Thus that the soul is no will-o'-th-wisp in the swamps of the cerebrum,' but an internal man; a body within a body; a life,' as Aretæus says of the womb, within a life; in the material body as God is in the universe, everywhere and nowhere; everywhere for the enlightened intellect, nowhere for the physical view; no more in the brain than in the toes, but the spiritual double' of the entire fabric. All the organs of the material body have soul in them, and serve the soul, each one according to its capacity, yet is the soul itself independent of them all, because made of another substance, and inhabiting another mode of world. That the soul is substantial, philosophy has long since concluded. Spiritual faculties, such as thought and emotion, cannot reside in vacuity, any more than a physical quality can. Thought and emotion must have a substance in which to transpire, (over and above the material instrument through which they are played forth,) just as elasticity, contractility, &c., can only transpire where there are substances competent to express those properties. Without substance they can have neither a positive nor a relative existence. Granted, the substance so needed to thought and emotion cannot be detected or defined scientifically. But that there is such a substance may nevertheless be affirmed, in the same way that when we hear Echo, we may affirm an echoproducing instrument. Substance must not be confounded with matter. Substance is that which is indispensable to the being of a thing, as the continent of its sustaining life. For to be is the same as to be alive, which is to be a recipient of life; and wherever life is received, there must needs be a substance to receive it. There are spiritual substances accordingly, as well as material ones; and the former are none the less real because out of the reach of chemistry or edge-tools, or because they are inappreciable by the organs of sense. Indeed it is only the grosser expressions of matter which can be so treated, and which the senses can apprehend. Heat and electricity are as truly material as flint and granite, yet man can neither cut, nor weigh, nor measure them; while the most familiar and abundant expression of all, the Air which we breathe, can neither be seen nor felt, till put in motion. As for invisibility, which to the vulgar is the proof of non-existence, no warning is. so incessantly addressed to us, from every department of creation, as not to commit the mistake of disbelieving simply because we cannot see. Each class of substances is real in relation to the world it belongs to;— material substances in the material world; spiritual substances in the spiritual world; and each kind has to be judged of according to its place of abode. Distance in nature from the material, no more disproves the 6 existence of the spiritual, than distance in space disproves the existence of the bottom of the sea. To deny the existence of spiritual substance is, in a word, to assert that heaven is an empty void, whereas St. John represents it as a plenitude of objects and scenery, of the most substantial kind. The degree in which the intellect can realize the two classes of substances, is principally a question of its own less or greater immersion in the material. The degree in which it can realize the spiritual body is of course exactly proportionate. No man,' says Emerson, can learn what he has not preparation for learning, however near his eyes to the object;'-words of nothing more true than of the apprehension of the spiritual body, which to the majority of minds is a Scriptural phrase, and nothing more. For most people live so absorbedly in and for their external, animal nature, that they are prone to think the material body every thing, and the soul a mere metaphysical adjunct or appendage, formless and insubstantial. Hence the every day metaphor with such, which designates the unimportant, insignificant, and visionary, by the same epithet which they apply to the soul,—immaterial. Until the external be subordinated to its proper place, the spiritual must inevitably remain a nonentity. Just as good qualities and great abilities are incomprehensible to those who are destitute of them; so before a man can ascend to the higher truths of philosophy, he must come out from among the animals, where, though there are eyes, there is no seeing; though there are ears, there is no hearing. (To be continued.) MATERIALS FOR MORAL CULTURE. CXXXVIII. LORD BROUGHAM has somewhere said that in morals, he recognizes only two powers,—the power of God, and the power of habit;—a remark worthy the deepest consideration; it being obvious that the figment of instantaneous salvation by faith is so incompatible with it, that to receive the one, is to reject the other; that is, if the two "powers referred to be supposed to be co-ordinate, or essential to each other's efficacy; for if the Divine power of God can effectually act independently of the human power of habit, the latter is no power at all. CXXXIX. From inordinate self-love proceed forth two polluted streams, called self-will and self-interest. The latter is commonly and exclusively called "selfishness;" but it would be a great mistake to suppose that there is less of selfishness in self-will than in self-interest. CXL. So long as a man practically regards regeneration merely as the Lord's dealing with himself, while he only slightly adverts to his own dealing with the Lord by seeking his kingdom and righteousness in the first place, he cannot himself be a regenerate man. He is not sufficiently And yet there are too many such ! in earnest. CXLI. No personal gratification can do us any real good, that is, good for eternity, unless we can, and do, thank Providence for it, because it is, all circumstances considered, a lawful gratification. CXLII. Much is said about sincerity in religion. But what is it? If it be the living up to one's religious profession, at what point does hypocrisy take the place of sincerity in inconsistent professors? Can a servant sincerely profess fidelity who neglects any known duty to his employer? CXLIII. Three things are needful to the perfection of an action; and the absence of either of them is death to the other two, namely, meaning well, judging well, and doing well. CXLIV. There is a variety of readers of Swedenborg. One reader meets with few or no difficulties, because his powers of discrimination are too feeble to perceive discrepancies, whether real or apparent. Another keenly espies the slightest appearance of inconsistency, and eventually succeeds in reconciling all statements by persevering acumen. The former is ever in the attitude of a teacher; the latter, of a learner; and so the former complacently assesses the attainments of the latter as very inferior to his own! CXLV. It was said by an ancient oracle, that "the wise man hears, investigates, decides; the fool-decides." And thus it always is with wisdom and folly. It costs neither talent nor labour to reject or deny; but it costs both to investigate. CXLVI. It is a blessed consideration, that however unsuccessful we may be in doing good to the inhabitants of this world, we may command success in doing good to those in the spiritual world. Every act of coöperation N. S. No. 166.