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tent with my simple expression of thanks, and excuse me prolonging my remarks." Mrs. Hook said: "Dear friends,-I am very powerfully impressed with these beautiful tokens of your affection. Indeed, the whole affair has come so suddenly upon me, and my heart is so full of gratitude to the Lord for this unexpected favour, that I beg the friends who have thus thought of me to excuse the imperfect way in which I am now conveying to them my feelings. I do not feel to have descrved such a mark of kind attention. Under any circumstances, had I been consulted, no present could have been more congenial than two such beautiful and useful copies of the Divine Word. I do assure you I shall ever cherish them as my daily treasures, and most cordially do I thank you for them." The church was well filled, and the congregation sympathised with Mrs. Hook, who spoke with evident emotion. Our minister then offered up a fervent prayer to the Lord that this event might be a means of building up the New Church, and after pronouncing the benediction the meeting separated.

WIGAN.-On Sunday, the 15th ultimo, according to the arrangements of the Missionary Society, I visited the society in this town, and am happy to report that a very satisfactory progress appears to have been made since my previous visit. At the service in the morning, when I preached on Samson slaying a thousand Philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass, about fifty were present; in the evening, when the subject was, "What think ye of Christ?" there was a congregation of 130. At both services great attention was manifested, and a delightful sphere was felt. At the lecture, on Monday evening, between eighty and ninety attended, and the attention during its delivery was most intense. The subject was an interesting one:-"Where, and what is Heaven? How shall we know each other in the Future Life?" The friends expressed themselves as having been refreshed and strengthened by the visit, and several pleasing incidents were mentioned in connection with it. Among these, I may mention that a gentleman of high respectability in the town, unconnected with the society, kindly offered to entertain any of our ministers who might visit the town. A Wesleyan lady also, on whom I called, expressed herself highly satisfied with the sermon on Sunday evening, and the lecture on the

following evening. I must not omit to name that a tea meeting, at which 70 sat down, was held on Sunday afternoon; when the state and prospects of the society were considered, and a determination expressed to commence the erection of a school, to be placed under Government inspection; and on Monday I accompanied some of the friends to look at some land on which they had fixed, which is very eligibly situated, and will be the centre of a large population.

After the lecture on Monday evening, a meeting of the society was held, when a committee was appointed for the purpose of taking immediate steps to secure the site. They propose to have a Christmas tree, when they expect to increase the amount already in hand to near £130., and, with subscriptions already promised, to make it £150. by the time they commence to build, in the spring. In addition, they hope to obtain further assistance from canvassing the town.

The most pleasing feature is the connection of several active young persons, who are laudably exerting themselves in the school and church. From having the sole occupation of the room in which they now meet, they have been able to establish an evening school. This has proved a valuable adjunct. It is only due to Mr. Kenyon, who removed about three years since from Accrington, to state that these results are greatly owing to his unremitting exertions, and to add that they have been efficiently seconded by the other members. It is pleasing also to state that a Unitarian minister in the neighbourhood has shown a truly Christian feeling towards them, having assisted them pecuniarily more, I believe, than once. He has on several occasions publicly expressed the high estimation in which he holds Swedenborg and his writings. WOODVILLE WOODMAN.

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giving any particulars of her life. Mrs. Oliver entered the New Church when a very young woman, nnder the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Hindmarsh at Salford. While still young she removed to Leeds, where she has passed an active and useful life. Her married life was singularly happy. Her husband, of whom an obituary notice appears in the Magazine for December, 1848, was a man of exemplary character, and, like the departed, warmly and intelligently attached to our heavenly doctrines. They had thoughtfully read through the "Arcana Cœlestia" and other New Church books together. As she advanced in life she became less anxious to extend her knowledge of the doctrines than to review the stores she had acquired, to imbue them with corresponding affection, and make them permanently her own. Before she became incapacitated by sickness she was foremost in every good work in connection with the church. Her long life in connection with the church had made her known to a large circle of New Church friends, both in Leeds and elsewhere, and by all who knew her she was esteemed and loved. Her home, rendered attractive by the sphere of peace and kindness, was often the place where New Church friends met, and where ministers and others visiting the society had their abode.

