feebleness the rule.' Another speaker said, 'He did not consider the Churches to be materially advancing; and, seeing the population advance, to be stationary is to retrograde.' Another 'admitted the general truth of the melancholy statement.' Another confessed there was much ground to lament the want of Divine influence.' Another 'was disposed to take rather a gloomy view of the state of religion in the present day. He believed that marked and striking conversions were, now-a-days, events of but rare occurrence.' In like manner, the Baptists lament that 'the state of not a few of the Churches is stationary, and even retrograde.' The New Connexion Methodists 'deplore a decrease in numbers.' On the whole, the language adopted by a dissenting editor is as follows:-The conclusion, then, to which we are led is, that the present state of things is painful and alarming in the extreme. Whether we look at our own land or at heathen climes, the fact is equally distressing. Small increase to the numbers of the saved is bad; the simple maintenance of our ground is worse; but to be driven from it absolutely to decrease in numbers, is worst of all! At this rate, when shall the world be converted to God? Or rather, how long would it require till the Churches should have died away, and the kingdom of Christ once more have given place to the kingdom of Satan, the god of this world? Under such circumstances, the extension of the Gospel, whether at home or abroad, ceases to be a question. The streams must ever share the fate of the fountain. When the trunk dies, woe to the branches! The ark of the Lord is in jeopardy! Something must be done. What shall it be? Where lies the spring of the evil? Is it with the ministry? Or with the people? Or with both? Or with neither? It must be somewhere. Where is it?"" Obituary. Died, June 19th, at his residence, Seven Sisters' Road, Holloway, near London, Mr. Robert William Keith, aged 59. He was remarkable for his punctual attendance on the duties of organist, a situation which he had gratuitously filled for about forty years. While he was in good health, he was rarely absent from church, either morning or evening. When his health began to fail, a few years ago, he attended only in the evening; and latterly, only on alternate Sundays, which he continued to do till his last illness. He was twice married: the first time to the second daughter of the late Rev. M. Sibly, by whom he had several children; three of whom survive him---two daughters, married, and one son, just of age. He has also left a widow. Died, at Norwich, on the 28th July last, in the 49th year of his age, Mr. John Hill, many years choral master of the Norwich Choral Society. For some months he had been suffering from cancer in the stomach, and during the long and weary hours of mortal agony, the cheering hopes inspired by the truths of the New dispensation were his chief support, until it pleased our heavenly Father to remove him to that world where "the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest." W. At Kersley, near Bolton, August 8th, 1846, Mr. James Greenwood was removed into eternity, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. He was an active member of the Kersley Society, in which he held the office of treasurer from its commencement till his death. He was generally esteemed as a kind neighbour and upright man. His departure was sudden. Although he had been ailing a few days, no dangerous symptoms appeared till within a few hours of his decease. It is consolatory to know that all that was estimable in his character here, will find a more extended sphere for activity in the world to which he is removed. W. Cave and Sever, Printers, 18, St. Ann's-street, Manchester. ON THE LIFE OF THE SENSES, AND THE LIFE OF THE SOUL. "Turn away mine eyes, lest they behold vanity."-(Psal. cxix. 37.) (From the manuscripts of the late Rev. J. Clowes.) THE outward senses, such as seeing, hearing, and the like, are the great avenues of communication betwixt the outward visible world, in which our bodies dwell, and the inward invisible world, which is the abode of our spirits. At these avenues of communication, there are constantly presenting themselves an infinite variety of different objects, which no man can number, pressing to be admitted to the habitation within, and offering themselves to the choice of the spirit that dwells there. It is needless to inform the reader, that many of these objects which stand thus at the door of the outward senses, and demand entrance, are dangerous enemies to the inhabitant within; inasmuch as they would destroy its life-they would seize upon its kingdom-they would introduce anarchy, confusion, rebellion, and death, instead of order, harmony, obedience, and life. As thus:-The inhabitant which dwells within our mortal bodies is itself an immortal spirit-it hath its abode or residence in the eternal or spiritual world-it was made to be the habitation of God-Who is desirous to dwell in it as in his kingdom, and to manifest in it all the exceeding riches of his eternal mercy and love, grace, and truth; and, in proportion as we turn our eyes inwards to look unto this God, and suffer him thus to enter and reign and rule within us, in the same proportion the little invisible kingdom of our hearts is restored to heavenly order, peace, and blessedness, which is salvation and eternal life. Now, nothing, let it be well observed, can possibly prevent the accomplishment of this blessed desire of God, so long as we suffer him to have dominion over the motives, desires, and affections of our minds; but if it should happen that any thing else should assume the dominion, then the kingdom of God is destroyed within us; then death succeeds instead of life, misery instead of bliss, and all sorts of confusion and mischief instead of peace and harmony. If, therefore, we suffer external things to come in promiscuously, and receive them as supreme objects of regard into our affections, they will by degrees form to themselves strong holds therein, and thus invade the habitation of God; they will defile the sanctuary of his dwellingplace-they will extinguish all the bright lights of heaven, and leave us nothing but the light of this world to see by; they will make us fancy that temporal things are all that concern us, and that eternal things are of small importance; they will let us see, and hear, and taste nothing but what is of the earth, and will keep us blind and deaf and dead to the things of the Lord's kingdom, which He is ever waiting to reveal within us, thus we shall live mere creatures of time and sense; and the sound of the gospel, the glad tidings of salvation, the recovery of heavenly life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the restoration and regeneration of our sinful and fallen nature, will be strange things to us, or trodden under foot like pearls before swine; and all this will come upon us, merely because we never set a watch at the door of our senses; we let in the enemies of God, of heaven, and of our own souls, without thinking