjointed, and fragmentary way, we must most humbly but most strenuously protest.

THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

THE sixty-eighth Annual General Meeting of this cosmopolitan institution was held at the Society's rooms, 36 Bloomsbury Street, London, on Tuesday the 18th of June last. The chair was taken at seven o'clock by the Rev. JOHN PRESLAND. The meeting was well attended, and the proceedings were of more than usual interest.

The Rev. Dr. TAFEL offered up the Lord's Prayer.

Messrs. E. C. CLARKE and F. HEWSON were appointed Scrutineers of the balloting lists for the new Committee.

The SECRETARY (Mr. T. H. Elliott) read the following letters :

To the Chairman of the Swedenborg Society.

My dear Sir,-The recurrence of another anniversary meeting of the Swedenborg Society affords me the opportunity of briefly suggesting a few thoughts to which I beg to call attention.

We are informed in the New Testament of the wonderful fulfilment of prophecy at the First Advent at the very time when the Church of that day was not in the least aware of it. The religious teachers of that age were looking out for the fulfilment of prophecy, while they themselves were the very parties who were then fulfilling it. Accordingly in the Acts of the Apostles (xiii. 27) St. Paul speaks of those who "read the voices of the prophets every sabbath day," and had not the remotest idea that the voices of the prophets were speaking of them, and of all such as were like them.

As it was at the First Advent, so is it at the Second. The "voices of the prophets" are read in modern places of worship throughout the land, without the remotest idea that the prophets are speaking of the Church as it is in these very days, and consequently of those who read the prophets and those who hear them. This is particularly the case with regard to the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of Matthew, and also the Apocalypse.

The main cause of the ignorance of the Jews at the First Advent concerning the real meaning of prophecy was the external state of mind into which they had fallen, and which led them to look for outward phenomena presented to the senses, rather than to those moral and spiritual states of mind which might have revealed to them the consummation of the age. This external state of mind gave rise not only to ignorance of the Scriptures, but to perverted knowledge; and the same is the case at the Second Advent. There is time only for one illustration, which shall be taken from the prevalent doctrine concerning the Resurrection.

It is generally maintained that MAN is the name of a compound only, that is to say, the compound of soul and body; consequently, that the soul alone is not man, and the body alone is not man, and, therefore, that when at death the compound is dissolved, man as man ceases to exist, and does not recover his personality or his humanity till he has recovered his material body at the Resurrection at the General Judgment. This is the prevalent theology. It is taught by the celebrated Roman Catholic theologian Perrone in his theological prelections when treating of the Resurrection of the Body; also in a popular Protestant work on the "Ministry of the Body," by the Rev. Robert Wilson Evans, late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; also in the "Lent Lectures" preached at St. James, Piccadilly, by Dr. Liddon, Canon of St. Paul's; also in a modern work written expressly upon this subject by Mr. Govat, and entitled "Christ's Resurrection and Ours." Indeed, the resurrection is so restricted to that of the material body that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is thought to be no part of the Christian revelation, and is designated by Mr. Evans as a merely heathenish doctrine." I am not therefore surprised that the first of the series of sermons recently preached by Canon Farrar in Westminster Abbey should commence with the following observation :—

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"In one of our ablest reviews a discussion has been going on for some time on the 'Soul and Future Life;' and it is a sign of the large toleration of the times that some of the writers not only glory in expressing a belief that, apart from his body, man has no soul, and no life beyond the grave— an opinion the open expression of which would twenty years ago have been received with outbursts of indignation; but have even arrived at the point of treating with compassionate disdain those who still cling to the traditional belief."

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I will add only one observation upon this sign of the times, namely, that false theological teaching is one main cause of this infidelity, and that, unless it be reformed, it will fast develop itself into a social peril.

With my earnest prayers for the success of the Swedenborg Society in their endeavours to root out this formidable evil, I remain faithfully yours, AUGUSTUS CLISSOLD. STOKE NEWINGTON, 18th June 1878.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, ABERYSTWYTH, 17th June 1878.