Her delight was to be useful, and her good works were without ostentation or self-seeking. In her last illness she experienced the consolation of the truths in which she had believed. She was always pleased with the visits of her friends, with whom, while able, she would converse with the utmost cheerfulness on the subjects in which she was most interested. Though for some time separated from the public assemblies of the church and the active uses in which she had long borne an honourable part, her departure will yet be very sensibly felt by many who have been so long associated with her.

On November 13th, 1867, at Ash House, Edge-lane, Liverpool, James Welch Gillaird, aged 66 years. Possessing a large amount of that love that draweth all men unto itself, and a genuineness and simplicity of disposition that disarmed criticism and appealed directly to the affections of all with whom he came into contact, Mr. Gillaird ceased his life on earth as he had lived it, beloved and esteemed beyond the usual measure of men. May his large and tender heart find a more congenial field of operation in that world, the treasures of which neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break not through and steal.

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Swedenborg Society, Swedenborg House, Bloomsbury-street.-First Thursday `7-0
Missionary and Tract Society, ditto.-First Friday.
College, Devonshire-street, Islington.-Second Thursday
National Missionary Institution, and Students and Ministers' Aid Fund,
Swedenborg House, Bloomsbury-street.-Fourth Monday

MANCHESTER.

ditto

Tract Society, Schoolroom, Peter-street.-Third Friday.

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Members of Conference are invited, when in London, to attend the National Missionary, and when in Manchester, to attend the Missionary and the Tract Societies.

TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

Communications to be sent for the Essay department, to the Editor, the Rev. W. BRUCE, 43, Kensington Gardens Square, London, W.; for the Miscellaneous department, to the Rev. R. STORRY, Heywood Hall, Heywood. Those intended for insertion in the forthcoming number must be received not later than the 15th.; except brief notices of recent meetings, &c., which may appear if not later than

the 18th.

CAVE AND SEVER, Printers by Steam Power, Hunt's Bank, Manchester.

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THE proper use of our judgment is a universal duty. The reasoning faculty was given to man in order that it might be exercised; and only by its exercise can men ever truly believe. Without exercise the faculty would perish; without sufficient exercise it can never be developed. The right use of his rational power leads man to the knowledge of truth, and to whatever advantages that knowledge can bring. The wrong use of it will lead man into error, deprive him of the benefits of truth, and entail upon him the inconveniences which arise from an erroneous belief. As a right use of our judgment is so important, it is desirable to endeavour to determine some of the questions which lie at the root of the right use of judgment. Such a radical question is—"What is the proper relation between Liberty and Authority in matters of Faith?"

This question applies, with varying pertinence, to all subjects on which the human mind has been, and still is engaged. Men who have thought, who have written their thoughts, and which other men have accepted as true, have insensibly become "authorities" on their special subjects. Yet their authority is necessarily limited. "Authority" in science means, not the mere influence of personal testimony, but the demonstrableness of the propositions which such "authorities" have affirmed. Every doubter can repeat their process, verify their facts, or disprove their theories. The basis of all philosophy is to be found in sundry indisputable facts, or in certain necessary truths, so called because the mind cannot conceive of the contrary thereto. Any enlargement of our knowledge, or the discovery of a new method of reasoning, may unseat the authority of yesterday, substitute a new authority of a day, who also may be superseded to-morrow. Authority in matters of art is the subject of many caprices, and the formation of every new

school is a revolt against some of the canons of former schools. To the extent that an art-system is founded in nature, or is suited to the taste of the times, or embraces sufficiently large generalizations, its authority reaches and may endure.

