made alive by love, but an imperfect and a dead faith. But what intelligent Christian can believe, that such a faith as this suffices for salvation? For, if faith exists by itself, it is a faith not "made perfect by works,"—it is, strictly speaking, "faith alone;" and if not made alive by love, it is " dead," and it is dead because the professor himself, notwithstanding his doctrinal faith, is still individually dead in trespasses and sins." I believe that the preaching of justification and salvation by faith alone is thus misunderstood to a very great extent; and, as a consequence, that faith and selfishness, and even faith and malice, are found among religious professors in harlot-like connection, instead of the holy and heavenly marriageunion of faith and love, which uniformly marks the truly Christian character, and alone evidences a state of salvation. "Better would it have been for such not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment." (2 Peter ii. 21.) Perhaps I may not be deemed intrusive, if I suggest a preventive of the danger I have pointed out, as arising from an unguarded presentation of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. It is at once admitted, that the true Christian righteousness which is laid open to us by the Gospel, is "the righteousness which is of God by faith,"-a righteousness operated by and from God, through the purifying influence of faith acting upon our principles and practice; it is admitted that without this faith, and Divine operation therein, our righteousness would be self-derived,—" our own"-and not of God; lifeless and unspiritual. "Without faith (the practical faith described in Hebrews xi.) it is impossible to please God:" yet must it not be supposed that God can be pleased by faith alone, or by itself! Faith is intended to lead to righteousness; and since this is the end designed of God, He cannot be pleased with anything short of its accomplishment; faith, so long as it is merely an unfruitful means, cannot possibly please Him, To be Christians, we must " be made the righteousness of God in Christ," (being inserted in Him, and growing upon Him, like branches on the vine. John xv.) And in order to be thus "made righteousness," we must "believe with the heart unto righteousness,”—that is, in believing we must sincerely and fervently desire to be justified, or to become righteous,-by doing righteousness, (1 John iii. 7) and receiving the "gift of righteousness,” (Rom. v. 17) which operations, in my view, are simultaneous. A sincere, that is, a fruitful believer, one who "believes with the heart unto 66 righteousness," can say with fervour and sincerity, "We, through the spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith,”—not indolently, however, but remembering, as John says, that "he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as God is righteous." To be justified by faith, is to be made righteous by faith,-not by faith alone, but by faith when it is made operative by love,-or when righteousness is added to it by obedience, and thus "by works is faith made perfect." The believer should be guarded against selfdeception, by being warned that he is to believe-not that he may go to heaven by faith without righteousness, but that faith may lead him to righteousness, and thus prepare him for heaven. The language of the Apostles requires that he should be called upon to awake to righteousness," and remember that Christians are to be servants of righteousness,"-that " being dead to sin, they must live unto righteousness," knowing that "grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life," (and not through faith without righteousness,) and, therefore, that he must " follow after righteouness," and pray and strive that he may be "filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ," "who is made unto us of God [a fountain of] righteousness," and then he may expect to receive as his reward, a crown of righteousness," by the exaltation of righteousness to supreme and everlasting dominion over his spirit, which is the best conceivable crown of all our earthly toils. He should be reasoned with after the manner of the Apostle John, If ye know that God is righteous, ye know that he that doeth righteousness is born of Him," and that "in this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the Devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness, is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother, abideth in death." How evident it is that John had no idea of any righteousness apart from brotherly love. This, indeed—the righteousness of brotherly love-is alope true Christian holiness. But, alas! how many self-deemed religious persons seem utterly unaequainted with the Christian obligations they have taken upon them, through the insufficient enforcement of these great apostolic truths! 66 66 THOUGHTS ON SOME OF THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. AMONG the various "Notices" and Reviews which occasionally appear in the periodicals of the day, of publications either in illustration or in defence of the New Church and its doctrines, it is pleasing to observe, that with few exceptions they wear a favourable aspect; and to see in such approvals the manifestation of a better spirit, and a more striking indication of true intellectual advancement, than was to be seen in the earlier stages of the Church. In the literary and theological world, men once stood aghast, as if startled at the very name of Swedenborg, for they appreciated not either his philosophical or his theological writings as they ought, and therefore kept a respectful distance, and resolved to maintain a sullen reserve. But now there are those who frequently attract our attention, as we see them venture a nearer approach to the shrine of truth,-examine for themselves, and finally, being rationally convinced, break the long-observed silence by expressions of unqualified approval, which they hesitate not to bring before the public eye, and thus fearlessly announce their salutary conviction to the world. Thus, that which at one time seemed to repel, is now seen to attract,-the change is in man, and not in the