be the subject of sin or virtue...

.But the terrible effects of this freethinking do not end here. There is no need of a redemption, and consequently the new science is quite sure, in the face of all history and evidence, that every thing the Bible affirms on the divine nature and redeeming work of Christ is a clever fiction. Thus, according to Professor Oprvomer, of Utrecht, all that the intolerant party of the orthodox the 'slaves of the formula,' as they are disdainfully called-in harmony with every age, has been wont to call the Gospel, is, in the view of the man of higher and progressive science, nothing more than a wasp's nest of fables. The divines of Gröningen call the recognition of the Bible as God's Word, bibliolatry; the reception of the doctrine of the invariability of the Apostles, apostle-deification (apostelver goding); that of the atonement, blood-theology: and finally, to maintain orthodox sentiments, is to break the great command of Christianity-that is, love.

"Such are the sentiments now prevalent in the higher circles of Holland, boldly taught from its pulpits, and controlling the actions of state. It is, however, to some extent consolatory that they are not very generally held by the body of the people. If you send your children to the schools provided for all by the state, you find the Bible excluded, and all worship forbidden. Nevertheless, you must be patient. You wish that your sons, the hope of your country, as well as the objects of paternal solicitude, should enter on a course of scientific instructions; you have endeavoured to bring them up in the nurture of the Lord, in the principles that are dear and sacred to you; you send them to the high school, or some other scientific institution; yet a freethinking government, which knows only particular societies, but no church, and thus pays no heed to the wants of the church, selects for the professors the men that trail in the mud the most precious truths of the Gospel. It is the same with the church. Men who hate the church purchased with the blood of the Lamb and rendered dear by the blood of the martyrs, are preferred as its teachers, and preach patience while they destroy the grounds of the Christian faith, and cast from them the Bible as the rule of faith. In looking back on the past year, we have consequently seen the leaders of the state maintain peace at

home and abroad, and, to make friends of all parties, putting aside as much as possible of the most precious possessions of the nation, that have relation to God and eternity; at the bidding of Rome excluding the Bible from schools; at the pleasure of the Jew casting the name of Christ from their laws..... In the state there is no God, in the church no truth, in the laws no Christ, in the school no Bible, in society no rectitude."

DR. TAFEL'S REPLY TO DR. MEHLER. (Translated from the German by the Rev. J. H. Smithson.)

This Reply is now in the press, and will be published by the end of the month. Of all the opponents of the New Church, Dr. Mohler is certainly the most learned and the most respectable that has yet appeared. In order that our readers may see the necessity of this Reply, we have only to state, that Dr. Mohler's work, entitled " Symbolism, or the Doctrinal Differences between the various denominations of Protestants and the Roman Catholics," &c., and in which he has devoted one entire section to what he calls "Swedenborgianism," has passed through six German editions, and has been translated into English, French, Italian, and Latin; in English it has seen two editions, and is much read at Oxford and Cambridge, and generally by the clergy. The section on "Swedenborgianism" in this work is, we are informed, frequently resorted to by those who wish to know something about Swedenborg's theological writings, and the doctrines of the New Church. It is, therefore, a kind of textbook to those who seek for information respecting "Swedenborgianism," and owing to the learned celebrity and high standing of Dr. Mohler, his statements are rarely questioned by those who read what he has said respecting the doctrines of the New Church. There are many points discussed by Dr. Mohler, and in nearly every case he has either misrepresented or perverted Swedenborg's doctrines and statements. The necessity, therefore, for an effective Reply and Refutation is urgent indeed. The Reply is arranged under eighteen heads, or sections, each containing a subject which has been especially misrepresented by Dr. Mohler, but which is triumphantly delivered from perversion by Dr. Tafel. As the subjects thus attacked and misrepresented are those which are liable to similar attacks

described. The meeting separated delighted and instructed with the proceedings of the evening.

LONDON PRINTING SOCIETY.-The fortysecond anniversary meeting is fixed to be held at the Freemasons' Tavern, Great Queen-street, on Tuesday, June 15th; the chair to be taken at three o'clock; when

the report of the committee and the treasurer's account for the past year will be read, and a new committee elected. A number of the members and friends will afterwards dine together at the same place, tickets for which may be obtained of the Committee, and of Mr. Newbery, 6, King-street, Holborn.

At Heigham, Norwich, on the 19th of August last, Mr. Henry Boult, aged 40, was removed into the world of spirits. For upwards of two years, he had suffered from ruptures of the pulmonary vessels, but had still pursued his avocations. He had been many years a warm receiver of the doctrines of the New Church, and was a regular attendant at public worship until within a few weeks of his removal. The glorious verities which set forth the true nature of man's mortality, and the substantial realities of the invisible sphere of being, have been the only consolation to his bereaved partner, and enabled her to bow with resignation to Him who, in all His dispensations, hath regard to things eternal. May she abundantly realize the gracious assurance, that "the Lord in His holy habitation is the judge of the widow!"*

R. A.

Died, November 7th, 1851, at Chatham, aged 87 years, Mr. James Gleadell, eldest brother of the late Ambrose Gleadell, Esq., of Yorkshire. He was a very old receiver of the Doctrines of the New Church, having sat under the ministry of the late Rev. Mr. Green, of Hull. In the year 1807 he came to Chatham, and was entered in the Government Dock-yard, in which he continued many years, until he was superannuated. He stood alone in the midst of the surrounding darkness, striving to spread the Truth, and at different times to form a Society of the New Church at Chatham, but the day had not then arrived. Firmly relying on the righteousness of the cause he still persevered, and endeavoured to spread the light of Truth as far as he possibly could in his sphere of life and operation. Nearly fifty years had thus elapsed in his

*This obituary notice was received some time since, but the copy having been mislaid, its appearance, we regret to say, has been delayed.-Eb.

noble struggle to disseminate the leading truths of the New Church, when at length he was blessed with the realization of his heavenly design, in beholding a flourishing society established at Chatham, which he adorned by his truly Christian life. A funeral sermon was preached on the occasion of his death, by Mr. J. Jones, from the following words: -“How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come ?" (1 Cor. xv. 35.) which was listened to with great attention.