In matters of faith, however, "authority" necessarily extends further. Some things asserted by the writers of Scripture are beyond proof; and the modes by which some of those writers arrived at the knowledge of some of the things which they teach can neither be imitated nor repeated. They were witnesses of certain events, listeners to, and recorders of certain discourses, the inspired teachers of certain ideas. At best, we can but determine whether the balance of probability greatly inclines in favour of, or against their evidence; whether it is more reasonable to believe that the ideas which they teach are true, and that their claim to inspiration is well founded, or to believe the contrary. Some few things which they assert we are compelled to believe on their testimony alone; that is, after we have determined that it is more reasonable to believe their testimony than to reject it. In the case of such inquiry, the real question is-Can these writers be received as the authoritative teachers of those things whereof they write? To answer this in the affirmative is to establish these men as "authorities" in matters of faith; after which, it is logical and just to revert, on all occasions, to their writings for information and for proofs. To the extent that we have accepted these, or others, as authorities, we have, in the free exercise of our right of private judgment, consented to limit that right, and to abide by the decisions of these authorities. We have elected a Cæsar over our mental kingdom, from the court of whom there shall be no appeal. Whether this is reasonable and right must depend on the value of the reasons by which we determined so to accept them; on the nature of the evidence by which the claims of these writers to be authorities were supported. We have not now to discuss the propriety of the election; we have but to point out the fact, in order to proceed to learn how far this acceptance of authority ought to, and must, extend, and how this acceptance of such authorities operates on mental liberty, or the right of private judgment. To discuss all the many questions which will arise in the course of our present inquiry would launch us upon an almost boundless sea; while our immediate purpose is only to attempt a little coasting along its shores.

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All Christians take their stand on this principle, the Sacred Scriptures contain and embody the truths of faith: the writers of the Bible are the final authorities on all points of religious doctrine: what

ever confirms and supports the doctrinal statements really made in the Bible is true; and whatever is really contrary thereto is false. The tenets actually taught in Holy Writ are thus considered to be the whole of the Christian religion, emanating from God Himself, communicated through prophets, evangelists, and apostles, and of perpetual obligation on all men to accept and believe. However, in modern times, men may have striven to diminish the authority of the Bible in every other respect than that of authoritatively teaching religious doctrines, to assail the authority of the Scriptures in this respect would be to strike at the very foundations of any belief in the Bible.

The late Dr. Hinds, Bishop of Norwich, shows, that "the estimation in which the inspiration of the Scriptures has been held is gradually declining;" sinking from the once almost universally received opinion of plenary inspiration to the more recent position, that only "the matter" of the Scriptures is divine and the composition human; gravitating from this to the next theory, that "not all the matter is divine," such as the scientific statements, and the profane history; descending from this to a still lower position, that all the sacred history need not be inspired, for by not supposing it many difficulties are removed; and falling from this to the position which is lower yet, that "the reasoning" of the writers in the Bible need not be regarded as inspired; assertions and not proofs being the proper objects of unqualified assent. Lower than this, belief in the inspiration of the Bible could not decline without ceasing to be belief. Yet those who assert the last and lowest position in the above scale, still acknowledge the writers of Scripture to be authorities to the extent of their declarations of doctrine, which, indeed, they must be if there is any such thing at all as revealed religion, and if religion is anything more than the natural product of human minds cogitating upon religious subjects. Hence it comes, that those who assert unqualified liberty in matters of faith are necessarily driven to a total denial of inspiration, or to such a definition of inspiration as makes the word virtually meaningless, and hence an impediment in the way of accurate thought, an ambiguous term, which may mean much or little, as each person chooses who employs it. All who admit the Scriptures really admit the authority of the Scriptures in matters of faith; that is, they admit authority, and concede, to this extent, their liberty of judgment.

We think this admission is reasonable and right, for we hold that knowledge concerning God, salvation, immortality, heaven, human freedom, human duty, and other subjects referring to man as a spiri

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