church-"Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" Now, as members of the New Church, we are assured that we are living in the times of the Lord's Second Coming. If this were the suitable occasion, or it were necessary to do so, we could offer very satisfactory reasons for this belief. This Coming, we also knew, was not in person, but in spirit; and that the clouds in which He would appear denote the letter of the Word of God. It would seem, therefore, as if the Lord, by His secret influence through the sinful world, was asserting this truth by the very men who were in His providence diffusing to the nations the very chariot in which He was to ride. But, connected with the acknowledgment of this time of the Lord's Second Coming were many important reflections. The Lord's First Coming was for the elevation and enlightenment of the church. It brought life and immortality to light. It provided for a spiritual worship, and brought heaven nearer to earth. Now, 'reasoning from the analogy of this advent, we must conclude that the Second Coming will also be for the benefit of the church. It will give a deeper insight into the Word of God. It will give truer and wiser conceptions of Christian doctrine; and it will provide for the setting up of the church in the glory in which she is described by the prophets. In this advent all, therefore, were interested, and each might join in the prayer-"Even so, come, Lord Jesus!' The Chairman next introduced Mr. WESTALL, who said that he was present as the messenger of the New Church Convention in America. He came to express the warm feelings of the hearts of the brethren in America to them, in that holy cause which knows no divisions of ocean or of earthly geography in its sympathies and its blessings. The meeting would be happy to learn that the last Convention had been the largest ever held in America. On the Sabbath the morning service was delayed for a quarter of an hour, to bring in seats for the large congregation then assembled, while at the sacramental service in the afternoon there were 561 communicants. It will be pleasant to you to know this; it is pleasant to me to tell you of it, and be with you, and join in your services as a brother to you, though a stranger to many in outward things, yet one with you in the higher relation of church brotherhood. For within all life, individual, social, and natural, is the life which the church gives, and which is to bring them all into heavenly unity. Allusion has been made to the Exhibition. I was struck with the great truth which it presents-that every human product in it is a brief biography of some portion of the life of its maker. Correspondence seemed to be brought out on a grander scale than ever before in its relation to human thought. No New Churchman can look through the Exhibition but he must see that the whole building is a grand picture of correspondences. If we could trace the formation of the objects up through the cunning fingers which made them, along the lines of the nerves to the brain and the mind of the producers, we should see love, and wisdom, and operative energy sending down their wonderful powers to those cunning fingers, and making all those forms of use and beauty a perfect history of themselves. But there is to be a grander exhibition than this, when all the nations shall bring their products, not so much as the triumphs of intelligence as the tribute of praise to the Creator, and of love to one another; but that is still in the future. In such an exhibition the blue firmament will be the only dome that shall rise in beauty above it, while the whole earth shall be its foundation, and every nation a section in the glorious brotherhood of humanity; and then shall all nations sing the grand anthem-"The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.' The Exhibition was an effect of the Last Judgment. Before that took place it could not have been held. It was the blossom and the fruitage of that judg ment. Before 1757 the steam engine was a poor pumping machine. Step by step the improvements in machinery and manufactures had taken place, until at length the comforts of the cottage exceeded what was formerly accessible in the palaces of kings; and all this progress has relation to the descent of the Holy City, which is your square, having justice in it, and life flowing from it to bless the nations, with its streets of transparent gold, transparent with the purity of the lives of those who shall walk therein. In conclusion, he could assure the meeting that the hearts of New Churchmen in America beat in unison with their own in their desires and efforts to bring forth and learn the Word, with the great principles of love to God and love to the neighbour. The Rev. Mr. RENDELL was the next speaker. Charity, he said, was the leading principle of the Church, guiding us from earth to heaven. It is a principle of every-day life which we are called on calmly to exercise. From the first moment of the day we are to be influenced by it. We are to remember it in our morning prayer, when we ask the Lord to guide us through the day. At the breakfast table there is constant occasion to manifest it in the kindliness and courtesy of Christian demeanour and deportment. In the family throughout the day, and by the head of the family, who is called into the city or the world to engage in the busy transactions of life, it must never be forgotten. How many are the occasions in which all are called upon to remember it, and seek to be influenced by an enlightened love of it. But there are large general forms of charity occasionally demanding our attention; one of which was strongly impressed on his mind by the circumstances of the place