ADDRESS TO THE READER.

THE remarks made by the Editors of the Intellectual Repository (No. XXI.) upon the persons and intentions of the conductors of this Journal, induce them to offer a few observations in reply, which they trust will give no offence in any quarter. It appears, that for a long time the existence of a Periodical in the New Church, distinct from the Intellectual Repository, has been considered by some individuals as a kind of grievance; and it is understood, that various means have been resorted to for the purpose of causing the discontinuance of THE NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE. In this, however, the expectations of such individuals have been disappointed. The latter work, has evidently met with the approbation of a numerous class of readers; and it still continues to flourish. But now, since the Church has acquired a direct interest in it, by the proposed arrangement of devoting the profits arising from its sale to the purposes stated in the title-page of the New Series, it is confidently hoped, that it will find a continued and increasing support. We abstain from making any other reply to the charges brought against us, than that we consider them to be founded not in justice and truth, but in misapprehension.* It must, no doubt, be matter of grief to many sincere and worthy members of the New Church, to see differences of opinion among the public professors and advocates of truth assume the appearance of personal hostility. We therefore feel unwilling to prolong a controversy, which is calculated to wound the feelings of any, and perhaps to injure the cause which each party has at heart to promote.

From the commencement of the Intellectual Repository we have been among its readers and contributors, and should deprecate any thing that could seriously injure its reputation, as much as we should what might impair the usefulness of our own journal. A monthly and a quarterly publication are both wanted: for while a frequently recurring and low-priced Journal has many advantages, which a more bulky and elaborate one cannot possess; such a work as the Intellectual Repository must, if properly conducted, also have an extensive sphere of usefulness peculiar to itself. With these feelings, therefore, we fervently hope, that both publications will long continue to prosper; that mutual forbearance on

The pother about one correspondent using two different signatures, really shows ignorance of the constant practice of the most eminent writers, from Steele, Addison, and Dr. S. Johnson, to our own times. As a well known instance, we state that Addison, one of the most scrupulous and sensitive of writers, used in his own Spectator four signatures: C.-L.-I. -0.

the part of the respective Editors, in cases where variety of sentiment shall unavoidably arise, and true brotherly kindness, will constantly mark the progress of their steps; and that the cause of divine truth, thus supported by their separate and united efforts, will more than ever be extensively and effectually promoted in the world at large.

As an easy means of giving publicity to a CIRCULAR, which is as yet known to a very limited extent, it is appended below. We thank such of our friends as have already attended to its requests, and trust that early in the next month we shall receive favours from many more.

JAN, 27, 1829.

(Circular.)

EDITORS.

THE Proprietors of the New Jerusalem Magazine, having, from the most praise-worthy motives, acceded to a proposition, that from the 1st of January next, the profits of that Journal should be devoted to the WIDOWS OF NEW CHURCH MINISTERS AND THEIR DESTITUTE OFFSPRING; the Editors of the New Series respectfully address you upon the subject.

The Editors presume that the benefits which must result from the formation of a Fund for this object, are so obvious, that all comment on their part is unnecessary; and the entire unanimity that prevails in the circle in which, as yet, the plan is known, entitles them to believe that it will be hailed throughout the Church, as a most promising means of extending the knowledge of its truths, and of promoting one of the essential of its doctrinesCharity, in life and act. And they accordingly hope for your assistance in increasing the number of its readers, in advancing its literary character, and in rendering it a complete record of the proceedings and state of the New Church.

As Editors it does not seem consistent with their duty, to fill any considerable part of the Magazine with their own productions. Except, therefore, in the Review of New Publications, and in such observations as circumstances may seem to dictate, they desire not to appear in its pages; but the Church at large, and especially those who occupy a prominent station in the conduct of its several societies, are expected to furnish the general body of its matter; and the regular supply of interesting, local, and scientific intelligence, for the miscellaneous department. With such aids as the Church can, and doubtless will afford, it cannot be questioned but that THE NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, which (as far as any possible advantage can accrue) will now be altogether the property of the Church-must prosper, not only for a few years, but in all probability, to an indefinite period of time; continually increasing in usefulness with the extent and necessities of the body whose interests it advocates, and of whose just rights it is intended to be the active and uniform defender.

Correspondents will please to cause their Communications to be sent to the publisher, charge free. It is not generally known in the country, that any packet under the weight of four ounces, may be sent through the Two-penny Post from any part of London, for 2d.; and from within ten miles, for 3d. only. This is mentioned because it is frequently more difficult for a friend to procure the transmission of a packet from a distant part of the Metropolis, than it was to convey it from the country to London.

