all help and comfort. To be always prepared for the worst, by the exercise of a well-grounded, cheerful confidence in the Lord's unfailing goodness and power, is to prepare to overcome fear by faith, and to put to flight all those gloom-inspiring spirits who have power over us in proportion as we are fearful, but are deprived of it in proportion as we are confiding.

LXXXVII.

The best Christian is he who, by practice, makes himself best acquainted with the practical doctrines and precepts of Christianity. According to this mode of estimating, the heterodox believer may be a very good Christian, while the orthodox professor may be a very bad one.

LXXXVIII.

There may exist real piety where there is serious error; the piety, however, in such cases, does not spring from the error, but arises from the truth that is held in connexion with it.

LXXXIX.

With children, the success of instruction chiefly depends on the ability of the instructor; not so with adults, with whom the reception of truth depends chiefly on the quality of the previous training they have received. The New Church instructor cannot find ground suitable for the insemination of genuine truth in those inferior souls which can only be cultivated for the reception of spurious instruction, by means of the coarse implements of appeals to the natural feelings.

XC.

To mean well, without seeking the proper means of doing well, is scarcely to be distinguished from purposing not to take care lest we should unintentionally become the authors of mischief. The compounder of a medicine must not only intend to benefit the sick, but he must also take care, that he does not administer a poison to him through want of care.

XCI.

If "perfect love casteth out fear," must there not exist, in the heart of the fearful, some lack of love and confidence towards the object of fear? Perfect esteem is the only introducer; and entire confidence the only conservator, of perfect love.

ХСІІ.

Not only weak minds, but also strong minds, when under the blinding influence of pride, make conventional observances their masters, and even their idols; but wise men make them their servants; for while they regard them as things trifling in themselves, they conform to them as matter of convenience, and to avoid giving useless offence to the weak.

XCIII.

In the conduct of Christians towards their servants and dependents, it is more particularly necessary for them to bear in mind, that "charity suffereth long, and is kind," and that charity, in its utmost perfection, is mercy. Servants and dependents are comparatively helpless, and oppression may be exercised towards them equally by unkind manners, as by unjust treatment, and by those who, be it remembered, are intended by Providence as kind and impartial protectors.

XCIV.

Employ your leisure in what appears most useful at the time, but that you may be occupied in doing good for the sake of good, you must hold yourself prepared, in the event of your expectations of a particular result not being realized, to meet disappointment with equanimity. Remember, that all the essential benefit that can possibly accrue to yourself from your exertions, arises from your exercise of a principle of duty, and this benefit, no possible results can diminish.

(To be continued.)

ENQUIRY RESPECTING THE LITERAL AND SPIRITUAL SENSES OF THE WORD.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Intellectual Repository.

I shall esteem it a favor if, through the medium of your journal, you will give me an answer to the following question, put to me by one who was arguing against the spiritual sense of the Word: “As you say that the literal sense is not always to be taken, what rule have you for knowing when it is meant to be literally true, and when not ?" Now it is uncontrovertible that many parts of the Word, taken only according to the letter, are contradictory, though they only appear so in consequence of the literal being obliged to bend to the spiritual sense. Other

passages, on the contrary, are so plain as to induce the belief that any internal sense would be superfluous. Does Swedenborg tell us how we may with certainty distinguish between these two classes; as, what one might refer to the former, another might place in the latter, and vice versa.

Cheshunt, Herts.

Yours, &c.,

A SWEDENBORGIAN.

JESUS CHRIST INSTRUCTING NICODEMUS.

I HAVE before me a representation of our Lord in the act of communicating to Nicodemus the all-important truth, that "except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." The dignity of the speaker is marked by the bright radiance circling his aspect, and the uplifted hand denotes the topic of discourse. Nicodemus is seen in rather a leaning position, with his eye intently fixed on the Saviour; an impression of awe is pourtrayed by the apparent singularity of the address, and an anxiety evidently evinced for more explicit information. While fixing my attention on this monitory exhibition of a truth so allengrossing to a sentient and accountable being, I was led to indulge in the following imaginative scene:—I supposed myself to be the Jewish ruler, well-informed on the points of my own law, scrupulously adhering to its various requirements and external observances. I contented myself by a regard to the letter, without concerning myself about the spirit with which that letter might be pregnant; I had not a perception of the necessity of any other birth than that with which outward things supplied me; therefore, in the application externally to the rights and customs of the Jews, I was content to rest my future happiness. I thought not of the possibility of being mistaken, that good works, manifestly so before the eye of man, might not be equally so regarded before the eye of God. In this state of mind, and with these and similar notions, I seek an interview with a Teacher of whom I have heard many things,-one professing to be sent of God, and that to instruct men in the things concerning another life. I prefer the season of night for this interview, screened as I shall then be from outward observation. I at once find myself in the presence of the despised Nazarine, and feel somewhat of the truth of the saying, "he spake as never man spake." Fixed in my own incredulity, I cannot assent to the doctrine which falls from his lips, and ask the question, “How can a man be born again? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb,