from which he came. In the large population of Preston (90,000) every fourth person was assisted by "relief." The last report was that 23,000 were so provided for. Who can reflect on this fact and not find in it an important duty for the exercise of charity owing towards those who are so painfully circumstanced? Charity towards those who are thus unhappily suffering, requires the tenderest manifestation. There has been occasion for its exercise in the form of affectionate advice, encouragement, and pecuniary assistance, and in numerous other ways. But the sufferings have been sustained with marked resignation. An inner idea has prevailed, that some providential agencies were at work, governing those things for men's ultimate welfare. Not a case of disorder arising from those suffering has taken place during the last six months. There have been influences at work from on high inducing a respect for order. Twenty years ago this would not have been the case under similar circumstances. That time was also a time of suffering, but then it was attended with excitement and turbu lence; and the military were called out, and the people shot at. Contrast the character of the two periods. Heaven in these latter times has descended more fully, and influenced the bearing of unhappy circumstances with greater resignation. This good is from the Lord and His church. There is no good but what comes from these. The church is the Lord's heaven upon earth. Every good which is in the church is from Him more or less directly; and this church, like the temple of old, is builded by means of stone upon stone, made ready before it is brought thither,made ready by the Master Builder in the grand truths of His holy Word. It is from thence that we are to learn the principles of charity, that is the source of all permanent information, an influence upon this great excellence of our church; let us then at all times learn to perform the duty. Dr. TAFEL: The subject involved the great end of usefulness-How did we come to this end? We answered in the words of the messenger of the Lord— "We must shun evils as sins against the Lord; we must remove evil from our hearts." We must examine them in the light of what we read in the Word. We must be purified; so far as we are not purified, heavenly principles cannot descend into us, and we may be useful to others, but not before the Lord, but from self. It was most necessary that we should know the end of life. Heaven and hell were from it; we learn this end by experience. The Lord teaches us this end. He instructs us that there is only one way into heaven, which is the keeping of His commandments. The commandment of justice is no exception. Other commandments say-Thou shalt not do. These are kept by degrees as the heart becomes purified. In our daily practice of the commandments, the Lord makes us more useful. He fills us with heaven, and with the disposition and the power to live a heavenly life. Mr. GRINDON commenced with expressing his satisfaction at meeting so many friends. Allusion had kindly been made to his literary efforts, and by other speakers to the Exhibition. He also had been there, and on the previous day, to refresh himself, into the beautiful grounds and conservatories known to most of them as Kew Gardens, where he had many of the great truths and principles he had dwelt upon in his hell. There was a correspondence be writings most pleasingly illustrated, at tween all things of the church and of the same time that his thoughts were the world of nature. A dead stillness by anticipation with the meeting of to- was often observed before a storm. The night. In Kew Gardens we see around New Church had been for some time in us most of those noble productions of this state of stillness. There had been botanical nature which are referred to a spiritual lethargy hanging over the in the Word of God,-the palm-tree, the church at present, which it seemed imcedar, the fir, the olive, and the myrtle, possible to shake off. The attendance and every one of them forms a fine living at worship had been thin and irregular, lesson in its nature and aspect, shewing and the affairs of the church neglected. in their peculiarities their fitness as These things had, to his mind, presaged representatives of spiritual things. It a storm, a harbinger of which had apwas a great privilege to the inhabitants peared in a little cloud in a Dr. Brindley. of London, and especially to the members In conversation with a friend, he had of the New Church resident there, to be been informed that there were elements able to instruct their minds in the form at work in the Church of England, and character of these trees, since the which were likely to concentrate themmost eloquent expositions of a "corres- selves on the New Church. We are a pondence" were vain if we had not a small body. Swedenborg was himself clear idea of the natural object involved distinguished by the most quiet and inin it. It was grand to observe these offensive life. Whence then is this comillustrious exotics striving, every one of motion? There are other bodies of them, to become all that its nature was Christians of larger extent, whose procapable of becoming, and teaching, in ceedings do not cause the same excitethat simple expression of energy, what ment which are made by us. When we is our own duty, as well as means to reflect on them, we must feel the great highest enjoyment. They strove as long truth expressed by the prophecy respectas they could, but for want of bright ing the woman clothed with the suntropical sunshine, many were unable to "The dragon is come down to you, accomplish the noble ends for which having great wrath, because he knoweth they were adapted, shewing