This arrangement could only exist while the number of members was comparatively small; yet it had an excellent effect. "The fact that they were drawn together, not merely in public acts of worship, but in their social relations, seems to me," says Mr. Reid, "to have contributed very largely to the degree of prosperity which the Society has enjoyed. Those who came into it seemed to come not with their bodies only, but with their souls as well, and to feel that there was an interior bond of union. Every new-comer was hailed with delight, and joyfully received into the little band, with no thought or inquiry as to his position in life." The Boston Society 66 was the first to see the importance and propriety of providing amusements for the young under its own auspices and direction. It was seen that playfulness so natural to childhood and youth, with its pleasures, should not be suppressed, but regulated and governed; and that it was the office of the Church, like a good mother, to do this work; and that if it were done rightly, their amusements and recreations would not be antagonistic but healthful to a religious life."

Dr. Worcester was the son of a clergyman, and became acquainted with the writings of Swedenborg when he was a student at Harvard College; he was then nineteen. He became so much interested in these works that for the last two years, to use his own words, "my principal employment was in reading the Heavenly Doctrines,' and in communicating a knowledge of them to my fellow-students, and I attended to my college duties no more than I was obliged to." This continued to be one of his principal employments. "There appears to have been nothing for which Mr. Worcester was more remarkable from the start, and during his whole life, than his daily reading of Swedenborg, his thorough understanding of his teaching, and his strict adherence to them in all his ministrations." The Boston Society was instituted in 1818, and Mr. Worcester was one of the members. The estimation in which he was held by his associates appears from the fact that he was at once chosen as their leader. In 1821 he was invited to become the pastor of the Society, and he was ordained in 1828. In 1854 he was elected an overseer of Harvard College; and in 1856 Harvard University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He had been fifty years minister of the Boston Society, and nearly forty years President of the American Convention. died in 1879 at the age of eighty-four.

He

The handsome volume, besides the biography of Dr. Worcester, gives some account of the first twelve members of the Boston Society, among whom we find Theophilus Parsons. It contains a portrait of Dr. Worcester, which strikes us as indicating a strong resemblance between him and our venerable friend Mr. Clissold at the same age.

THE LOST TRUTHS OF CHRISTIANITY. Philadelphia: Lippincott & Co.
London: 16 Southampton Street, Covent Garden. 1880.
THIS work is evidently written by a New Churchman, although he
neither mentions the New Church nor Swedenborg, and only speaks

of Swedenborgians as one of the religious sects of the world. "The polytheist, the Buddhist, the Mahometan, the Jew, the Catholic, the Protestant, the Unitarian, the Swedenborgian, the deist, the scientist, have all different conceptions of the character of God and His relations to the soul; and any who are nearest the Divine truth will obtain the greatest illumination of mind, and may exhibit most clearly in the life the operations of the Divine Spirit." If this list marks a natural gradation-for it does not mark an historical one-we "Swedenborgians" occupy a strange place, with doubtful means of forming conceptions of God that come nearest to the Divine truth. How those who reject revelation can attain higher conceptions of the Divine character than those who accept it, is difficult to imagine. But with all this, we can recommend the work as an excellent one, which is calculated to do much good.

MANUAL OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH. Compiled from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. By EDMUND SWIFT, jun. London: James Speirs.

THIS little volume, issued by the Missionary Society, contains a statement of the whole theology of the New Church, and an account of all the theological works of Swedenborg. It is intelligently written and clearly expressed; and is well adapted to a relatively large class of inquirers, who either have not the time or the inclination to read larger volumes.

MEMORY.

TURNING back, turning back, leaves of memories' book,
Unturned for years, how strange and weird they look!
Some records seem smitten with mildew, decay;
Some bright and clear, as written yesterday;
And some, like far-off dreams, pale pencilled lines,
As though some stranger's hand a page had traced
With outlined pictures, that so well defines
Repented acts that may not be erased.

Strange chronicle, whatever page I trace,
A lurid light or shade sweeps o'er thy face,
And other mem'ries, other lives infill
The part they played to thine, for good or ill;
Time's dust may cover memory's old archives,
And overlay the records written there,
But retrospection's wing fans o'er the leaves,
And all the jots and tittles reappear.

