South might perhaps be retaining this evil to their spiritual injury. We did this, suppos ing that if it could be kindly, yet faithfully, shown to them, they might be induced to put it away by an ex animo renunciation, and every Newchurchman is taught that our evils must be seen if they are to be repudiated. In accomplishing our object we have dealt in no angry denunciations, nor have we urged any thing like a sudden and violent disruption of bonds like those which connect the tares and the wheat together. We have evinced all along an appreciative sense of the difficulties, political and casuistic, growing out of the hereditary, and, therefore, involuntary, relation in which many well-disposed slave-masters find themselves providentially placed. Fully aware of their embarrassments, we have simply sought of them that they will not appropriate the evil and wrong which assuredly marked the first imposition of the yoke of bondage upon the neck of the African. While we have freely acknowledged the hidden workings of an all-wise and merciful Providence in the hard lot of the colored race in our country, we have, at the same time, endeavored to guard this great truth against abuse by making it in any degree a plea for oppression or a quietus to conscience when its voice was being heard in the depths of the soul. This then is the head and front of our offending, and we would seriously propose the question to our correspondent if there is a single one of these positions which he is prepared to deny? Is there one of them at variance with what he sees to be the genuine principles of the New Church, of whose good name he is evidently so jealous, while at the same time he takes, in our view, a very strange method to consult it? Will he not then, until he can show their dissonance with truth, do well not only to suppress, but to discard, all that "indignation," however holy it may be, which has stirred him up to make such a severe protest against our mode of treating a delicate subject. If he can point out a false or mischievous feature in that discussion, we can assure him he shall lack no evidence of our repentance and reformation, and he may husband his "indignation" till some more fitting occasion shall call it forth. ARTICLE IV. INVESTIGATION OF THE "USUS LOQUENDI" OF SCRIPTURE RELATIVE TO SPIRITUAL CREATION. In a recent overlooking of old papers, the following article turned up, written twentyfour years ago. Being somewhat struck, on perusal, with the approximation of some of the leading ideas to the teachings of the New Church, notwithstanding that those teachings were then a terra incognita to us, we have thought the insertion of it in our pages might not be uninteresting, as giving evidence of a certain previous but unconscious preparation to receive the clearer light of the New Jerusalem. The existence of such a preparation is probably for the most part a very sure pledge that the Divine Providence will in some way bring the subject of it in contact with the truth. The reader will pardon the use of the Greek and Hebrew terms, as the object of the article could not be well accom. plished without them.-ED. THAT Some of the modern principles of interpretation are decidedly hostile to the recognition of secondary or spiritual senses in the inspired Volume, is equally plain to be perceived, and deeply to be regretted. We readily admit that fanciful expositors have often set the example of visionary interpretation, from the days of Origen downward; and that men of weak minds and meagre attainments in Biblical science, frequently disfigure their public teachings with such unnatural, childish, and whimsical comments, as to disgust the so ber hearer, while they afford matter of profane jest to the light minded. For this licentious interpretation we are no advocates; and we hesitate not to consider the habit of forcing strange and out of-theway constructions upon the obvious letter of the Scripture among the most pernicious uses ever made of the Word of God, and indicating a want of respect very nearly allied to a total rejection of the whole message. This, however, is the evil of one extreme-unhappily it has driven many to the other; especially when aided by an undue familiarity with a class of commentators deeply tinctured with a spirit of infidelity. These rational scholiasts, in spite of all the guards which the student of the Bible can put upon himself, will scarcely fail to impart a secret dislike to any other than a merely literal and frigid mode of interpretation of the Sacred Oracles. Indeed, it may be questioned whether the canons of Biblical criticism which have been advocated in some of the German schools, when applied to the study of the prophets, would not have led as directly to the rejection of the Saviour's claims to be the true Messiah, as did the prejudices of the Jews at the time of His advent. But our design is not to dwell upon this topic. We merely glance at it in entering upon a brief investigation, which takes for granted, from beginning to end, the fact of a spiritual meaning throughout a great portion of the word of God. We shall assume particularly the following points as the basis of the ensuing exposition. 1. That the books of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, contain numberless direct and unequivocal allusions to the Person, Character, Works, Kingdom, and People of Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. 