our pages must be our apology for having omitted some portions which we would have fain inserted.

The paper specially professes to take in task "O. P. H.," the minister of the Glasgow Society of the New Church, for advancing opinions in the "Repository" contrary to the teachings of Swedenborg. Had the author confined himself strictly to this, we could have had no excuse for interfering in the matter; but he has dragged the "majority" of the Glasgow Society into the controversy in a most wanton and unprovoked manner; and, therefore, as a unit thereof, I feel called upon to repudiate all that is embraced in the following malicious insinuation.

Speaking of the Glasgow minister and church together, this anonymous writer says "The writer of the article is an American, at present officiating at a small chapel in Glasgow, the majority of the congregation believing that THEY are the veritable New Jerusalem." This "believing" is elsewhere spoken of as a "delusion." Now I ask this person, who seems to have been ashamed to put his name to the libel, upon what authority he makes this untrue statement? When? where? at what time? and by what actions, did they, either by word, writing, or deed, give fair occasion for the appearance even of believing that they alone were the custodians of all the good and truth constituting the Lord's New Church -the New Jerusalem? Let him point, if he can, to even a small minority, who at any meeting of the society, or even by private expression of opinion, have given just occasion for such a sweeping statement.

Sir, the writer of this note knows pretty intimately the history of this society since it started fifty years ago; he has been a member of it for many years; he is on terms of intimacy with nearly every member in it, and he has attended almost every meeting, whether of church or committee, that has been held for years; and he therefore feels justified in concluding that if any such feeling existed, he ought to be aware of it. But there is none, and there never was. And although, in bearing testimony to the society of which he forms a part, he may be accused of self-laudation, still truth impels him to say that, taking the Glasgow society as a whole, there does not exist in the New Church, nor out of

it (in proportion to their number), a more liberal, intelligent, and unsectarian body of men and women in the two kingdoms. It has been the writer's fortune, or misfortune, perhaps, to have passed, like "Job Abbot," through many infidel and Christian communities, and he makes the above unreserved statement in view of that experience.

Now, whether this person who has undertaken the task of villifying us, speaks from personal knowledge or propagates the slander at second hand, I ask him, in the interest of that truth which he professes to respect, either to give his authority for his statement, or, like an honest and straightforward man, to retract it altogether.-Yours respectfully, GEO.

DO YOUR CHILDREN GO TO CHURCH?

(From the New Church Herald.) Many parents allow their children to stay at home on very frivolous pretences, and the children grow up with loose habits of church-going, and often fall into bad company, and are morally ruined. One of our exchanges gives good counsel on this point:

66 6 Mother, I don't want to go to church!' and the speaker, a little bright-eyed boy, looked up into his mother's face with evident doubt as to the propriety of saying what he had said. His mother, who had often heard the same remonstrance, sat down, and drew him to her knee, saying 'Charley, father and I tell you it is best for you; don't you think that we know best?' Charley made a petulant reply, and although obliged to go, went in a very unfavourable mood.

"Years passed away. Charley had lived to be a man, and had long gladdened his mother's heart, by living the life of a Christian. Children growing up around him, were taught to tread the path in which he had been led before. One Sabbath, a friend, spending the day with him, asked-'Why do you endeavour to get all your children to church, whether they wish to go or not? you know that many do not approve of such a course.'

"Turning to his friend, he replied: 'I owe it to my mother that I was saved from infidelity, by the respect for the Christian religion instilled into my heart, when she sent me constantly to church.""

Obituary.

On the 10th August, 1860, at Jersey, John Shaw, a worthy member of this Society, departed this life, in the 80th year of his age. Also, on the 30th December, Susannah Evenix, in the 20th year of her age.

On the 9th December, Ann Lacroix, in her 75th year. The deceased was much esteemed by all who knew her; and if there are any of those expressive epithets which are endeared to us by their sacred associations, in the Old Testament, by which we may designate her, it is surely that of "a Mother in Israel." We may liken her to any of that loveable female train that followed and ministered unto the Lord. In affluence as in poverty she was the same charitable spirit, ever ready to give aid to the sick and afflicted. Her latter days were spent at Jesus' feet, and her delight was to hear and read His Word. Those who have read prayerfully and without prejudice the works of the New Church, will understand how delighted and thankful she must have been when the grand truth was announced to her that Jesus was the only God of heaven and earth; that His Humanity is divine; and that the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is vested in Him alone; and that He died to remove our sins from us, and not to appease the supposed wrath in the Father, which those who know not the Father are too apt to attribute to Him. She looked to the glorified and risen Jesus; and in His Divine Humanity she beheld her only God, whose name of right is called 'Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