Mysterious tome, art thou that Book of Life?
In which we daily pen our mortal strife,
With all that evil, vile, false, poor, and mean,
Or how we've nobly fought with foes unseen,
To win the battle, for the good and true,
With trembling hearts, lest our weak footsteps yield
And all the bitter strife begins anew,

To win but little on temptation's field.

Yes, each day's life's another page turned o'er,
Another step toward that curtained door,

Through which we pass to reap what we have sown,
To live the life we've loved and made our own:
There's nothing hidden, all must meet the light,
Resurgam underlies each line we trace,
Our actions are the pens with which we write,
They rise again to meet us face to face.

And when the last leaf's filled, what will it be?
Our own self-register: that none can see
But the Almighty Judge, He'll break the seals,
And read our life from what our book reveals ;
Oh! will it joy or grieve our Father's heart?
Will angels smile, or sadly fold their hands?
As from His loving presence we depart,
Or join the throng of His angelic bands.

J. P.

There is one dower, God-bestowed, that must surely carry with it the heaviest responsibility that it is possible for a human being to possess, and it is this-the subtle power of influencing others. Consciously at times, unconsciously at others, this strange electric force exerts an irresistible power upon those with whom such a nature comes in contact; as the character deepens from the experience of suffering and the discipline of life, this power, intensified by the greater capacity for sympathy with others, gathers force and strength, and when life is ended, when the "spirit hath returned to God who gave it," the trace of that influence yet remains, lingering, like the sunset light of an evening sky, in the hearts and lives of others.-MRS. LEITH ADAMS.

Miscellaneous.

THE HIBBERT LECTURES.

succeed in the hands of M. Renan. To a fulness of knowledge is united an eloquence and charm of descriptive statement rarely equalled. The occasions of the growth of Christianity in the Roman Empire have seldom, if ever, been so attractively presented. But

growth for the cause of Christianity, and fails to recognise the secret power whereby it is sustained. An age of utter confusion and corruptness could not originate the sublime conception of the Christian faith, nor provide an adequate power to uproot the selfishness and crime so fearfully prevalent at the time of Messiah's Advent. The following as a statement of the origin of

The excitement and political conflict of the elections has not prevented a marked interest and crowded attendance at these lectures, which have been this year delivered by M. Renan, the distinguished French academician. The M. Renan mistakes the occasions of subject of the lectures was the Influence of the Institutions, Thought, and Culture of Rome on Christianity and the Development of the Catholic Church. The lectures were introduced by the following reference to the foundation of these lectures and the value of a free investigation of all truth: "More than thirty years ago the venerable Robert Hibbert left a legacy which was designed to promote the progress of enlightened Christianity is utterly inadequate to Christianity, inseparable, in his view, the requirement of the case: "The from the progress of science and reason. origin of Christianity," he said, "was the Wisely interpreted, the foundation most heroic episode in the history of would be, in the hands of skilful humanity; and the world has never administrators, a point of departure for seen more devotedness, more love of the many conferences' on all the great ideal, than were exhibited in the hundred chapters of the religious history of and fifty years from the time of the humanity. For why, " said the pro- sweet vision of Galilee under Tiberius moters of the movement, "should intel- to the death of Marcus Aurelius. It lectual culture, which is good in every was from the bosom of Judaism that other department of thought, not be this extraordinary movement, to which good also in the domain of religion? no other is comparable, went forth. Why should the pursuit of truth for But Judaism pure and simple could not its own sake, and without regard to have conquered the world; some youthconsequences, be dangerous in theology ful and bold school sprung from its when it is commended in social and bosom was needed, having audacity natural science? Truth needs no obse- enough to give up the greater part of quious, complaisant flattery; the only the Mosaic ritual and to extend itself true homage to be paid to it is to follow amongst the Greeks and Romans until it with a firm resolution to sacrifice the barbarians should be ready for it.' everything to its behests."

