clouds;" they were the clouds which implied Divine truth, in the literal sense of the Divine Word. Thus a way of the Second Coming is by enabling men to perceive new truth, new power, new glory in the written statements of the Word; to inspire them with new life, with new energies for doing good, which could bring happiness within the heart, where only happiness could be established. Advent of the Lord consisted in new knowledge respecting the nature of the Lord and the Divine Word. One of the manifestations of the Second Coming was the establishment of churches, and was especially in the persons who constituted those churches, who by all means in their power should make known the blessed truths they believed in, that others might be benefited as well as themselves. The speaker went on to urge that all of them should esteem it an honour to work in Christ's vineyard. The Rev. P. Ramage said that one of the most blessed and one of the most beneficent results of the Second Advent he took to be the establishment of Rev. W. O'Mant said-The Advent Sunday Schools. When the Sabbath of the Lord will manifest itself in all School was established it was frowned the outward forms of human life-in upon, it was suspected, it was openly the political and social states of society, denounced. It had passed through and in the revolutions and improvemany changes, it had had to fight many ments that have taken place, and are great battles; but to-day it stood one of the greatest powers in the country. There had been an idea abroad, and the idea was not yet eradicated from the churches, that he who worked for children did a childish work; but new ideas resulting from the Second Advent were spreading abroad upon the great subject of education, and it was seen that just as a true mark of genius was a simpleminded, child-like soul, so it was the essentially noble who could devote themselves to the young, and who alone could be successful in winning them to a high, a noble, a sweet, and beneficent life. These treasures they all more or less experienced. It would perhaps be difficult to name any modern institution which had done so much to improve the condition of the people. Adam Smith, in his "Wealth of Nations," said they had "altered the manners of the people in a way so simple and beautiful that nothing had been seen like it since the days of the apostles." Sunday Schools were only beginning their real work; the spelling book was passing out of the Sunday School, and pure religious instruction was becoming the one great object. Mr. Gunton said-the Lord came in the flesh, but His essential Coming even then consisted in the reception of His principles by the people. The Second Advent was a more perfect and fuller Coming of the Lord, who was not only the Son of God, but was the Father and Son in One Personthe essentially Divine, and the Divine Human in One Person; and so the Second still proceeding. When Swedenborg tells us that the Lord came the second time in the year 1757, he did not mean that that event was momentary, but that it was the beginning of a grand advent that should march down the ages, and gather volume on its way. This Second Advent is therefore still going on, and, inasmuch as it affects man in all his states and relationships of life, it should be recognized as the inward cause of all the political and social reforms which have taken place since its commencement. It is also of great importance that we know the state of darkness, sin, and degradation that existed just before that advent commenced; and that the political and social institutions were in strict correspondence therewith. Many writers of fiction and history set forth the utter debasement of society in the first half and the middle of the eighteenth century. Carlyle, in his "Life of Frederick the Great," sums up the case in a few words :-"It was an age of universal infidelity to heaven, when the heavenly sun was sunk." Mr. O'Mant traced the progress of society from this state of affliction and sorrow, and concluded that it therefore follows, that each man who receives the Lord, is bound to put His shoulder to the work. And whatsoever platform of action he may choose, he is bound to do his utmost to secure the fuller development of this glorious Advent. We look forward to still grander results than any yet received. The future is full of prophecy. "The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and He will be their God." The Rev. Joseph Deans said that they were not to imagine that when the Lord came a second time that the light would burst upon them with the surprising brilliancy of a transformation scene. He should speak of the manifestation of the Second Coming in literature. One hundred years ago books were out of the reach of the masses of the people, and those which were in existence were only for the learned; besides which, an idea prevailed that the instruction of the masses would ruin the country. He contrasted this with the abounding literature of the present day, and said that experience had shown that light was wonderfully purifying and elevating in its tendency. Of course, the agency which had been instrumental in promoting the spread of truth and defending Christianity had been made an agency of speading infidel teaching of various kinds; but what of that? Christianity had nothing