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and if proved, shall thankfully acknowledge it; but if there be no error in it, it reduces Tripersonalism either to Tritheism, that is, three-Godism, or to absolute Unitarianism.*

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In the next place, God must be known, or He will be as nothing to us; for that of which we know nothing is but a name, to which we attach either an untrue idea or no idea at all, aud consequently it is little better than a non-existence to us. We do not mean that we should know God as He is in Himself; that is impossible, for it would require an infinite being to know an infinite being as that Being knows himself. But though we cannot understand the Eternal in that sense, yet there is a view in which God himself chooses to be seen by mán; and it is this that we ought to obtain and understand, and build our faith upon; for this is "Immanuel," that is, "God with us," or "God to us." The fact of not being able to comprehend God infinitely, forms no reasons why we should not endeavour to comprehend Him finitely; in the same way as the circumstance of my eyes not being able to take in all the light of the sun, forms no reason why I should shut my eyes and be determined to receive none. Man ought to have a view of God, and it should be a view on which his thoughts can dwell. Any doctrine that precludes thought, is useless, for man can only progress in the religious life, as his thoughts become improved. We cannot build a system, with any certainty, on something unknown; and no wise man will build, unless he knows what he is building upon. The choice between a good and a bad foundation, constitutes us either wise or foolish builders. Therefore, if God be unknown, no religious system which will last can be erected on such a foundation. Hence the necessity of a distinct view of God. Men unfortunately have so totally excluded the divine being from their perceptions, by declaring that He is unknown and unknowable, that many have not the slightest idea of Him. The word "God" is common enough, but it is only a "word," which commonly stands for nothing, and to which there is usually

It must not be supposed that we deny a divine Trinity; for that is a doctrine clearly taught in the Scriptures. But we do deny that this Trinity consists of "three persons.' There are three essentials, but only one essence, and one person. These essentials are called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which make the divine Trinity, and are to God, what the soul, body, and influence, are to man. But see the Tract on the Trinity.

attached no definite meaning. Let the reader ask himself, or the next person he meets, what notion he has of God, and it is more than probable he will say that He is all good, all wise, all powerful, &c., but that He has no form! But in all this there is no idea, that is, the understanding can lay hold of nothing, unless it be a perception of its absurdity. God is doubtless "all good," &c., but these are qualities, and must exist in some subject. Abstract goodness, wisdom, and power, are nothing. They cannot exist. They cannot be conceived of. The mind wanders when it thinks of them as existing in no body. It is foolish, for instance, to talk of wisdom, separate from some form or organ, walking down Briggate! It is, therefore, impossible for God to be good, wise, and powerful, unless he has some divine and infinite form in which these qualities can reside; and it is also impossible for us to have any idea of Him, unless we think of Him as existing in some form, for the mind can only think when it has a perception of form. A formless thing is a nonentity to man.* This we state advisedly, and declare that God has a form, and that that form is JESUS CHRIST! This is the meaning of the apostolic declaration, "Being in the form of God, Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God." There are three things stated in these words; first, that God has a form; second, that Jesus Christ is that form; and thirdly, that, as a consequence, Christ, or the form, is equal with God. If, then, we would think of God, we must think of Christ; for God in the person of Christ, is the only God of which man can conceive. This doctrine relieves the mind from that doubt and mystery which must always exist in connection with the notion of "three persons and one God:" and presents the Deity in the most comprehensive, lovely, and loveable form that the world has ever seen. No form was ever so loveable as that of the blessed Jesus; let us then approach it as the form of our God! The Scriptures teach us to do this, for the person of Jesus is the only personality that the gospels ascribe to God.

There is, therefore, but one divinity and one person. The Father is the Divinity, and Christ is the person; and these are united like soul and body, and

*This is not inconsistent with the true docrines of Omnipresence. See paper on that subject.

together form one God. Hence the Lord of argument they adopt is luminous and continually declares that they are one, and that the Father dwells in Him: and lastly, the Apostle reiterates the glorious truth, and says, "in Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," (2 Col. 9.) which means that in the body of Christ the godhead dwells.

Therefore," to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory, and majesty, and dominion, and power, both now and ever. Amen." Jude xxv.

R. EDLESTON.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The Passion of the Cross, including an Explanation of the Import of the Blood of Christ, as mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. By the Rev. W. Mason. London: Hodson, Portugal-street. pp. 60.

What is the Human Soul? By the Rev.

W. Mason. London: Hodson. pp. 76. We merely announce, on the present occasion, to our readers the appearance of these two small works on these important subjects, upon which it is so desirable to have correct and luminous ideas. Although the substance of these works has already appeared in tracts published at Glasgow, yet having been revised and enlarged by the author, they are now presented to the public in a more substantial and appropriate form. In our next we shall give, if possible, a descriptive review of their contents. The line

conclusive. No New Churchman is well instructed unless hs is au fait on these momentous questions. "He cannot give a reason for the hope that is in him," (1 Peter iii. 15.) without being well informed as to these essential points of Christian doctrine. We therefore earnestly recommend our readers to procure these works, so well adapted to instruct them on the subjects on which they treat.

