first advent of truth to it must be in the character of conqueror-not merely a warrior against false doctrines, but a conqueror of evils-bringing the whiteness, the unsullied purity of truth against all that would aim at its pollution; sending its sharp arrows into the very hearts of the King's enemies, destroying the evil affections that oppose the truth.” ORIENTAL MYSTICISM: a Treatise on the Sufüstic and Unitarian Theosophy of the Persians, compiled from Native Sources by E. H. PALMER, Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, Member of the Royal Asiatic Society, and of the Société Asiatique de Paris. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, and Co.; London: Bell and Daldy. 1867. THIS is really a remarkable little work. It is published in duodecimo, consists of about eighty-four pages, and is dedicated to the Emperor of the French, first in Arabic, then in English. The system of the Sufis, we are told in the preface, consists in endeavouring to reconcile philosophy with revealed religion, and in assigning a mystical and allegorical interpretation to all religious doctrines and precepts. The author says "My present intention is merely to give an exposition of the system; its origin and history I reserve for a future work, in which I hope to prove that Sufüsm is really the development of the primeval religion of the Aryan race." Now, as Plato is said to have borrowed his philosophy from Africa, so Africa is said to have borrowed it from Asia; and if Mr. Palmer can really trace up Sufüsm to the primeval religion of the Aryan race, he may possibly give us a clue to the primeval religion of the most ancient church, a subject so often referred to in the "Arcana Coelestia," and of such deep interest to the New Church in general in the present day. Doubtless many of our readers will obtain possession of the work. COMPENDIUM OF SCRIPTURE TEACHING ON THE TRINITY, THE ATONEMENT, IMPUTATION, AND THE RESURRECTION, by the Rev. W. WOODMAN. London: F. Pitman, 20, Paternoster Row; Manchester: J. B. Ledsham, 31, Corporation Street. THIS is an interesting and able pamphlet. It has been written to dispel some of the errors and mistakes contained in a tract entitled, “Heads of Christian Doctrine, with Scripture Proofs," by the Vicar of St. Giles's, Northampton, and which has been extensively circulated in that district. This circumstance, it was thought, afforded a fair opportunity for the publication of a suitable pamphlet, calling public attention to the New Church views on the four subjects which are mentioned; and Mr. Woodman kindly and readily undertook the work. Though it consists of only twenty pages, it is closely printed in small type, and contains a large amount of matter, which, from the forcible manner in which it is put, cannot fail to impress most favourably, all by whom it is seriously and thoughtfully read. The four subjects treated on, when viewed in the light of truth, are among the gates which lead to the New Jerusalem, and we feel assured that her friends will rejoice to see them opened with so much ability and Christian temper. We bespeak for the tract a wide circulation, because it is so well calculated to serve the cause which it has been written to defend and explain. It is not necessary to quote passages from a work of so small a price; but we cannot forego the pleasure of adducing the following as a specimen of its compact and reasoning power : 'In proceeding to the consideration of the Atonement, it is extraordinary that the fundamental inconsistencies in the current doctrine on this subject, to say nothing of its direct contradiction to Scripture, should have escaped the notice of its advocates,-in many instances men of intelligence and candour. Mr. Robson, for instance, after labouring to establish the co-equality of the Persons in his view of the Trinity, when treating of the Atonement, altogether invalidates the positions for which he had previously contended. The term 'co-equal' evidently implies the possession of the Divine attributes in the same degree by each of the persons. In the language of the Athanasian Creed, 'none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another.' But how stands the matter? Take the attribute of Justice. If the three are co-equal, they must be so in this respect, and the justice of the Son and Holy Spirit must be equal to that of the Father; so that if the justice of the latter demanded full satisfaction for the violation of the divine law, so likewise must that of the Son. So far, however, from this being the case, He was not only willing to forego the demands of His own justice, but volunteered to satisfy those of the Father. Where, then, is the equality? How the justice of the Holy Spirit was affected in the transaction, is not explained. Take, on the other hand, the attribute of Love, and this appears to belong mainly, if not