J. J.

Died, March 7th, Mr. Jas. Henderson, of Southampton-buildings, Euston-square, after a somewhat protracted illness, involving much suffering, borne with exemplary patience and resignation to his heavenly Father. The deceased was a comparatively recent receiver of the heavenly doctrines, for so late as June, 1849, himself, his wife, and their eldest daughter, were members of the Independent body of Christians, at Camden Town, under the pastorate of the Rev. J. C. Harrison. They are now together rejoicing in that plenitude of satisfaction to the heart and mind which the descent of the New Jerusalem into the will and understanding can alone produce. While the departed was in connexion with the Old Church, a large room used by him in his business, was en

gaged by the London City Mission, and occupied for religious services, Mr. Gardiner, who is now agent of the New Church Missionary and Tract Society, being the missionary at that station. Our departed friend, in the same spirit of unaffected earnestness in which he welcomed the

Lord's second advent and its concomitant blessings, and aided herein by the zealous coöperation of his wife and eldest daughter, sought to bring others to an acquaint

ance with those sublime truths which had afforded him such spiritual joy. To this end the room wherein Solifidianism had been

preached was refitted at considerable cost, and appropriated, free of expense, to the New Church Missionary and Tract Society, for the promulgation of the doctrines of the New Jerusalem; Mr. Gardiner, becoming at the same time a receiver thereof, continuing to officiate in his new capacity of New Church missionary. The room has consequently continued open from July 15th, 1849 (when opening services were conducted by the Revds. T. C. Shaw and T. Chalklen), until the present time.-Mr. Woodman, being in London, was invited and kindly consented to officiate at the interment. Upon arriving at the ground, however, he was informed that he could not be allowed to perform any other service than that of the Church of England, whose ministers were the only authorised persons. Accordingly the clergyman read the service from the Book of Common Prayer, after which, with the consent of the clergyman, and at the request of the widow, Mr. Woodman proceeded to read impressively the burialservice from the New Church Liturgy, which was listened to with marked attention and interest by the assembled spectators, and which exhibited its superiority all the more from the contrast.

E. P.

Died, on Friday, March 26th, 1852, Mrs. Caroline Adkiss Rolason, the beloved wife of Mr. W. Rolason, of Birmingham, in the 31st year of her age. She was brought up in connexion with a Sundayschool of the Wesleyan Methodists, but about twelve years ago the perusal of a New Church tract induced her to attend the services of the New Church, and she soon became a constant and devout attendant. She was baptized and received as a member of the society in the year 1842, and a more humble, sincere, and warmhearted receiver of our heavenly doctrines, or one more grateful to the Lord for the inestimable blessing of receiving them, we have never numbered among us, For the period of about seven years she was an indefatigable teacher in our Sundayschool; and during a great part of that time she zealously engaged in the weekly distribution of loan tracts from door to door. Uniting the most unobtrusive and affectionate manners with an unfeigned piety, and always willing to read and converse on the great subject of practical religion, presented in those valuable sum

maries of Christian doctrine, she was received at every house with a cordial welcome. After she became a wife, her family duties soon compelled her to relinqnish these pleasing and useful occupations, yet she still delighted to the last in ministering as far as she was able to the wants and instruction of such members of the congregation as she thought were but little noticed, or appeared to be neglected, by others. As a daughter she was most dutiful, and for years has been the prop of a widowed mother's household; as a wife she was most affectionate; as a mother she was tenderly alive to the best interests of her husband's children by a former marriage, as well as of her own, one of three only being spared to survive her; and as a member of the society she has been most exemplary, consistent in her character, earnest in seeking the things which belonged to her peace ;-always in her place at church unless necessity prevented her, and anxiously desiring and striving to extend around her a knowledge and love of genuine religion. In the inscrutable provisions of an all-wise and ever-gracious Providence, she had to endure in her earthly pilgrimage many and severe afflictions and trials, but her confidence in the power and goodness of her God and Saviour was unshaken, and sustained her through them all. She always resigned to the Divine Will and Love her complicated sufferings, without a murmur or a fear. In my last call upon her, a few hours before her removal, I found her greatly prostrated in body, but wonderfully supported in her mind. After reading a Psalm, and joining in a short prayer, I found her so exhausted from long watchfulness and inability to take her food, that I staid but a few minutes; but she assured me that she had suffered her last mental struggle,-that the Lord had been merciful to her, that she had given up the world, that she was happy in the glorious prospect that lay before her, and was prepared at any moment for her removal. On the Sunday morning following, a funeral discourse was preached on the occasion, from Psalm cxvi. 7, 8, and 9:"Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." E. M.