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and that his writings mainly treat about the nature of this Church, and the way of coming into it. Of all this he spoke with full conviction, adding the following memorable words:—' All this I see and know without being the subject of any visions, and without being a fanatic; but when I am alone, then my soul is as it were out of my body, and in the other world; I have, however, the same appearance which I have now. But when I think about what I am to write, and while I am writing, then I have a perfect inspiration, otherwise, this would be my own; but now I know for certain, that what I am writing is a living truth of God.'

"When anyone dies, he does not lay aside the peculiar bias of his soul. This he takes with him. Whereupon I could not refrain from asking him after the occupation of Professor D. Nils Wallerius, which he said consisted in his still holding disputations.

"His earlier books he had printed in London, but his later ones in Amsterdam. But he had nevertheless been in England in order to present them to the Academy of Science [the Royal Society?]; and on his return home he presented them, in Copenhagen, to the King of Denmark; just as he presented them last week to both their majesties in Drotningholm. They were everywhere well received. He had only twelve copies with him in this country, of which he had destined four for the public libraries, and other four for our principal bishops.

“That all this has been Swedenborg's own relation, and that everything that I wrote above I have seen and heard with my bodily eyes and my bodily ears, I testify with the signature of my name. "CARL CHRISTOPHER GJÖRWELL."

PROFESSION AND PRACTICE.

THERE is a tendency to separate profession and practice, in all things with which imperfect and sinful man has to do, but more especially with regard to religion. This, no doubt, may be accounted for from the circumstance that religion lays on its adherents higher obligations and more important duties, and demands of them greater sacrifices and larger charities, than the laws of moral and civil life. Every one who acknowledges the authority of the Scriptures, in that acknowledgment admits, and even virtually maintains, that a higher standard of excellence is established by the Divine law than by any human system of morals or code of laws. But if with that acknowledgment there is little or no striving after the life to which it is designed to lead, there is a necessary inconsistency, and an increasing tendency to settle down in a

condition of mind which blinds it to the perception of that inconsistency, and blunts it to a just sense of the injury which such conduct inflicts in time, and must produce in eternity. The higher the standard, the greater the danger of falling short of even a lower degree of excellence; for if that standard comes to be generally considered as practically unattainable, the law itself which forms it must come to be regarded as not strictly obligatory. This, too, is certain, that a man can have no real sense of guilt, in failing to do what he is taught to believe he has no power to accomplish.

The moral law prescribes a life which so few have attained, or even approached, that it has become a settled belief with some that such a life is unattainable. This depreciation of the law has necessarily given undue importance to some other requirements of religion, chiefly to those of a formal character, which of themselves, when separate from the practice of virtue, avail little or nothing. Yet those who adhere to this opinion by no means consider the moral law as abrogated, or deprived of any of its authority, or of its power of condemnation. On the contrary, they admit that we are required to keep the law, but believe it to be impossible for us to keep it perfectly, or so perfectly as to fulfil it, and so escape the curse it pronounces against anyone who "continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them."

To relieve us practically from the obligations of the law, the standard of perfection has been fictitiously raised so high, as to place it beyond the reach, not only of human hope, but of human possibility, and not merely in the present state of human nature, but in any possible state of finite existence. The law is thus made to demand of man what he never, even in his best state, was able to render. There is no perfection in created beings. No one on earth, or even in heaven, can serve God perfectly, that is, so perfectly as to exclude the idea of a more perfect service. The heavens are not clean in the Lord's sight. No finite being can love God without some admixture of the love of self, nor believe in God without some shadow of unbelief, nor trust in Him without some feeling of self-confidence. This is our infirmity. But it is the glory and happiness of finite beings, that they can be continually perfected, without ever attaining perfection. And the nearer they approach to God, the more will they perceive their distance from Him, for they will be continually growing in wisdom; and the greatest perfection of wisdom is to see, with the greatest distinctness, the infinite distance between God and man. The more we know of God and of ourselves, the more clearly will we see the infinity of this distance.

But this is a point of practical wisdom, as all true wisdom is practical. Whatever deals most largely in either the unpractical or the impracticable is the furthest removed from true wisdom. But that wisdom which shows us our true distance from God, shows us our true relation to Him. It shows us that while God is infinitely distant from us in His immensity and eternity, He is infinitely near to us in His love and in His pity, in His grace and His truth: and further, that while He is infinitely distant from us in His pure and essential divinity, He is infinitely near us in His Divine humanity. Thus true wisdom shows us that while there is an infinite distance between the nature and perfection of God and the nature and perfection of man, there is no ground for supposing that it is hopeless or presumptuous to entertain the hope that they can be brought into proximity and conjunction by actual harmony. If God has revealed Himself as a Father, we can actually love Him, and so become His children; if He has revealed Himself as a Master, we can actually honour and obey Him, and so become His servants.

As we all have a tendency to this sinful inconsistency of separating profession from practice, which is to separate truth and goodness, it becomes us to have a well-grounded conviction of the duty and importance of rendering to God the love and the fear which are due to Him, as our Heavenly Father and Almighty Governor.