LONDON,

November 26th, 1828.

Miscellanea.

INTERESTING INFORMATION.

An intelligent and respectable young man, who belonged to a dissenting body of Christians at Camberwell in the vicinity of London, has very recently received most cordially the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem. He did not at first discover to his brethren his change of views, but continued to attend the chapel as usual. A short time after his reception of the doctrines of the New Church, he received an invitation to become a teacher in the Sunday School connected with the chapel. The young man thinking it not consistent to teach one thing and believe another, sent to his friends, in the following letter, a full and candid statement of the change which had taken place in his religious opinions.

RESPECTED FRIENDS,

December 11th 1828.

The invitation I have lately received to assist in the pleasing task of instructing the youth of your Sunday School, coming as it did from those for whom I entertain the highest esteem, was calculated in no small degree to awaken an interest favourable to your wishes; the consequence of which has, I fear, been a too hasty decision on a subject which should have demanded a more serious and attentive consideration. You doubtless inferred from my usual attendance at

Chapel that my opinions in general were in unison with the doctrines taught within its walls. It has, however, pleased the Lord, by the instrumentality of the writings of his most enlightened servant Emanuel Swedenborg, to open my mind to a reception of the truths contained in His Holy Word, unadulterated by the traditions of men. Placing all confidence on Him who has promised to afford Divine aid to all those who call upon Him in sincerity and truth, I shall proceed with candour and simplicity to point out what I conceive to be the principal errors in the doctrines received by the greater portion of the Christian world, leaving it to your decision whether in holding my present sentiments, I am a proper candidate for the office you have so earnestly requested me to accept.

The first feature by which the true Christian church is distinguished is, her view of the proper Object of worship, and of the nature of the Divine Trinity.

The common belief on this subject is, that although God is truly said to be One, this God exists in Three Persons. Such a view of this important doctrine I conceive to be incorrect, and greatly calculated to mislead, by placing before the mind, Three distinct Objects of Worship. The sacred Scriptures constantly insist on the Unity of the Divine Being, and never so much as hint at His dwelling in more persons than One. In the Decalogue given with such awful solemnity from Mount Sinai as a summary of

all religion, the Divine Legislator declares as a necessary preliminary to the whole, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me." Amongst many other express declarations of the Divine Unity it will be sufficient to mention the following.-"There is none good but One, that is God. (Matt. xix. 17.) "One is your Father who is in heaven. (Matt. xxiii. 9.) "There is none other God but One. (1Cor. viii. 4.) God is One. (Gal. iii. 20.) "There is One God and there is none other but He." (Mark xii. 32.) "Thou art the God even Thou Alone of all the kingdoms of the earth." (2 Kings xix. 15. "I even I am He and there is no God with Me." (1 Deut. xxxii. 39.) "I am Jehovah, and there is none else." (Isaiah iv. 5.) The Unity of the Godhead is indeed affirmed in the Creed of all Christians, but what an unmeaning form does this confession become, when it is at the same time asserted that this One Godhead is divided between three separate persons, each of whom by himself (as the Athanasian Creed expresses it) is God and Lord. Numbers also who have seen that this idea of a Trinity of Gods is a birth which the faith commonly prevailing necessarily produces, shocked at the view, have taken refuge in the no less awful errors of Arius and Socinus, rejecting all belief in the Divinity of the Saviour. The term God is the name by which in the present day the Divine Being is usually designated, but when this sacred name is mentioned, is there one in a hundred in whose mind an idea is awakened by it, of the Lord Jesus Christ? If not, it is a plain proof that however exalted a being some may conceive him to be, they do not fully assent to a belief of His Divinity. The Sacred Scriptures so abound with proofs of the Supreme Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Oneness of the Godhead, that I do not believe the doctrine of Tripersonality has any other foundation than in the pervertion of Truth. The following passages sufficiently testify the glorious fact that the Creator and Redeemer are One and the same Divine Person. Thus Jehovah says by Isaiah "There is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour, there is none beside Me. Look unto Me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else." (Isaiah xliv. 21, 22.) Again, "Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last, and besides me there is no God." (Isa. xliv. 6.) "I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." (Isa. xliii. 3.) "I, even I, am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour." (Isaiah xliii. 11.) The view then of the Divine Trinity which clears the subject from all perplexity is briefly this.-By the Father when mentioned in Scripture, is meant the inmost Principle of Divine Life, answering (to compare things infinite with things finite) to the soul in man. By the Son, the manifested Form of that Divine Essence, answering to the body in man; and by the Holy Spirit, the operating life or influence of the Divine Essence and Divine Form in Union, answering to the operating faculty in man. Thus the whole Divine Trinity centres in the One Undivided Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who therefore is the only true Object of Christian Worship. It is true indeed, that when the doctrine of Tripersonality is taken away, many specious tenets much insisted upon in the present day must follow the fate of the cardinal error, and fall with it to the ground. Thus the doctrine of the Atonement is generally believed to consist in One Divine person dying to appease the wrath of another, which, however, is contrary to Scripture, and repugnant to reason, inasmuch as the Being of God is dependant on His Oneness, and that He is Love, and in His Nature Wisdom and Life in their very essence. Indeed, the true signification of the Atonement speaks its own meaning when properly divided At-one-ment, or reconciliation, as beautifully set forth by the Lord in the parable of the prodigal son: also in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Indeed the doctrine of the Sole Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ takes nothing away without implanting something far better in its place. Instead of an angry God burning with such vengeance against His offending but weak creatures that nothing could satisfy it but the discharge either in person or by proxy of the full penalty incurred; we behold a God of pure love and mercy. We learn that although He cannot impart happiness to sinners if they are resolved to continue in their evil ways, He is ever trying every means (that

