forbearance, hearty coöperation with the young minister just come amongst them, and earnest sympathy with him in his exertions in the cause of the church, in the progress and success of which all of them, doubtless, felt so much interest. He concluded by introducing Mr. Porteous as the society's minister, which was heartily confirmed by the assembled friends.

Mr. ADAM HAWORTH, of Paisley, next rose, and made a series of suggestive and highly-appreciated remarks on spiritual greatness and points of external order in the church, of which it is impossible at present, for want of time, to furnish even an outline. Mr. Haworth was succeeded by the preacher-elect and guest of the evening,—

Mr. PORTEOUS, who, on rising, was received with a most cordial greeting, after thanking the assembled friends for the very kind and flattering reception they had given, proceeded with a long and brilliant address, in the course of which he embodied his conceptions of the ideal principles and government of the true church. The ideal of the New and True Church (Mr. Porteous said), both as to its form and expression, its truths and ceremonies, consists in quickened and inspired affection and purified and regenerated intellectualism. The true church is based on genuine and catholic affection, and on intellectual and spiritual perception. It is not a formal, pedantic, or dry intellectualism; not a museum of withered specimens of abstract thoughts, or cold structures of propositions of truth, or a formula of doctrines however splendid and all-embracing;-it is the organic growth in the heart of the individual and composite man,-of the actual love of the Lord, and the healthy develop ment of this love in the throne-places of the understanding. The Lord's presence in the affections guarantees the realisation and possession of truth in the intellect. Only through fulness of life and love comes fulness of light. "He that doeth the Father's will shall know the doctrine." From the centre of the will the Lord radiates truth into the intellect and illumines the understanding, and thence supplies the unitary and composite power to cope with all ecclesiastical, social, and spiritual despotisms and evils. The actual of the True and New Church is the combined services and uses of men and on who have the con

sciousness of the Lord's presence in their midst, and the Divine Truth diffused through all their intellects, and the Divine Charity in all their mind and activities.

The ideal of the New Jerusalem church coming down from God out of heaven, is nothing less, nothing more, than the indwelling in the soul of the Lord's love, and the out-breathing in the life of the sweet charities of heaven. It is quite common for men to mistake the pride of doctrine for the love of God, and to plume themselves superior by reason of the perception of high theological truth and a rational faith; and yet it is admitted that the acceptance of high and splendid truths is often accompanied by evils in the life, and habits in the social sphere the opposite of what such high truths point to. It is granted that the New Church, in its present form, has attained to an exalted eminence in the reception of religious faith; but the exercise of the negative understanding, and the affirmative reception and statement of true views, is but a minor element of the structure of the True and New Church. The New Church has indeed become exalted to the heavens through the brilliancy of doctrine and truth; but the True Church has yet to rise from the planes of the human heart, clad in charms of love, and iradant with deathless purity. The key to New Church doctrine is obtained by intellectual adroitness; the key to the True Church, by the activity of love through well selected and approved services.

Mr. Porteous further argued that the ideal and actual of the true government of a church consists in self government; that none should rule the neighbour, but each rule self, and all unite to assist the development of individual virtue and collective charity. The love of dominion, too prevalent in the church, arises mainly from intellectual and dogmatic pride, and ought to be repressed with indignant rebuke. Service developes order and never the inverse.

These are but a very few points in Mr. Porteous's subject, which throughout was treated by him in his usual fervid and glowing style, for about an hour, drawing forth the frequently and unmistakeably expressed approbation and delight of the audience.

Mr. ALLAN DRYSDALE, of Alloa, was the next speaker, who offered a few apt and instructive observations on "The Means best adapted successfully to dis

seminate New Church Truths;" in the course of which, by narrating some of his personal experience, he succeeded in making vivid and pleasurable impressions on the minds of his hearers.

In the course of Mr. Porteous's concluding address on "The Future Prospects of this Society and the Church," in this the second city of the empire, he took opportunity to allude specially to his own personal relationship to the society as their minister, stating that he felt the need of and expected their cordial and united sympathy, coöperation, and prayer, in the fulfilment of the mission for which he had come amongst them; and he displayed the utmost plainness of speech in regard to the necessity of mutual frankness, candour, and honesty, and the renunciation of dishonest criticism and pernicious gossip, as indispensable to progress and success both of minister and people; and that, unless such conditions were attained, no good could be expected to arise from his ministrations amongst them.

CIRCULAR ADDRESSED BY THE SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE STUDENTS' AND MINISTERS' AID FUND TO SOCIETIES AND INDIVIDUALS.

