in some parts to wait on Mrs. Siddons. What does it signify if such a man thinks he has the devil in a bottle, if he does not bring the bottle into the pulpit? It was a striking thing to see, instead of the personification of the foul spirit of priestcraft, a man standing up to prove the divine unity, from the fact that in the best constituted governments that have yet been obtained on earth, those of Great Britain and the United States of America, there has been a necessity for some kind of unity of will, whether under the title of a King or a President," and from the certainty that “the will of one would be the best government, if it were possible to secure the perfect wisdom and uprightness of that one, and if the weakness of human nature did not make it always necessary to surround him with the guard of a popular assembly." This may be conclusive or it may not; but it is not a common line of pulpit eloquence. All this has nothing to do with the New Jerusalem; and while a man can do this, he ought to make way, and will. The secret is explained, wby men of reputed sanity have from time to time been seen adhering to the Swedenborgians. They have swallowed the nonsense for the sake of the sense; as others have done before them. They have got hold of a clue to, at all events, relative truth; and they have gulped the New Jerusalem.

The preacher took notice, that the sense of the word 'person,' whereby it implies a distinct individual, was an invention of the middle ages; and that the original meaning of the word was the tragic mask,' or what we, by a slight variation of the same metaphor taken from the stage, denominate a character,' He unaccountably omitted the direct proof of this; which is, that the word 'person,' is per and sono, to sound through, the sound through which the actor spoke. Every body may not know, that all the ancient actors wore metallic masks, and that the mouth was formed for the purpose of giving strength to the sound sent through it, in some degree upon the principle of a speaking-trumpet. There is perhaps not another word in existence, that carries its meaning so forcibly upon its form. And, as observed before, its secondary meaning was character;' in proof of which, take the following passage from Cicero, "Hanc mihi tu si, propter res meas gestas, imponis in omni vitâ personam, Torquate, vehementer erras.” Pro. Sull. 3.—“If you impute this character to me, Torquatus, in consequence of any part of my behaviour during my whole life, you are greatly mistaken." It would be curious to know how such a word came to change its meaning; whether, for instance, the orthodox had power to compass it, in their zeal for increasing the mass of what was to be believed.

On the subject of that influence of the Deity which in the Christian books is denominated the spirit of God, he omitted the striking fact, that what is called by one Evangelist the spirit of God,' is called by another, in reporting the same circumstances, the 'finger of God;'-a .clear proof that they had no more idea of anything contrary to the unity of God, than they had of deifying the 'hand' or 'arm' of God. If history may be trusted, we had a narrow escape from having a Quaternity, in "the Uncreated Light of_Mount Tabor;" and it is fortunate that all the figurative attributes of the Deity have not been added to the list.

He faltered upon the subject of the 'Aleim,' or plural termination said to be given in the Hebrew to the word translated God.' This certainly is a point to be cleared up; for if the Jewish books do really begin with "In the beginning the gods created the heaven and the earth," there are many well-meaning persons who would be much relieved by knowing it.

He did not go straight down either, upon the subject of mysteries,'-by stating at once, that a mystery' in the Christian scriptures always means something which was not known till it was told,—and never anything like a hocus-pocus or contradiction in terms. In the scripture sense Newton "told us a mystery," when he explained the planetary motions.

The above are omissions, but, in spite of these, there has been no such battery raised against the rotten parts of the popular belief since Wycliffe. A greater than Irving was there. The subject is to be continued on successive Sunday evenings; so that those who doubt may judge.

These sectaries are prospering; and why should they not? People of all

classes are inquiring after their books; and men of forty-parson power, after the measure of these degenerate times, are adhering to their opinions. They have no lack of men of education, or any other component parts of a good and efficient church. In the course of time some of these men will purify the strong parts of their creed, and get rid of the weak. Why should they not get to Lambeth, as well as the followers of Wycliffe? It is clearly for everybody's interest, that truth should prosper. All additional untruth, whether it relates to the contents of a book or to anything else, must be supported by violence and virtual persecution. Let us have truth then, wherever it may be found ;-truth, whatever it may be encompassed by whether it be more or less, positive or only relative, let us have the truth, and live in the assured confidence that it will in the end be the best for us all.

DIALOGUES BETWEEN A MOTHER AND HER SON, &c.