to fear in its combat with error. If based on Divine truth, what mattered it who spoke against it, or how often? The Rev. W. C. Barlow spoke of the manifestation of the Second Advent in the sciences. He pointed out that, although the science of astronomy had been studied by the Chaldeans in long ages past, it was not until after the year 1757 that it began to make progress with wonderful steps. Progress in chemistry was also traced from the discovery of oxygen in 1772. Then how had geology grown? It was so little understood at the beginning of this century, that theories were bolstered up that it was contradictory to God's Word, and to make it fit with the first chapter of Genesis, which was a recitation of the progress which takes place in the spiritual life of man. One of the most dreaded of the sciences-ethnology and anthropology, which was seemingly so contradictory to nuch of the popular theology, was a thing that was growing, and becoming truer and more trustworthy every day. With regard to dreading the growth of science, he dared not dread the growth of any good and perfect gift that came from the Father of Light. Supposing it was true that there were not two first parents of mankind, but 20,000 first parents, would they not be the wiser for knowing it, and for knowing that it did not matter how many particular lines of descent a man came through; his manhood did not depend upon something external, but something internal. The speaker next dwelt on the revelation of the spiritual sense in the Divine Word, and the correspondence thereof to the things in nature as revealed by Swedenborg. The President, in closing the proceedings, asked the audience not to forget the most important manifestation of the Second Advent, which was in a pure and holy life. During the evening some choice selections of sacred music were performed in a very superior manner by the choir, the hymns being joined in with great spirit and remarkable precision by the large congregation assembled on the occasion. SWEDENBORG: THE MAN, SEER, AND INTERPRETER OF RELIGION. Under this title the Weekly News, a widelycirculated paper published at Auckland in New Zealand, gives a report of more than two columns length, of a lecture by Rev. S. Edgar. Mr. Edgar, we are informed by a correspondent, went out from England some years since. He is, or was, a Unitarian minister, and was supplied before his departure with the writings of Swedenborg by the Swedenborg Society. The lecture before us is the fruit of his reading and study of the writings and biography of our great author. The lecturer is careful to assert an undenominational character, and speaks with scant courtesy of the "Swedenborgians as a religious community. Swedenborgian ministers are few and far between. Swedenborgian Churches are in a very miserable state. Men rarely acknowledge themselves as Swedenborgians; but there is scarcely a liberal-minded Christian in this day who is not more or less directly or indirectly indebted to Swedenborg. 66 The lecture is a eulogium of the character and writings of Swedenborg. Some of the leading features of his life are given, and stress is laid on the uniform excellence of his character. The massive and enlightened character of his writings is recognized, and his memorabilia treated as facts not to be ridiculed, but wisely interpreted. We give, very much abbreviated, the concluding portion of this very able dis 66 mental, spiritual faculties of the mancall it what you may. There was with Paul. He saw things suddenly that he had never seen before, and they changed his life. Explain it how you will, the fact is so. I know but one reasonable explanation; God showed them to him, and he knew it. So it was with Swedenborg; God showed him things he had not seen, things no other man saw; he knew it was so; that, as that only could, changed the whole current of his thought and life, and remained with him an inspiration to his dying day. Then came to him the curious and scornful to ridicule his visions. They never ridiculed, they never smiled at them, when they talked to him, conquered by the sincere goodness and the holy seriousness of the man, who through all this thirty years of converse with angels always wore a benignant smile upon his countenance. It is also well known that many have sat down deliberately to answer his books, but have always ended as converts to, or defenders of, them. One word more only. If nothing else were good or great about Swedenborg, he has made God nearer to man than any other interpreter of Christianity in these two thousand years has dared to do. That is what Christ did. In these days, when God is apt to be put at such a distance that no mental eye ventures to look for Him, and humanity is left in the cold region of imperious law, there seems need to revere the memory of so great a man, and so eminent a Christian." course- A few lines can say all that is necessary or useful respecting his outward life. His inward spiritual life whole volumes could not exhaust. His life is divided into two great epochs the first to his 54th year, the second to his 84th, and death. During the first he was devoted to severe scientific and mathematical subjects, and was one of the very foremost men of his age; during the second he was equally devoted to theology, and with equally astonishing