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Yet, taken in its entire history, the earth does bear testimony to the doctrine of the Fall; and if Mr. Rodgers had applied the science of correspondence aright, he would readily have discovered it. According to Swedenborg evil beasts and evil things-such as have a positively bad correspondencewere not created at the beginning, but came into existence together with evil and hell. In the existence of evil animals therefore we have an evidence of the fall.

We have already remarked that in the whole course of his book Mr. Rodgers never so much as mentions the Mosaic account of the fall, by man's eating the forbidden fruit. As he denies the fall, he of course cannot admit redemption from it. And here again, though the Lord is spoken of, the Incarnation seems only to be regarded as a natural and necessary part of the progress of humanity-an event connected with man's upward progression. No attempt therefore is made to explain the statement in the "Arcana," that if the most ancient church had remained in its integrity, there would have been no need for the Lord to be born a man (2661). If there had been no Fall there would have been no Incarnation.

A word on what the author of Microcosm regards as contradictory. There may be a moral declension while there is an intellectual development. We see something of this in the present day. The child decreases in innocence while he increases in knowledge. The race has no doubt passed through analogous states, with this important difference, that man now departs from the innocence of ignorance, while the race has passed from the innocence of wisdom. Our intellectual development, which is called progress, is not intellectual elevation; nor is our progress in knowledge advancement in wisdom. They are effects of the fall, and yet are designed by Providence to be the means of raising us from our fallen condition. From being internal man has become external, and must be raised by external means. Hence the external development of his intellectual faculty; hence external knowledge; hence the written Word; hence the Incarnation. Where is the inconsistency of this with anything that the Bible reveals, or the writings declare, or geology suggests, or history records, or experience teaches? Does it not show forth the wisdom and benevolence of God, in adapting temporal means to eternal ends?

We hope Mr. Rodgers will reconsider the subject, and that in his future inquiries he will proceed differently. Correspondence is an unsuitable and even dangerous instrument to employ in deciding doctrinal questions. Doctrine is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word, and to be confirmed thereby. "It is possible for a person to falsify the Word by some correspondences with which he is acquainted, when he connects them together, and applies them to the confirmation of particular opinions rooted in his mind, in consequence of principles he has imbibed." This refers indeed to the Word; but in dogmata the application of correspondences to nature is not more legitimate, or more certain in its results. Nature indeed affords abundant illustrations of the truth, as revealed in the Word, but "to the Law and to the Testimony" is the only safe course in matters of faith.

The author is not one of those who think themselves too wise to listen to others who have the advantage of longer study and larger experience than his own. "Even at the age of twenty-one," he writes, "the understanding of most men is anything but finished." True, our friend is considerably past his majority, but he has not reached the age and maturity of judgment which entitle him confidently to propound, on one of the principal doctrines of religion, a theory at variance with the belief of the whole Christian world, Old Church and New.

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. A Lecture (revised and extended). By a BIBLE STUDENT. London: James Speirs. 1872.

IF comparisons were not odious we would be inclined to contrast the present work with that which we have just reviewed. Both are written by men of talent, equally earnest and zealous for what they believe to be the truth; and if truth had no criterion but conscientious conviction both works would be equally true. Yet we feel compelled, in the exercise of our critical judgment, to disapprove much that is in one, and approve most that is in the other.

This little work may be called a biographical sketch of Swedenborg's writings. It is concerned with Swedenborg chiefly as a Seer, in which character it regards him as one "enabled to live consciously in both the natural and the spiritual worlds, to converse with the inhabitants, and to have cognizance of the affairs of both," and having "spiritual perception, or an internal consciousness of the truth." The author vindicates Swedenborg's claim to Seership on several grounds, and on each of these he sheds a clear light. He treats of the New Church, as a new Age or Dispensation, and gives a synopsis of Swedenborg's works, from the Arcana Coelestia" to the "True Christian Religion." Those who know the author's ability as a lecturer and writer need not be told that the book is not only deeply interesting, but instructive and convincing. Every sympathetic reader must feel the author's earnestness, and every candid one must see the force of his arguments. The work is intended chiefly for those who are unacquainted with Swedenborg and his writings; and as most persons of this too numerous class are disinclined to take up a bulky volume for the purpose of knowing something about what does not deeply interest them, this little volume may be welcome to many. Indeed, it is often a question by friends to whom one speaks of Swedenborg and his writings, Have you any book that supplies information about them in a small compass? Such a book is the present.

