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AN APPEAL FROM THE BRETHREN AT LEEDS.

To the Members of the New Church. The district of which Leeds is the centre, has long been acknowledged as an extensive field which only wanted cultivation in order to yield, under the divine blessing, an abundant harvest; but the want of means has hitherto proved a barrier to the accomplishment of so desirable an object; for though the society at Leeds has been in existence nearly thirty years, it has all along, and does now, chiefly consist of members whose worldly circumstances will not allow them to contribute liberally.

LONDON TRACTS.-In page 39, it is stated that "many of the London Tracts have been printed [or reprinted] by the Manchester Society." It may be well to observe here, that, on a more careful examination, it is found that only four Tracts out of thirty (the number of the London series) have been so reprinted, namely, Numbers 2, 3, 4, and 22, (Manchester series) written by Mr. Noble, and reprinted by his consent. Whether the printing by two societies of the same Tracts, while one society (the London) has them in stereotype, is an economical or convenient course, is worthy of consideration; since it would be easy for the Manchester Society to supply itself from the London Society's stereotypes, if it sees reason to number those particular Tracts amongst its own series. That the remaining twenty-six London Tracts are so little known in Lancashire is, certainly, to be regretted.

The society have met, for the last eight or nine years, in a small chapel at the outskirts of the town, and have had to rely chiefly on their own members for the conducting of public worship; and however much they may have exerted themselves, it will readily be acknowledged, that for a town like Leeds, containing, LECTURES ON SWEDENBORG, BY MR. with its dependencies, 152,000 inhabitants, their services must have been altogether inadequate, of which they themselves have been long convinced.

The society have succeeded in taking on lease, for the period of five years, a large and commodious chapel, centrally situated, and they are anxious to obtain the services of a really efficient leader, who could devote himself entirely to the work; to support whom, together with the rent of the chapel, will cost nearly £130. annually, towards which they will have the seat rents, and the donations of their own members; but as many of these, as before remarked, are poor, they venture to make an appeal to those friends whom the Lord has blessed with the means of assisting to propagate the glad tidings of His Second Advent. Signed on behalf of the Society.

WILLIAM MAWSON, Leader. JOSEPH SINGLETON, Secretary. Donations will be thankfully received, and duly acknowledged, by the secretary, J. Singleton, 8, Sunny Bank Terrace, Leeds.

The appeal of the Leeds Society is worthy of the best attention of the Church. We earnestly recommend their case to the consideration of all who have the power to aid them in their excellent exertions. J. BAYLEY.

D. HAWORTH.

J. H. SMITHSON.

GEORGE DAWSON.

This talented man has been lecturing at the Manchester Athenæum on celebrated characters, namely, Phythagoras, Michael Angelo, Swedenborg, and others, who, as to the distinguished uses they performed for the human race, were powerfully brought under the consideration of the numerous audience. Не considered Swedenborg in respect to philosophy, and not to theology, handling, however, the argument in favour of his spiritual intercourse in a new and striking manner. We have not yet been able to procure a satisfactory report of what he said concerning Swedenborg, but we hope to do so by our next number. It will gratify our readers to know that a strong impression in favour of Swedenborg, calculated to remove much prejudice, was produced. Mr. Dawson, we understand, is about to deliver the same course of lectures in other towns.

QUERIES.-Some friends at Wivenhoe would feel much obliged if the spiritual sense of Luke xvi. 9-11 were explained to them. Another friend states, that he should be happy to see an explanation of the following texts:-John xvii. 9, 21, 22; John xii. 40; and also Rom xi. 7, since these texts are often quoted by Calvinists and Unitarians against the New Church Doctrines.

Cave and Sever, Printers, 18, St. Ann's-street, Manchester.

