exteriors of the mind only, and it is all abolished again whenever the interiors resume their action. As, then, the safety of the public will not allow of the turning of a great criminal again loose upon society, by which alone he could have an apportunity of beginning an effectual repentance,-(as in the great majority of cases, instead of then truly repenting, he would return to the commission of his former crimes; and as the keeping of him in prison till released by death, however long that consummation might be protracted, would not enable him to make any better preparation for his final change, than if sent to meet it at his first apprehension,)—there seems to be no reason, either of expediency or of charity, for departing, in the punishment of great criminals, from the course pointed out by the common instinct (so to speak) of mankind, sanctioned as it is by the declarations of Scripture; all which unite in deciding, that whoso sheddeth man's blood (in the way of murder), by man shall his blood be shed.' (Gen. ix. 6.) And there are some other crimes to which the same law justly and reasonably applies." Capital punishments, then, justly dispensed, are not, we see, prohibited by the Divine command, which forbids the commission of murder. Neither can it be pretended that a man sins against this commandment, who unavoidably deprives another of life in self-defence; or who, to avoid becoming, either himself or his family, the victim of the burglar or murderer, inflicts a fatal injury on the assailant.” Such are some of the important observations made upon the subject of the Sixth Commandment. Again, on the subject of the Ninth, there are some admirable observations on the habit of lying. Among these Mr. Noble remarks, page 240: : "It really also is astonishing to what a height this evil itself will grow when indulged. I have myself known persons in whom the habit of lying was so thoroughly engrafted, that I question whether they ever uttered truth, unmixed with falsehood, for two or three sentences together." Now, observation and experience of human nature will teach us, that this extravagant habit of lying may be found not only among adults and persons of yet maturer age, but also among children of the age of only five or six years, and the subject has seriously engaged the attention of some medical men. In the former case, we may observe that there are some persons of maturer age who seem to think and to speak only by impulse; their feelings are vivid, their ideas lethargic: the consequence is, they could scarcely think or speak at all if they did not create, in other words, if they did not fabricate; and as the feelings of such persons are constitutionally less under their control than is the case with other persons, they are so far to be commiserated as being comparatively less able to resist hereditarily morbid tendencies. It is true they may do a great deal of mischief; the most enormous calumnies sometimes glide from their lips, apparently without their being at all conscious of the mendacities which they are uttering. In cases of this kind there is often considerable excuse for them, in their hereditary tendency to what may be called moral insanity; but there is no excuse for those who believe them. It is often the believer of lies and the reporter of lies, and not the inventor of lies merely, who is the culprit most to be blamed. Certainly one of the most effectual checks to the WILFUL liar, is not to believe him, not to repeat any thing he has said; when he knows he is not believed, he has no encouragement to continue his practice. We may almost make the same observation here as in matters of trade, viz., that where there is no demand there will be no supply. At all events, where the habit of lying is much indulged in by another, we ought seriously and charitably to consider whether it be one of pure wantonness, or whether it arise from constitutionally false perceptions. This is the more important to be ascertained, as the evil may be sometimes traced as far back as the earliest childhood, and may even be detected in a visible malformation of the brain. Proceeding to a different subject, we observe that, in page 151, there occurs an admirable observation upon patriotism, which is peculiarly appropriate to the present times, and to which we feel that our readers will heartily respond : "To love the country which gave us birth is, in fact, a natural instinct; it matters not how inferior in its climate, productions, and other advantages it may be to others ;-every human being, wherever else he may be placed, longs finally to return to his native land. Of what he thus instinctively loves, it is his bounden duty to seek the good according to his means. This is incumbent on him as a debt of gratitude; for how many of the advantages which every individual possesses does he not owe to the land of his nativity! It is to his country, in a great measure, that every one owes his identity-that he is what he is; and though many are dissatisfied with their circumstances, few are so out of humour with themselves as to wish to be any other individual than they actually are. Patriotism, then, disinterested patriotism, ought to be the sentiment of every breast;-not that ostentatious and noisy principle which often so eagerly arrogates the name, but which is nothing but a form of selflove, seeking by such professions to gain influence and respect; but that genuine love of country which seeks her real welfare and the happiness of her inhabitants,-which would promote her prosperity and true greatness by every fair and honourable means,—and which, in case of necessity, would die in her defence. Such patriotism is the love of our neighbour under one of its most extensive forms; well, therefore, may it be the subject of a divine command, and be included in the precept which requires us to honour our parents. It is also a certain truth, and a most encouraging one, that, whoever in this life sincerely loves his country, when he comes into the other life, loves the Lord's kingdom; for that is his country there." In page 119 there are some highly useful and practical observations on regular attendance at public worship; we had also noticed a variety of passages on other subjects with a view to their insertion in these pages; but the limits of a review like the present will scarcely allow us the privilege of further quotations; our readers will doubtless supply the deficiency by a careful perusal of the work itself. We cannot, however, N. S. No. 102.