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"To GOD the FATHER'S throne

Perpetual honours raise;

Glory to God the Son,

TO GOD the SPIRIT praise."

Dr. Watts.

The scriptures do not any where speak of God the Father, God the Son, nor of God the Spirit: and can he who uses this language avoid thinking of three Gods?

"Ye angels round the throne,

And saints that dwell below,

Worship the Father, love the Son,
And bless the Spirit too."

Ibid.

Is it not written that he who honoureth the Son, honoureth the Father also? Do not worship and love, and blessing, belong of right to HIM in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily? He who hath "all power in heaven and in earth" is alone worthy of worship, love and praise; when, therefore, he is worshipped as the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace, the mind is free from distraction, the heart is expanded with love, and the understanding is illumined with wisdom. But is it possible to avoid distraction of mind when the Deity is thus addressed,

"To God the Father, God the Son,

And God the Spirit, THREE (Gods) in One,
Be honour, praise, and glory given,

By all on earth, and all in heaven."

Ioid.

The parenthesis in the above verse seems most evidently implied, though it be not expressed: who, on repeating the terms God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, three in one, can for a moment avoid thinking of three Gods? But if any thing be wanting to shew that the Trinitarian views the different persons in the Deity, as acting unanimously, the following will suffice,—

"Glory to God the Trinity,

Whose name has mysteries unknown,

In essence one, in persons three,

A social nature, yet alone."

Ibid.

The Predestinarian's views of the Tripersonality, is most glaringly

manifest in the succeeding lines,

"Glory to God the Father's name,

Who from our sinful race

Chose out his fav'rites to proclaim,
The honours of his grace.
Glory to God the Son be paid,

Who dwelt in humble clay;

And to redeem us from the dead,
Gave his own life away.

Glory to God the Spirit give,

From whose almighty power,

Our souls their heavenly birth derive,

And bless the happy hour.

Ibid.

Let the sincere enquirer after truth examine well the Trinitarian views of the Divine Being, and compare them with the views given in the heavenly doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and we conceive he will make choice of right principles; because the Word throughought shews that God is one in person and in essence; and when it is seen that our Creator became also our Redeemer, and that he alone is our Regenerator, this important conviction flashes on the mind, "that HIS mercy endureth for ever," that he is unchangeable, invariable, in whom their is no shadow of turning, and consequently, that "in his love and in his pity he redeemed us!" The member of the New Church sees the object of his worship to be that Divine Being who brought all things into existence, and who in time assumed our nature, and in that nature subdued the powers of darkness," and led captivity captive." The New Jerusalem doctrines therefore teach, that

Now to Jesus Christ the glory,

And dominion shall be given;

He is Alpha and Omega,

First and Last, in earth and heaven.

What consolation must they enjoy who thus worship the Deity;
Th' eternal Father in the Son,

And Holy Spirit hence, as one,
In thy blest form we see;
Thousands of angels hail thee king,
And endless hallelujahs sing,

To praise thy Deity.

ODED.

SELECT SENTENCES.

"THAT the Being who created the world and man, can manifest to man the nature of himself, and of his designs in man's creation, and of the duty he requires of him to fulfil, is most reasonable to suppose and admit; and that man who will not admit it, must be . irrational, and perverse in his life and conversation.”

"The Bible is a code of the Divine Law, and contains the Laws of that Divine Order, as proper to heaven and the church. In it are contained general truths, respecting the creation of the world, and its preservation: the design of God in man's existence; the nature of the duty required by God of man, that his own pur

poses may be fulfilled; predictions of man's fall from righteousness as originally created, and of the means that would be used to effect his restoration, with descriptions of the nature of it. All which things were revealed for man's information, they respecting such things as he would otherwise have been wholly ignoránt of." "The invisible soul is the Father; the person of our Lord is the Son; and the Divine Emanation, or influence proceeding from him, is the Holy Spirit or Ghost."

"Man's fall from the Original purity and perfection in which he was created, was the cause of separation between man and God."

"To effect man's redemption from sin, and its death, the Lord assumed a natural body, and a natural reasonable soul; or, a natural degree of mind, as a means of drawing near unto man in his lost state, and bringing him again back into covenant with him.”

"The Lord was made in all things like to us, (actual sin excepted) and by assuming all the degrees of the human mind proper to man, and uniting them with the Godhead of the Father, can assist us with his grace in all the degrees and principles of our mind, whensoever we in sincerity and obedience draw near unto him."

D.

FRAGMENTS.

MEN will wrangle for religion,-write for it,-fight for it,-die for it; any thing but live for it!

None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circulation.

Some Sciolists have discovered a short path to celebrity. Having heard that it is a vastly silly thing to believe every thing, they take it for granted that it must be a vastly wise thing to believe nothing. They therefore set up for free-thinkers; but their only stock in trade is, that they are free from thinking. It is not safe to contemn them, nor very easy to convince them; since no persons make so large a demand upon the reason of others, as those who have none of their own; as a highwayman will take greater: liberties with our purse, than our banker.

Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say; but, from their conduct, one would suppose they were born with two tongues and one eye, for those talk the most who have observed the least, and intrude their remarks upon every thing, who have seen into nothing.

There is one passage in the Scriptures to which all the poten tates of Europe seem to have given their unanimous assent and approbation, and to have studied so thoroughly, as to have it quite at their fingers' ends; Luke ii. 1. "There went out a decree, that all the world should be taxed."