We give the author's brief view of the work entitled

"THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

In the following year, 1764, and still at Amsterdam, Swedenborg published a companion book to that just described, entitled Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence. Those who by trouble or success, worldly wisdom or worldly trials, a spurious rationalism or prolonged affliction, have been led to doubt or despair of a providential government of the affairs of men, will do well to consult this work. It is a truly noble vindication of Divine Providence, and a most suggestive compendium of the great principles which must underlie its operation. Divine Providence is defined as the government of the Divine Love and Wisdom; working ever for the purpose of the formation of a heaven out of the human race; having respect chiefly to what is infinite and eternal. Its laws are described, --that man should act from liberty according to reason; removing evils as sins from his external nature, as from himself, while the Lord removes evils from his internal nature; that man should not be forced by external means to will or think, and so to believe and love; but that he should lead, and even constrain himself thus to believe and love; that he should be led and taught by the Word; that he should not perceive and feel anything of the operations of Providence, yet knowing and acknowledging it; that the Divine Providence has respect to eternal things, and only to temporary matters, so far as they accord with eternal things: that man is not admitted interiorly into faith and charity, except so far as he can be kept in them to the end of life; that Divine Providence has laws of permission as well as of appointment, and that all evils are permitted; that Divine Providence is equally with the wicked as with the good; that it appropriates neither evil nor good to any man, but that man himself appropriates good or evil; that every man may be reformed, and that there is no such thing as predestination; and that the Lord cannot act against the laws of the Divine Providence, because so to act would be to act against His Divine Love and Wisdom, and thus contrarily to Himself. These leading topics are dealt with most thoughtfully and carefully. The time will come when this book will receive the honour due to it, and be appreciated, notwithstanding the fact that it deals chiefly with the theological side of the problem, as a most valuable help to a soul darkened by doubt, or burdened with care."

509

Miscellaneous.

AFRICAN DISCOVERIES.

THE press has been lately much occupied with the disclosures made respecting the intrepid African explorer, Dr. Liv. ingstone. Thanks to the princely liberality of an American journalist, Mr. J. G. Bennett, and to the tact, courage, and perseverance of his agent, Mr. Stanley, we are now assured of the safety of our countryman, and learn some particulars of his toilsome labours. His geographical inquiries are not yet completed, and he remains in Africa to finish his work. The return of Mr. Stanley has furnished the opportunity of sending home his journal, and letters to Mr. Bennett and to his friends. The letters to Mr. Bennett have been published, and shed light on his travels, on the geography and topography of the country, and on the character and social condition of the inhabitants. The notices of the people abundantly show that the inhabitants of the interior are far removed from the degraded specimens of humanity met with on the coast. The following extracts from his letter of February 1872 to Mr. Bennett will interest members of the New Church:

"Most people imagine that negroes, after being brutalized by a long course of service, with but few of the ameliorating influences that elevate more favoured races, are fair average specimens of the African man. Our ideas are derived from the slaves of the West Coast, who have for ages been subjected to domestic bondage, and all the depressing agencies of a most unhealthy climate. These have told most injuriously on their physical frames, while fraud and trade rum have ruined their moral natures. Not to discriminate the difference is monstrous injustice to the main body of the population living free in the interior, under their own chiefs and laws, cultivating their own farms, catching the fish of their own rivers, or fighting bravely with the grand old denizens of the forests, which in more recent continents can only be reached in rocky strata or under perennial ice. I happened to be present when all the head men of the great chief Insama, who lives west of the south end of

Tanganyika, had come together to make peace with certain Arabs who had burned their chief town, and I am certain one could not see more finely-formed intellectual heads in any assembly in London or Paris, and the faces and forms corresponded with the finely-shaped heads."

