much excited, and so much occupied with anxious thoughts, as, in a great measure, to prevent them from giving even the slightest consideration to spiritual subjects. This dreadful day of "wars and of rumours of wars," when "men's hearts are failing them for fear," will, it is hoped, soon pass away; when new mental states may be opened, disposing the human mind to the consideration of spiritual things, and to the reception of the pure doctrines and truths of God's Word. For the dreadful calamities and sufferings occasioned by war, are permitted, in order to break down the strongholds of selfishness, and of prejudice, that men may be awakened to a sense of religious obligation to the great Father of Mercies, whose laws of love and of wisdom have been so dreadfully violated as to cause these calamities to arise amongst men. There is, consequently, reason to hope, that the spiritual truths which this Society has to offer to the public will, hereafter, be more in request, and that when the devouring sword has accomplished its work of desolation, men, in general, will be induced to seek the things which are of God," as the only means of prosperity and comfort in this life, and of peace and happiness to eternity. Let us, therefore, trust that the way in these troublous times is being prepared when that prophetic declaration will be fulfilled where it is said "With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early; for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." (Isaiah xxvi. 9.) 66 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. The proposition, that one copy of the Society's works should be presented to the Chetham Library, referred to the consideration of the Committee at the last annual meeting, was confirmed according to Rule VI., and the presentation was accordingly made. The following is an acknowledgment of the Feoffees of the said presentation : "Chetham Library, 3rd March, 1855. "Dear Sir, I have had the pleasure to lay before the Governors of the Chetham Library the new donation which the Printing Society of the New Church kindly presented to this Library, and am directed, in their name, to return sincere thanks for this additional instance of liberality. "Colonel Clowes, a cousin of the late Rev. J. Clowes, especially was very much gratified. "Yours very faithfully, "THOS. JONES. "The Rev. J. H. Smithson." [Ent. Series.-No. 21, vol. ii.] 3 & The proposition likewise of the last annual meeting, that certain works of this Society, such as may be deemed useful, be presented to certain missionaries whose names are upon the arrangement, as recommended by the Missionary Committee, has been carried out in respect to Mr. Mackereth and Mr. Kennerley. The resolution of the last annual meeting, that a catalogue of the works, in large type, be printed on pasteboard and suspended in the vestibules of our places of worship, and at the entrance to meetingrooms, has also been carried out. In the Secretary's correspondence with Dr. Tafel, that gentleman intimated that the concluding portion of Swedenborg's Diary had been forwarded to him from the Royal Academy at Stockholm, when the Committee resolved that ten copies be ordered to complete the sets previously ordered and received by this Society. These copies have been accordingly received, and placed in the Society's depôt. Seeing that the Rev. Paxton Hood has rendered an essential service to the cause of the New Church by the publication of his Biography of Swedenborg, in the review of which various Periodicals have been induced to speak favourably of the claims of the author upon the attention of the public, the Committee came to a resolution, confirmed at a subsequent meeting according to Rule VI., to make a presentation to that gentleman of various works belonging to the Society, as a grateful acknowledgment of the service he has rendered to the cause which it is the principal object of this Society to promote. The Committee regret that various causes have operated to occasion the delay of the publication of the Gospel of Mark; it is hoped, however, that during the next twelve months, it will appear in a new and in a much improved edition. For some time past your Secretary has been much employed in preparing an enlarged edition of the "Documents concerning the Life and Character of Swedenborg." A Supplement, containing many valuable Documents concerning Swedenborg, has been translated from the German, the Latin, and the Swedish, and added to the present edition. This volume of Documents contains all the materials necessary for a Life of Swedenborg, and may, of itself, be considered as a most interesting biography of that wonderful man. It is intended to advertise this new issue of the Documents, and we would recommend that a few copies be forwarded to some of the principal Periodicals for review, especially as at this period several reviewers, in noticing Mr. Hood's publication, have been disposed to speak favourably of Swedenborg. During the past year, your Committee have advertised some of the principal works in several of the provincial newspapers, at Preston, Leicester, Carlisle, Lancaster, Ulverston, York, Chester; in the Stamford Mercury, Sheffield Iris, Leeds Mercury, and in the Manchester Weekly Advertiser. EDWIN PAXTON HOOD AND SWEDENBORGIANISM. To the Editor. Sir,—It will not, it is hoped, be deemed irrelevant to the main design of your Journal to give insertion to the following statement of facts