the aid of an acute and powerful understanding, became highly intelligent and widely known in the Lancashire societies. Herendered great service to his own society for many years, as corresponding member, and at all times his sound judgment and just determinations were of great value to his brethren. He had eminent musical talent, and conducted the choir at Accrington with great ability. Under his management it became widely celebrated for many years. He also composed many valuable hymn-tunes, which were highly appreciated. His uses endeared him to all who loved the church, and to a wide circle who knew him as a friend in need, and a good, wise, and upright man. His memory will be fondly cherished by his brethren, until they meet him again in the eternal world. He has left two daughters, by whom he was most affectionately and indefatigably attended during a very long illness, and by whom he was always revered as a kind father and instructor. funeral discourse was delivered on the occasion of his departure, by the Rev. J. Bayley, to a crowded auditory, during which his interesting autobiography, and the following lines, written on the occasion cf his departure, were read : Oh yes! thou hast seen the blest city of God, And walked by the glow of its light; A On the 3rd December last, Ruth, the beloved wife of Mr. Samuel Cockcroft, of Eccles, near Manchester, in the 79th year of her age, after having been married to her surviving partner during the long space of 57 years. The subject of this brief memoir was, in early life, and for about thirty years subsequent to her marriage, connected with the Wesleyan Methodists, and was highly valued by that class of Christians, on account of her great worth and Christian virtues. In domestic life, when encircled by her fa. mily, she was in every respect exemplary both as a wife and a mother. She was always desirous to contribute not only to the earthly comfort and happiness of her children and grandchildren, but especially with a view to their spiritual welfare hereafter. To her poor neighbours and acquaintances she was generous and openhanded; she was ever willing to assist the needy and deserving to the utmost of her power. She was of a mild and cheerful disposition, "always resigned, and content under the dispensations of Providence." It has been previously stated that she was formerly connected with the Wesleyan Methodists, and it may be added that she retained her at. tachment to that body many years after her husband and family had joined the society of the New Church in Manchester. Notwithstanding the difference in creed now existing between herself and family, a feeling of Christian charity was cherished and exercised one towards the other. She never complained of what she deemed to be a departure from the truth; and they never attempted to disturb the repose of a mind which seemed to have settled in the doctrine of Methodism. Thus entertaining opposite religious views, they yet lived together in the "bond of peace." Whether, however, from a feeling of curiosity, or from a doubt of the truth of the doctrine in which she had been educated, she began to read, unasked, the treatise on "Heaven and Hell," and other works by the herald of the New Church. From that time forward her religious views underwent a change, and she gradually became con. vinced of the truth and reality of those "Heavenly Doctrines" so luminously and ably expounded by Swedenborg. In these doctrines she remained for many years, up to the period of her death, a firm believer. The writer of this notice has, on several occasions, while reading in her presence the works of Swedenborg, heard her involuntarily exclaim, “True, true." She was in all respects, except in the observance of outward worship, which she was prevented from attending by increasing years and infirmities, strictly and truly a New Church Christian. She was more than respected-she was beloved by all who knew her; and she is now, doubtless, gone to where "A holy quiet reigns around, A calm no earthly care destroys; Cave and Sever, Printers, 18, St. Ann's-street, Manchester. H. THE CIRCLE OF LIFE; OR, THE IMPROVEMENT AND REGENERATION OF MAN. "The circle of the life of man is to know, to understand, to will, and to do.”— (Swedenborg's Apoc. Exp., 242.) MUCH, in these latter times, has been thought, said, written, and done, in respect to the education and well-being of our race. This is the principal subject that engages and engrosses the common mind. We are living, as to mental and physical activities, in an age of marvels, and this is one of the most marvellous signs of our day. So many powers to promote the good of humanity have never before been so simultaneously and mightily active. In the ultimate sphere of man's life, relating to his body and its comforts, how many forces are called into action, and most successfully employed! Mechanics, with its mighty engines, and its skilful machinery, is working wonders in promoting sanitary comforts and blessings for the corporeal and physical part of our being. Our houses are better constructed, and more in harmony with all the laws of health, than ever before. Our clothing, in every useful variety, is not only cheaply and abundantly supplied, but speedily wrought and exquisitely finished. A new and powerful influence seems to have been poured into the world, and called into vigorous activity for the good of man. This power first manifests itself conspicuously in reference to the external requirements and relations of man. He will be better nourished, and his food shall be more various in its kind, and receive from improved culture a more nutritious efficacy. The useful, liberal, and refined arts of life always attend the career of improvement, and shed a peculiar lustre and beauty over every thing useful. In the order and economy of Providence, it is ever intended that the beautiful shall accompany the useful. This order is universal N. S. NO. 76.-VOL. VII. K in nature. In the vegetable kingdom every plant is adorned in the blossoms of beauty, the gay and joyous heralds of the future fruit. There is an innocence, beauty, and fragrance in every thing which has not been destroyed by the selfishness of man; or which does not stand forth in some hideous form, as the emblem of selfish activities. But are improvements and blessings restricted to man's physical existence and to his corporeal life? Truth forbid! Besides the civil life, which he leads as an inhabitant of the world, man has an intellectual, a moral, and a spiritual life; all these must be taken into the account, if man is to become truly happy. He must be placed in the possession and enjoyment of all these noble faculties and degrees of his life, if he is to attain the end, and realize the destinies of his being. But how can this be done? We reply in the words of Swedenborg prefixed to this paper:-"By knowing, understanding, willing, and doing, as the circle of his life." In the common arts of life, from which our physical comforts are derived, nothing could be realized unless it pass through this circle. Our clothing could not be prepared, unless the knowledge, intelligence, and skill of the manufacturer were manifested in deeds and effects. Our bread could