[Continued from page 88]

Mother. I am just returned without seeing our young friend, it being confirmed that he has got the small pox, I could not for your sake venture within the door. Is my dear son disposed to resume our late subject?

Son. I am always happy to attend my dear mother upon all occasions, but particularly where my own improvement is so immediately concerned as it is at the present moment; for I am at a great loss to know how it is possible for fire to signify what is good, and evil, or how it is possible to distinguish which is to be understood when the term occurs in Scripture.

Mother. You do well, my Frederick, to state all the difficulties which appear to lie in your way, as it will enable me to remove them. To convince you that fire does signify both good and evil, I will give you a few passages on each subject, from the Word. We read in Isaiah, that the Lord will be a wall of fire round about his people-that the eyes of the Lord are like a flame of fire-that the Lord appeared to Moses in a bush of firethat the Lord went before the children of Israel, in a pillar of fire-that seven lamps of fire burned before the throne of God; all which with many more that might be adduced, signify the divine love of the Lord. But we also read of the breath of the Lord being like a river of sulphur, Isaiah xxx. 39.-that smoke ascended out of his nostrils and fire out of the mouth of the Lord. Psalm xviii. 9.-that the wicked should be visited by the Lord in a flame of fire. Isaiah lxvi. 15. And thus it is said also-that the Lord acteth from the fire of his wrath and fiery indignation, and such like expressions, at the same time it is not meant that such principles proceed from the Lord, but from the infernal loves of the wicked themselves, for this same God, who changeth not, and who cannot lie, hath said-fury is not in him and that his tender mercies are over all his works, that he is the same God, yesterday, to day, and for ever.

Yes he is holy, good and kind,
Beyond all power to tell,

Angels and men his goodness find,

His mercy flows to hell!

Tho' they pervert, and will abuse

The Influx, as it flows,

And every ray of goodness use
To aggravate their woes.

The thoughtless, vile, infernal race,
To every vice inclin'd,

Pervert his truth, dispise his grace,

And sure distruction find.

PROUD.

For the Lord hath declared, that his ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts, he maketh his sun to rise upon the evil, as well as the good-he is ever waiting to be gracious, but so baneful is the nature of sin, that it perverteth the influx of divine love into appearances, suited to its own infernal love, and even changeth it into its own degenerate state, thus when a man readeth the Word of God, who is under the power of evil affections filled with every lust and abomination, he is led thereby to consider, and even to behold his merciful Creator and Redeemer, as a being of wrath and vengeance, because his own state is such, that he expects wrath and vengauce to be poured out upon him, and therefore to him; the heat of divine love appears as a consuming fire, and the breath of the Lord, as a river of sulphur. And yet my child, dreadful as it must appear to an abandoned sinner, even this appearance proceeds from the divine love of the Lord, that thereby, such may be led to repent of their evils, and live-for the Lord willeth not the death of the sinner, but would that all men should repent, turn unto him, and live. It is the same respecting hell fire, so frequently mentioned in Scripture, which fire you may depend upon it is of a spiritual and not of a natural or material quality, for as the spirit of man is not material, of course it could not be affected by a material object, nor is it in the least degree probable, that immortal beings, will suffer corporeal punishment in a spiritual world, from objects, suited to states whilst in a material world. From all these considerations, we may venture to con. clude, that spiritual and not corporeal punishment is signified by hell fire, so frequently mentioned in the Word. But in order to bring this truth still more clear to your understanding, let us take a view of a man living in the sinful gratifications of his own depraved evils, and infernal temper; behold him, even in this life, tormented with envy, destroyed by intemperance, consumed by avarice, eaten up with revenge, weary of life, and yet afraid to die! neither health nor wealth, friendship or honor can soothe, or satisfy his depraved and tortured mind, or blunt the sting of evil. There is no peace saith my God to the wicked: for they are departed from the fountain of good, fallen from the order of heaven, sunk into confusion, horror and woe!-what think you, my child, of this picture, and what is such a state likely to form in the humam breast?

Son. It clearly proves to my mind, what a few days ago, I thought must be impossible.

