Comparatively few can judge between the writer and the Editor in relation to Mr. Carlyle; but happily most readers can decide for themselves whether the truths asserted are, or are not, taught by Swedenborg and the New Church. A. M. B.

10th December, 1860.

SENTIMENTS AND DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS FOR COPY HEADS.

To the Editor.

DEAR SIR,-On several occasions I have been solicited to print in the Intellectual Repository the copy heads which, from time to time, have been prepared for the Day Schools in Peter-street, Manchester. These sentences have been in use for many years, and they have served to impress the minds of many children with doctrinal sentiments derived from the writings of the New Church. They have also served as texts for intellectual exercises in the doctrines, and as a means of inculcating principles of Truth into the minds of many children. At an early period of my employment as a New Church schoolmaster, I thought that as writing makes a strong impression on the mind, it would be useful to have sentiments for copy heads which would convey some New Church truth, and at the same time sink deeply, as seed-corns, into the tender minds of the young. As many friends who have visited these schools, and witnessed the mental exercises conducted on the principles involved in these texts, have wished to possess them for similar purposes in other schools, I have thought it might be useful to print them in the Magazine. I am yours truly,

1.

Man could not find out his real nature himself,
Because he has no standard of judgment.

JOSEPH Moss.

He would consequently be guided by his feelings.

2.

Man could not know God by mere natural science;

God's nature and attributes had therefore to be revealed.
This revelation is contained in the Holy Bible.

3.

Revelation points out the nature and powers of man.
Therein man's duties and God's Providence are made known,
So that the Creator and the created may be conjoined.

4.

This conjunction of man with God is true religion.
Religion means the act of joining together again.
Order and harmony form the basis of conjunction.

5.

Revelation tells us that God is a Divine Man,

That God is One in Essence and in Person,

That His name is the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

6.

There are three divine Essentials in one Person;
These are a Trinity of Essentials in the Lord.

In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

7.

Essential is a principle requisite for an existence.
The Essentials of God are Love, Wisdom, and Power.
These Essentials are Divine, Infinite, and Self-existent.

8.

These Essentials are called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Father is the Divine Love, or Soul of the Lord.
The Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.

9.

The Divine Humanity is the Glorious Body of God.
The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

"We beheld His glory, as the only-begotten of the Father." "That holy thing shall be called the Son of God."

10.

The Divine Proceeding is the operative sphere of Jesus Christ. He breathed on them, and said "Receive ye the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit was not yet, for Jesus was not yet glorified.

11.

The Trinity is exemplified in every natural object.

It is best seen in the soul, body, and actions of men.
In the light, heat, and efficacy of the natural sun.

12.

There is a trinity of essentials in every existence.
This trinity is its essence, form, and use.

In a stone we have material, form, and utility.

13.

In a plant we have essence, substance, and use.

In an animal, there is its life, body, and instinctive action;
In man, his soul, body, and action, or works.

14.

There is also a trinity in man's spirit or mind,-
His motives or ends, his knowledge, and his actions.
Man is an image and likeness of his Creator.

15.

In every action and word of man there is a trinity.
His words have end or object, feeling, and thought in them.
His actions contain motive or affection, knowledge, and use.

16.

There is a trinity in every operation of nature.

The end or object, the cause, and the effect.

There is a triune God, a triune heaven, and a triune man.

17.

The Bible is adapted to man's triune state.

It directs his life, instructs his mind, purifies his heart.
It is consequently threefold in teaching, one in form.

18.

The senses of Scripture are celestial, spiritual, and natural. It is thus the Fountain of Wisdom to angels and men. "For ever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven."

19.

The Word of God is Divine Truth-" Thy Word is Truth." Because whatever God declares is Truth itself,

He being the Fountain of Truth, or its Source.

20.

The Sacred Scripture contains the rules or laws of life.
These laws are to become the principles of our nature.
Our lives must be regulated by these Divine precepts.

21.

These laws are given to us in a collective form.

They are called the Decalogue or Ten Commandments.
They tell us how to act in unison with God.

22.

The Commandments are written in a negative form,
To show us that the great duty of life is to shun evil.
Evils are those things which they tell us not to do.

23.

The Commandments are the way of heavenly life.
"If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."
"If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them."

(To be continued.)

30

EXPLANATION, IN ANSWER TO "VERAX'S" REPLY TO J. B.