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INSTINCT and its relation to Intellect, and the difference between these two characteristics of men and animals, have always been interesting subjects of philosophical inquiry. Much has been written on instinct, and there still seems to be much difference of opinion respecting it. But of all the opinions which have been advanced on this subject, none appear so absurd as the notions of those who consider that animals, especially of the higher class, only require the faculty of speech, and the use of hands, to enable them to think and to reason as well as men. It is true, that most animals have the senses of sight, hearing, smelling, and probably the other senses also, far more acute than man; and that they often manifest in their habits of life, especially when seeking their food, protecting their young, or defending themselves against enemies, extraordinary instances of intelligence and design. These facts have, no doubt, led certain so-called philosophers to conclude that such animals require only the faculty of speech and the use of hands to make them as rational as men. But this is entirely to beg the question, since speech supposes a rational mind, and hands suppose a rational agent, which, if granted, make, of course, a rational or a human being. Of all philosophers prior to Swedenborg, who have recorded their ideas on the nature of instinct, the judgment of Newton appears to approximate nearest to the truth; he defines it as the action and guidance of what is spiritual from God; it is probable that the instinct of the stork, the turtle, the crane, and the swallow, alluded to by the prophet, (Jer. viii. 7.) might have suggested this idea to his pious mind. It is most desirable that we should see the relation of animal instinct to human intellect in a clear light, since the distinctions, when seen,

* See Lord Brougham's Essay and Dialogue on Instinct.

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enable us to form a more elevated idea of man, and to see more plainly the grounds why man is immortal, and why an animal is not.

We will here first adduce what Swedenborg has said in his " Spiritual Diary" respecting animals and their instinct. We will quote from the Index of the Diary, from which quotations the nature and uses of that Index, prepared by Swedenborg himself, will be more distinctly seen :— "Animals have also an influx from the celestial and spiritual [principle], since they have loves [corresponding to conjugial love] as doves, for they associate in pairs, have love towards their offspring, and also towards their associates; for they live mutually in society together, as birds and other animals, but they do not thus receive influx [from what is spiritual and celestial], since they only regard earthly things, which are their ends; wherefore it is one thing to be actuated by a spiritual and celestial principle, and another thing to receive it; every one is known as to his quality from the ends he has in view. Animals know more things from nature than man does by his sciences and arts; they know how to build their nests, to nourish their young, to spin threads and to make silky habitations, as the silk-worm, and to form beautiful cells, as bees, and to institute a kind of government; wherefore it is the sciences and the arts which man has in common with animals, whence it is evident that they regard [only] a natural life. But man can think of what is good and true, and can contemplate those principles; thus he can contemplate spiritual and celestial things, and in this way, he can be in the societies of the other life, which animals cannot do; wherefore the ends shew of what nature or quality the life is; the man, therefore, who lives in corporeal things only, is scarcely any thing else but an animal; which was evident from certain [spirits] in the other life, who appeared like logs of wood, and who, unless they had been vivified by the Lord, must needs have been dissipated like animals.-(Spiritual Diary, 3818 to 3820.)

"That the souls of animals cannot live after death, but are dissolved, or dissipated, was confirmed; because their souls cannot be elevated to the Lord, thus they cannot receive the knowledges of spiritual and celestial things; nevertheless, the souls of animals can receive influx from heaven, but only from the universal conatus [of heaven], wherefore, they are affected with conjugial love and with storge, or the love of offspring, and know innumerable things from nature, as bees and other animals, which man can never know by all his sciences.-(Spiritual Diary, 2769, 2770.) "The intuition of ends distinguishes man from animals, hence it is that he is a man; wherefore, unless he regards true ends, thus life eternal, and consequently the Lord, he is not a man.-(Ib. 2854.)

"Animals know in a wonderful manner the way they should go, as horses, dogs, and bees, but not so man; if, however, man lived in faith, he would know greater things than these.-(1b. 2209.)

"Man cannot live without being associated with spirits; because he lives contrary to order; it is otherwise with animals, which live according to the order of nature. (Ib. 2376 to 2379.)

"Animals have much more perfect bodies, and more perfect senses, than man, (and especially insects, which have still more perfect senses) and yet man [when unregenerate] bestows all his care upon his body.—(Ib. 2543.)

"That [human] life consists in the faculty of reasoning, and of knowing truth and goodness; which faculty is given to men, but not to animals."-(Ib. 2674.)