Agur said, (Prov. xxx. 8.) "Give me neither poverty nor riches;" and this will ever be the prayer of the wise. Our incomes should be like our shoes; if too small they will gall and pinch us; but, if too large, they will cause us to stumble and to trip. But wealth, after all, is a relative thing; since he that has little, and wants less, is richer than he that has much, but wants more. True contentment depends not upon what we have, but upon what we would have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.

If the apostle were again to appear on earth, since all the multifarious denominations of Christians would claim him, which would he choose? The apostle shall answer, (James i, 27.) “Religion pure and undefiled before God, even the Father, is this, to oversee orphans and widows in their affliction, to preserve himself unspotted from the world.

Review of Books.

The Philosophy of Religion; or, an illustration of the Moral Laws of the Universe. By Thomas Dick, author of the "Christian Philosopher." G. B. Whittaker, London, 8vo. pp. 638.

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THE views which this writer offers to the notice of his readers concerning the future state of mankind, have induced us to notice his work; his book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter is subdivided into several sections; the style is pleasant, and the language good. In page 22 of the introduction, we have the fol lowing remarks;

"We dwell in an obscure corner of God's empire; but the light of modern science has shewn us, that worlds, a thousand times larger than ours, and adorned with more refulgent splendours, exist within the range of that system of which we form a part. It has also unfolded to our view other systems dispersed throughout the voids of space, at immeasurable distances, and in such vast profusion, that our minds are unable to grasp their number and their magnitude. Reason and revelation lead us to conclude, that all these worlds and systems are adorned with displays of divine wisdom, and peopled with myriads of rational inhabitants. The human mind, after it has received notices of such stupendous scenes, naturally longs for a nearer and more intimate inspection of the grandeur and economy of those distant provinces of the Creator's empire; and is apt to imagine, that it would never

weary, but would feel unmingled enjoyment, while it winged its flight from one magnificent scene of creation to another. But although an inhabitant of our world were divested of the quality of gravitation, endowed with powers of rapid motion adequate to carry him along "to the suburbs of creation," and permitted by his Creator to survey all the wonders of the universe, if a principle of love and kindly affection towards fellow-intelligences did not animate his mind, if rage and revenge, pride and ambition, hatred and envy, were incessantly rankling in his breast, he could feel no transporting emotions, nor taste the sweets of true enjoyment. The vast universe through which he roamed would be transformed into a spacious hell. For there appears from reason and experience, as well as from the dictates of revelation, an absolute impossibility of enjoying happiness, so long as malevolent affections retain their ascendancy in the heart of a moral intelligence; in whatever region of universal nature his residence may be found. It must therefore be a matter deeply interesting to every intelligent agent, to acquire correct notions of the fundamental principles of moral action, and to form those habits which will fit him for the enjoyment of true felicity. In the illustration of this subject, I shall pursue a train of thought which, I am not aware, has been prosecuted by any previous writers on the subject of morality, and shall endeavour to confirm and illustrate the views which may be exhibited by an appeal to the discoveries of revelation."

We are happy in being able to confirm the author's testimony on this head, to a very considerable extent; there is a clearness in his perceptions of christian duties, which far surpasses, in our estimation, the opinons of Theologians generally; had he been acquainted with the DOCTRINE of LIFE for the New Jerusalem, the points which he has laboured to establish, he would have found, stated and confirmed in the clearest and strongest language, viz, that all Religion hath relation to Life, and that, the life of religion is to do good. In our present number, we cannot give more than a few of his excellent remarks on the future state of man: we shall however, avail ourselves of future opportunities to select other portions of his work for the perusal of our readers:

"We may learn from the subject we have been illustrating, what notions we ought to form of the nature of a future stale of happiness, and of the preparation requisite for enabling us to engage in its employments. The felicity of the future world will not consist simply in a change of place; nor will it consist chiefly in a change of sentiment or opinion. Its foundation must be laid in the principle of love, and in the complete renovation of the moral powers of the human mind, without which, no celestial scene could produce permanent enjoyment. Although all the Theologians who now exist were united in opinion about every article of the system of Divinity; and although they were transported to the most splendid world that revolves around the star Arcturus ;* after the first transports, arising from the novely and the grandeur of the scene, had subsided, they would enjoy little more happiness in that orb, than they do in this terrestrial sphere, unless

This writer in common with many modern christian Theologians seems to imagine that other earths in the material universe, may be intended for the reception of man on his departure from this world; he does not appear to be aware, that the world of spirits is perfectly distinct from the world of matter; but as he is evidently well acquainted with the noble science of astronomy, it will doubtless add to his pleasure to be informed, that the two worlds, i. e. the natural or material and the spiritual, are quite distinct from each other; the splendid, numerous, and ponderous earths which roll round their respective Suns, are simply, or merely seminaries for supplying the spiritual world with inhabitants; and there can be no reason to doubt that this will ever be the case; and that while the material universe is thus maintained through the instrumentality of its various suns, there is a spiritual sun, by which the whole universe is sustained; which sun though it be not the Lord himself, is the first, or proximate emanation from him: and it is this sun which is alluded to in these merciful words, "he maketh his sun to shine on the evil and the good, and his rain to descend on the just and the unjust,"

See either of the following works by Emanuel Swedenborg: The Wisdom of Angels concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom; or the work on Heaven and Hell.

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