and be born?" The speaker, in condescension to my inaptitude to learn the great truth, makes his meaning less enigmatical, "Except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." Approaching nearer to my idea by the similitude employed, I gather somewhat of an indistinct notion of his meaning, and find that the birth alluded to is that of a spiritual, not a natural one. The Great Teacher assumes the prerogative of an infallible Instructor, and I who went from motives of curiosity, return to be blessed by a true knowledge of the way of salvation.

In dropping this assumed character, I would now ask myself the solemn question, Am I a subject of the new birth taught to the Jewish ruler, of which it is said, that without it I cannot enter into the kingdom of God? I would strip off all disguises in a matter so important, and bare myself to the inspection of divine truth, that the search may be deep, lasting, and saving. True I am born; creation is a boon, and that of the highest possible magnitude ;-by it I am introduced into a world where there is much of beauty to admire and feeling to express; by being created, I am brought into contact with things sensual, rational, and intellectual; endowments are imparted, and faculties bestowed, giving me an alliance to angels. I can compute, arrange, and design, and so far progress in the cultivation of my mental powers, as to become an expert logician, or an acute theologian: but I do not stop here, and not aim at something higher, purer, and more enduring. If I am a debtor to the Lord of all for my creation, how immensely are my obligations increased, if I have reason to believe, that I am the subject of a new creation, comparable with this nothing can stand in competition. The gifts of nature, separate from those of grace, will not stand in my stead when I come to die; eloquence will not charm my pain, nor possessing amiable natural endowments ease the anguish of my heart. The only confidence that will abide and sustain to such an hour of trial, will be" that which flows in by the good of love and charity, not at the time when man is in fear and torment, or in persuasion grounded in self-love and the love of the world, but when he is in a free state; neither can it have place with any others than those with whom good is conjoined with truth, and inrooted by the previous course of life,-thus not in sickness, misfortune, danger, and at the approach of death."-A.C. 4352.

Be serious, was the advice of one when he was asked by a friend what he should do: and this was the only direction he gave him, and I would say to the reader, be serious when he ponders in his thought the all-important subject of the new birth. Nicodemus, it may be presumed, was serious when he put the question to our Lord, "How can a

man be born again?" and this seriousness became deepened on the rejoinder being made, "Ye must be born of water and the spirit." The truth of faith, and a life in agreement therewith, appears to be the radical change necessary to be undergone, and in obedience thereto the fruits of righteousness will appear, and the night of ignorance give place to the brightness of an eternal day. There is a time doubtless coming on, when the all-important question will be, with each, and all, "Am I a child of God ?" In the secret retirement of the mind, when no earthly hand can minister relief, the images that will then present themselves, will take the complexion of that form which a previous life will throw around them, either beautiful or deformed, according to the good or evil appropriated. The indwelling principle of holiness will cast a halo of light over the pale features of a dying Christian, and give to the soul more than a mortal energy, lighting the path to the grave with the radiance of heaven. On the other hand, the self-stricken sufferer, who all his life long has cherished feelings and principles inimical to his own peace, will seek in vain to those resources to which, when in health, he applied, and will exhibit to the beholder the distressing picture of an immortal being, bereft of the consolations that can only be administered under the circumstances of death, and in prospect of a judgment. Dartford, 1843.

R. S.

REVIEW.

The New Church; or, A Refutation of the Review contained in the "Preston Magazine" for October and November, 1843, addressed to the Inhabitants of Preston. By the Rev. AUGUSTUS CLISSOLD, M.A. London: J. S. Hodson, and W. Newbery. Manchester: L. Kenworthy. pp. 22.

In our former volume (p. 390) we inserted a brief notice of a Letter addressed by the author of the publication before us, to the Rev. J. Bonwell, "Priest of the Church of the Holy Trinity at Preston." It will be remembered from various notices in our periodical, that this gentleman has taken upon himself the duty, as he considers it, of attacking the New Church; and the three points which he has singled out for especial attack, are the Trinity, the Resurrection, and the Last Judgment. He would fain make the public believe, that because the New Church does not advocate the doctrine of three Persons in the Trinity, of the resurrection of the material body, and of the last judgment as commonly maintained,-that these essential articles of Christian doctrine are denied altogether. No mode of reasoning can