Miscellaneous. A welcome, and to express to him their most heartfelt sympathy and affection. THE REV. CHAUNCEY GILES. public meeting of the New Church friends in London was held at the Church in Argyle Square on Thursday, July 15th, to welcome Mr. Giles on his visit to London. Tea was served to a large gathering in the schoolroom, and at seven o'clock the meeting assembled in the Church, the Rev. J. Presland in the chair. Hymn 593 being sung, the Rev. W. Bruce offered up prayer. The Chairman, in a brief and genial speech, expressed the great feeling of pleasure the meeting afforded him, and gave several reasons why we should accord Mr. Giles a hearty English welcome, and Dr. Tafel read the following "Address to the Rev. Chauncey Giles, President of the General Convention of the New Church in America, from the united Societies of the New Church in London, spoken in their behalf by the Rev. R. L. Tafel, Ph.D., M.A. "Such, Mr. Giles, are the feelings which your arrival has aroused in the hearts of the friends of the New Church in London, and which have caused them to assemble here to-night; and these feelings they have delegated me to express to you in their name. I stand here in the name of the English New Churchmen of London in bidding you welcome as the representative of the American New Church, and as one of the foremost representatives of American New Church thought. And in choosing me, who have been ordained under the auspices of the American Convention, and sent over to Europe by the American Convention in furtherance of a work in which both the American and English New Church are interested, they have no doubt desired to give you a practical, living, illustration of the kindly, brotherly feelings and of the hearty good-will which the members of the English New Church entertain towards all those whom the American New Church honours with its confidence and sends as its representative abroad. You will allow me, therefore, in bidding you welcome in the name of your dear friends of the New Church in London, to bid you twice welcome as an old and tried fellow-worker of the American New Church, whom it gives me the greatest possible pleasure and joy to welcome on English soil. "Your name, Mr. Giles, is known wherever the New Church is known, your books have made your name a household word in the New Church, and every week your name is carried by the New Jerusalem Messenger over the whole face of the earth. Yet name implies spiritual quality; and when the name of a man is affixed to such a work as that entitled, "The Nature of Spirit and of Man as a Spiritual Being, "of which 17,000 copies are being read in Great Britain, and which has been translated into several foreign tongues, I mean French and Swedish, and which, wherever it goes, brings comfort and pleasure and spiritual enlightenment to its readers-when I say, the name of a man is linked to such a book, then it means that the quality of that man, his own spiritual being, is loved, respected and admired. But when such a man, who has long been known, respected and loved in the spirit, is actually present in the body, and when he, at the same time, as the President of the General Convention of the New Church in America, comes as the chosen representative of the New Church in America, then the pleasure and joy of those that have previously loved and respected him in the spirit, is brought into a state of fulness, and they hasten to bid him Argyle Square, July 15, 1875.— JOHN PRESLAND, Chairman." The Rev. Chauncey Giles, in rising to respond to the address read by the Rev. Dr. Tafel, said he felt great pleasure indeed in having such a hearty welcome accorded to him, and he was highly gratified to hear of the great good which his writings had been the means of accomplishing; but thanks were due to the Lord, from whom we received the power and the ability to do the work. That which he had been able to do was but very little when compared with what the Church had done for him. It was not for him, however, to speak of himself, and he desired more particularly to speak to them on a subject concerning which he was sure they were questioning him in their hearts-he meant that they were looking for him to say something England, so also, he said, were their about the progress the Church was voices heard on the other side of the making in America. Our friend the Atlantic. The President (Mr. Presland) President, he said, has been pleased to had taught them how more truly and speak of the relations between England more effectually to repeat the prayers and America, and in doing so he spoke which they taught to their children. of us as being your cousin. But he felt Mr. Bruce was a household word there was a nearer and a dearer tie than amongst them, his commentaries being that it was, that the English nation highly valued; and Dr. Bayley was was as a mother to his own country. doing a most wonderful thing, for while That it was so he had found from he remained here he was lecturing experience, for as he travelled through throughout the length and breadth of the country the associations were quite the land. Therefore, he thought it familiar to him, and he could only resembled a whispering gallery, in which account for feeling so much at home the slightest good done was heard. here