that warmth, that he hath but a short time." These such as they enjoyed in sufficiency, and ebullitions are evidences of changes representing affection, was inadequate in the spiritual world. The dragon, without light or truth to direct it. Mr. removed from the regions he has occuGrindon concluded the subject with an pied in the spiritual world, pours his earnest appeal to all teachers of New vengeance on the spirits nearest the Church doctrines, to qualify themselves, earth, and through them by the study of simple and popular hostility against the church. Every science, to point out the wonderful storm is succeeded by a calm. It beauty and practical value of a know- comes when the Lord says "Peace, be ledge of correspondences. still." The uses of the storm is to teach us our own weakness, and lead us to acknowledge the Lord's all-sufficient power. There is one canon of the New Church which is a key to all her doctrines and teachings. This is " All religion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do good." New Church people were accused of acting inconsistently, and of being better than their doctrines. The accusation was the reverse of truth; they were not as good as their doctrines. Take the canon he had cited and apply it to the religious life. "All religion has relation to life." It would deepen and elevate this life, and give it practical direction and power. Those who accept this canon, and honestly strive to carry it out, will find it Rev. W. WOODMAN, who had entered a few minutes before, was introduced by a pleasant allusion to his absence. He said he might commence his address by a reference to the engagement which had detained him from the meeting. He had that afternoon received a placard from Bolton, issued by the redoubtable Dr. Brindley against the New Church, and making special allusions to himself, which he thought it necessary to answer with as little delay as possible. The object was not war, but peace. Peace and calm came after storm and tempest. Mental peace was from the new influ. ences which were then brought to bear upon us. Influx of an opposite kind seemed at present to be flowing in from excites give birth to a religion of purity, of fruitfulness, of usefulness, culminating in all the excellencies of the Christian character. There is not a principle of action in the whole range of duty which is not brought under its influence. Every great system has certain simple principles. What principle can be more simple, more universal, or more practical than this? It is the polar star to guide the conduct of the members of the church. Apply it to the services of the Sabbath, which are to give strength to the character, and to bring forth the angel in the man. There is nothing, indeed, to which it will not apply, and no duty it will not strengthen and improve. Rev. E. MADELEY gave warm expres. sion to his satisfaction on meeting and addressing so large and respectable an assembly on this occasion. Where the thoughts and affections of numbers flow together in one heavenly sphere of harmony, there, said he, will certainly be exquisite delight. Before he entered on the subject of the evening, he might briefly refer to the remarks of his friend and brother, the Rev. W. Woodman. He could not yield to Mr. Woodman in love for the church and zeal for its welfare and extension, but he thought that the best way to defend it against the malignant attacks of unprincipled assailants, was not by popular debate, but by endeavouring, in the spirit of New Church Christianity, to live down the slanders that are uttered. They had adopted this course at Birmingham, and with complete success, not more than six persons attending the last lecture of a course delivered in that town against the heavenly doctrines. This practice was also in harmony with the example of our blessed Lord, who, when reviled, reviled not again; when assailed, He retired to pray; and expounded all things to His disciples when alone. Such was also the teaching of the Word. At the red sea the assembled hosts of Israel were exhorted to" stand still and see the salvation of God." And the promise is, that "in quietness and confidence shall be our strength." We should be careful that no principle of self-love, no desire for victory gain ascendency in our minds. The church can only grow and increase in life and strength from an external ground, which is the true ground of its harmony and happiness, security and pros perity, both in heaven and on earth. Charity is the essence of genuine religion; it is the life of doing good. There is but one life proceeding from God in the universe of being; it is an influx of the same life throughout the vegetable and animal creation,-in men, in angels, and in demons. Whence, then, is the difference which we perceive? Not in the life itself, but in the indefinite recipient forms. In reference to man, all the variety of its qualities and all its activities result from the diversified forms of its reception by the human race. External charity and an outward profession of religion are nothing unless under the influence of internal heavenly life, the life of love in the will, and thence the life of wisdom in the understanding. Such do not seek to perform great things, but to manifest their religion in the sphere of their daily engagements and duties, however common or trivial they may appear. These are sanctified by the inward life which inspires them and the spirit in which they are performed. What we have to do, therefore, is to look to the Lord Jesus Christ from inward perception, in the closet of our own hearts, and to enshrine Him in our inmost affections. In this frame of mind we shall be able to resist all evil and