The Committee of the Students' and Ministers' Aid Fund feel that an effort should be made to extend the usefulness of their institution. Although there are many other institutions of the church which are performing great uses, and de. serve the support of its members, there is not one of greater, if so great, importance as this. Missionary efforts are effecting great service; but without an increase of ministers these efforts must be necessarily cramped and limited. It is also a well-known fact, that where there is an efficient minister there is sure to become a strong New Church society as a necessary result. There is evidently a spirit of inquiry awakened abroad, and if our number of ministers could be increased, many who are seeking for truth, but have no shepherds to guide them, would be led to receive the doctrines of the New Jerusalem. On the one hand there are many societies who are earnestly wanting ministers, and on the other there are young men now coming forward who wish to be trained for the ministry. Before they enter upon the office, however, it is desirable that they should go through a certain course of preparation and in

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struction; the ministers of the New Church should be well trained and well prepared. It is not, however, to be expected that the students, in great num. ber, will come from the classes who possess ample means of their own.Experience teaches that the candidates promising usefulness will be pious, talented young men, depending upon their own abilities for a livelihood, and who can only give themselves to the church by the church providing for their moderate expenses. This is now done by a combination of the Students' and Ministers' Aid Fund and the New Church College. The New Church College provides the College expenses at the University of London, and the expense of maintenance is borne by this institution. With three gentlemen this arrange. ment is working admirably, and your Committee would rejoice to see it in operation with a dozen,

Another great work that this institution has in hand is the assisting of small societies with funds, who without such help would not be able to maintain a minister or leader. Four societies are thus assisted. The funds which were provided at the commencement of this institution, in London, in 1857, are now becoming rapidly exhausted, and a renewal and an annual effort requires to be made and permanently established. Your Committee called a meeting in London, the account of which appeared in the April number of the Intellectual Repository, and they are happy to say that it was warmly and liberally responded to, more than £100. being subscribed on the spot. The Committee now appeal to the other societies and friends of the church throughout the kingdom to help them in this good work. Would it be too much to ask for one collection in the year for this important institution in every society of the church? All donations will be thankfully received, and are requested to be sent to Mr. Gunton, Treasurer to Conference, 26, Lamb's Conduit-street, London, W.C. But the Committee now particularly are desirous of obtaining annual subscribers, so as to give them a permanent source of strength on which to rely.

J. BAYLEY, S. WARREN, A. BRABY.

BISHOP COLENSO.

To the Editor.

Sir, I am struck with the truth of the observations made on "Bishop Colenso

at these If a man smite his servant or his maid with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall be surely punished; notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his money.' The author then proceeds to remark-'I shall never forget the revulsion of feeling with which a very intelligent Christian native, with whose help I was translating these words into the Zulu tongue, first heard them as words said to be uttered by the same great and gracious Being whom I was teaching him to trust in and adore. His whole soul revolted againt the notion that the great and blessed God, the merciful Father of all mankind, would speak of a servant or maid as mere "money," and allow a horrible crime to go unpunished, because the victim of the brutal usage had survived a few hours. My own heart and conscience at the time fully sympathised with his.' And so do ours most completely. If the interpretation of Dr. Colenso be a true one, we cannot hesitate to confess that we must cease to venerate the merciful justice of the Divine law. But is it so? Let us cast aside all prejudice and examine the context. The very fact that this doctrine is utterly inconsistent with such announcements as the following leads us at once to suspect the existence of some error in the exposition of the Bishop:"And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man.' (Gen. ix. 5, 6.) The whole family of Noah is! included in this protection, and the Levitical law rehearses the decree, And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.' Its application was universal, Ye shall have one manner of law as well for the stranger as for one of your own country, for I am the Lord your God.' (Levit. xxiv. 17, 22.)

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Again: Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death. Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death; but he shall be surely put to death. But for that of a man-slayer it might be taken.' (Ex.xxxi. 29-32.) 'So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are, for blood it defileth the land; and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of