results. In his very early years he was deeply impressed with the being and presence of God, and, as is generally the case with such early impressions, in sincere minds like his, they remained with him, a deep under-current of his life and character, though for some years lost to the outward view. I have said enough to lead you to wish to know more of the singular and astonishing sides of the man in his later years-of the prophet or seer, and the unknown interpreter. But I would ask you to bring this view of the man to the elucidation, in part, at least, of that remarkable crisis in the 54th year of his life, which changed him quite suddenly from a foremost man of mathematical, engineering, and speculative science into a most devoted and incessant student and teacher of theology, as well as a seer into the world of spirits and the unknown of this world. Such changes, far on in life, are not unknown among remarkable men; but this can scarcely be paralleled. That a man who, for thirty years, has been one of the few scientific scholars, engineers, practical mathematicians-a man with- ITALIAN MISSION.-The following out one spark of enthusiasm-clear, cool, letter from Professor Scocia was received almost cold-in the prime of his life and and read to the General Conference :intellect, should all at once become "To the General Conference of the completely absorbed in theology and Ministers and Delegates of the New the world, which most people think be- Church in England. Rev. Sirs.-Allow longs only to the imagination, and spend me to bring to your notice the fact that thirty years of hard toil at it, is a pheno- an Italian Committee has been organized menon in our history not to be set aside for the diffusion of the light of the New by such glib phrases as insane, mad, Jerusalem, consisting of seven Italians. wild, visionary, illusions mistaken for This fact will prove to you that my realities.' If Swedenborg was insane, missionary labours and exertions for the it is a sad pity that any should be sane. last six years have not been without The moral goodness of the man, his practical results, for seven intelligent sincere religion, the robustness of his and zealous Italians have agreed to cocharacter, the ripeness of his great in- operate with me for the propagation tellect all go to show that there is of the doctrines of the New Church. but one explanation of this remarkable During these six years of missionary crisis, just similar to that you have in labour, I have translated from the Latin Paul's life. There was some quite extra- four works of Swedenborg, which are, ordinary illumination-opening of the Heaven and Hell, Divine Providence, : New Jerusalem Doctrine, Divine Love them.' Italian Mission would have long since ceased. 66 Now I hope, rev. sirs, that your meeting together in General Conference for the interests and progress of our Church will provide the means to help and encourage me as our brethren in America have done, who, in the General Convention held this year, have adopted the following resolution :- Resolved, That the sum of 100 dollars each be devoted the present year to the support of the Foreign New Church ministers, namely, the Scandinavian Mission and Italian Mission, the same to be drawn from the mission funds of the General Convention, and to be forwarded respectively to the Rev. Adolph Boyesen of Copenhagen, and Professor Loreto Scocia at Florence, was taken up, and it was voted, that it be referred to the board of Managers of the work of Church extension, with full powers.'-Believe me to remain, rev. sirs, your faithfully, "LORETO SCOCIA." HAND-BILL TRACTS.-As the lecture season is approaching, we call the attention of our readers to a series of pertinent selections on New Church doctrines and life, published by Milton, Smith & Co., of 279 Upper Street, Islington, N. These tracts are stereotyped, and designed for publication at the back of announcements of New Church lectures and services. The publication is in two series, one of which (C) extends to twelve subjects, the other (D), to three. The latter series is adapted to publication on cards for general circulation. "This is not the only priest who has declared himself a receiver of the doctrines of our Church, there are three other priests who are subscribers to my journal, and who have several times sent YORKSHIRE MISSIONARY AND COLPORme small offerings towards the mission. TAGE ASSOCIATION.-The annual meeting My periodical, La Nuova Epoca,' has of this Association was this year held in 150 subscribers, 100 in Italy and 50 the New Church Meeting Room, Bradford, in England and America. By means of The friends, many of whom had met for this periodical our doctrines have been social converse in one of the public parks in the afternoon, took tea together at five, widely diffused, for I have subscribers in and at an early hour in the evening, the all the provinces. La Nuova Epoca' public meeting was held. The room, which penetrates far and wide, where my voice is very neatly fitted up, and forms a cannot reach, and its teachings are permanent. All this work hitherto, by God's help, I have been enabled to perform by my own unassisted labours." pleasant and commodious chapel, was comfortably filled. The chair was occupied by the President of the Association, David Goyder, Esq. M.D., who opened