EMBSAY.-Our brethren at Embsay have recently lost, through death, their respected and beloved leader, Mr. John Mason. An interesting obituary memoir of this excellent man will be found in our present number. This dispensation of Providence has caused our brethren at Embsay to grieve much over the loss of one who has been so long and so eminently useful to the New Church in that remote district of Yorkshire, and they sincerely pray that the Lord, in his Providence, will soon supply them with another labourer in that part of his vineyard. In several communications which we have received from Embsay, our friends have expressed the wish that we should make their want of a leader and schoolmaster known to our brethren at large, and if any suitable person acquainted with the doctrines of the New Church is disposed to apply for the situation, he will receive all necessary information on writing to Mr. T. H. Shacklock, Embsay, near Skipton.

Marriage.

Married, on Wednesday the 19th of by the Rev. J. Cull, Mr. John Lowes, to November, 1851, at the New Jerusalem Miss Jane Reed, both of Newcastle. Temple, Percy-street, Newcastle-on-Tyne,

Obituary.

Died, on the 6th of September, at Ivy House, Churchstoke, Montgomery, Mr. William Jones, nephew of Richard Gillaird, Esq., formerly of Liverpool. The deceased would have been 24 the day on which his remains were interred; but from the general goodness and piety of his life, and the patience and fortitude manifested during a lingering decline, we may truly exclaim, in the words of his affectionate aunt, "How much happier was his natal day in the world of spirits!"

Unlike the superficial and merely intellectual qualities too commonly cultivated among youth, his worth was of an unassuming and sterling character; his conduct was regulated by the strictest regard to truth and order, and consequently marked by a simplicity not always appreciated. Such a state must be regarded as the best foundation of religion, and the purest germ from which regeneration commences. With such true resignation did he bear his affliction, that

during his last severe sufferings not a murmur escaped his lips; but he was tenderly considerate of the anxiety and exercise caused by his illness, and evinced the utmost gratitude for the affectionate attentions he received. He delighted to Hear the Word read, and also New Church works, and to converse on religious subjects; especially did he love to dwell on the doctrine of the Lord, respecting which his mind appeared singularly clear; and this internal illumination is, we know, granted to those who have been early imbued with the general truth, and who, at the same time, cherish an inmost regard to the divine commandments. O that all might thus, indeed, "remember their Creator in the days of their youth!" R. A.

Died, at Scarborough, on the 16th September, Mr. George Catcheside, of Newcastle, aged 33 years. The following summary of the character of our brother is gathered from a funeral discourse preached by the Rev. J. Cull, in the Temple, Percy-street, Newcastle, on Sunday evening, September 27th. Our departed friend received the doctrines of the Lord's New Church in his youth, since which time his candle has not been under a bushel, for he was the medium of communicating the same heavenly truths to two of his brothers, and several other persons; these, again, became new centres of use, so that to this active labourer in the Lord's vineyard can be traced the branching off of about a dozen sincere receivers of the New Church doctrines. Such is the good which a wise man can do. Moreover, his example corresponded with the doctrines he professed; he was no wandererhe did not propound to others a new and brighter description of religious knowledge, and neglect the temple wherein it was developed ! On the contrary, so long as he was in health he was seldom absent from the house of the Lord; and his duties as a member of the church, of secretary and member of the committee to the society for several years, as well as Sunday school teacher and secretary to the day school, were performed with fidelity, and, indeed, in such a manner as to show that his love was there. Nor was he a Christian abroad only; his fireside was the scene of many a social gathering, and when no eye but the Lord's saw, his custom was-with the partner of his joys and cares-to read and study

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Died, on the 23rd of October, 1851, at Embsay. near Skipton, in Yorkshire, Mr. John Mason, who had been the leader of the New Church Society in that village for upwards of fourteen years. His age was forty-eight. His life had been one of exemplary excellence, inIcluding in it a spirit so humble, and unconscious of his own talents and worth, as to secure universal esteem. Men of all the varied persuasions in the neighbourhood respected John Mason, while he was beloved by the society he had so long served. He was in his youth a Sunday scholar at a small school kept by the Methodists, and was considered a decidedly pious, thoughtful youth. When he was about eighteen years of age, he was on the prayer leaders' plan, and was usually called upon to pray at the classmeeting; but even then he was noticed to be desirous of inquiring farther than those around him into the truth of what he was taught. Connected with the Sunday school was an aged teacher named Wigglesworth, who was a receiver of the New Church doctrines, but who laboured among the Methodists because there was no society of his own with which he could be useful. He frequently conversed with John Mason and another youth, who also subsequently became a member of the New Church. He often read to these youths out of New Church works, and at length they became diligent readers themselves. They obtained their books at that time chiefly from Mr. Ambrose Dean, of Addingham, and went seven miles to fetch them. And when they read these books, and saw their old teacher sustained in sickness by the truths they taught, and guided by them, enjoying light and peace in his death, they appeared fully to enter into the spirit so pathetically expressed by Ruth of old, "Thy God shall be my God, and thy people shall be my people." From this time Mr. Mason was altogether identified with every movement to spread the doctrines of the New Church in Embsay and its neighbourhood.