REVIEWS.

THE ECONOMY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

By EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

Translated from the Latin by the Rev. AUGUSTUS CLISSOLD, M.A.
Boston, U.S.: T. H. Carter and Sons.

THIS is a new and splendid edition of one of the best known of all Swedenborg's philosophical works. It is highly gratifying to see one of those magnificent but too-little known productions presented in so attractive a form. The typography, paper, and binding are in the best style of modern workmanship, and reflect great credit on the taste and spirit of the publishers. The work is comprised in two octavo volumes, of very similar proportions to those of the former edition, and its price is such as ought to insure for it a wide circulation. It is published in America at six dollars, which is at present equal to about 18s. of our money.

It may not be necessary to speak of the interior of this edition of the "Economy," further than to mention that the translation is that of the

Rev. A. Clissold, and that the subjects treated of are chiefly the Blood and its vessels, the mechanism of the Heart, the Brain and its motion, and the Human Soul.

Nothing is to be more regretted than the slight attention that is paid to the philosophical works of Swedenborg. This will not be always the case. These works are perfect models of what scientific works ought to be. They are theoretical, it is true, but their theories are of those which are based upon facts. The method of the writer is first to state distinctly and fully all the known facts, and then to theorise about them. And it is one of the most marvellous things in the world to see the mighty intellect of Swedenborg, unassisted by direct angelic intelligence, and in its own native power and pride, at work upon the materials which his industry had collected, arranging, methodising, and comparing, until everything is grasped, the mutual bearings of various isolated facts seen, and the splendid deduction drawn. There cannot be a better exercise for an opening intellect than to wrestle with Swedenborg, over the ground of his discoveries, nor for any scientific writer, than to study the method of scientific research that is here followed.

"To a knowledge of the causes of things,-in other words, to truths,-nothing but experience can guide us. For when the mind, with all the speculative force that belongs to it, is left to rove abroad without this guide, how prone is it to fall into error, nay, into errors, and errors of errors ! How futile is it after this, or at any rate, how precarious, to seek confirmation and support from experience! We are not to deduce experience from assumed principles, but to deduce principles themselves from experience."

So says the author in the work under review, and his practise is not different. We hope that many of our readers will be disposed to avail themselves of the very pleasant medium which Messrs. Carter have provided to become acquainted with the invaluable philosophical writings of Swedenborg. We understand that the "Animal Kingdom" is advertised to succeed the "Economy" very shortly. J. F. P.

GEMS FROM THE WRITINGS OF SWEDENBORG; with a Memoir. By
Rev. 0. PRESCOTT HILLER. Second edition, revised, with
additions. In two vols. Boston: T. H. Carter and Sons.
THIS is the reprint of a well-known book, the result of many years of
digging in an inexhaustible mine. Mr. Hiller's work has always been
a god-send to those who wanted to make a present of a book which
contained in a form not too dry for such a purpose, the precious gems
of the New Jerusalem. There was, however, one drawback to the first

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edition, which is removed in this. It was impossible to give away a copy of the first edition as a present, without having it rebound. Messrs. Carter, in advertising their edition, describe it as consisting of two "neat and beautiful volumes." These expressions are certainly justified; and no one need hesitate to present his friend with the " their present form. At the same time the work must have been greatly enlarged, as each volume of the new edition is fully equal in size to the former single volume.

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J. F. P.

CHAPEL GEMS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOLS. By GEO. F. ROOT and B. R. HANBY. Chicago Root and Cady.

THIS book cannot be reviewed in these pages, inasmuch as it consists chiefly of music. We regret this exceedingly, as we should like above all things to introduce this lively little volume to the notice of all the teachers in our Sunday Schools. We hope, however, they may be induced to review it for themselves by sending for a copy and giving it a thorough examination. "Chapel Gems" is a compilation from a juvenile musical quarterly, published in Chicago, by Root and Cady. We may mention that Mr. Root is the composer of the many beautiful songs for children which have appeared in the "Children's New Church Magazine." The "Song-birds," which is the title of the musical quarterly before referred to, contains nothing but original pieces, both music and words, and the "Chapel Gems" is a selection of the best of them. It contains more than hymns for singing during school, for a second part is added containing pieces for Sunday-school exhibitions, concerts, pic-nics, &c. The book is thus a most invaluable assistance to those who are engaged in the high, and we may add, the holy employment, of cultivating a love of music among children in Sundayschools. Although not produced expressly for the children of the New Church, it is quite suitable for their use, being compiled under the eye of a New Churchman, and in a large measure composed by him.

The songs and hymns in this book are thoroughly child-like, and bear evidence everywhere of a strong sympathy with the feelings and ideas of children. They are just what children will sing with enjoyment; the music and words go hand-in-hand in this respect, and the one reflects interest upon the other. Some of the titles of the pieces in the first portion of the book are—“ Children of Jerusalem," "Now to Jesus Christ the glory," "The Beacon Light," "Jesus by the Sea," "No Night in the Golden City," "The Lambs of the Upper Fold," "We are Little Sunbeams;" and in the second part we have, among

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