To the Editor.

Dear Sir,-In your last number, "Verax," in his reply to my Remarks, says that the whole of those remarks are founded on the most extraordinary misconception of his views, and that I have unintentionally misrepresented them, and attributed to him sentiments which are abhorrent to him.

Now, my dear Sir, will you be kind enough to allow me a small space in your Magazine, to set myself right, and to show that I have neither misunderstood, nor unintentionally misrepresented my friend "Verax,' nor ascribed to him any other sentiments than those which he himself has set forth in his own papers?

In his reply (page 584), "Verax" says- -“I have never thought or said that a man obtains forgiveness of his sins before he has removed one evil from himself by actual repentance." Let us see what he has said upon this point. In the April number, p. 148, it is said-" The very first grant of remission of sins to the penitent must include the withholding, by the Lord, from evils not yet removed, but intended to be removed by regeneration." Here the remission of sins, which is forgiveness, is said to be granted whilst evils are not yet removed, but only intended to be removed. Is not this saying, that a man obtains the forgiveness of his sins before he has removed one evil from himself by actual repentance? At p. 282, we are informed that "the leading practical idea involved in remission is that of withholding man from the evils he has yet to contend with, in order that he may be in a capacity to overcome them." Here is another declaration that man obtains the forgiveness of his sins before he has removed evils from himself, for it is said that they have not yet been contended with, and if so, then they cannot have been removed. Again, upon this point, in the Tract 55, p. 3 (Manchester Series), it is said that forgiveness can be obtained by asking for, but salvation must be worked for. This, of course, means that forgiveness can be obtained without working. Spiritual work is resisting, fighting against, and putting away or removing our evils; and there is no other way of putting away or removing evil, but by such work. When, therefore, “Verax” says that forgiveness can be had by simply asking for it, without working, he does, to my mind at least, declare most distinctly "that a man obtains forgiveness of his sins before he has removed one evil from himself by actual repentance."

EXPLANATION, IN ANSWER TO "VERAX's" REPLY TO J. B.

31

Upon another point "Verax" says (p. 584)—" I have never failed to affirm that sincere repentance, whatever the motive involved in it, must always precede forgiveness." Now, if we turn to Tract 55, p. 1, we shall find that a very different kind of repentance, according to "Verax," obtained forgiveness for the prodigal. It is there asked-" What was it that moved the prodigal to return to his father? It was nothing, in the first instance, but an external motive,-a desire to escape his present sorrow, and better his outward condition! There is no mention made of his deep compunction for his filial ingratitude, or his desire to make amends for the pain that he had caused his parent." Now, if this be a true description of the quality of the prodigal's repentance which obtained his forgiveness (and according to "Verax" it is), then here is forgiveness granted upon a repentance without any deep compunction for the evils done, or any desire to make amends for past misconduct. Upon such a repentance, which, I think, all must see to be insincere, "Verax" says forgiveness was granted. He has not, therefore, according to my judgment, always affirmed that sincere repentance must precede forgiveness. At page 20 of the Tract it is said—“ Sincerity in asking forgiveness is a sincere desire to amend;" but if in the prodigal's case there was neither compunction, nor a desire to amend or make amends, then his repentance could not have been sincere; and so he must, according to the Tract, have obtained forgiveness without sincere repentance. At page 8, it is said that the Lord forgives man when he desires forgiveness, without such desire being accompanied with any full and sincere resolution to amend." This is hardly affirming that sincere repentance must precede forgiveness.

even

Upon another part of this subject "Verax" in his reply, p. 585, says, "I have never stated that remission of sins includes the Lord's removing evils from the centre of the mind to the circumference, and at the same time bringing into the centre principles of truth and goodness." A quotation or two will soon show us whether the positive affirmations of "Verax" are true or not, and also whether I have misrepresented him or not. In the April number, p. 150, we have as follows:-"When he [man] repents, the Lord rolls back from the seat of his conscious thought the flood of evil, and also withholds him from his evils, in order that by the help of the Lord's Spirit he may purify his soul in obeying the truth." We would first observe, that the seat of conscious thought here spoken of means the centre of the mind. In this "Verax" See his paper in the October number, p. 473, last sentence; see also the Div. Prov., No. 279, from about line 32 to 46, where Swedenborg treats of the centre, or middle, and circumference of

must concur.