the proceedings in a speech of great ability. In this address he intimated the growing desire for increased light on religious subjects, and wise guidance in the various "It is now fifteen months since I have received any fund from England towards the support of the Italian Mission, and in the course of this year I have frebenevolent movements of the age-movequently found myself almost without the ments which for want of a correct doctrine means of subsistence, and but for the of life, often ended in failure and dishelp of our American brethren the appointment. The doctrines of the New Church supply these necessities of the age, and the Missionary and Colportage Association is well adapted to promote their diffusion. The objection to the institution that it stood in the way of the appointment of ministers, was removed by the recent appointment of ministers at Leeds and Bradford. Every home must have a guiding head, and every larger home or church must, for its own peace and progress, have a suitable minister at its head. In such a Society worship is conducted in an orderly manner, the sacraments regularly administered, and the Word faithfully preached. Societies who, having the means of providing such a minister, neglect the duty of so doing, doom themselves to a sickly and lingering life, depriving themselves of spiritual food, and neglecting their stewardship of the goods and truths they have accepted. It is our duty to do all we can, and in the best way we are able, to offer the doctrines of the New Church to those who need them, and we shall find that books distributed by men and women with kind hearts, and accompanied with kind words and deeds, will have a thousandfold more influence than books and tracts given with a mechanical coldness, or a supercilious air of superior knowledge. The Report presented a cheerful and hopeful prospect of the institution. Some of its particulars we hope to give in a future issue. The meeting was addressed in earnest, and appropriate speeches by Revs. R. Storry, E. Whitehead, and W. O'Mant, and Messrs. Aspinal, Stephenson, the newly appointed colporteur, and others. The proceedings were throughout animated and interesting. We regret that our space prevents our publishing more fully in our present number the Report we have received of this assembly. SWEDEN. That a prophet has no honour in his own country, cannot exactly be said of Emanuel Swedenborg, for there have always been a select few, a remnant, in Swedenborg's native land who have believed in his Divine mission, and who, by the reading of his works, have arrived at that high spiritual state which is only attainable in the Lord's New Church. These readers have, how ever, been few and scattered, and since the dissolution of the Society called "Pro Fide et Caritate," which existed in Stockholm early in this century, there has been no external bond of union among the receivers of the New Church doctrines. Thus, while Swedenborg's theological works have been translated in Germany and France, not to mention England and America, some of the principal works, such as the Arcana Calestia, have not yet been entirely rendered into Swedish. The Swedes are however proud of Swedenborg, from the reputation he enjoys in other countries; and the Academy of Sciences and the Swedish Academy of Belles Lettres have both struck medals, and published eulogies in his honour within the last twenty years. In the publie libraries of Sweden there is likewise an anxiety to possess all the different editions and translations of Swedenborg's works. An attempt to form a separate church has not been made till quite lately. The Swedes, in that respect resembling most continental nations, do not appear to have that power or aptitude for organizing churches or religious societies, which seems inherent in the English race at home and abroad. The State Church lies heavily over Sweden, and no one brought up in a country where the State Church is supreme, and where people have not acquired the power of thinking for themselves in spiritual matters, can have any idea of the social difficulties in the way for the formation of a separate church. And we know that even in England the question as to the desirability of a separate church organization is debated. The civil laws of Sweden have also, until lately, put almost insurmountable obstacles in the way of such an object. Notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances, a few believers began to meet some years ago in Stockholm at the house of Mr. 0. Tyboni for the purpose of worship, and this little band has kept together, we believe, and become the first beginning of a church. The stay of our esteemed friend Dr. Tafel in Stockholm gave a new impetus to the friends of the New Church, and now the missionary labours of Mr. Boyesen seem to have caused quite an awakening. In the month of May last year, a meeting of the friends of the New Church was called at Stockholm, the result of which was the formation of a Society calling itself the Confessors of the New Church, a Committee was elected, rules drawn up and printed, etc. The Society has now existed upwards of a year, and the report of its activity which we have just received is very encouraging. We find that the Society on the 1st July last counted 104 members, of which four were clergymen of |