of the dreadful mischief, if permitted to gain the ascendancy, they would do to us. I will here insert an extract from the enlightened Swedenborg, in which he describes the quality of the sensual man: "Inasmuch as by the locusts (Exod. x. 15.) which are here treated of, is signified the false in the extremes, that is, in the sensual principle of man, it may be expedient here to say what the sensual principle is, that hence it may be known what the false in the extremes is. The sensual man, or he who thinks and acts from the sensual principle, is one who believes nothing but what is obvious to the external senses, and who is led merely by corporeal appetites, pleasures, and cupidities, not by reasons, believing those things to be reasons which favour such appetites, pleasures, and cupidities; such being the quality of the sensual man, he therefore rejects every thing internal, till at length he is unwilling even to hear it named; hence he in heart denies whatsoever is heaven. The life after death he certainly does not believe, because he places life solely in the body, wherefore he supposes that he himself shall die in like manner as a beast : he thinks, as it were, in the surface, that is, in ultimates or extremes, and is altogether ignorant that there is interior thought according to the perception of truth and good. The ground of this ignorance, and the reason why he doth not even know that there is an internal man, is, because his interiors look downwards to those things which are of the world, of the body, and of the earth, with which they act in unity; hence they are diverted from looking upwards or to heaven, for they are in a contrary direction. To look upwards, or to heaven, doth not consist in thinking about the things which are of heaven, but in regarding them as an end, that is, in loving them above all other things, for whither the love turns itself, thither the interiors of the man turn themselves; hence also the thought. From these considerations it may be manifest what is the quality of man's sensual principle, or of the natural principle in the extremes, for he is called a sensual man who thinks from the sensual principle."—A. C. 7693. Let us, then, be persuaded in time to consider the truth of these things, and to ponder them deeply in our minds, as of the last consequence to our eternal interests; for unless we are watchful herein, we are undone for ever; and the reason is, because we cannot be saved without Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ cannot save us unless we suffer him to have dominion-unless we let him reign till he hath put all enemies, all evils and vanities, &c., under his feet. But, I trust, you are enough convinced of the danger arising from the outward senses, and that you will now be glad to inquire, with me, in the second place, what may be your security from such danger. Now this, it is very plain, can only be found in watchfulness over our senses, and prayer to the Lord, that nothing of sin or vanity may enter, which may disturb the growth, extension, and full establishment of His heavenly kingdom. Watchfulness will keep us attentive to all the excitements and stratagems of our enemies; it will make us cautious what or whom we admit into the habitation of our souls; we shall suffer none to come in without inquiring whence they are, and whither they tend; we shall open our gates to none but friends; we shall keep our enemies at a distance; thus we shall, as the apostle expresses it, "have our senses exercised to discern good and evil," and be preserved thereby from the danger of those intruders that would disturb the peace of our inward house. But watchfulness alone will not be sufficient for this purpose; we must use prayer also-we must be attentive to the divine presence of the Lord within us. It is only through his light that we shall be able to discern our enemies, or through his strength that we shall be able to hinder their getting admission within us. The soul is never in so much danger from enemies without, as when it is destitute of the presence and grace of God within. If we would therefore render watchfulness effectual, we must add prayer to it, we must keep our inward senses ever open and alive to God, and then we shall both have light to discern, and power to prevent the mischiefs arising from the outward senses. Who, then, amongst us, would wish to be out of the reach of all danger in this matter? Who amongst us is looking in truth and sincerity for the full establishment of the ever-blessed kingdom of God's unspeakable mercy and truth in his soul? Let him, then, take up this prayer of the Psalmist,-"Turn away mine eyes, lest they behold vanity." Let him extend his prayer to all his other senses—let him, through the light of the Divine presence, set a watch over them all, that nothing may at any time enter to darken that light, and thereby prevent the extension of the heavenly kingdom which the Lord wishes to establish in every soul of man. We live in an awful middle point between time and eternity, in which we are subject to the influences of each, and are, in consequence, continually forming ourselves either as creatures of heaven, to live with God hereafter in unspeakable blessedness, or as creatures merely of this world and the flesh, to live hereafter for ever separate from the presence of God. Our lot, in this awful situation, will depend altogether upon this one circumstance, whether we suffer the things of God, which are eternal, to rule over the things of time and sense, or let in the things of time and sense to rule over the things of God. Oh, then, may we never be of the unhappy number of those who open their eyes and ears only to the vanities of this lower world and the flesh, and become blind and deaf thereby to the realities of the eternal world, where God dwelleth with his holy angels! For this purpose may we watch and pray diligently, lest any thing should enter from without which may disturb the work of the Lord within us; He will operate powerfully to salvation, if we suffer nothing to approach and prevent his operation. Oh, then, that we were rightly attentive to those things which would hinder or retard the heavenly work of his regenerating, sanctifying, and saving influences within us! Oh, that we did but teach our hearts continually to say," Turn away mine eyes, and ears, and other senses, from all those vanities which would disturb my communion with thee, O my God!" Then might we have a sure hope that God would indeed be with us, and that nothing would hinder the establishment of the kingdom of his unutterable love, and peace, and salvation in our souls-then should we see written on all the false glories, and deceitful pleasures of this world and the flesh, "They are vanity;"-but, looking within ourselves for a kingdom which cannot be moved, for the glories of the Divine presence, for the comforts of the Divine mercy, we should there see written in bright characters never to be effaced," Blessed are all they who turn away their eyes from vanity, for they shall see God." |