however, no doubt suggest improvement in future issues, as well as the omission of what has little beyond a personal interest. Proposed Publication of Dr. Bayley's Brighton Lectures.-We have received from Dr. Bayley the following communication on the subject: To the Editor. MY DEAR SIR,-Will you allow me, through you, to address your readers, and desire their best help, in another exertion in favour of our inestimable cause? Something more than twelve months ago I invited the coöperation of the members and friends of the church to aid me in bringing the truths of the New Jerusalem into wider circulation, by means of cheap sermons. This appeal was kindly received, and had hearty response. Numbers of our brethren brought them under the notice of their friends, and often bought to give away. This was attended with most salutary results, intimated to me in an abundance of assurances of a most cheering character, by letter and otherwise. No fewer than 80,000* of these messengers of truth have been circulated during the year; a result which, I am sure, will rejoice the heart of every lover of the church. I have now to ask for a similar kind and hearty coöperation in the publication of the Brighton Lecures and the New Churchman's Almanack. The former, at threepence each, treat on the great subjects of the church, and their publication was solicited by the friends at Brighton, and many others. They are intended to lay the chief doctrines before their readers more fully than a tract, and yet not be a considerable book, nor expensive. They are not too long to be read, and yet long enough to give a tolerably complete view of the leading points of the subject. Any one who cannot preach or lecture himself, may become a good missionary by means of these lectures, lent, or given, or brought under the notice of his friends. There should be a little organization connected with each considerable society to bring such publications before the friends, and invite them to coöperate. That is, two thousand copies of each num ber.-ED. By earnest effort a few workers in each society might accomplish a great amount of good. Two or three to invite and to urge do wonders. I trust these lines will meet the eyes of some in every society, who will cheerfully give a little trouble in a good cause. The Almanack, price one penny, contains as much matter as could be crowded into forty pages, and a thought for every day in the year. They should be in the hands of all connected with us, even our elder Sunday school children. A little more zeal and organization is wanted to do this. Many small societies have ordered one hundred, some large ones twelve or eighteen. The difference is from the different activity displayed. Some individuals have taken a dozen, two dozen, fifty, or one hundred. Were this to be general the most heart-cheering results would follow, and all would rejoice. That this may indeed be realized is the object of this letter, and the same prayer of its writer.-I am yours very truly, J. BAYLEY. Richmond Crescent, Barnsbury, January 15th, 1859. A Letter to Lord Derby, Her Majesty's First Lord of the Treasury, by Medicus Cantabrigiensis. The object of this Letter is to awaken the attention of the public, and to fix it upon the great central Truth of Christianity, "The Sole Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." This is the precious "Corner Stone" of genuine Christianity. It is not the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Second Person of the Trinity, which is the question; but it is the Divinity of His Humanity which is the point to be established; so that it may be seen that "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;" (Col. ii. 9.) which would be utterly impossible except His Humanity was Divine. This Letter, which has gone through several editions, is, we think, appropriately addressed to the Earl of Derby; for the late Lady Stanley, the mother of the present Earl, was so much delighted with Swedenborg's True Christian Religion, in which this great Truth is demonstrated, that on one occasion, not long before her death, she told the late Rev. J. Clowes, when on a visit at Winwick, near Warrington, "that if there was not another copy of the work to be had, she would Left this transitory scene, January 21st, for her eternal home, aged 68 years, Mrs. Queen, of Liverpool. She was the oldest reader of Swedenborg in that town. Having had but indifferent health for many years past, she was but little known to the members generally. Those who did know her can bear testimony to her upright and amiable deportment as a genuine "daughter of Jerusalem." R. G. S. Mr. Andrew Bain (of the firm of Bell and Bain, printers), Glasgow, departed this life on Monday, 18th October, aged 48. Mr. Bain was for about twenty-five years an affectionate and most intelli. gent receiver of the doctrines of the New Church, and his continual desire and endeavour was to bring those heavenly doctrines into life. Thoroughly detesting all kinds of pretence, he was deeply impressed with the truth that faith without charity is nothing. In everything connected with the New Church he took a warm interest. He was a kind and devoted husband and father, and was repaid by the deep affection of his family. He was a sincere, true friend, and was loved by all who had the privilege of his acquaintance. He was a benevolent, upright, honest man, and was universally respected. For nearly ten years previous to his departure he was deprived of the use of his limbs, was a continual sufferer, day and night, from severe neuralgic pains, and was therefore mostly confined to his house; but all bis sufferings could not deprive him of his cheerful, happy disposition, and of his firm trust in the Divine Providence of the Lord, knowing and acknowledging, as he always did, that his suffering was permitted by divine goodness and unerring wisdom for his eternal good. The remarkable patience with which one of such an ardent and energetic temperament bore such severe pain, as also his separation from active life, was a continual sermon to all who knew him. His warm, intelligent, and genial nature drew around him a large circle of attached friends, who will long remember the happy hours spent in his society. Let those who were intimate with him recall his bright and intelligent countenance when he was surrounded by his friends, and had, for the time, forgotten all his pains, and believe that, as death changes not the man, he is now in the enjoyment of spiritual society, his countenance still bright and more beaming in that world where pain and sorrow can never come. "He rests from his labonrs, and his works follow with him." A few days previous to his removal he expressed, with fervour, his deep thankfulness to Divine Providence for having brought to his knowledge the doctrines of the New Church. They, he said, had been his comfort in illness, had enabled him to bear his sufferings with patience, and, above all, had given him strength to fight