ber, that "all things are possible to them that believe," and that by faith we have " power to become the sons of God.” To suppose (as Mr. Wesley expressly states) that all evil can be put off in a moment, and a new nature instantaneously conferred upon man, in its place, is equally contrary to reason, experience, and scripture. There are many passages in the Word which urge man to "press-forward," to " work," and "to grow in grace;" all of which are directly at variance with the notion that salvation is instantaneous, as they evidently imply not a sudden and momentary, but a gradual change, a change commencing with a resolution to amend, and proceeding imperceptibly, and accompanied with so much of inward struggle between "the spirit and the flesh" as sometimes to induce a doubt whether any real progress has been made, or even whether it has really begun. Every one must be aware, that, with those who have departed from early rectitude, and fallen into habitual sin, time is required to overcome any deeply rooted habit, and that it is only by perseveringly resisting the inclination to indulge in it, that it is at last broken and destroyed. Sin is a habit very deeply rooted in the mind of every unregenerate man. It pervades his every thought, word, and action, and to suppose that in a moment it can be eradicated, and replaced by its opposite, is at variance with every just and philosophical idea of the mind, every notion of order, and contrary to universal experience. It is true that the resolution to abandon a sinful life, and to lead a life of virtue and holiness, may, and must begin to be formed at some particular instant of time, but it is not by merely forming it, but by consistently carrying that resolution into effect, in humble dependence on Divine aid, that man is saved from his sins, and sanctified by the truth. If this conclusion be a just one, it necessarily follows, that a mere resolution formed upon a death-bed, will not alter the state and condition of the sinner, any more than a determination to amass wealth, adopted under similar circumstances, will cause a man to die rich. But the supposed power to confer salvation on habitual sinners on their death-bed, will not readily be abandoned by the advocates of salvation by faith alone. If Catholics valued this absurd doctrine of death-bed salvations, as a means to get gain, Protestants are not behind them in having recourse to it from motives scarcely less reprehensible. But this notion is not to be combated merely as an erroneous theory injuring no one, but as a great practical evil; for I ask any reasonable being, whether teaching men that at any time they can obtain salvation by merely asking for it, if they plead at the same time "the merits of Christ," and that even in their last moments they can not only secure pardon for their past offences, but receive instantaneous ly a complete fitness for, and capability of enjoying heaven, is not calculated to inspire the belief, that since working out their salvation can thus be dispensed with, they are comparatively safe in indulging their present evil propensities, and that it is of little importance how many, and how great sins they may commit, since it is but the work of a moment to be freed from the punishment and all the consequences of their guilt.? After preaching such a doctrine, it is of little avail to tell men that life is uncertain and death is sure, and that suddenly they may be snatched into Eternity, and called, unprepared, to meet their God. Experience proves that they will run the risk. Teach a man, as Peter taught, that his soul can only be purified "in obeying the truth, through the Spirit, and that every action of his life will have an effect upon his eternal state, and you at once set a guard upon his conduct, and supply him with an adequate incentive to virtue and holiness; but tell him, on the other hand, that he may sin with impunity through a long life, and in the last half hour throw off his evil principles as a garment, and clothe himself in “the robe of Christ's righteousness," tell him that after he has devoted his whole life to iniquity, revelled in the sensual enjoyments of sin, and exhausted his energies in becoming a devil, in a few moments, by some mysterious process-by the uttering of a few cabalistic words called " faith," and giving the rein to his excited feelings and imagination, he can be justified, purified, sanctified, and transformed into an angel of light, thus pointing out to him a "Royal Road" to Salvation,-teach him this, and if he is weak enough on your ipse dixit to believe such absurdity, there is much reason to fear that he will be wicked enough to avail himself of the license which such a doctrine affords. The teachers of this doctrine would do well to reflect, that this their favourite dogma, the corner stone of their system of teaching,-the foundation of their revival meetings,-the badge of their orthodoxy,-is precisely calculated to sap the foundation of