in the fact that the American This idea he would keep before him people looked upon the great and good when sitting down to write at home, men of this country as their own, and and in giving them a word of encourageclaimed a common property in all her ment he felt strengthened himself. They poets, statesmen, philosophers, and divines. But, as New Churchmen, they were still dearer to each other, and it had occurred to him, that if the principles they loved and held so dear pervaded the whole earth, that which was the glory of nations, as men understood it, would be found utterly impossible. could not lift so much as their finger, he said, with the New Church, without its having some effect, though that might not be apparent to us, yet what was said and done by them would not be lost. The Lord was on their side, and the angels and all the great and good and holy influences of the past were The Church, he said, was making with them. That which was being done rapid progress in America, but not in that house was not for that Society more so he thought than here. Real alone, nor for London, neither was it progress, however, was only made when for England, but for America and for the hearts and minds of the people were the whole world, and it was not for totransformed into the image and likeness day only, but for to-morrow, and for all of the Lord-and they were to make all mankind. Let this encourage them to things new. This was a great work, go on and do their work, enlarging and especially was it so in London-the their affections, coming more into hargreat metropolis of a mighty empire mony with each other, and give the and the centre of civilisation. They result of their thinking and of their had obstacles to contend with in knowledge-above all, to give to each America which we had not, and we had other, which he most cordially and obstacles to overcome which they had heartily did, their affections and their not; but it seemed to him that the one hearts. great obstacle they had in common was the spiritual incapacity of the mind to receive those heavenly principles which had become so dear to them, and this, the greatest obstacle, lay in the low natural states of man. They were not to be discouraged, however, on that account, but act in the full assurance that the Lord's Kingdom would come, and that the Lord's will would be done on earth as it is in the heavens. It is this that we are working for, and every man, woman and child bringing it down into all the relationships of life was doing something to produce this consummation, which would most certainly come. It had been said that what was done in America was heard and felt in The choir then sang "Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is for brethren to dwell together." The Rev. Dr. Bayley, Dr. Bateman, and Mr. R. Gunton addressed the meeting, testifying to the deep feelings of brotherly love and affection held by the New Church towards, and its admiration of, Mr. Giles. The meeting was a most enjoyable one, and closed with Hymn 194, and the benediction. YORKSHIRE MISSIONARY AND COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION.-The Annual Meeting of this useful Association was held at Embsay, June 6th, under the presidency of Dr. David Goyder. The meeting was well attended, and able Mr. Cameron, the Colporteur, by a show of hands, for the able and successful way in which he had replied to the lecturer. A very interesting and instructive address was delivered at the Annual Meeting by Mr. Cameron, in which he gave details respecting his interviews with some of the ministers upon whom he had called. CAMBRIDGE. - The lectures of Mr. Gunton at this place seem to have pro The following is a summary of the duced quite a commotion among some work done during the year :-233 days of the clergy of the Established Church. were spent in missionary and colport- Prior to the last lecture, letters appeared age work; 106 sermons preached; 14 in the local papers condemnatory of the lectures delivered; 34 conversational teaching of our Author, and at the close, meetings held; 28 baptisms; 10 inter- permission having been obtained from ments; 3200 tracts were gratuitously the Mayor for the use of the Guildhall, delivered; the Holy Sacrament was in which the lectures were given, a administered upon seven occasions; chairman was appointed, and a discus175 works of Swedenborg sold; 1215 sion instituted to confute the lectures collateral works sold. and the teachings of the New Church. Since its foundation, about fifteen years A leading spirit in this movement was ago, the Association has distributed the Rev. E. T. Leeke, who, in a letter 151,610, tracts, and sold 2600 of Swe- to the Cambridge Express, speaks of the denborg's works. The total of books efforts of Mr. Gunton as an attempt to sold, Swedenborg's__and collateral, propagate the deadly errors, puerile abamounts to 18,714. Under the auspices surdities, and immoral teachings of of the Association about 100 sermons are preached annually. the Cambridge papers. On the side of the New Church, letters have been written by Mr. G. L. Allbutt, E. C. Anderson, R. J., the Lecturer, and Dr. H. A. Allbutt, of Leeds. From this corre spondence we select the letter of Mr. G. L. Allbutt, St. John's College, and hope in a future