At Kersley-Moor, December 15th, at the age of 69, Mr. Giles Gee departed into the spiritual world. The deceased was the son of the late Thomas Gee, one of the early preachers of the New Church in Lancashire. Cradled, as it were, in the doctrines, he acquired a strong attraction for and love of them. It was he who, in conjunction with Mr. Rudgyard, of Prestolee, commenced raising subscriptions for the erection of the present commodious church where the Kersley Society meet to worship; and so ardent was he in promoting the undertaking, that he spent whole days

in superintending the work. He lived to see the society increase so as to require the enlargement of the building. In the later periods of his life he suffered much from inflammatory rheumatism, which, causing the decay of the bones in one of his feet, rendered the amputation of the member necessary, after which he was never able to walk much, and ultimately became so helpless as to be obliged to be carried. Though for some years he was unable to lie down, he was almost invariably cheerful, and particularly delighted in conversing on the doctrines, especially those respecting the other world. Naturally of an ardent and somewhat hasty disposition, his illness, under the Divine Providence, was evidently a great blessing to him; and he bore his sufferings with a degree of patience which at one time would have been thought hardly possible. It has, however, at length pleased his Heavenly Father to remove him. He peacefully passed out of the world, and there is no doubt will enter into an eternal rest.

On the 12th February, at Chatteris, in a sudden fit of apoplexy, which lasted only six hours, Mr. Jeremiah Wade departed into the other life, in the 57th year of his age. He had been for about thirty years a builder in the neighbourhood; had a persevering mind, firm to what he saw right and just in all things; and known by many to have had an abundance of life's difficulties to grapple with. For many years he was interested in the General Baptist Connection, and much respected by the Friends. About the year 1857, he became impressed with the truth of the New Church teachings, principally through the instrumentality of the Rev. Dr. Bayley's lectures, to whom he had a great attachment. He became a member of the society at its formation, and has been increasingly delighted with the truths taught. He has left a beloved wife and an affectionate family to lament their loss, to whom he has been a kind and affectionate parent. The Lord help us in both doing and saying-"Thy will be done." B.B. W.

On Christmas morning last (1860), at her residence in Burwash, Sussex, after an illness of but four days, Frances Baldock, in the 69th year of her age. She had been for many years an attentive reader of the writings relating to

the New Church doctrines, and has been a member during the last few years; she always made a point of attending the annual meetings in London, and was most earnest and anxious in her endeavours to propagate the principles of the New Church wherever she thought there was an opportunity, by all means at her command; and though frequently met by derision and incredulity, still she had the courage to persevere, and oftentimes was rewarded by success. The few books she left behind consisted for the most part of Swedenborg's theological works, The True Christian Religion, The Last Judgment, Conjugial Love, Heaven and Hell, and Noble's Plenary Inspiration, being among the number. Her last moments were, perhaps, more peaceful than usually fall to the lot of us frail mortals to experience; her illness was wholly unattended by pain, and her departure for the spiritual world took place without a groan or a struggle; indeed, we may fairly say of her that "her end was peace," and that she died in the pleasant hope and assurance of being received by our Lord into His Heavenly Jerusalem, there to dwell with the angels, and receive the blessings emanating from His Divine Love.

J. H. B.

On December 31st, 1860, Mr. Henry Chaplin, of St. Osyth, Essex, left the natural for the spiritual world, in the 27th year of his age. He was much respected by all who knew him, and esteemed most by those who knew him most intimately. His father, Mr. Jas. Chaplin, was for many years an earnest member of the Lord's church on earth, and is now a member of that church in heaven. His life has very often refuted the slanders and silenced the cavils of our opponents. At an early age, he endeavoured to implant into the promising soil of his son's mind the lustrous truths of the new dispensation. The seeds germinated, and the tender plants, fostered in the Sunday-school, matured by reflection, and infilled by life, became strong. The enemies of the church could not help confessing that the mild spirit, the life of charity, the dutiful affection he manifested to his widowed mother, his love for the Word of God,

his patience under a long illness, his fearlessness of death, and yet his resignation to the Will of the Divine Providence, must owe their activities to some better faith than falsehood, and to some higher hope than delusion. He kept his bed for nearly eleven months, and his constant delight was to hear read to him the Word and the writings. He found especial and unspeakable consolation in the xxiii. and xxvii. Psalms. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want," were almost the last words on his lips. He rejoiced in the prosperity of the church, to which he had contributed the fourth part of his all in the bestowal of the piece of ground on which the neat little edifice at St. Osyth is erected. He was permitted to so far recover as to be able to attend one service in the new building; and as he sat there, he felt that his name was written on something better than "water," and that his life had not been "altogether in vain." But the consumption was wasting away his "earthly house of this tabernacle," and he, shortly after, sank peacefully asleep. His mortal remains were numerously followed to the cemetery by his many friends of St. Osyth, Brightlingsea, and Wivenhoe. The burial service was performed by Mr. J. Hyde, who afterwards preached an affecting discourse at the New Church, from "Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." His relatives are grateful to the Lord Jesus for the many mercies shown to him during his pilgrimage on earth; and their natural grief is assuaged by the conviction of his welfare, and by the hope of meeting him again in that life where "there is no more death." Wife, mother, brother, and friends feel that they are only bereaved of his natural presence, but not of his sympathy, remembrance, and love. Their husband, son, brother, and friend has gone to be reunited to his father, whose example his own life so well imitated as almost to perpetuate his memory, and both together to labour for the progress of the Lord's church in their temporary sojourning-place below. They who knew him best, feel that to him may be applied-"Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him!"

H.