entirely, to the Son. If this attribute had been equal in the Father, He, like the Son, would have foregone the demands of His justice, and, if necessary, have Himself suffered on man's account. What, then, becomes of the equality? As regards the Holy Spirit, the principal attribute assigned to it is passivity—a willingness to acquiesce in the arrangements of the other two." LECTURES ON THE NATURE OF SPIRIT, AND OF MAN AS A SPIRITUAL BEING. By CHAUNCEY GILES, Minister of the New Jerusalem Church. Second edition. New York: published by the General Convention. To many minds the reflection must often have suggested itself, Why should the inquiring stranger, desirous to obtain a book written by that extraordinary man, Emanuel Swedenborg, have thrust upon him a great, dismal octavo, which he sces at a glance he can neither hold in his hand by the fireside, nor slip into his pocket when he starts on his next railway journey? Why, for instance, cannot the chapters of the "True Christian Religion" be issued separately, in a neat series of volumes, which should be externally as attractive as the modern excellence of printing and binding can make them? We have been forcibly reminded of these things by the many well-got-up books that our American brethren have recently published. None of these beautiful volumes surpasses, in neatness and beauty of external appearance, the work of Mr. Giles on the "Nature of Spirit, and of Man as a Spiritual Being." Outward beauty is, of course, only valuable when it is the expression of inward excellence, but when it fulfils this condition it. possesses a real power. It then constitutes, in so far as books are concerned, the "mens sana in corpore sano" of literature. With regard, however, to the solid excellence which must be the soul of all that is really beautiful, we have in this instance a sufficient guarantee in the name of the author. That alone will suffice to assure our readers of weightiness of matter and attractiveness of style; so that it remains for us merely to call attention to this book, and to indicate somewhat of its scope and intention. The design of the author, when he wrote the book, was, no doubt, to meet and further the extraordinary development that is now being effected in the religious world of America. There is, at the present moment, in that noble land of freedom and progress, a manifestation of a singular receptivity of the New Light, and it is fast becoming evident that the shackles of religious bigotry and error, forged originally in the Old World, no longer hopelessly fetter the religious thought of the New. A desire has arisen for more information respecting man's future destiny, his eternal home, and the world he shall inhabit hereafter; and admirably fitted is the work which it affords us so much pleasure to review to satisfy that desire. Calm, logical, and eloquent, it addresses itself powerfully to the understanding, at the same time that the best affections are appealed to by the earnest kindness which breathes from every page, and the pictures of human life and interests that come home to every man. Mr. Giles's book possesses the high merit of being unintentionally eloquent, causing the reader to feel that it is the spontaneous out-pouring of a noble and beautiful mind, and never exciting that disgust which mere prettinesses of language, soulless, because sought after for their own sake, create in the minds of discriminating people. But we shall not attempt to describe the excellence of this work, nor add anything to what has already been said in its commendation, for we should still feel that its praises were unsatisfactory in the first place, because such praises are no proof of their being merited, and in the second, because it is impossible adequately to describe the value of anything of unusual excellence. Indeed, we have ventured to Occupy the pages of the Magazine on this occasion merely from an earnest desire that all its readers might have the pleasure of becoming acquainted with Mr. Giles' work. We shall, therefore, merely add one or two extracts from the volume, as affording the present reader some warranty of the truth and justice of the above remarks: : "Power is the force with which something acts. That which moves and moulds the material world must be substantial;-it must be able to grasp matter, and to wield it at will. The inconceivable and awful forces that sustain the material universe, and carry planets, and suns, and systems in their vast orbits, in such order and harmony, are spiritual, and are perpetually operating. The same forces sketch ferns in crystals of frost upon the window-pane, weave the green web of the leaf, knit the tough fibre of the oak, and mould the delicate and lovely forms of the lily and the rose. Out of the dead earth and crumbling stone,-out of dews and rain-drops, and vernal airs and sunbeams, they distil the