and overcome in the temptations incident to the spiritual life. When asked if he had peace in the prospect of his removal, he replied "Abundance of peace." "Forgive, dear friend! the tributary tear That mourns thy transit from a world like this, Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here; And staid thy progress to the seats of bliss!" J. F. CAVE and SEVER, Printers, Palatine Buildings, Hunt's Bank, Manchester. (1 Sam. xvii., 40th and 49th verses, taken in connection.) In the instance before us a scene of a very remarkable kind is presented, a scene of hostility or antagonism, not indeed of armies merely, but in this case specifically between two; the one out of the ranks of Philistia, the other from among the hosts of Israel, viz., David and Goliath, who engage in single combat: Goliath, a name which, in the spiritual sense, indicates one in the possession of truth without its corresponding good; and David, literally rendered, dear, beloved, but spiritually understood, divine Truth. Hence he, that is, David, in this respect primarily represents the Lord. Thus, then, each is now to be regarded as furnishing the head or prototype of his party; the strife is, therefore, that of the True and the False. It may not be unedifying here just to glance at the two combatants as described in the letter of the Word, availing ourselves of the distinctive characteristics of each. And what strikes us most in the description are the three following, viz., first, the great disparity of their persons, as to size and general appearance; second, the vast difference of the arms they use; and lastly, the seemingly doubtful, yet triumphant issue of the struggle itself. I. The great disparity of their persons. In their stature, the one is said to be "a giant," the other only "a stripling." Giant signifies, in the spiritual sense, the pride of self-derived intelligence; but a stripling, or a young man, the intelligence of truth. As to their age, it is clear that the Philistine must have attained mature age; and indeed it would appear that he was an experienced [Enl. Series.-No. 64, vol. vi.] K soldier or veteran in arms, one who in the field, and by his prowess, had earned for himself an enviable title, and hence he is styled a champion." But he was, after all, a Philistine only, thus a chieftain in a bad cause. The other, too, though young in years, “fair and ruddy "-significative of the Good and True, could likewise recount valorous deeds. Already, and whilst as yet only a shepherd tending his flocks, denoting a state of innocence, he had distinguished himself by a successful encounter with a lion and a bear; which two, taken together, signify the false principle destroying the truths of the Word, by power derived from its literal sense, perverted. As to their general conduct and demeanour, the one is marked by a behaviour at once the most rude and vociferous, using words full of pride and high-sounding boast. The other is characterised by a modest, meek, and unassuming carriage; alike exhibiting the simple manners of a rustic, coupled with the self-possession and dignity of the man. II. Look at the difference of their arms, or martial equipments. The Philistine, we read, "had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him." It may be proper to remark here, that the helmet upon his head, the greaves upon his legs, and the target between his shoulders, together with the coat of mail which he wore, were all of brass; whilst the spear's head is said to have been of iron. Brass and iron, thus mentioned in connection, signify, in the spiritual sense, natural good with its corresponding truth, but in this case perverted, which is the good and truth of the natural man separate from the spiritual; and the numbers five and six also, which occur here, the former, i. e., the number five, signifying much; and the latter, or the number six, combat,-it will, as an entire account or description of his armour, offensive and defensive, denote that "faith alone," cold and unfeeling at all times, then especially encases itself, as it were, within arguments which it conceives to be invulnerable,—when it would nerve up its purpose to meet its antagonist, entrenching itself around with fallacious reasonings, grounded on mere appearances, or consisting only of the illusions of the senses. It is added" one bearing a shield went before him." "One, in all cases," says Swedenborg, "is composed not of same principles, but of various principles in form, which constitute a one, according to the form." The form presented is that of “ a shield bearer;" and shield, as here spoken of, signifying the aggregate of evils and falses, it will denote all those multifarious subterfuges, beneath and within, or under cover of which the false ever seeks to hide, or secure itself as a defence. Turn we now to the other, that is, to David; and what a singular contrast in this respect does he present! The Philistine, huge in stature, and formidable in appearance, by reason of his martial or warlike accoutrements,-with an armed force at his back, and a "shieldbearer" going before, leading the van,-in the spirit of pride and bitter defiance, cursing by his gods as he stalks towards his foeman, advances heavily, with sword, and spear, and shield. The other, as yet a mere youth, of a fair and ruddy countenance, with a magnanimity and courage alone inspired by a firm and unshaken trust in Israel's God,-being not a soldier by profession, but in occupation a shepherd,—having not a sword, but a staff,—not a spear and shield, but only a sling and a stone;— yet, together with the hosts of the Lord as his rereward, he meets with alacrity his opponent. In the text we read-" And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, even a scrip which he had, and his sling was in his hand; and he drew near to the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth." David "took his staff in his hand." "Staff," being used as a support, in the spiritual sense signifies the power of Truth; and as here introduced, it is intended to point out that on which genuine doctrine is based. It is designated "his staff," to denote appropriation, forasmuch as whatsoever of Good and of Truth a man imbibes must be so regarded, that is, as his own, yet at the same time with the acknowledgment that it is from the Lord. It is further said that "he took his staff in his hand," whereby we are instructed that the truth availeth not to any salutary purpose unless it be used, as it then only becomes the power of Good. Again, it is stated that "he chose him five smooth stones out of the brook." Now, the "brook" is the Word; the stones," the literal truths therein; and the number "five," predicated of these stones, appertains to the natural or external man, and because he has five bodily senses, each of which is an inlet to the scientifics, and in common the media through which all his ideas are first received. Furthermore, these stones are said to be smooth;" but smoothness 66 |