are in agreement with the laws of Divine Order) to win them from destruc tion; insomuch that for this purpose, He Himself assumed our nature, that by combating therein and removing our infernal foes, and at the same time bringing His divine perfections into a form accommodated to our capacities of reception; He might again obtain an avenue to our averted hearts, and by the inflowings of His life-giving Spirit, restore to us and in us the means of obtaining conjunction with Himself, and consequent bliss in His kingdom for ever: and instead of the Saviour commonly talked of, who if competent to effect a work of Redemption, is not at liberty to impart the benefits of it to mankind according to the dictates of His own divine benevolence, but is subordinate to a Deity of a different character, we have a Saviour who possesses infinite power as well as infinite goodness, and is continually exerting both for the advantage of His sinful creatures. The Doctrine of Predestination I conceive to be false, and fraught with error the most dangerous to the Christian life and character, inasmuch as it deprives man of that free-will which is necessary to a right appropriation of the blessings of the Gospel of Christ. The Resurrection of the material body is another error fatal to a spiritual perception of the truth as it beams through the letter of the Volume of Inspiration. It is the peculiar feature which distinguishes man from all the other productions of the Creator's power and goodness, that he alone is immortal, that he is endowed with two interior principles or faculties, called the Will and the Under standing. It is the use or abuse of these which prepares the spiritual man for a future state of happiness or misery. The body being incapable of itself either of thought or action, is a mere instrument and cannot therefore be accountable. It is the spirit which is the man, it is this alone which possesses all the faculties of mind and which consequently is the truly accountable being. The resurrection of the material and corruptible body from the grave is a doctrine which involves so many difficulties that it is really surprising it should ever have been received at all, much more that it should be deemed by Christians as necessary to salvation and endless bliss. The Apostle prays to be absent from the body that he may be present with the Lord, plainly instructing us that he considered the earthly or natural body an incumbrance, from which he was anxious to be free: and he most unequivocally affirms that there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. Can it for a moment be imagined he would have used such language if he believed the doctrine now so generally received, that at some future time his liberated and immortal spirit was to be reunited with his material body? Assuredly not. He was too well acquainted with the true nature of a future state to admit such a contradiction.

There are other subjects in connection with those I have already mentioned, the true nature of which I conceive to be generally misunderstood. Enough, however, has been written to give a general idea of the doctrines to which I am attached, with the opinions I consider it my duty to oppose. Praying that He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, will lead us all to a right knowledge of Himself, that we may follow Him on earth, and afterwards be received into His everlasting kingdom. And to Him shall be ascribed all might and majesty, dominion and power; for He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

Trusting that you will peruse this feeble effort in the cause of truth with that Christian charity for which you are distinguished, and that you will pardon whatever may appear harsh or unguarded in expression; believing that the time is not far distant when we shall see eye to eye, when the inquiry Know ye the Lord? will be unnecessary, for all shall know Him from the least unto the greatest. Wishing you every success in your disinterested labours, I remain,

Yours Sincerely,

H. A.

To this very kind and candid letter, the writer received from the gentlemen who conduct the Sunday School in question a most friendly reply. It