truth, which, like its Divine Origin, is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." This, then, is a movement in the right direction. These additional attestations to the truth, are, at the same time, so many exemplifications of the fact, that we live in a new era of things, and in a freer state of thinking," because "spiritual freedom is restored," and "man is better enabled to perceive interior truths." This mighty change is doubtless effected by influx from the spiritual world, however unconscious the new favourers of the truth may be of the cause, which, without doing violence to the freedom of the human will, nevertheless, gives an additional impetus and buoyancy to the mind, and suggests a new and more useful train of thought. It is, indeed, "the powers of the world to come," in their genial activity; which being cordially received in perfect freedom, leads every recipient onward to the most beneficial and happy results. I have been led to these reflections, partly by the perusal of the following American publications, in addition to similar notices which have appeared from time to time in the Intellectual Repository, and other periodicals. The first is from an American "Monthly N. S. NO. 72.-VOL. VI. 2 x . Magazine" called "The Knickerbocker," a very respectable work. Among the "Literary Notices" in that Magazine, there is an article headed, "Anastasis; or The Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body Rationally and Scripturally considered. By George Bush, Professor of Hebrew, New York University. In one volume, pp. 396. New York and London: Wiley and Putnam." The editors commence their remarks thus :-" While standing by a newly-opened vault of the dead in Wall-street, the other day, and surveying the mere handful of dust which was all that remained of perhaps fifty human bodies, wasted-marrow, bones, and all—we could not help asking ourselves,-Is it possible that the belief in which we have been educated can be true? Will the material body rise again from the grave, and stand before its MAKER on the last Great Day? The volume before us, from the pen of a clergyman of the Presbyterian Church, and one of the most profound Biblical scholars of this or any other country, answers these questions with arguments that we think defy refutation. The work will create a profound sensation. It is hard to combat opinions which have strengthened with the lapse of years; which have been reiterated in religious discourses, and chanted in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, for centuries of years. How many lips, cold and still for ever in the grave, have pronounced the lines : 'And must this body die This mortal frame decay? And must these active limbs of mine 'Corruption, earth, and worms 'God, my Redeemer lives, And often from the skies 'Then, wrapt in glorious grace, Shall these vile bodies shine; "Under an oppressive load of conscious, solemn responsibility, Dr. Bush contends, and, we think, clearly proves, that the resurrection of the body is not a doctrine of revelation. This view of the subject presents the grand future under an entirely new aspect, and is calculated to give a rude shock to the settled preconceptions of the great portion of Christendom. Our author has arrived at his sincere convictions, from the progressive development of Scriptural truth. There is nothing, he contends, that is destructive in the bearings of his theory. He has advanced nothing that is intrinsically calculated to weaken the force of the great moral sanctions of the Bible. He leaves the sublime announcements of the resurrection, the judgment, &c., clothed with all their essential practical potency, as doctrines of Revelation, though placed upon their true foundation, and eliminated from the mixtures of long-adhering error. We shall take another occasion to advert more particularly to the arguments in detail of the work under notice. In the meantime we cannot resist the inclination to present a passage or two from the chapter devoted to the argument from reason.' The following paragraph involves grave difficulties to be overcome by those who believe in the resurrection of the material body." Then follows a quotation from the work, of some seventeen lines, in small type, on the changes which the body undergoes at different periods, &c. &c. The Reviewers then proceed thus: "We remember a theory of ghosts, based upon a kindred postulate with the above. It was contended that apparitions were the shadowy bodies which from time to time disappeared from the new person, like the concentric rings peeled from an onion! Our author goes on to establish that the resurrection-body is to be a spiritual, and not a material body. A material body is a body of flesh and blood; but flesh and blood,' saith the Scriptures, cannot inherit the kingdom of God.' Dr. Bush continues his illustrations of the endless cycles of change which the human body may undergo thus:- The doctrine of the resurrection of the same body, in any sense whatever, encounters difficulties in our view absolutely insuperable, arising from the changes and new combinations which the particles of the dead body undergo in the interval between death and the resurrection. Who does not know that the luxuriant vigour and verdure of the wheatcrops waving over the field of Waterloo are owing to a source of fertility which the Belgic husbandman never conveyed to the soil? 'Rich harvests wave where mighty Troy once stood, The putrescent relics of the goodly structure which once enshrined a human soul are resolved into the dust of the earth. The dust springs up in varied forms of vegetable life. The beasts of the field crop the grasses and the herbs, which derive their succulence from the constituent material of the bodies of buried men. Out of these eaters comes forth sweetness, and the flesh which was fed by the flesh of the fathers, goes to the sustenance of the flesh of the sons. To whom shall these particles belong in the day of their final recall from these varied compositions? Will it not require the whole vegetable and animal world to be decomposed in order to extricate the assimilated portions, and give to each his due? And |