number to give other extracts from the letters which have appeared: Emanuel Swedenborg. This gentleman, sustained by a number of others, in a Having learnt that occasionally indi- very overbearing manner, assailed the viduals would purchase the works of lecturer, demanding to be satisfied of the Swedenborg if they knew where they statements of Swedenborg, and offering might be obtained, the Colporteur now the usual gross misrepresentations of his advertises once a month in a Leeds teaching. This discussion, and the newspaper that those works can be letters by which it was preceded, have obtained at his address in Leeds. Dur- led to an extended correspondence in ing the mission services held in Leeds, the Colporteur attended for the purpose of distributing tracts before and after the services. His manner of proceeding was, in the first instance, to request an interview with the preacher for the evening, and then presenting him with copies of the tracts, to ask his permission to give them away at the door. This request was only refused upon three occasions out of twelve. "SIR,-Will you kindly allow me, in Tracts treating of "Life,' or the justice to the numerous readers of the "Sacred Scriptures," were generally Express, to make some reply to the selected for distribution at such times. statements advanced in last week's im Upon one occasion, at Doncaster, the pression with regard to the teachings of Colporteur was very successful in Emanuel Swedenborg? If I say that defending the Bible against the attacks the facts of the case have been grossly of a Unitarian minister, who, after a misrepresented by your correspondent, lecture, invited discussion. At the close and that the inferences he intended the of the meeting the audience thanked readers of his letter to draw, are as far removed from the truth as darkness from light, I doubt not that you will willingly give a fair hearing to what I have to say. Your correspondent stigmatizes the Addresses on Religious Subjects,' recently delivered by R. Gunton, Esq., as attempts to propagate the deadly errors, puerile absurdities, and immoral teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Let us examine each of these points separately. "(i) Deadly Errors.-Your correspondent gives a number of quotations from Swedenborg's Universal Theology,' but takes care to omit the explanation of those quotations afforded by the writer. Surely it is a very unfair mode of argument to cut a number of paragraphs out of an author's writings, string them together without letting any of the context appear, and then present them to the reader as the teaching of the author, allowing him to draw from them what conclusions he pleases. If this were a fair and open mode of argument, the sceptic would have little difficulty in proving the deadly errors, puerile absurdities, and immoral teachings imputed by him to the Bible. and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore that holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God' (Luke i. 35). Is not Swedenborg's statement a paraphrase of the latter part of this passage? Swedenborg shows that the Son of God is not the name of a Divine Being born from eternity, but the name of the human nature which Jehovah assumed when He came into the world. Swedenborg's statement seems to me in perfect harmony with St. Luke's. St. Luke here tells us what the Son of God is : had it been a Son of God born from eternity who came into the world, would it have been said, 'The Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God?' But the fact is that we have no mention of a Divine Being, the Son of God, separate from the Father, in either the Old Testament or the New. In the Old Testament, the phrase 'Son of God' does not once occur (except in Dan. iii. 25, where it is a mistranslation for 'a Son of the Gods'), and in the New Testament it is always employed with the meaning given by Luke. The term Father is the name of "We will, however, examine the God as to His Inmost Divine Nature; quotations adduced, and see what fur- the Son is the humanity which manifests ther light can be thrown upon them. the Father to man; the Holy Spirit is (a) God is a man.' No explanation the proceeding of life and light flowing is given, and this, bear in mind, is one from the conjunction of the two. of Swedenborg's deadly errors. Do not what other way can we understand such 'orthodox' Christians believe God is statements as these: The Father that a man? Does not Mr. Leeke himself dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Beteach this great truth from his pulpit lieve Me that I am in the Father and the Sunday after Sunday? Swedenborg Father in Me' (John xiv. 10, 11)? It tells us that Jehovah God descended, is evidently a Father in Jesus Christ, and assumed the Humanity, for the pur- not some Being distinct from and thus pose of redeeming and saving mankind' out of Him, who is mentioned. What (T. C. R. 82). Do not all Christians can these verses signify but that all the hold this doctrine? Assuredly they do; activities of the Son, or humanity, were but the inference which one would called into exercise by means of the Innaturally draw from the statement God most Divine Love, or the Father, which is a man' being alleged as a deadly dwelt within it, and which