delicious juices of innumerable delicate savours and exhilarating wines, and present them to insect and worm; to animal and man, in the beautiful forms of the berry, the purple cups of the grape, and the golden bowls of the pear and the apple. Turn where you will— above, around, below, all the forms you see are spiritual forms, veiled in the thin disguise of matter; all sounds that fall upon the ear are spiritual harmonies, muffled and made discordant often by the imperfect material instruments through which they are sent to us. We are in that world now: it surrounds, pervades us; its pulses beat through us, and give to us and to all things form, motion, life." (p. 24.) The Various Degrees of Man's Life. "The highest or inmost degree of his life lies next to the Lord, or to the purest vital forces which perpetually flow from Him, and fill and give life to all beings, and perpetual creation to all things. This inmost degree of his spiritual organisation is brooded over and pressed upon by Divine influences, as the outer surface of the material body, which lies next to the material world, is pressed on all sides by the atmosphere, the ether, and the various material forces. These degrees never coalesce: they are a clean clearage, running through nature and man." (p. 47.) The World Insufficient for Us. “Enough is an ever-receding goal. The men who have the most knowledge are the most eager for more; those who have the largest fortunes are the most anxious to accumulate. Alexander weeps for more worlds to conquer; and Newton, who has weighed the planets in the balance of his intellect, and with cunning fingers has disentangled the solar ray and showed its various coloured threads, standing on the pinnacle of his amazing knowledge, is yet the little child upon the shore who has found only a few shells, whilst the vast ocean of truth lies unexplored before him! The artist embodies the highest conception of his genius on canvas or in marble, but immediately his conceptions rise above themselves; he sees new beauty and grandeur in the human form; and he, too, is running towards an ever-receding goal. The same is true, only in a greater degree, of the affections. There is no home so beautiful and so full of love as to satisfy every ideal affection; there is no being so perfectly the complement of our own, that we can conceive no lack and no superfluity. "These ideals and aspirations after something which the world cannot give are to man, in the material body and the material world, what the organisation of the sparrow is to the egg. They are voices implanted in man's nature, prophesying another world that shall be adequate to his largest desires. These stirrings of a higher life within us,—these surgings of mighty impulses against the walls of clay, are the struggles of the unfledged bird for a new state of being. They are not,— they cannot be, the mocking of some tormenting fiend; they are the powerful voices of an All-merciful, All-wise Father, who has provided a better world for us than this;-voices of love and hope, in which He calls us to believe in that world, and prepare for it." (p. 68.) It may perhaps be thought that these extracts are culled as the choicest flowers in the parterre; but such is not the case. They are presented as fair samples of the whole work; and if they be considered as flowers at all, then they must only be regarded as a nosegay plucked at random from a garden full of varied and lovely peers. MISCELLANEOUS. NOTES ON SOCIAL & RELIGIOUS CHURCH PARTIES.-All the efforts of those who so earnestly labour for the peace of the Established Church seem at present unavailing. The several parties in her communion are becoming daily more sharply defined, and manifesting a more threatening aspect towards each other. Three large meetings have been held in London to promote the interests of the extreme sections of the High and of the Evangelical or Low Church. The first of these was held in St. James' Hall under the presidency of Earl Nelson. Its object was the adoption of a memorial to the Ritual Commissioners, praying that no change might be made in the law or practice of church in regard to ritualistic observances. Many of the promoters of this meeting "are not in the habit of using high ceremonial, or worshipping in churches where it is used; but, nevertheless, in common with their brethren who do so worship, they humbly submit it is most inexpedient to promote any alteration of the existing law, or in any way to restrain the lawful liberty of the clergy and the rights of INDEX. The the laity." No discussion was allowed This question of doctrine is still more markedly dwelt upon by the Hon. C. L. Wood. In proof of the tendency of the teachings of the Low Church he points to Geneva. "Have we not a right to demand, in the name of justice (he says), and in the name of our common Christianity, that our rulers |