respecting the matter so warmly agitated at present between the religious public and the author of "SWEDENBORG; A BIOGRAPHY AND AN EXPOSITION, by EDWIN PAXTON HOOD." This work, it appears, was recently reviewed in the Christian Spectator, and the reviewer seems to have given great offence to the author, by saying, or at any rate implying, that Mr. Hood is a "Swedenborgian." To this charge Mr. Hood replies in the Christian Spectator for July last, in terms somewhat indignant, but at the same time such as most unmistakeably shew that to whatever " ism" or "ian" his creed may be allied, it is not to Swedenborgianism. But let Mr. Hood speak for himself. And first of all we take his own statement as to the real design of his Biography of Swedenborg. "The limits of this little volume," says Mr. Hood, "altogether preclude the possibility of dwelling at any great length upon the events of the life of our Seer and Teacher. Our design is not this; but rather to seize on a few of the well-defined circumstances exhibiting his worth and his credibility." (p. 72.) After writing in harmony with this avowed opinion of Swedenborg's worth and credibility, to page 267 of his "Biography and Exposition,” he adds:—" But the books of Swedenborg are surely words from the Comforter whom the world cannot receive. But if this has not appeared from what we have already said, we doubt whether any further words can make the truth more obvious." Now, after this we should have thought Mr. Hood would have thought any nickname or cry of heresy of no consequence whatever; nay more, we should have concluded with the reviewer, that Mr. Hood was “boná fide" a hearty recipient of the doctrines which he had denominated the words of the Comforter whom the world cannot receive. But, alas! in this we should have been grievously mistaken. Mr. Hood plainly informs us that he neither is nor can be a Swedenborgian, because he does not accept the statements of Swedenborg on the doctrine of the Fall of Man, the doctrine of Salvation, the doctrine of the Resurrection, the doctrine of the destiny of our world and our race, and finally, he does not by any means hold the infallibility of the New Jerusalem Church. Christian Spectator, p. 448. * * * It is truly painful to refer to such glaring inconsistencies as these in the work of a talented writer; but we here beg distinctly to assert that our business is not with men, but with systems; and we most readily avail ourselves of Mr. Hood's graphic language to express our decided opinion of the system with which he appears, from several expressions in his work, to sympathize the most:- -"Do Trinitarians think of three Gods? Is there not in much of Christian worship as gross a tripersonality as in the Grecian Mythology or in the Brahma, Vishnoo, and Sheva of Hindoo paganism? And have we not often noticed that in most of our prayers we do not treat the personalities as equal; our prayer to God the Father is as to a person quite distinct from the Son. We do not often, in prayer, address the Son at all. When we implore Christ to intercede with the Father for us, we do in these phrases shew that we entertain a sense of the inferiority of the second adorable Person; and it is the inevitable consequence of our teaching that it should be so." (p. 251) Yes, Mr. Hood, it is the inevitable consequence of the teaching to which you refer, as he who thus addresses you can, from an experience of forty years long, bear painful witness; and the system is stationary, it advances not one hair's breadth only the other Sunday one of your brethren in the ministry, addressing the Divine Being in prayer, said,-" Almighty God, we have with thee an all-prevalent advocate, hear him, O, hear him, while he intercedes for us, and hear him now." This is gross enough; the creature praying for the all-prevalent intercessor that he may be immediately successful in his advocacy! When will men learn to adopt FIRST PRINCIPLES; abide by them; and reason them out in their teaching? I am, Sir, yours respectfully, * Does he know any one who holds such a doctrine? ΙΑΚΩΒΟΣ. 421 Poetry. To the Editor. Sir,-The following verses were the production of a young man of twenty. His great classical and other acquirements were united to a singularly modest estimate of his own powers; and his intellectual reception of the truths presented in Swedenborg's writings, was combined with an earnest desire, expressed three months before his death (at the age of twenty-two), that "he might not only continue to receive spiritual illumination, but that the flame of heavenly Love should proportionately increase within him." To his sister alone did he ever show these lines, amongst other fragments. An accidental circumstance has lately recalled them vividly to her mind, and she ventures to hope they may not be without interest to any one who sympathizes with the aspirations of an earnest soul; who has the love which God has for all noble striving, and the tenderness which He in His Infinite Mercy feels for the struggling, though not always victorious, spirit I am, Sir, yours, &c, O Thou, whose nature is Infinity! Whose essence finite beings cannot scan, Parent of all existences! to Thee, A. D. G. Who breathed Thy breath into Thy creature, man, I yield whatever is of Thine in me; That Thou may'st view therein Thy form Divine, But there are moments also, when dull earth And while ignoble clay retains the soul, To seek to free it from its bonds were vain; |