"Now these people," continues Dr. Livingstone, "so like ourselves externally, have genuine human souls." The barbarous cruelties inflicted upon them by the Arab slave-dealers excites their resentment; but, says the Dr., "let it not be supposed that any of these people are insatiable bloodthirsty savages, who will not be reclaimed, or enter into terms of lasting friendship with fair-dealing strangers."

66

This letter discloses the fearful wrongs and horrid cruelties of the still prevalent East African slave trade; and the public prints have informed us that the attention of the government has been successfully called to the subject, and that they are in earnest and active correspondence with Continental governments for its suppression. In his description of the condition of some of the victims of this dreadful oppression, the Dr. incidentally makes known the belief of these people in the existence of a life after death, and of their continued intercourse with those they leave behind. The extract is painfully affecting. “I had to ask," he says, the aid of their owner as to the meaning of the word rukha [which a party of captives were using, and] which usually means to fly or to leap. They were using it to express the idea of haunting, as a ghost, and inflicting disease and death; and the song was, 'Yes, we are going away to Manga (abroad or white man's land) with yokes on our necks; but we shall have no yokes in death, and we shall return and haunt and kill you.' The chorus then struck in was the name of the man who had sold each of them, and then followed the general laugh, in which at first I saw no bitterness. Perembe, an old man of at least 104 years, had been one of the sellers. accordance with African belief, they had no doubt of being soon able, by ghost power, to kill even him. Their refrain as if,

In

Oh, oh, oh!

Bird of freedom, oh!

You sold me, oh, oh, ho!

I shall haunt you, oh, oh, ho!

The laughter told not of mirth, but of the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter. He that is higher than the highest regardeth.'

WESLEYAN METHODISM.

The work of chapel building in the Wesleyan body, to which a strong impetus was given a few years since, seems to be prosecuted with remarkable vigour. In the report of the General Chapel Committee presented to the Conference, it is stated that during the year more than £280,000 had been expended on chapels, schools, ministers' houses, organs, etc. The sum of nearly £220,000 had been raised in local contributions, the remainder of the above amount by grants and loans from the connectional funds, sales of property, and temporary debt. A special effort commenced two years ago for the erection of fifty new chapels in the Metropolis, Sir Francis Lycett having promised to give £1000 towards each of such chapels, on the condition that a similar amount should be contributed in the provincial districts. Five of the proposed chapels have already been opened and others are in progress. The erection of the fifty chapels will involve a total expenditure of about £300,000. Pro mises and contributions to the extent of £57,000 have been received from the provinces. In connection with this fund Mr. Mewburn of Banbury has promised £1000 a year for ten years, provided nineteen others would do the same, with a view to the erection of chapels in the provincial towns. Another gentleman, it was stated, had made a similar offer.

This increase of chapel accommodation is somewhat mysteriously accompanied with decline in membership. The numbers in attendance on the Wesleyan ministry is probably larger than at any former period, but there is a manifestly growing disinclination to become enrolled as members in their societies and to attend their class meetings. Thus, while their chapel accommodation has largely increased, the number of members has slightly decreased. This state of things is not satisfactory to the preachers, who attach great importance to the established usages of the Society. Both in the Wesleyan and the Wesleyan Free Church

Conferences time was set apart for discussing the condition of their societies. Both discussions manifested dissatisfac

tion with their present state, but offered few suggestions of a novel or hopeful kind for the future. The following are some of the statistics presented to the Conference: "On trial for Church membership, 51,717; new members, 34,852; removals, 23,775; ceased to meet in class, 19,570; deceased, 5618; emigrated, 386; total number of members last year, 347,090; total number of members this year, 346,850; total decrease this year, 240."

SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC METHODS.