Mother. What was that which appeared to you so impossible my love? Son. It was, that man is joined or united, in spirit, either to heaven or hell, during his life in the body, and also, that the one or the other, must be formed within him, even before he dies, for certainly a worse hell, can scarcely be conceived, than the one you have just laid open to my view.

Mother. It is certainly in some respects, representative of the very miserable state of the unregenerated, and the abandoned sinner, both before and after his entrance into the World of Spirits; but as the powers and faculties of the blessed, will be enlarged to receive higher, and more exalted degrees of perception, reception and glory, so we may venture to suppose that the abused and perverted powers, and faculties of the wicked, will in like manner, be extended, to enter into, and receive a full participation of their own evil concupiscences, which will then constitute what is in Scripture denominated hell fire, or that fire which shall not be quenched, and also that worm which dieth not.

Son. I shall in future have very different ideas of hell fire, and of the unhappy spirits, to what I have hitherto entertained.

Mother. I will venture to assure you, my child, that your ideas will be more scriptural, and also more rational than they were before, but dinner hour is again arrived, and we must adjourn.

MISSIONARY AND GENERAL CHURCH INTELLIGENCE.

NEW JERUSALEM TEMPLE, WATERLOO ROAD, LONDON.

The Annual General Meeting of this Society took place on Tuesday, March 18th, 1828, when after the regular business of the Society had been gone through, the attention of the meeting was directed to the present alarming and dangerous state of the Chapel. The Committee reported that in consequence of the dilapidated state of the building, and the dangerous appearance it presented in the front of the Road, it was thought expedient, for the public safety, to call in an eminent and respectable Surveyor to inspect the premises, and to obtain his opinion and advice of what was best to be done. Accordingly Mr. Roper, of Stamford Street, Blackfriars Road, was engaged, who, after inspecting it very minutely, pronounced the Chapel to be dangerous, and that the best, and in the end the cheapest method of making it a respectable and substantial place of worship, would be to pull it down to the ground and completely rebuild it. The meeting, after mature deliberation, determined to act promptly by the advice of the Surveyor, and, anxious for the safety of the congregation, unanimously resolved that the Chapel should be closed after Sunday, the 23rd of March, and that on that day notice thereof be given from the pulpit both morning and evening after divine Service.

The Meeting then appointed Mr. Roper, Surveyor of the intended New Building, after which it was stated that an Estimate from a respectable Builder had been obtained, from which it appeared that the Sum required for taking down the present Chapel and erecting the intended New One, including certain alterations which would make a decided improvement in the interior of the same, would be £800; and from the known competency and respectability of the Surveyor, it is presumed that a substantial chapel will be reared.

The following gentlemen have kindly consented to receive Subscriptions in aid of the New Building.

Mr. A. Aulesbrook, 6, Gloucester Place, Newington Butts.

Mr. T. Goyder, 11, Dartmouth Street, Westminster.

Mr. John Golding, 28, Great Charlotte Street, Blackfriars Road.

Mr. J. Grayson, 9, Featherstone Buildings, Holborn.

Mr. W. I. Hill, 23, King Street, Covent Garden.

Mr. James Stanbury, 103, St. John Street, Clerkenwell.

Mr. G. Woodroffe, 29, Upper Stamford Street, Waterloo Road.

It has been subsequently arranged for the congregation to assemble every Sunday at the usual times for public worship, at the chapel in Friar Street, Doctor's Commons, until the new building shall be erected.

A Sermon was delivered in the New Jerusalem Church, Cross Street, Hatton Garden, on Sunday morning, March 30th. 1828, by the Rev. S. Noble, for the benefit of this institution; and a collection was also made in aid of the funds of the same institution, after the lecture in the evening. There are now in this establishment 217 boys, and 120 girls, receiving daily instruction.

MEETING IN APRIL.

MONTHLY MEETING OF THE VISITORS CONNECTED WITH THE SOCIETY

April 8.

IN WATERLOO ROAD.

At the house of Mr. Goyder, No. 11, Dartmouth Street,
Westminster. To assemble to tea at half past 5 o'clock.

Subject.-PSALM XXXIX. 4.

VARIETIES.

HISTORICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND LITERARY.

TO RENDER BLACK LEAD WRITING tosi is a very poor place, notwithstanding its mines, which for want of men and money to work them, are almost abandoned. Foreign Journal.