From these propositions we can easily see the difference between Intellect and Instinct, and consequently between the constitution of human and of animal nature. The grounds, also, why man is immortal, and an animal is not, are clearly pointed out. This philosophy is eminently useful, since it enables us to see the distinctions between ourselves and merely animal nature, and consequently opens to us a wide field of view respecting the superior dignity and destiny of man. What a wretched philosophy must that be which can only see that the gift of speech is the mere difference between a man and a sagacious brute, and that if the latter is not immortal, so neither is man! But ignorance on this subject has chiefly arisen from not knowing the philosophy of discrete degrees, which distinguish every thing in creation, and especially the different orders of creation,-the mineral, the vegetable, the animal, the human, the spiritual, the celestial, from each other, and all from the Divine, and at the same time shew the nature of their union. † This doctrine of discrete degrees appears to be the key to all genuine philosophy, leading us to a proper knowledge of the interior distinctions of things, their mutual relations, as the priora to the posteriora, as ends to causes, and both to the effects which they produce. So long as this doctrine was not known, the true nature of Instinct could not be seen, nor the difference between human Intellect and animal Instinct pointed

out.

Animal instinct bears an analogy, or correspondence, to human intellect; it is separated from it not by a continuous, but by a discrete degree; there is, consequently, no affinity and no ratio between them; instinct in its highest manifestation, as in the elephant, the dog, and the bee, does not approach to the lowest grade of intellectual development even in the aboriginal of Australia; because within this latter there is a faculty capable of knowing what is good and true, what is evil and false-of discriminating between them-of being elevated to the source of good, of being conjoined with the Creator, and consequently of living for ever (for it is this faculty, whether it be used or abused, which constitutes man immortal), and of improving without end in the perception of the True, the Good, the Useful, the Beautiful, and, as a consequence, of increasing in happiness to eternity. All this is inherent in the intellectual capacity of man! But not so in the instinct of the animal. Here is no faculty of reasoning and of knowing what is good and true, no mental analysis, * See a work entitled "Nuces Philosophica, or the Philosophy of Things," &c. by Edward Johnson, pp. 107 to 113; this work is praised and recommended by most of the leading Periodicals of the day.

See this Doctrine explained in the D. L. W., Third Part.

no power of being elevated above nature, no faculty of knowing the Creator, and of being consciously conjoined with Him through love, no moral sense, no spiritual perception by which it can distinguish the differences between good and evil, truth and falsity, right and wrong. The dog is equally faithful, and the horse equally obedient to his master, whether he be a robber or a Christian. He discerns no difference of character; he has no sense of fear as to consequences, nor is he responsible for his conduct, or amenable to the tribunal of civil law and judgment, if accessory to the robbery or murder which his master has committed. An animal cannot be instructed in the knowledge of things as to their nature, causes, ends, and uses, &c.; it may be trained by habituation to the performance of certain tricks; but we never think of sending an animal to school to learn the sciences, still less to a place of worship, and this for reasons which ought at once to be obvious to every mind, because the animal has no rational and spiritual nature, or degrees and faculties of intellectual, moral, and spiritual life, which are the especial characteristics of man, as created in the image of his Maker. And yet there are philosophers, even at the present day, who can discern scarcely any difference between a man and a sagacious animal, but the mere gift of speech!

"The intuition of ends," says Swedenborg, "distinguishes man from the brute;" now, what are the ends which actuate the brute? They all tend to self-preservation, self-propagation, and the consequent care of offspring, and to self-defence. Thus ends terminating in self are the peculiar characteristics of animal nature, and essentially belong to the natural principle. Here self-love, as the actuating impulse, is not out of place; but even in animals this self-principle is made subservient to the promotion of good, and is consequently not evil. In man, however, ends terminating in self are all evil, since they are opposed to the spiritual degree of his nature, and consequently to the will of his Maker; because the ends which ought to actuate man are those which tend to the love of God above all things, and the love of our neighbour even better than ourselves; these ends are properly human and angelic, and immensely distinguish a man from an animal.

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Hence," says Swedenborg, "evil spirits (who were once men actuated by merely selfish ends, and earthly loves) are worse than brutes, because from the faculty of reasoning with which they are gifted, they can oppose spiritual and celestial things, which brutes cannot."-(Ib. 2485.)

But still, the senses in animals are far more acute, perfect, and unerring than in man. Granted; because the operative influx from the spiritual world into the sensual organs of the animal is so direct and immediate,

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