My dear Sir, I regret that my college duties prevent my having the pleasure of being present at the meeting of the Swedenborg Society tomorrow. I regret it for my own sake. It is true that by being present I should not be able to contribute any unexpected element of interest to the proceedings. Clergymen of the Church of England have often before now manifested their indebtedness to Swedenborg, and have acknowledged him as a spiritual leader. But by my presence I should have given evidence of a sympathy with self-denying efforts made by those who have come under the beneficent influence of the ideas with which Swedenborg, under Divine control, has enriched the world. It would have been a pleasure to me so to have manifested my sympathy. It would have been a pleasure also to be present with those by whom I should have been received with a sympathetic welcome. Otherwise I could only have come as a learner. I can only speak of myself as a student in the Swedenborg school of religious philosophy. As a student I should have found myself in the presence of those who have long since graduated in that school. Still my testimony as to the aid I have derived from Swedenborg's presentations of Christian truth would, by reason of my limited acquaintance with his writings, have been listened to, I think, with welcome. The wondrous suggestiveness of what I have read has been itself a hindrance to my progress in the study of his many writings. The leading principles of his teachings when once accepted compel the mind which accepts them to review in their light everything which has hitherto been received as truth. This I have felt myself constrained to do. And when I say that the result of my having had the great leading thoughts of Swedenborg's teaching presented to me is what I can speak of as the harmonious growth of my own mind in Christian truth, whereas before indefiniteness and bewilderment would well describe my mental state, I think I am rendering testimony such as will be hearkened to with interest as to the precise nature of my indebtedness to the great Christian philosopher whose teachings your Society devotes itself to uphold before the world. What has been my own experience may be the experience of many others. I therefore wish the Society God-speed in its earnest endeavours, and subscribe myself, yours gratefully, H. N. GRIMLEY. T. H. ELLIOTT, Esq., Secretary to the Swedenborg Society, London.

The CHAIRMAN said :

By the Divine mercy of the Lord we are again permitted to assemble, as members of the Swedenborg Society, to hear an account of the operations of our institution during another year, and to confer together as to the best means for continuing its pre-eminently useful labours. The particulars of the work accomplished will be presented to you in the carefully-prepared report of our indefatigable and most able Secretary, Mr. Elliott; and if less conspicuous in some respects than the records of several recent years,

during which the receipt of exceptionally munificent benefactions enabled the Committee to undertake enterprises of wide extent and considerable expenditure, it is hoped that they will manifest a conscientious and judicious discharge of the trust reposed in your executive, and that they have left the Society in a satisfactory position with respect to its capacity for future usefulness.

For that the opportunities for the work of this institution, and, indeed, the imperative demands upon its activities, are increasing with each year, must be apparent to every thoughtful observer of the changes of opinion in religious and scientific circles. With much to command our sympathy and respect, these changes are so vast, and in some respects fraught with so much peril to the very foundations of religious faith and life, that, without the provision for the intellectual and spiritual necessities of the age, which it is the especial province of the Swedenborg Society to supply, the efforts of some of the noblest kindred institutions are threatened with a considerable measure of defeat, if not with absolute perversion against the holy objects towards which they are directed. Take as an illustration the British and Foreign Bible Society, in some respects the most glorious result upon earth of the Lord's Second Advent. During the seventy-four years of its existence this noble institution has disseminated copies of the Word of Life in almost every known language throughout the habitable globe. Long may it continue this sublime labour of Christian charity! But the question of Philip to the Ethiopian, "Understandest thou what thou readest?" becomes every day more difficult of answer for the great mass of the members of the Churches. The simple, undoubting acquiescence in the statements of Scripture, once nearly universal in the religious world, is no longer possible. The enfranchisement of human reason, and the marvellous extension of scientific knowledge, have rendered some new light upon the nature and meaning of Divine revelation an indispensable condition of any acceptance of the inspired records, without which the mere diffusion of the letter of the Word may even contribute chiefly towards the increase of bewildered scepticism. It is the function of this Society, however, to dispense precisely the knowledge requisite to complete the beneficent intentions of the elder institution, and, by its provision of faithful translations of the writings of the Lord's Second Advent, and its endeavours to ensure their wide publicity and acceptance, to supply to the world a correct idea of the essentials of a Divine revelation, and an accurate interpretation of those Scriptures which these writings so clearly demonstrate to be the Word of God.

The case is very similar with respect to the specific doctrines of Christianity. After many ages, during which an unquestioning belief in the generally received dogmas was insisted upon as the indispensable condition of salvation, we now behold, and often in the most unexpected quarters, a relinquishment of principles once deemed essential; a bold repudiation or a timid or inadequate defence of fundamental truths; and an increasing disposition to hold no belief firmly except the belief that definite convictions are not to be expected, and scarcely to be desired. The present controversies respecting the immortality of the soul, the final consequences of