2. That the ancient nation of Israel, frequently spoken to or spoken of collectively, as a single person, under the title of Israel, Jacob, &c., was designed to be a type of God's true people, under the Gospel, or of the "Israel after the spirit," a body made up of Jews and Gentiles, even as many as the Lord our God should call. 3. That in many instances the language which is applied primarily to "Israel after the flesh," receives a complete fulfilment only as applied to the spiritual Israel, or that the things predicated of the former are often to be understood in a more full and emphatic sense of the latter. In attempting to elicit a correct view of the spiritual creation so often alluded to in the Sacred Writings, and to apply it to the solution of some difficult passages, we shall have considerable recourse to the original terms. Without entering into a critical analysis of the different Hebrew terms which are rendered create, make, form, we simply observe that the words 7, bara, yatzar, and y asah, are used interchangeably to express these ideas, although they cannot be considered as strictly synonymous. So in the Greek we have zrisw, zoiɛw, and 2a5w, by which the above Hebrew terms are usually, though not uniformly, translated, and between which probably the same, or nearly the same, mutual diversity of import obtains. That the predominant use of the terms is to express materul creation or formation, is unquestionable; but it is equally clear that the work of moral renovation, or new creation, is intimated by the same words, and we shall present to the reader a concatenated view of several passages, forming a chain of elucidation on this point which we trust will not be without its interest, though it subject us to the imputation of savoring of mysticism, or of leaning far more to the school of Cocceius than to that of Grotius-an obliquity to whichwe readily plead guilty. 66 The purpose of the Most High relative to the work of a new spiritual creation, to be accomplished under the Gospel Age, is clearly announced in the following words, Is. lxv. 17, 18, "For behold I cre ate (i, bora) new heavens and a new earth-be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create (xi, bora)." That this glorious creation is accomplished in the bringing into spiritual being through the agency of the Spirit of Life, a peculiar people, made new creatures in Christ Jesus, will not be questioned, especially as we find this term in other places expressly applied to the renewing influences of the Holy Ghost. Says David, Ps. li., “ CREATE (77, bera, Gr. zzusov) within me a clean heart," &c. Again, the following language of the Psalmist is entirely explicit. Ps. cii. 18, "This shall be written for the generation to come, and the people wшICH SHALL BE CREATED (777, nibra, Gr. xisoμevos) shall praise thee." This is paralleled, Ps. xxii. 31, "They shall declare His righteousness to a nation that SHALL BE BORN (, nolod)." To the same import, Is. xliii. 7, "I will say to the North, give up, and to the South, keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by my name, for I have CREATED Him (77, berathiv) for my glory; I HAVE FORMED HIM (77, yetzartiv), yea I HAVE MADE Him (2, asithiv)." These passages receive an ample explication by a recurrence to the New Testament, the peculiar phraseology of which is modified more or less in every page by the prevailing diction of the Old. 2 Cor. v. 17, “Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a NEW CREA TURE OF NEW CREATION (xTiois xain); old things have passed away, and all things become NEW." CREATED Eph. ii. 10, "For we are His WORKMANSHIP (лoinμa), (XTSOEVTas) in Christ Jesus unto good works." Also, ch. iv. 24, " And that ye put on the NEW MAN (xavov aveρwлov), which after God is CREAT ED (x00eta) in righteousness and true holiness." Gal. vi. 15, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a NEW CREATION (xawn xtiois).” These citations evidently bring to view a people of divine extrac tion, upon whom a supernatural renovation has passed, and towards whom the Most High sustains the relation of CREATOR in a different sense from that in which he bears this character towards the rest of human kind. This we think is clearly recognized in the following passages. Is. xliii. 1, “Thus saith the Lord that FORMED THEE (7a, boraaka), O Jacob, that CREATED thee, O Israel (777, yotzerka), v. 15. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the CREATOR OF ISRAEL (7 72, bora yisrael)," i. e., of the spiritual Israel. Parallel to this we find the Apostle Peter exhorting his brethren to commit the keeping of their souls unto God " as unto a FAITHFUL CREATOR” (T9 xioty xTiotn), i. e., to that Creator who, having formed them anew, would be faithful to His promises made to His new creatures. But our views of this subject are wholly inadequate until we learn ⚫ the prominent station which Christ Jesus is to occupy in this new creation, and the relation which the whole economy bears to Him. Some of the most august titles by which He is known in His mediatorial character are intimately connected with the part which He bears in the spiritual Genesis of the Gospel Age. The following version given by the LXX. of the striking