-VOL. IX. dismiss the subject without observing that Mr. Noble has successfully avoided that mannerism of style, and technicality of expression, which has too often marred the effect of some very excellent discourses of New Church preachers. The circulation of this volume of Sermons is accompanied with our most earnest wishes for the Divine blessing. A. C. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. ACCRINGTON. LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE On Good Friday the body of Christians known by the above name had a procession to celebrate the laying of the corner stone of a new place of worship. They assembled at one o'clock in their school-room, and the procession began to move soon after two. It consisted of a number of the members and friends of the congregation, followed by the Sunday and day schools under their respective teachers, to the number of more than 600. The whole was headed by five brothers belonging to the congregation, named Smith, who played, on brass instruments, appropriate marches and other music with great taste and effect. The day was a brilliant one, and as the procession moved, accompanied by an immense concourse of people, as far as the Rev. J. Bayley's house on the Whalley road, and then returned along Abbey-street, to the site on which the church is being built, it had a very exciting and pleasing appearance. When the procession arrived at the destined scene of operation-which is an increased portion of the ground formerly occupied by the old chapel-and became arranged, the little children sung first a piece commencing "Children of Jerusalem," in a sweet, harmonious, and effective manner. Then followed the singers and the elder scholars, accompanied by numerous instruments in an anthem, which, with its chorus, was given in a bold and effective style. The Rev. J. Bayley then offered up the following prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is the Everlasting Father, and from whom proceeds the Holy Spirit; from thee descends all that builds up thy Spiritual Church in the minds of angels and of men ! Thou art its foundation and thou art its head corner stone! We beseech thee to be present with us today, and to impart thy blessing upon our endeavours to erect this building for thy worship. We seek, heavenly Father, to promote thy blessed designs of mercy to mankind. Without thee we can do nothing; help us, therefore, O Lord, to complete this labour of love so as to forward thy glory in the enlightenment and happiness of thy creatures. Be with us during all its progress; preserve in us a pure regard for the furtherance of thy goodness and wisdom, and a spirit of continual concord and affection. Be present with the workmen, Father of all mercy, and infuse into their hearts such a regard for each other's well-being, and so much care for the laws of thy Providence, that our hearts may not be saddened during the erection of this church, by the loss of either life or limb. And while they are building thy church without, may its blessed principles of charity, faith, and heavenly virtue, be unfolding themselves within. We entreat thee further, Holy Saviour, that this church may be a centre of all the benefits of pure religion, for many generations. Here, instruct the ignorant, strengthen the weak, confirm the wavering, comfort the afflicted, impart ease to the weary, and diffuse thy love to all. Bless thy servants who may here minister in the things of salvation, with meekness and holiness of heart. Thus may all who frequent thy courts here, obtain the blessings convenient for them, and may each soul confess that thou, O Jesus, art the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last of everything good, true, and excellent! To thee be all the glory." Our Father," &c. The stone was laid by Mr. Heap, a respected member of the body, and one of the very few who remain of those who were concerned in building the former chapel. He managed his trowel very artistically, and concluded by saying, "I lay this stone in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is the Father, and from whom is the Holy Spirit, and who is the only God of heaven and earth." The following inscription was under the stone in a glass case :-" The corner stone of this church was laid on Good Friday, the 21st of April, in the year of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, 1848. It was built on the site of a former church which had existed forty-one years, and which had become too small and inconvenient for the wants of the society. The object in its erection is to promote the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is the Divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the practice of his will among men, which is to act from love and wisdom in all the circumstances of life, and in all the relations of mankind to each other. To effect this object the Holy Word will be unfolded (from Sabbath to Sabbath, and at other convenient times) as the great treasury of heavenly wisdom to men and angels, and its three senses of natural, spiritual, and celestial intelligence, unceasingly taught in conformity with the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem, as taught by that eminent servant of the Lord, Emanuel Swedenborg. The committee appointed to superintend the building consists of James Grimshaw, Joseph Barnes, Samuel Spencer, William Barnes, Henry Dixon, Richard Taylor, Henry Heap, G. R. Haywood, James Heap (who was selected to lay the corner stone), and Jonathan Bayley, who is also the minister of the society. "These all pray that the Lord, from whom every good proceeds, will assist them to finish the work they have commenced, and will make it the means in the neighbourhood of promoting his king dom upon earth." Mr. Heap then addressed the spectators to the following effect :-I well remember the building of our old chapel, and I believe there are not more than about a dozen males and females who were then adults and who are now living among us. But I have the pleasure of seeing many of their offspring with us on the present occasion, many of whom I have no doubt have heard their worthy parents tell of the building of the old chapel, what a great thing they had achieved, what little means we had amongst us for completing such a work, and how all set their hearts and hands as one man in performing any little uses they could towards its completion; and when it was finished, without a gallery, it would not seat more than 250. In our usual services it was seldom more than one-third occupied. This being the case, you may well think none of us then thought we should ever need another during our lives; but, strange as it might then have been considered, we have begun to build another, and we are this day met to celebrate the event. This, I think, must be considered the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. The ceremony which we have this day met together to perform has a useful tendency, if properly considered, not only in a temporary, but in a higher-a spiritual point of view. We are taught to consider every thing which we find noticed in the word of God as teaching us divine spiritual lessons; and if so, then the building of places in which to worship the God of that Word, as men. tioned in the Scriptures, must be of this character also. I believe the first place in which we find stones mentioned, as belonging to the House of God, in the sacred Scriptures, is Genesis xxviii. 