While cheerfully recognising the The value of truth is unquestionable; skill and ability with which M. Renan and of all truth, religious truth is the has handled his theme, and also the highest and most important. No sincere relation of much in the social condition friend of religion will deprecate the of Rome to the external progress of the most fearless investigation of its autho- Gospel, Christian writers are bound to rity and teaching. Every order of truth, reject the presentment of these facts as however, has its own peculiar evidence an adequate cause for Christianity. and rests upon its own basis of clearly- Thus the writer of a leading article ascertained and well-established facts. in the Guardian says: “"M. Renan's The basis of Christianity is neither ex- task is to make the purely human cited imagination nor natural reason, but origin of Christianity, its origin in the Divine Revelation. The effort to account circumstances, the beliefs, the ideas, for its origin from the growth of society, and the moral and political conditions or the surroundings of its early history, of the first centuries, seem to us can only end in failure. If it were possible natural-as natural as the growth and for such an effort to succeed it would fall of the Roman Empire, or as the

Reformation, or the French Revolution.
He is well qualified to sound the depths
of his undertaking and to meet its
heavy exigencies. With a fuller know-
ledge of books and a closer familiarity
than most men with the thoughts
and the events of the early ages, with a
serious value for the idea of religion as
such, and certainly with no feeble
powers of recalling the past and invest-
ing it with colour and life, he has to
show how these things can be-how a
religion with such attributes as he
freely ascribes to the Gospel, so grand,
so pure, so lasting, can have sprung up
not merely in but from a most corrupt
and immoral time, and have its root in
the most portentous and impossible
of falsehoods. The Roman organ-
ization was an admirable vehicle for
Christianity; but the vehicle does not
make that which it carries, or account
for it. M. Renan's picture of the
Empire abounds with all those pic-
turesque details which he knows so
well where to find, and knows so well,
too, how to place in an interesting
light. There were then, of course, con-
ditions of the time more favourable to
the Christian Church than would have
been the conditions of other times.
There was a certain increased liberty of
thought, though there were also some
pretty strong obstacles to it.
tell us the conditions under which
Christianity occurred is not to tell us
the cause of it. We follow with inter-
est the sketches which M. Renan gives
of these conditions, though it must be
said that his generalizations are often
extravagantly loose and misleading.
We do indeed want to know more of
those wonderful but hidden days which
intervene between the great Advent,
with its subsequent apostolic age, and
the days when the Church appears
fully constituted and recognised. Ger-
man research and French intelligence and
constructiveness have done something
to help us, but not much. But at the
end of all such inquiries appears the
question of questions, What was the
beginning and root of it all? Christians
have a reasonable answer to it. There
is none, there is not really the sugges-
tion of one, in M. Renan's account of
the connection of Christianity with the
Roman world."

PREACHERS AND HEARERS.

"A collection of the books written with the object of instructing ministers how to preach would fill a library. The waste-paper basket of the editor of a religious journal almost as often as not contains a manuscript article on this theme, rejected because the subject is overwritten." These are the opening words of an article in the Freeman, "Anent Good Hearing." Everybody thinks himself able to give advice to the preachers. Few attend to the impor tant point "that, after all, good preaching is very much dependent on good hearing." The writer thinks that we really need a good series of lectures on the best method of listening to sermons. "It is noteworthy," he writes, "that whilst our Lord gives few directions about preaching, His first parable gives very implicit instructions about hearing. Possibly the more important precept for the Church to-day is not "Take heed how you preach,' but 'Take heed how you hear. There certainly have been attempts enough of late to repair and beautify the pulpit; let a little atten. tion be directed to the pew."

To supply somewhat this want of the Churches this writer proceeds to sug gest some prominent features of needed To instruction which should be elaborated in his supposed course of lectures. One of the first wants of the hearer in order to profitable hearing is Preparation. "The finer expositions of truth are seeds: a heart absorbed with worldly things is like the ground of a wayside, unpre pared to admit them to sufficient depth for growth, or else allowing their vitality to be trampled out. If the hearer has not taken any trouble to lay aside his business and worldly cares before going to the sanctuary; if his mind's eye is filled with the ledger as he opens his hymn-book; if points are continually open by which the train of his thoughts are shunted into sidings-how can he possibly gain the terminus of some fine argument? Said a gentleman,

Last Sunday morning my minister said that believers were the subjects of Divine election. No sooner did I hear the word election than my thoughts were off, and I planned an excellent sketch of a speech for a political meeting.' With minds so prone to earthly thoughts, in vain does a preacher present