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him that shed it.' (Numb. xxxv. 30, 33.) Nothing can be more explicit than these laws, and it is not assumed by Dr. Colenso that, even if the whole Pentateuch were a fabrication, its author or authors were ignorant of the contents of its several parts. They would at least have aimed at consistency, and scarcely challenged inquiry as to the authenticity of their production by the creation of such an anomaly as the Bishop's interpretation implies. This must be admitted by the most determined opponents of 'orthodoxy,' and the inference is obvious that the writer of the words quoted by Dr. Colenso could not have meant to convey the impression which has justly occasioned so much anxiety and 'revul sion of feeling.' Moreover, this persuasion is increased by a careful perusal of the chapter from which Dr. Colenso takes his quotation. For the same person, at least, wrote the whole chapter, and in the 12th verse we read-He that smiteth a man so that he die, shall be surely put to death.' But perhaps the objection may be started that the case of a 'man' is dissimilar to that of a 'servant.' If so, we have only to remember that the servant here spoken of Dr. Colenso himself assumes to be a 'Hebrew,' and a reference to the 25th chap. of Leviticus (and numerous other passages) will suffice to prove that a special and jealous care surrounded these the brethren of their masters. But whether or not in this particular instance the servant was supposed to be a Hebrew is unimportant to the argument, for the remarkable protection cast around him is evident in the verses immediately succeeding those cited by Dr. Colenso. In the 26th, we read-"And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish, he shall let him go free, for his eye's sake;' and even more forcibly in the next verse-And if he smite out his man-servant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.' Now, we ask, is it conceivable that the most base forger of any manuscript would perpetuate such an absurdity as the enunciation of principles so irreconcilable in the same chapter? Must it not have occurred to him that no one would believe a record containing such discrepancies? But let us look at the chapter as a whole. It commences by the statement-' These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in

the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself; and if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him unto the judges, &c., and he shall serve him for ever.' (Exodus xxi. 1-6.) The law, therefore, to which Dr. Colenso objects forms part of a code designed to afford unconditional liberty (for he shall go out free for nothing') after a short period of servitude, to Hebrew bondsmen; and it will be evident that not only liberty but protection is ensured, and that in the very words to which the Bishop demurs as involving injustice. The case supposed is not that of a voluntary marriage, but one forced upon the bondsman for the obvious advantage of the master. How unfair, then, would it be that the burden of permanent main tenance should fall upon the unfortunate bondsman. He is therefore made free to go out alone or free to stay. There are many instances of an illustrative character in the Pentateuch; the gift of Hagar to Abraham, or the handmaids to Jacob, will suffice to indicate the purpose of these compulsory marriages; and in the text the supposition that the servant may love his wife and children is specially provided for: otherwise he was not to be burdened. Suppose an instance: A Hebrew through adversity goes into bondage, his master for his own purposes gives him a wife; the servant does not choose his partner, perhaps he does not love her; at the end of six years he goes forth. Would it be just to make him take her with him in his altered circumstances? Suppose, on the other hand, that being in bondage he desires to marry a woman of his nation who is also in bondage, what has he to do? Simply to obtain the consent of his master, or to defer his marriage until the year of release, when not only would he be free, but the woman also, unless indeed she had been married in the interval, as set forth in the 7th to the 11th verses of this chapter.

"Thus is the shade of injustice dispelled from the first quotations of Dr. Colenso by an appeal to the context."

THE REV. G. B. PORTEOUS'S LECTURE ON SWEDENBORG.

"Emanuel Swedenborg, as a Philosopher, Metaphysician, and Theologian ;" Lecture by the Rev. G. B. Porteous, delivered at the Guildhall, Bath. Reported by Mr. Isaac Pitman, and reprinted from "Pitman's Popular Lecturer and Reader." F. Pitman, Paternoster-row, London. Second

Edition. Price 2d.

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Many attempts have been made to communicate to the public a just appreciation of the incomparable claims of Swedenborg on their attention and gratitude. Every writer has added something to the general sum of thought on the subject, and though widely differing in their style of approach and method of treatment, none of them have failed to invest it with interest. This is partly due to the immense range the subject affords, and partly to the abilities of the authors who have ventured on the subject. Wilkinson's "Life of Swedenborg' stands at the head of the lengthy list, including White's "Biography," Paxton Hood's "Biography and Exposition," Rich's "Biography," Hobart's "Life," the American compilation on "Swedenborg, as a Man of Science, &c., Seer, Theologian, and Philosopher of Spirit," Tafel's "Documents," &c. &c. Besides these valuable productions, most if not all of our ministers have delivered, and several of them have published, lectures on the subject, intending to present a compendious sketch of the great man from whom they have derived so much solid instruction, and to whom they owe so much profound respect and veneration. Such a sketch, conceived in an interesting form, and delivered in popular language, is the lecture before us. We are glad to learn it has already had a wide circulation, a second edition of 5,000 copies having been required.

Mr. Porteous evidently brings to his subject considerable thought and reading, a deep reverence for the man, and a highly florid and poetical style of composition. In some respects it will rank high among our New Church literature, and addressing itself especially to a certain class of minds of a specific grade of culture, it will be found very useful.

If another edition be required, we should only recommend that quotation marks be inserted at the passages excerpted from James's "Christianity the Logic of Creation," which occur on pp. 6, 8, and 12. To a mind so profuse