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great ones of this world, like the scribes and pharisees of old, will still take council together against thee, and persecute thy little flock; give us the spirit of patience and charity to bear with our persecutors, and to pray for them if possibly their sin may be forgiven them, and their hearts may be converted, and they may be gathered under thy wings ere their house is left unto them desolate.

"Finally, we desire of thee that we may not rest with mere notions and opinions concerning thee and thy kingdom, but that we may use the knowledge and light which thou hast given us, to the true reformation of our hearts and lives from all our natural evils of ungodly self-love, of the love of this world and the flesh; that so we may attain unto the pure love of thee and of one

another, and dwelling in thee and thou in us, may live in the practice of gospel charity, and the fulfilling of all virtue and godliness, to thy glory; till, being perfected in the regeneration, and having passed through the purifying trial of temptation in the combat against sin and darkness, we are rendered meet for the more full revelation of thy glory, in that new heaven which thou art preparing for the faithful in thy new church here on earth.

"Bless especially our present assembly, and be thou in the midst of us, as thou hast promised for our edification and comfort, that so the words of our mouths, and the meditations of our hearts, may be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer, in whose comprehensive form of words we further call upon thee:-'Our Father, &c.""

Obituary.

Died, at Grange House, Craigmill, near Alloa, JAMES THOMSON, aged 21 years, after an illness of five weeks. He was a young man of great activity and power of mind, and had manifested from his earliest years a devoted and unwearied application of his whole energies to the acquirement of knowledge; and from the methodical manner in which he applied himself to his various studies, allotting a certain portion of time to each, he had acquired an extensive and varied store of valuable information, in the various branches of useful knowledge.

About two years ago, the writer of this tribute to the memory of one who shall ever be dear to his remembrance, had an opportunity of introducing to his notice the writings of the New Church, a careful examination of which led him to give up his connection with the Church of Scotland, and join the Society of the New Church at Alloa, of which, during the short time he was permitted to remain in the Church below, he was a most zealous and active member, and gave great promise of being most useful in extending a knowledge of her doctrines, which to his own mind were so valuable.

He was the writer of No. 1, of the Alloa Christian Tract for the Times;" indeed, the publication of the intended series of these tracts was originated by him, and in the literary labours connected with their publication he

engaged with great cheerfulness, inspired with an ardent love of goodness and truth, and a hope of extending these purifying principles amongst mankind. He has left prepared a considerable portion of No. 2 Tract, on the Atonement, the publication of which will most probably close the series.

He was present at the meeting of the Missionary Assembly of the New Church, held in Glasgow, in July last; and by his able and interesting address on the occasion, as well as his truly amiable manners, he gained the esteem and affection of all present. To himself that meeting was a very delightful one; he was pleased at feeling such a happy and elevating sphere of charity pervade the whole meeting, and I may be permitted to say that the effect that meeting had on him, is the best argument I know for the great usefulness of such district meetings.

I may say, in concluding this notice of a departed brother, that he was loved and respected by all with whom he had any intercourse. He reduced religion to life, and his end was peace. His last moments were devoted to the expressions of love to his relatives, earnestly desiring that they should read the writings of the New Church, in which he himself had found so much satisfaction and delight. A. D.

Cave and Sever, Printers, 18, St. Ann's-street, Manchester.

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In consequence of the present divided state of the Church of England, and particularly of the University of Oxford, upon essential points of doctrine, especially the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone, a reader of the writings of Swedenborg thought it his duty, as a clergyman, to go to the University in order simply to announce the dissolution of the Old Church and the establishment of the New, as declared in the writings of our author. He had resolved not to go in the character of a theological disputant, or of a critic upon the writings of ancient or modern divines, but solely in the character of a messenger, to convey the glad tidings of salvation as announced by the New Jerusalem Church; trusting that in case any argument should arise upon the subject, the writings of Swedenborg would enable him to give suitable replies.

The result of his mission is, that he has been enabled to announce the doctrines of the New Church to several of the leading men at Oxford, whose names are familiar with the public. In every interview the arguments against the New Church resolved themselves into two; first, that the Catholic Church is the interpreter of Scripture; and secondly, that the creed of this Church is the key to the interpretation thereof. To the first objection it was replied-If the Church is the interpreter of Scripture, then in the case of the prophetical books which form a large portion of the Bible, where and what are the interpretations authorized by the Church? To this question, no answer could be obtained in any one of the interviews; probably for the reason, that the Church nowhere possesses authorized interpretations of prophecy, as she possesses authorized interpretations of doctrine; that the interpretation of prophecy therefore is an open question; open to any and every individual who, in his character of interpreter, is not bound to refer to the authority of the Church, and who, consequently, is N. S. No. 63.-VOL. VI.

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at liberty to adopt the interpretations of Swedenborg if he thinks

proper.

The second objection was, that the creed of the Church is the key to the interpretation of Scripture, and that the door to the divine mysteries must be opened only with this key. To this it was replied, Be it so; you give me a key to open the door; but have you ever opened the door with it? Do you not acknowledge that a great portion of prophecy is a sealed book? What do you know of the Apocalypse? Has your creed ever opened it? If so, where are your authorized interpretations?