And when the increase of receivers was such as to warrant the building of a place of worship, Mr. Mason, who had for some time read the lessons at meetings for worship held in farm houses, and expounded what he read, was requested to become the leader. With much diffidence he accepted the office, and served the society gratuitously until his last illness, a period of fourteen years. His discourses were highly esteemed by his hearers, not only at Embsay, but also at the other societies to which he occasionally ministered, especially the Keighley society. He was plain, clear, and animated, as a preacher. He was earnest from a conviction of the truth of what he had to utter, and the importance of that truth to man's salvation. And because he lived the truth he taught, his hearers listened with attention, and learned to prize the truth from him. He was a firm friend of the young. He had been connected with Sunday schools from boyhood, and when there was a New Church Sunday school he was a zealous and steady teacher and supporter to the last. Many of the young men who have been led by him at the Sunday school and classes attached to it, have benefitted so much by his care and kindness as to revere him with almost more than filial love. The excellent Thos. Simpson, whose obituary we gave in a former number, said his only regret in going into the eternal world was, that he could not take Mr. Mason with him. Some years ago, feeling a desire to quit the harassing pursuits of the business world, and the conviction of the need of a cheap day school in Embsay, he therefore commeneed the New Church day school there, and devoted himself daily to the tuition of the young, and in this occupation he continued until his illness forbad his longer attendance. He had the love of the children and the respect of their parents, and from this feeling, for more than three mouths the attendance of the children had not declined, although the school was not satisfactorily provided for. All clung to the hope that their beloved teacher would recover, and they would await his return. The illness of which he died was pronounced by the medical men an abscess in the liver. It was manifested by great languor, shiverings, then discolouration of the skin, and increased debility until death. His illness indisposed him to exertion, and even to speak; but when he saw some good might be done by a little useful counsel, he roused himself to

exertion, and spoke to the purpose. To some who came to inquire after his health and state of mind, he said all his comforts were derived from the doctrines of the New Church. On another party applying,-" Tell them," he said, "I am firm as a rock in the New Church. There is no other True Church." To an aged Methodist who called to see him, he expressed his confidence in the Lord, and on the other saying he thought he was more fitted for heaven than himself, Mr. Mason replied—“ Well, but there's one thing, I think, yet." "What is that ?" asked the other. Mr. Mason rejoined :— "It is not what I say now, nor what you say, it is the life which fixes us for eternity." To Mr. Bayley, whom he desired to preach his funeral discourse, as he had known him most intimately, and who administered the sacrament to him about a fortnight before his death, he expressed his thankfulness that he had attended to his regeneration in the days of health, and had not deferred the things belonging to his peace to the time of sickness; he finished by saying that "for any thing he knew he was quite prepared to die." In this spirit he breathed his last, and left around the village in which he had lived and laboured, the universal conviction that a consistent Christiau had gone to heaven. His funeral discourse was preached by the Rev. J. Bayley on the 9th of November. The audience was crowded. Numbers were unable to obtain admission. The most fixed attention was given while the preacher unfolded the doctrines of the New Church on life, death, and eternity, connecting them with personal reference to the departed. effect, we trust, will be a permanent determination with many to take up the language of the prophet,-" Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." J. B.

The

Died, on the 5th of October, at New York, aged 22, Miss Emily Proctor, daughter-in-law of Mr. Wheaton Bradish, formerly of Norwich. The deceased was brought up in the doctrines of the New Church, and was of a most amiable character, most dutiful as a daughter, and most affectionate as a sister. Her marriage was fixed to take place in the spring; but a short illness removed her suddenly from her beloved friends on earth, to that sphere which is the divinely-provided home of man, and where blooms "immortal youth." R. A.

Cave and Sever, Printers, Palatine Buildings, Hunt's Bank, Manchester.

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ON THE UNION OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION. (From the French of the Rev. M. Oegger, of Versailles. )*

Ir is announced by Swedenborg, the apostle of the latter days, that in the New Jerusalem, faith will be comprehended by reason, and that in the renovation of the Christian Church, faith and reason will be united. I think that we should, in our discourses and writings, insist on this fact, because it will contribute greatly to the diffusion of Truth. For us, who have studied the whole system of Swedenborg's admirable theology, this union of faith and reason is found to be already effected. We, indeed, see no difference between theology and that branch of philosophy which treats about God and our relations with him; but in order to spread this great truth abroad, it is required that those who are called Thinkers or Philosophers should be induced to give us their attention; and this must, in different countries, be done in different ways. In Catholic countries, such as France, for instance, where philosophy and theology are entirely separated, and are even hostile to each other, the means of reconciliation offered by the New Jerusalem, is in fact the only means by which both may be brought back to genuine

* Some of the ideas in this paper are contained in the very brief abstract inserted in the report of the great meeting in London; but as the entire paper is so very instructive on the subject it treats, we have thought that, somewhat abridged, it would be acceptable and interesting to our readers.

N. S. NO. 146.-VOL XIII.

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