-VOL. XIV. 3 E with the angels adds to their bliss; and every act of resistance to infernals mitigates their woe. Overcoming in temptation accomplishes both. CXLVII. A person is said to be of a certain religion; but this designation rather describes his class viewed externally, than affords any clew to a right judgment of his individual thought and feeling. It is a mark of prejudiced judgment to conclude respecting a person according to his party, or, perhaps, nationality; but it is a proof of candour to presuppose good, and to welcome it wherever it appears. It has ever been, and long will be, that "all are not Israel who are called of Israel.” CXLVIII. It is the mark of a superior mind to understand, and to be influenced by, the superiority of others. CXLIX. It is the art of judging What is the noblest art attainable by man? rightly. It begins in the love of what is right; it proceeds in the constant endeavour towards what is right; and, in this art more than any other, "practice makes perfect," so that he only who gives his whole mind to it can hope to attain proficiency. CL. Mrs. Stowe observes, "There are few characters in whom religion does any thing more than struggle with natural defect, and modify what would else be far worse." CLI. The folly of meddling with people's motives appears from Miss Sandon's shrewd remark, that "motives are like Harlequin's dresses; there is always a second dress beneath the first." CLII. It is neither good for ourselves nor others, that they should think ill of us. For their sakes, therefore, useless eccentricities should be avoided, lest we should compel them to conclude that we are actuated by some silly appetite for notoriety; or possessed by an uncivilized contempt for harmless usage. CLIII. Whenever an objection is made to a proposition in a becoming manner, if it be well founded, it calls for thanks; if it be ill founded, it calls for refutation. But if, instead of its being met either way, offence be taken, it shews that whether the author of the opinion objected to be right or wrong intellectually, he is wrong morally, and that is the worst description of wrong. CLIV. A predominant sense of duty is a spiritual microscope, and one of constantly increasing power, to magnify small things into great ones, in respect to the moral right and wrong involved in them; it abolishes all little virtues, and little faults, by turning them into great ones, or regarding them as of great consequence. (To be continued.) MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. MEETING OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION OF THE NEW CHURCH IN AMERICA. (Extract from a Private Letter.) "I think that the late meeting at Chicago was the most important in its bearings that has yet been held, and that the Convention will now become what it has hitherto only been in name, a Convention of the New Church in the United States of America. I hope this will be the case, and I think it will, because it seems to me that it will henceforth be more a Convention, or consociation of the Church for the performance of general uses in a more extended and higher degree than it has ever been before. We adopted, at the late meeting, a new constitution, which enacts some great and radical changes, and which will, I hope, settle the long disputed subject of rules of order,' that has been such a bane to the prosperity of the Convention. I have some hopes that the basis upon which the subject is now fixed will prove satisfactory to nearly all, and that it will disarm any opposition that exists to the Convention, of its force and ability to effect further dissensions and difficulty in the Church; and I expect to hear that good and intelligent New Churchmen, who have stood aloof, or been in opposition to this body, will henceforth coöperate with it. The meeting at Chicago was numerously attended. There were twelve ministers present, and I cannot tell you how many delegates. There were also a great number of New Church men and women, who had come to be present at the session, and to attend the services, who were not members of the Convention. The debates on the rules of order were long and animated. They were chiefly on one clause in the constitution requiring candidates for the ministry to be baptized by a New Church minister before he can be eligible for the office. The Convention was called to vote on this question four times in the course of its proceedings. There was a very respectable minority against the clause being introduced into our rules, but the majority were so convinced of the necessity of such a rule, that they pressed its adoption and carried it. "Mr. Worcester, of Boston, has donated to the Convention an entire set of the Latin edition of the writings of Swedenborg, published during his life time, on the condition that the Convention procure a careful and correct translation from them into English. The gift was accepted on the conditions proposed; and the Convention is, therefore, committed to the work of a printing society. Another recommendation to the Convention was that it should buy the stereotype plates of Clapp and Carter, of Boston, that have been duplicated by the New York Printing Society, and present them to the latter institution. It was resolved to buy the plates at cost price, and so relieve those gentlemen from the pecuniary loss they have sustained by serving the Church; but that the Convention retain the plates and publish the works, and also other works, and employ colporteurs and missionaries. The meeting was, on the whole, harmonious and pleasant. There was a social meeting one evening. The friends attending Convention met every |