To these arguments there was no attempt to reply, although a reply was solicited again and again. In almost all these cases, however, it was satisfactory to hear it admitted, that the subject required investigation, that the respective parties were not qualified to enter into it in consequence of their ignorance of Swedenborg's writings, and that the question must not be allowed to rest where it did.

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The clergyman who went upon the present mission next resolved, by the blessing of Divine Providence, to lay the whole subject before the Vice-Chancellor, who received him with the utmost courtesy. A statement was then made of the doctrines and principles of the New Church, and an outline given of Swedenborg's interpretation of the Apocalypse. It was candidly but most respectfully declared to the Vice-Chancellor, that the Old Church, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, was said to have come to an end,-that their continuation was only a question of time and expedience,-that a New Church was now being raised up by the Lord, and that the present divisions in the Church of England and the University were only a visible fulfilment of the predictions contained in the Apocalypse, as interpreted by Emanuel Swedenborg. "Mr. Vice-Chancellor," said the clergyman, "I call upon you, I call upon the University, most respectfully, but most solemnly, to institute an investigation into these writings, that if they are false, their falsehood may be demonstrated, and if they are true, the Church of England and the University may know their position."

"I understand you," said the Vice-Chancellor; "you require that we should institute an investigation into the truth or falsehood of these writings?" Precisely so," was the reply. "Then I promise you," said the Vice-Chancellor, "that this investigation shall be immediately commenced, and I myself will begin reading them this evening." "I feel greatly obliged," said the clergyman, "and may I now express a hope, that writings which have found their way through

this country, through several parts of the Continent, and the United States of America, may at last find their way into the libraries of this University." Here terminated the interview, which took place on Tuesday morning, February 4; the Vice-Chancellor having listened to the statements throughout with the deepest attention, and manifested the most courteous and Christian deportment. He willingly accepted one copy of Swedenborg's "Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church," &c., and one copy of the "Illustrations of the End of the Church," &c.

Whatever may be the result of this visit to Oxford, one thing is certain, that should the Church of England be rent asunder by her present unhappy divisions, or be doomed in future to continued internal warfare, she will at least, in this her day of visitation, have received a friendly and affectionate notice from the New Church of "the things which belong unto her peace." A. C.

EXAMINATION OF THE POPULAR ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF THE DOCTRINE OF SUBSTITUTION.

SIR,

To the Editor of the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY.

It was once remarked-we do not distinctly remember by whom, but it was by a writer who, after all, did not essentially differ from them that the ANTINOMIANS made Jesus Christ a perfect pack-horse. It may be proper here to state that the term Antinomian is applied by one section of the orthodox world to another, and that, too, it must be confessed, with a very bad grace, since both parties are agreed as to the impossibility of man's observing the precepts of the Saviour of mankind; and both most cordially unite in asserting that He himself obeyed them in their room and stead, and that they thus go free :-they are not under the Law, not they, indeed, but under grace; and every sound, orthodox man is bound to believe, and does believe, that divine law and divine grace are antipodes.

Hence it comes that we have volumes published and sermons preached, now almost innumerable, proving, no, not proving, but attempting to prove, that the eternal, the unalterable laws of morality are something very different from the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; for there is no contrast that such writers and preachers seem to dwell on with greater delight, than that which they suppose to exist between the law and the

Gospel. The distinction is theirs, not ours: the precepts delivered from Sinai we consider as the very basis of all that is taught in the New Testament; and he that would remove one iota of that law incurs the consequences of violating the whole. Moses in the law, the whole line of the prophets, and the writers of the Psalms, preached the Gospel ;and the apostles would be unworthy of credit if it could be proved that they taught any other things than those which Moses and the prophets did say should come.

"The law," says a writer of the present day, "pronounces the sentence, the awful sentence; this the Gospel can revoke.” This we unceremoniously pronounce to be a libel on the divine veracity, and challenge the writer to shew where a single iota of the morality of the Old Testament is either revoked by—or, in any sense of the term, at variance with--that taught in the New. It is truly painful to record such statements as the above, and others akin to it, but we could give them in abundance, were it necessary, from writers whose names stand in high repute among modern teachers of Christianity.

Some of your readers, Sir, we have reasons for thinking, can hardly be aware of the very gross terms in which the doctrine of Substitution is sometimes insisted on by its warmest advocates. On this account one or two specimens are here offered for their deliberate consideration; we offer no comment on them; to every thinking mind they will speak for themselves.

The first we select is from a dignitary of the Church of England. He says:—" Oh, if ever Jehovah's righteousness was made manifest, surely it was in that awful moment when He was seen pouring out the vial of his wrath upon the head of his unoffending Son, as the representative of sinners."+

The next specimen is one illustrative of the real views entertained by the orthodox of the import of the fifty-third chapter of the prophet Isaiah, which is generally considered as establishing the doctrine of Substitution beyond all controversy. After some general remarks on the language of the prophet, in this certainly sublimely-beautiful portion of Divine Revelation, the writer says:-"The original terms denoting, not so much the removal of sin, as the sustaining of guilt; not so much the bearing of it away, as the bearing of its weight; not so much Christ's

* Dobney's Notes of Lectures on future punishment.

Sermon by the Archdeacon of Stafford, at the Consecration of Christ Church, Clifton Park, on Tuesday, October 8, 1844.

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