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We have received from a correspondent a copy of the Western Times, containing what appears to be a verbatim report of the presidential address of the Bishop of Exeter (Dr. Temple) at the eleventh Annual Meeting of the "Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art." The address is occupied with a discussion of the scientific spirit," and its dominant influence in the mental culture of the present day. In this, as in many other things, Swedenborg anticipated the progress of society. The method he pursued, and which, both by his writings and example, he commended to others, was the method which is now slowly rising into general appreciation and adoption. It is the effort to master facts, and from this solid groundwork to rise by the employment of the wisest and best methods to a knowledge of the causes and philosophy of facts. There is much in this address which is in harmony with the method commended by our great author, while there is also, especially in the apparent rejection of spiritual agencies in connection with scientific inquiries, views of science with which we must disagree. Dr. Temple is a distinguished educationist, and on the employment of scientific methods in our systems of popular education he speaks with the highest authority. This method, he says, "is making its way into all education; not only by demanding a place for the study of science side by side with the study of literature, but by profoundly modifying the study of literature itself, introducing new methods of teaching, new standards of judging, new aims in learning, and new results of all. Everywhere there is

The missionary wherever he goes no-
where finds the people whom he visits
able to cope in science with the people
from whom he comes. There must be
some deep connection between science
and Christianity, between truth given
by reason and truth given by revelation,
between the knowledge of God's works
and the knowledge of His Word, to pro-
duce this undeniable coincidence. The
scientific spirit and the Christian spirit
must have something in common. There
must be some common purpose which
they are to join in working out. They must
be intended in some way to act and react
on each other. They must in some way
he gainers by each other's presence. And
the Christian knows that the reason is,
that both are the gifts of the same Giver.
It is then from a conviction, no less of
its immediate services than of its ulti-
mately far greater value to mankind,
that I welcome the progress of the
scientific spirit. That progress will of
necessity be very slow; much slower
than we should desire to make it if we
had the government of the world.
the slowness of the progress appears to
be the necessary condition of the stabil-
ity of the conquest."

But

heard a demand that the young shall be generally so pre-eminently in science taught to know the world in which God the Christian nations take the lead. has placed them, and the laws by which that world is governed. And this demand, which catches the public ear at every turn, is nevertheless not so striking a proof to the observant mind of the steadily increasing power of the scientific spirit as is given by the defence to which the older studies are everywhere driven in order to maintain their position. For it is becoming every day less and less possible to maintain for those older studies an attitude of calm superiority, only needing resolute self-assertion to put aside all attacks. The older studies are compelled to claim that they can train the growing faculties better, partly because of their own inherent aptitude, partly because of their superior methods. But when this claim is examined, it resolves itself, not entirely but very nearly, into a claim that the older studies are scientific studies, and their methods scientific methods. The study of man is as plainly a science as the study of matter; the study of language as one of the phenomena of man as plainly a science as the study of heat one of the phenomena of matter. The student who devotes himself to the investigation of the uses of a Greek particle is as truly engaged in scientific study as he who examines the history and relations of a bit of chalk. A man who makes out the exact meaning of words uttered by a great teacher of ancient days is as really engaged in a scientific operation as the observer who examines the sun with his spectroscope. It is quite true that a false usage has for some time confined the word science to the study of material nature. But that usage is slowly but surely disappearing, and as it disappears the true character of the controversy on the proper subjects of instruction will become clearer." The Bishop traces the influence of this scientific spirit in many of its beneficent effects, but does not overlook the dangers which arise from an exclusive study of science. The conclusion naturally turns to the relation of science to Christianity. On this subject he says truly-"To the Christian it can never be otherwise than a fact of the deepest significance, that for centuries past Science and Christianity have been given by God's providence to the same nations. Look over the world, and you will see that as in civilization

UNSELFISHNESS IN

TRAVELLING.

The following remarks by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, in one of his Lecture Room Talks, is deserving the thoughtful attention of all Christian people. It. is in little things that Christian character is manifested, and it is by attention to these things that the true Christian is to " let his light so shine before men that they may see his good works, and glorify his Father in heaven." "You are," says Mr. Beecher, "further along than I am in Christian development if you can go a journey of a hundred miles without being meanly selfish. It is astonishing to me that when I am travelling, I can do things which I would not do at home any more than I would cut my hand off. instance, if there were a dozen or twenty people at my house, and there was a favourite chair, and I should rush to get it before any one else could, I should be ashamed of myself. But if I am travelling on a steamboat, and there are a dozen families on board, and I cut around and get the best place, though others may not notice it, or may not

For

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