the evening having been more than a
hundred. A series of lectures was
given by the minister, ending with the
year. A second series is now in course
of delivery. The report of the book-
steward showed that nearly 2000 books
and periodicals had been sold during
the year. The report of the party com-
mittee showed that very useful work
had been performed in that direction
during the year. All the tea-parties
had been highly successful, especially
the congregational party, at which over
two hundred sat down to tea, and the
audience which assembled after tea to
see the drama performed numbered more
than five hundred. The business of the
meeting was gone through with perfect
good feeling on all hands.
The pro-
ceedings of the evening were enlivened
by several glees, well sung by the choir.
After a few encouraging remarks by the
minister the meeting was brought to a
close in the usual way.

is a state not due to errors and mistakes, The result of the change has been highly but a hatred of the very inward character satisfactory; the average attendance in of religion. It is not against the letter; it is against the Holy Spirit. It is the soul it hates, not the form. It hates it until it mocks and blasphemes. Many are astonished at the revealings of their. interior evils as their regeneration proceeds. They accuse themselves continually, and sometimes accuse Divine Providence of giving them a harder lot than others; then will come the dark suspicion-have I sinned against the Holy Spirit? Is it all over with me? That thought I cannot bear. As long as a person complains the better nature is present, and really in the ascendant. Evils are in the external man. When we mourn about them, condemn them, condemn ourselves for suffering them, there is a better state within that sees and judges the worse. There is a living man as well as a dead one. Persevere; through the life within the Lord will restore the dead. The sins we hate are with us, but not in us. The soul that is in the sin against the Holy Spirit no longer mourns, it blasphemes.-The above are only sentences caught at intervals, and isolated often from their context. To be appreciated the discourse must have been heard. At the urgent request of many hearers Mr. Gunton promised to come again in about four months."

BESSES.-On February 8th the annual meeting of the Society was held. A tea was provided, to which a fair number of friends sat down. The chief business of the meeting after tea was the election of officers for the year and the discussion of measures for the improvement and advancement of the church and school. Mr. Robert Taylor occupied the chair. The reports of the Secretary and Treasurer were read, and gave much encouragement for future success. Since the Society entered upon the important step of securing a minister the members have shown their earnestness in a substantial manner. The Secretary's report showed that since the Rev. I. Tansley entered upon his pastoral duties twenty-six miembers have been added to the church, many of them from the Sunday school. Formerly service at this church was held morning and afternoon, but evening service has been now held for some time.

BLACKBURN.-The Rev. H. Cameron, the minister, has recently been delivering a course of popular Sunday evening lectures on the "Days of the Creation; and it was a very pleasing fact to observe that these interesting discourses were well attended by the members of the Society, as well as by several strangers. Mr. Cameron treated the respective work of each day's creation in a manner which will not be forgotten by those who had the pleasure of hearing them—bringing scientific facts to elucidate and confirm the New Church teachings on this very important and highly instructive subject. The annual New Year's tea-party of the members and friends of the church was attended by about 250 persons. After tea the Rev. H. Cameron took the chair and delivered a short address. There was an interesting programme of song and dialogue gone through by the young people, every one doing their part well, so that the evening passed agreeably and profitably. A very pleasing part of the evening's proceedings was the presentation of an elegant black marble timepiece to Mr. J. H. Riley, the organist and leader of the choir. It bore the inscription, on a silver plate, "Presented to Mr. J. H. Riley by the members and friends of the New Jerusalem Church, Blackburn, as a token of their apprecia

tion of his services as organist and choir leader. January 1st, 1879." Short addresses were delivered by Messrs. Porter, Astley, Pemberton, Drake, and Aspin, and the meeting broke up about ten o'clock.