passage in Prov. viii. 22, we should hesitate to adduce with this bearing, did it not seem to be sanctioned by the evident allusion to it, if not adoption of it, by the inspired writer in Rev. iii. 14. Our English translation renders it, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways," where the preposition in, which is wanting in the Hebrew, is supplied by the translators. The Greek rendering is, κυριος έκτισε με αρχην όδων αυτού. The supposed allusion to this in the Apocalypse is as follows: "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, THE BEGINNING OF THE CRE ATION OF GOD (η αρχη της κτίσεως του θέου).” If this, however, should appear too far-fetched and doubtful, we are furnished in Col. i. 16, 17, with language which admits of no dispute; "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born (τporotoxos) of the whole creation (xaons κτίσεως) : for by Him were all things CREATED (εν αυτῷ εκτίσθη τα παντα) that are in Heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were CREATED (ExTioTat) by Him and for Him. And he is before all things, and by Him all things consist; and He is the head of the body, the church, who is the BEGINNING (apy), the first born of the dead (AрOTOTOXOS TWY VEXpor); that in all things He might have the pre-eminence," i. e., that in all things pertaining to this new spiritual creation, which is but another name for that economy, dispensation, or kingdom over which He presides, He might have an undisputed Headship. We are aware that this is relied on as a proof-text in support of the proper divinity of our Lord, and of His efficient agency in the creation of the material universe. The writer yields his unqualified assent to the doctrine of the Saviour's co-equal power and Godhead with that of the Father, but is constrained to regard this passage as having a primary reference, not to the creation of the visible heavens and earth, and the various orders of intelligences, but to the spiritual economy, or the μɛ220voαv oxovμerny, the world to come, Heb. ii. 5, which was put in subjection, in all its departments, to the mediatorial supremacy of Jesus. And the Apostle's express mention of "the Church" in v. 18, seems sufficiently to mark his scope. In Heb. i. 8, it is said, "When He bringeth again the first-begotten (pororoxos) into the world (oixovusvry), He saith, Let all the angels of God worship Him." By oxovμevn here we understand not the terraqueous globe which we inhabit, but the dispensation upon which the Messiah entered at His resurrection, when He was by the right hand of God exalted, and over which He continues to preside as Lord and Head, advanced to the highest glory of His Sonship, and administering a spiritual dominion over his quickened and new created people. In this light the Son of God is exhibited to us throughout the whole epistle to the Hebrews, and in fact, a proper conception of His post-resurrection dignity and rule forms the clue to the book. And this view of His glorious state will give us, we imagine, a more correct view of the clause, ch. ix. 12, translated," not of this building" (ov taurηS XTIJEWS, of this creation). We have only to conceive of that ator or dispensttion, being ushered in in which the whole ancient system of visible types is done away, and our Forerunner as having entered the tabernacle not made with hands, and we see not why the phrase should not be rendered, "not of this CREATION” (x718805), i. e., a tabernacle, not of human, earthly, or material construction, but one pertaining to the spiritual creation, and of a nature suited to such an economy. ARTICLE V. IMPORTANCE OF A NEW CHURCH MISSION TO CHINA, WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF ENRICHING ASIATIC LITERATURE WITH THE THEOLOGY OF THE NEW CHURCH. THERE are many considerations by which compliance with this mission presents strong claims upon every member of the New Church, as well as its friends generally in Europe and America, The genius of the people, the character of the civilization, the extent of the population, and their pacific habits so point out this Empire for missionary enterprise that no mission-field has for a moment any claims in juxtaposition with China. The geographical position of China constitutes also a powerful argument in making the five British consular ports New Church mission stations for schools, and never was there an epoch more favorable for the planting of the gospel than the present, for the gates of this mighty Empire appear to be open on every side for this important mission. So much do many of the tenets of the Chinese philosophy resemble the divine truths of Christianity, that with but an effort by us they could be well incorpo rated in Chinese literature. A few words on the efforts of the Old Church in behalf of China will be doubtless read with interest, the records also of the Empire affording abundant evidence that the gospel was there preached in the early ages. St. Thomas, whose labors were confined to the East, visited, it is supposed, this interesting country; and we have also satisfactory evidence that it was published there in the seventh century. This important event is faithfully recorded in the annals of the Em pire, and seems to call from us in this New Church mission the most serious consideration. The Latin and Nestorian Christians had an |