is the prompt. error by a Christian minister is, that ing principle in all God's dealings? Why, Swedenborg taught mere anthropomor- if the Son were God by Himself distinct phism, that God was no higher and no from the Father, did He require the better than the creature He has made. Father's assistance to do the works, If any have drawn this inference from when He could have performed them by reading Mr. Leeke's letter, let me tell means of His Own Godhead? We read them at once it is a false one. (b) The in John v. 19: The Son can do nothing humanity by which God sent Himself of Himself, but what He seeth the into the world is the Son of God' (T. C. Father do,' meaning that without the R. 92). In proof of this statement, promptings of the Divine Soul, or Swedenborg advances this passage of Father, the humanity was absolutely Scripture: The angel said unto her, powerless. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, In "Before passing on to the next point, I will just adduce a few passages to prove that Jehovah of the Old Testament, and Jesus of the New, are One and the same Divine Person, One and the same God: Jer. xxiii. 5, 6, Behold the day is come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is the name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness.' Mal. iii. 1, Behold I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me; and Jehovah whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple.' Compared with Matt. xi. 10, For this is he of whom it is written, Behold I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee;' Isa. xlviii. 12, Jehovah says, 'I am He: I am the first, I also am the last.' Compared with Rev. i. 17, 18, The Son of Man says, 'I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was dead;' Isa. xliii. 11, 'I, even I, am Jehovah, and beside Me there is no Saviour; Isa. xliii. 3, ‘I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour;' Isa. xlvii. 4, As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name.' Compared with Luke i. 68, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people;' Matt. i. 21, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins;' Jude 25, 'To the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty.' 6 threatening his destruction. The Lord assumed a human nature that He might endure temptation, since as God He could not be tempted; all the powers of hell were permitted to assail Him, but He overcame them all, and as the work of victory went on He gradually glorified the humanity, uniting it more closely to the Divine Father within, and making it more fit to be His abode. But this union could not take place until the life of the infirm humanity was laid down; hence the necessity of the passion of the Cross. Any one may see that it was not the sufferings of Christ which saved us, but the overthrow of our spiritual enemies, and the putting us into such a position that we might receive fresh power from the Lord to follow in His footsteps. Salvation was not possible without the sufferings and death, since then the human could not have been united to the Divine, and a new and living way' opened between God and man. Suppose a friend of mine is being attacked by a lion; I interpose, and kill the lion, but not until I have received some terrible wounds in the contest. I save my friend by killing the lion; my wounds do not save him, though his salvation would have been impossible without them. "(d) There is one God, who is a man, and whose habitation is in that sun' (T. C. R. 135). The first part of this statement has been explained above. Had Mr. Leeke told the readers of his letter what the sun referred to meant, he would have prevented many from falling "I have just given a brief sketch of into the mistake that Swedenborg was a the doctrine of the Trinity taught by sun-worshipper. Now, Swedenborg tells Swedenborg. The doctrine which he us that in heaven 'the Divine love and condemns is that which separates the wisdom, in their proximate emanation Divine Being into three persons, each of whom is God by Himself, since in this case it is impossible that the mind should have an idea of One God, when it has just admitted three. from the Lord, appear as a sun before the angels' (T. C. R. 25). His Divine Love flowing from Him as from a centre is Heavenly heat, and His Divine Wisdom Heavenly Light. We read (Psa. "(c) The third quotation is not correct; lxxxiv. 11), The Lord God is a sun it should run thus: "The passion of and a shield:' and St. John tells us the Cross was not redemption, but the that 'the city had no need of the sun last temptation which the Lord endured (meaning the material sun) nor of the as the Grand Prophet; and it was the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God means of the glorification of His huma- did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light nity, i.e. of the union with the divinity thereof' (Rev. xxi. 23). Swedenborg's of His Father' (T. C. R. 126). Now statement, as I understand it, is a corSwedenborg teaches that redemption roboration of these passages. consisted in the Lord's overcoming hell in His own person, and removing from man the spiritual enemies who were "(e) To approach God the Father, and beseech Him to have mercy for the sake of His Son, is ignorance.' Sweden |