a

LONGTON.-The annual meeting of HORNCASTLE.-The sixth anniversary this Society was held on the 22nd of of this Society was held from the 9th to January. During the evening addresses the 18th of February. Mr. Gunton, were delivered by Mr. Henshall, the colwhose services had been secured for the porteur of the Manchester Missionary occasion, preached on the 9th and 16th, Society, and by Messrs. Platt and and lectured on the 12th and 18th. Brough. The long-continued and faithThe subject of the first of these lec- ful services of Mr. and Mrs. Brookhouse tures was, "Did Swedenborg converse were cordially acknowledged, and with Angels?" of the second, "Where pleasant and interesting evening was do the millions who have died now spent. The Society, though called to dwell, and what do they do?" It will struggle with adverse circumstances, yet be seen from these subjects that the labours on in faith and constancy. national missionary does not keep in the background the source of his information. The name and office of Swedenborg are prominently presented, and his Writings freely sold at the close of the lectures. The members of this "little flock" still continue few in numbers, but persevering in their efforts to make known the truth and extend the influence of the Church.

Nor

We

is it without some gleam of hope. have been shown an interesting letter from an inquirer in a neighbouring town, from which we make the following extract: "I have of late been trying to obtain light on several subjects, and am more than ever convinced of the darkness in which both myself and many others are at present groping; in fact, we are 'blind leaders of the blind,' whilst the light of the New Church shines out so LONDON (Dalston).-This Society, clear and brilliant as to be at times well which now meets at Albion Hall, con- nigh overpowering. My feeling is, and tinues to progress under the ministry of especially when in the 'sacred desk,' Mr. Dicks. The Hackney Gazette favours that I grasp well nigh nothing of the the Society with occasional reports of truths I may be attempting to deal with. the sermons preached at the hall. My mind has been much exercised of Three of Mr. Dicks' discourses have late through pondering over a page or been reported, and one by Dr. Bayley. two in T. C. R., No. 647, which shows The last of these reports is a sermon by plainly that the faith and imputation Mr. Dicks on "Babylon's Recompense of the New Church cannot be together (Psalm cxxvii. 8, 9), which occupies with the faith and imputation of the nearly two columns of the paper. An former Church;' and I can assure you extended exposition is closed with a that should I become sufficiently imbued brief recapitulation, from which we give with New Church doctrine, I would at the closing words: "We have all once relinquish my connection with the within us these conflicting elements body to which I am now joined, and thus of spiritual strife. The truths we ac- avoid having, to some extent, to enunquire from the Word are our children ciate that which I feel is not compatible of Israel;' the desire for self-aggran- with the faith I now most certainly dizement at the expense of others hold." constitutes our daughter of Babylon,' which, while it holds its sway unchecked, keeps Israel in captivity; while the false ideas of self-importance are the 'little' ones that defile. What is our duty at the time that our true state is made clear to us? To lead captivity captive; to live for others, not for self alone, and the truth will make us free.' Free from evil, free from error, with all

PRESTON (from the Preston Guardian of February 8th).-"The lectures announced for delivery by R. Gunton, Esq., London, and referred to in our last issue, were continued in the schoolroom under the church on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. We can only give a brief report, and may say that the majority of those

The

present seemed to appreciate the views
presented by the lecturer. Two of the
lectures were on the spiritual world, the
latter having especial relation to hell,
and the lecturer holding the view that
it had been granted of the Lord to
Swedenborg to see and converse with
departed men in the spiritual world,
both good men and bad men, both
angels and devils, and that for a period
of twenty-seven years uninterruptedly.
He called the attention of his audience
to a book called 'Heaven and Hell,'
containing many of the facts of experi-
ence thus obtained. The lecturer argued
that evil originated with and in man,
and consisted in the misuse of a power
for good; the power given for the pur-
pose of obedience to God's command
was, he said, used in violation of that
command, so that evil originated in dis-
obedience and rebellion; and as dis-
obedience and rebellion originated evil,
so a continuance in evil and wicked-
ness-loved and cherished-originated
hell, both in this world and the next;
for, said the lecturer, every one knows
that there are many hells on earth, and
the persons in them have acquired a
nature by their evil practices which
causes them to cling to that disorderly
and unhappy life. Such persons when
they die and go to live in the spiritual
world are still themselves-they still
love the same wicked practices, and, as-
sociating together, they there constitute
hell; for the future life is, it was
argued, essentially a continuation of
this. The real life of the man in this
world is the life of his affection and
thought, and that is his real life in the
future world, so that what a man loves
here he loves there; if he is covetous
here he is covetous there. As the tree
falls so it lies. The summary of the
lecturer's arguments on this subject was,
that those who make evil their good
prefer the delights of wickedness to the
delights of purity; thus they make their
own hells and remain in them, both
here and hereafter, because they prefer
the delights of wickedness. The ter-
rible results of this choice were repre-
sented as shocking, and were compared
to the horrible experiences of the man
who, by drunkenness, brought on de-
lirium tremens; and still many of the
men, notwithstanding those dreadful
experiences, would indulge in the de-
lights of drunkenness, shocking as such to record the death of one who, humanly