18. And when Jacob took stones for his pillow, and dreamed that he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven,-the Lord standing above it,—when he arose in the morning, he set up the stone for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it, and he called the name of that place Bethel, which, in the Hebrew language, means the House of God. The corner-stone, or head-stone of the corner, as mentioned in Psalm cxviii. 22, is understood by all Christians as having reference to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, because the doctrine concerning Him is the chief thing in the church. Our Lord himself quotes this passage, as recorded in three of the Gospels, as evidently bearing a relation to Him. This was so understood by the apostle Peter. Hence he states in his first epistle, c. ii., v. 3-7, "If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. Wherefore it is contained in the Scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on Him shall not he confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe, He is precious; bnt unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner." Thus alluding to the rejection of Him by the Jews, and the belief on Him by the then infant state of the Christian church, as being the true and primary doctrine concerning the Lord in His church. As the corner stone is the foundation and principal support of a building, so true doctrine concerning the Lord in His divine humanity is the support of all that constitutes His church or spiritual house in heaven, the world, and in every human mind. In proof that the stone corresponds to something spiritual, and indeed to spiritual truth, we need only consult the 16th chapter of Matthew, where our Lord puts a question to His disciples," But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said, Thou art Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The confession that Peter made that the divine humanity of the Lord was derived from His essential divinity, and thus was the Son of the living God, obtained for Peter that name, which in the Greek language means a stone or rock, and our Lord says, "On this rock I will build my church." We may easily see that the rock on which He will build His church is the devout acknowledgment of the divine truth, that He in His divine humanity is the God of heaven and earth. The great truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only God of heaven and earth, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the corner stone of His spiritual church; it is the pearl of great price, to buy which we must sell all that we have of our own selfishness in heart, thought, and life. May we, then, my dear friends, not lose sight of that spiritual house or temple which we should all build in our minds, by learning, loving, and practising the truth of God's most holy word, cultivating heavenly charity, and performing all the useful acts we can honestly and faithfully; then, as stated by the Apostle Peter, we shall as lively stones be built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to the Lord. Then, if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we shall have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We shall thus be useful citizens while here, and happy subjects of the Lord's heavenly kingdom hereafter. The Rev. J. Bayley then addressed the assembled multitude as follows:- My beloved friends, before adverting to anything further, permit me to offer you my heartfelt thanks for the interest in our proceedings you have testified this day. It gladdens us to find that as friends and good neighbours you are rejoiced in our joy. And we are joyous on this occasion because we believe ourselves engaged in a great work, designed to promote glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men. When the children of Israel were crossing the Jordan, they took, by command of Joshua, twelve stones, which they were to set up as a memorial, so that when their children or others asked "What mean you by these stones?" they might answer them, "When the ark passed over Jordan the waters were cut off." In the minds of some of you, my friends, the inquiry will arise, "What mean ye by this stone ?" And our answer is, the Lord has enabled us to see his truth in clear and beauteous light, and we intend in this erection to forward to the utmost of our power his kingdom upon earth. We might dilate upon this theme for ever, but we will only select two features of the church we love and present unto you. These two are, the goodness of her doctrines, and their clearness to the mind. These are meant in the description given of the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelations, by the city being of pure gold, and being also clear as crystal. Heavenly love is the gold of religion-the gold of angels and doctrines that are harmonious, just, and right, and are clear as crystal. How good, how golden, is the teaching of the New Church concerning the Lord! God is love, and there is only one. He is our father, our saviour, our friend. When we had slighted his will and departed from his ways, he, who loved us best, did not leave our redemption to any other; but God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. He not only lived for us as a man, but died for us, and that astonishing act of mercy we this day celebrate. He died to conquer hell. He died to glorify his human nature. He died that we might live. And he who manifested his love by dying, will withhold nothing from us that can promote our happiness. Jesus, then, is our God for ever. The whole Trinity is in him. His soul is the Father; his humanity is the Son; his spirit is the Holy Spirit. In him dwells all the fulness of the godhead bodily. Can anything be |