hell. Swedenborg instructs us that when a man shuns evils because they are sins against God, he is resisted by all the infernal powers, and that he must fall in the unequal conflict unless sustained and protected by Divine power, which is always given to them that ask it. Thus we need not fear the shaking of the holy ark, for Omnipotence upholds it. We shall then experience in all our tribulations the fulfilment of the Lord's promise," Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven." Opposition and detraction will, if borne with patient resignation, be overruled for our inward purification, and thus for the promotion of our progress in the regenerate life. We shall then find protection in every danger, and with the Saviour shall be able to say-"The prince of this world cometh, but hath nothing in me." Rev. J. HYDE: Charity has been defined by Swedenborg to be justice and judgment, and on this they had heard many valuable reflections. He would consider the object of charity, which was that we might attain peace. Peace without justice is a sham: without judgment impossible. The only means whereby man in his hereditary state could obtain peace is victory. To obtain victory, there must be conflict. The road to peace, therefore, is war. War was a dire necessity entailed by our fallen nature. Individually, the war is with the evils, into the loves of which we are born. Peace is the result of every conquest. It is cumulative, because the war has to be renewed. Every new victory adds to the great total, and the peace grows deeper and deeper. Peace in the Representative Church was only temporary. The Egyptians were destroyed at the Red Sea. A song was sung, to which all responded; but this was followed by the trials and conflicts of the wilderness, in which all shared. Peace is proportioned to the conflict. The Lord did not utter "Peace!" until the storm and tempest had threatened to overwhelm the sinking ship,-till the disciples had exhausted every resource, and wearied every muscle,-till destruction seemed inevitable, and the arm of flesh was utterly paralyzed, hopeless, and without help. Then He spake peace, and peace was. So with all the weary toilers in the pilgrimage and voyage of life. A gleam of light and glow of glory burst in upon us and voice themselves into song, and the darkness of trial and the rough winds of temptation follow hard upon them, to be succeeded, in their turn, by the gleam and the glory once more. So sunshine wears away to night, and so night melts again into morning. We are born into evil, and the only way to our deliverance is to struggle through conflict into conquest, and on the contested rounds of battle to ascend into victory, and the triumph that victory alone can bring. Through war was the hope of peace. The Exhibition told a story, and seemed to bespeak a promise of war as well as of peace : "Mixt as life is mixt with pain,The arts of war with arts of peace." In this very mingling I see a surer hope of a peace that shall be more profound and permanent. Men are low, selfish, and evil, and the only way to prevent war is to make war too costly and too unproductive for selfishness to accept the hazard. When war becomes so exhausting a process as to ruin every one, and so unproductive as to deter mine nothing, selfishness will cry out against it, and peace will be the result of its clamour. And, above and beyond this, as men become more closely linked together, the old maxims of selfishness become exploded. The true interests of different countries are seen to be identical, and to injure one nation is perceived to be a universal detriment. Men of all peoples are being drawn together by world-wide commerce, welded by identical interests, opened up, in the first place, by exterior motives of profit and gain, that they may be attracted subsequently by a higher and broader charity. Come through what channels, and as the results of what causes it may, all mankind are looking longingly for this promise of peace. Every universal wish contains a prophecy of its own fulfilment. Even in the midst of the rush and rage of war the beautiful vision is not altogether obscured, and the sweetly wooing voice of peace is not altogether drowned. The light still bursts through the rifts of the cloud, and the whisper is heard in the depths of the soul. Men fight, indeed, that they may conquer a juster and a deeper peace. But the hope for peace can only be so far realized as men obtain peace within. To become the salt of the earth, we must first have salt in ourselves. Strivers after peace, we must hail every ray that betokens its dawn, every cause that shall promote its advent, every harbinger on the edge of the morning that shall assure us that it is drawing nigh; and thus we can join in the wish that deepens into a prayer, in the words of the laureate :— "Oh, ye the wise who think, the wise who reign, From growing commerce loose the latest chain, And let the fairy white-winged peace-makers fly To happy havens under all the sky, And mix the seasons and the golden hours: Till each man finds his own in all men's good, And all men join in holy brotherhood, Breaking their mailed fleets and armed towers, And ruling, by obeying nature's powers, And gathering all the fruits of peace, And crowned with all her flowers." Mr. BROADFIELD said he had entered the meeting having a promise from the President that he should not be called upon to speak. He had only one idea to express. We must make a sacrifice to do good to others. If we are members of societies, we must make a sacrifice to serve those societies. We are taught that we must lose our life that we may gain it. The life we are to lay down is the selfish life. By laying down this life, |