delights are to all sane people.
lecturer said also that there was no evi-
dence in the Scriptures that if a man,
deliberately and of free choice, gives the
preference to wicked delights in this
life his nature and decision can be
changed after death. The last lecture
was on The Scriptural Way of Salva-
tion,' and it was argued that obedience
to the Divine precepts was the only way
of salvation mentioned in the Scriptures.
Adam, Noah, and Abraham all received
commandments from the Lord, and the
result in each case was the result of
obedience or disobedience. The law
was, 'When the wicked man turneth
away from his wickedness and doeth
that which was lawful and right, he
shall save his soul alive,' and the Lord
did not, he said, as some suppose,
abolish the Divine law; it was only the
ceremonial law which came to an end,
not the Decalogue; hence the Lord
said, 'Think not that I am come to
destroy the law and the prophets;' and
hence also the Lord said, "If thou
wouldst enter into life, keep the com-
mandments.' It was argued that the
doctrine of substitution was a human
device, a human dogma, having no
foundation in Scripture, and that judg
ment was always represented as based
upon the life of the man, and not any
professed belief separate from the life.
A vote of thanks to the lecturer, moved,
seconded, and supported by gentlemen
unconnected with the denomination,
brought the meeting to a close, and a
desire was expressed that Mr. Gunton
should visit Preston again."

In addition to the foregoing, Mr. Gunton preached twice on the Sabbath to large and attentive audiences. A correspondent writes: "We are pleased to record the fact that at the conclusion of these lectures more books were sold than at any lectures previously delivered. Upwards of 120 copies of Heaven and Hell,' Brighton Lectures, Nature of Spirit,' 2 copies of the Christian Religion,' 1 'Apocalypse Revealed,' and a large number of tracts were disposed of, all of which will no doubt, under Divine Providence, be productive of much fruit.

Obituary.

MR. MAXWELL HASELER.

'True

"We have

In the February number we offered some remarks on the nature of the connection that exists between the two worlds, of which even we are inhabitants, being in the spiritual world as to our souls and in the natural world as to our bodies. Of our presence in the spiritual world we have, while we live in the natural body, no consciousness, because the seat of our consciousness is in the body, or in that degree of the mind which is in immediate connection with it; but when we lay aside the material body, our spiritual consciousness is awakened, so to speak, and we see and know that we are in the spiritual world. Indeed all our spiritual senses come into activity, or rather the spirit which perceived the objects of the physical world through the senses of the natural body, when the natural body is put off perceive the objects of the spiritual world through the senses of the spiritual body. And as the spiritual world is more real and even more substantial than the natural world, and our souls are more real and even more substantial than our bodies, the objects of the spiritual world are at least as much cognisable by the senses of the spiritual body as the objects of the natural world are by the senses of the natural body. The exchange is not therefore a loss, but a gain. And if our state takes us to that part of the other world which is the home of the righteous, how great will our gain be! For the spiritual world is not, like the natural world, the same in its outward aspect to all, but is the

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