not be provided unless the agriculturist diligently and promptly reduced his knowledge and intelligence to practice. This is true not only of our physical life, and its states of health, comfort, and enjoyment; but it is also eminently true in respect to our moral and spiritual life, and its states of wisdom, love, and peace. Our moral life is characterized by the honestum and the decorum, (A. C. 2915.) or by what is truly honourable in principle, and gentle, and becoming, and courteous in conduct. Civility is the attendant of our civil life, and is the ultimate clothing of celestial charity. He who violates civility to his fellow man, wounds the ultimate form of charity, and makes a breach through the wall of the celestial city in which moral, spiritual, and heavenly order and happiness reside. If this breach is not speedily healed, the enemy of all peace "will come in like a flood," and spread devastation and misery in every direction. Every degree of life is guarded by its circle of knowledge, understanding, willing, and doing. No link in this chain. should be wanting; no breach in this golden ring should be suffered. The circle must be kept entire, that there may be a perpetual influx and circulation of heavenly life. Immediately this circle is interrupted, torpidity seizes the mind, as, when the circulation of the nervous fluid and the blood is obstructed, paralysis seizes the body. Knowledge consists of the impressions and ideas received through the senses, and its seat is the memory, the ultimate faculty, and the store-house of the mind. This is the garner into which the mental sustenance must be brought, as the barn is the first receptacle of food for the body. Knowledge is indispensable; without it the mind could neither be fed nor clothed. The memory, its store-house, is an important faculty; its capacity and faithfulness increase in analogy with those laws by which our muscles and bodily health and strength are confirmed, the laws of exercise and temperance. Every member of the body performs its destined use in proportion as it is called into healthful activity. In like manner every faculty of the mind;-action and use are inseparable. Knowledge is of various kinds, and every kind is precious. The knowledge of the earthly sciences is eminently valuable; no civilized order and comfort could exist without it. But this knowledge must pass through the circle of life, otherwise it is as useless as science buried in books, or as wheat locked up in the garner. Knowledge is the basis of intelligence; the understanding receives its materials from without, and its vital activities operate by influx from within. Action from within and reäction from without are necessary to the production of ideas, and to the formation of the human character. As in nature no effect can be realized but by action and reaction, so in the mental world the same law obtains. Knowledge is elevated from the store-house of the memory into the intellectual province of the mind, by a process analogous to that by which the food introduced into the stomach is converted into chyle and blood, and thus effectually incorporated into the system. Knowledge lying dead in the memory is as useless as undigested food in the stomach. The circle of life in the body corresponds to the circle of life in the mind. The former illustrates the latter. Hence the importance of studying the physiology of the human body and its economy. This knowledge is most precious, since it forms the basis of genuine intelligence, not only in respect to a proper insight into the mind, but to an enlightened acquaintance with its constitution and powers. But this is not all; we are thereby introduced to a knowledge of Heaven, since the economy of the human body illustrates the divine economy of the Lord's Kingdom,of that mystical Body, whose Soul is the Lord Himself. Nor is this all; economy again teaches us how to think of the Lord, in his glorious Body, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead. Here we see the progress of knowledge through its circle, where its uses are realized. Every circle must commence from a centre, and no circle is complete unless it has the Lord for its centre. This should be universally the case, not only in reference to the highest order of knowledge, which is religious and spiritual, but also in respect to that which brings us acquainted with this earthly things, and their tendency to promote the health and comfort of men. If He is not the centre, blessings cannot descend. We cannot become really intelligent until the light of heaven is received into the mind, and this light proceeds from the Lord as the centre, or Sun of Truth. This light brightens and burnishes all things, however dark and opaque they are in themselves. As the centre is the all in all of the circle, so the Lord must be the all in all in the circle of life. But knowledge becomes more precious as it more intimately relates to the life of man. The mind may arrive at its happy destination without a knowledge of geology and astronomy, but it cannot become intelligent, good, and happy without a knowledge of the Lord, his Word, and his Kingdom. This knowledge, therefore, is infinitely precious. And here it is, in an eminent sense, that the "circle of life must be established." Knowledge must always precede. "Let there be light!" is a divine dictate which is universal, both as a religious and philosophical principle. It is the first dictate in science, in philosophy, and religion. Nothing can be done without light, except the deeds of darkness, which are all evil. No good can be realized except through the light of truth. But the mere knowledge of revealed truth, unless it pass through the circle, and become the intelligence of truth, the love of truth, and the practice of truth, is of no avail. The knowledge of truth stored up in the memory only, soon becomes, like a garment never worn, moth-eaten and destroyed. The treasure is not yet laid up in heaven,-in the interiors of the mind, which constitute man's heavenly world; but upon the earth_only, the external of the mind, where the thief can easily break through and steal. To understand divine truth is the especial privilege and blessing of man. It is raised into the province of the understanding, when it becomes a subject of rational investigation, and when reason is affirmatively and humbly active in the cause of truth. Truth is seen, either in a lucid or an obscure manner by the understanding, in proportion as the affections are delighted with the object which it manifests. If these objects are not in agreement with the life's love, the truth which manifests them will not only be obscure, but unwelcome to the mind. This is the real cause why the merely natural mind loves to conceal every thing spiritual and heavenly in mystery and darkness. Not because the subjects themselves, which are expressly revealed and consequently made known, are mysterious and dark, but because the mind, when not delighted with the truths of revelation, considers them as mysterious and obscure. The Lord said to the disciples, that "to-them shall be given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven." (Matt. xiii. 11.) Hence the Lord not only gives us to |