morals, to confound the distinction between right and wrong, and to banish a pure, rational, and holy religion from amongst men. They would do well, if, before attacking the doctrines of the New Church by false accusations of absurdity, or immorality,-of being unphilosophical in themselves, and of affording improper license to their professors, they would cease from teaching doctrines, the evil tendency of which is only equalled in their amazing extravagance, for such must be the judgment of every welldisposed mind educated in the belief of these doctrines, so soon as his intellectual vision is freed from the obscurity induced by the early prejudices of a defective education. I. F. * A LETTER FROM MR. ABIEL SILVER TO THE RIGHT REV. SAMUEL A. M'COSKRY, BISHOP OF MICHIGAN, ON HIS JOINING THE NEW CHURCH. (From an American New Church periodical, "The Retina.") DEAR SIR-Last Wednesday, in company with my beloved wife and daughter, I became separated from the "Protestant Episcopal Church," by means of admission, through Baptism and the Holy Supper, into the Society of the New Jerusalem Church. I am well aware that, after having enjoyed the communion and fellowship of that Church for twenty-three years, the step must, to my numerous friends and acquaintances of that communion, appear strange, and to some, perhaps, ridiculous. And for the esteem and regard I bear to many of them, and particularly to yourself Sir, it seems to be a duty, or I feel, at least, a desire, to make a brief explanation. Early in life I became seriously impressed with a view of the depravity of my heart, of the inevitable consequences, without regeneration, of the necessity and importance of the Christian Religion to the well-being of mankind, and of the duty of becoming a member of some body of the Church and living a Christian life. And after twelve months careful examination into the creeds and regulations of the various denominations within my reach, I became decidedly of the opinion, that the Episcopal was the most orderly and apostolic of the sects. To her, therefore, I attached myself, with no small degree of real and pleasing anticipations. And, for the first ten years of my Christian pilgrimage, I labored more to become confirmed in the Divine authority of her ministry and government, and the beauty, order, and sublimity of her mode of worship, than in her doctrines of faith. Of the former, I was always an admirer, and am still. But, in the latter, I have never been a rational believer. My symbol of the Trinity was an equilateral triangle, presenting God in three distinct features, though not in separate persons. But there was always much darkness in the attempt to look through this symbol towards God as "without body or parts." [See articles of Religion of the Episcopal Church.] And more darkness still, when I attempted to contemplate the Lord Jesus Christ as of the "one substance," of the "one living and true God;" taking "man's nature," and "suffering," &c., "to reconcile his Father, (the same 'one substance,') to us,” and thereby becoming "a sacrifice for original guilt and actual transgressions." feeling my own blindness and weakness, I concluding that the apostolic Church of Christ should know best her own doctrines; and, therefore, hesitated to doubt, that what she deemed the "good old paths" would lead me out right at last, if I faithfully walked in them. I therefore thought it best not to be over curious about what was dark and irreconcilable, but to endeavour, rather, to suppose there was wisdom in the words of the poet, who says, "what you can't unriddle learn to trust." And in this darkness I should, probably, have remained, but for the merciful goodness of God, in suffering me, about seven years ago, to be deprived of my left arm near the shoulder. But the lively sensations of the hand which remained after the loss of the flesh, together with other circumstances, led me to enquire into the nature of the "natural body" and the "spiritual body" of which Paul speaks, to see if they do not actually exist together, one within the other. This inquiry led me to the Word of God and the writings of the New Church, the only source I know of, from which we can obtain any light upon this subject. And here, I was delighted to find that these writings lay open to view the truths of the Word, in a manner, verifying my own sensations, and clearly illustrating the nature and equality of spiritual substances and forms; bringing forth into rational thought, from the dark abyss of formless uncertainty, God and angels, and departed spirits: so that, in thinking of the spiritual world, the mind has something distinct and rationally true upon which to rest. This joyous light, beaming forth from the Word, soon began to dissipate, also the darkness of my thoughts upon the Trinity, and, in some happy degree, to afford me luminous and rational views of God, as Father, Son and Holy Ghost, dwelling, "in all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," in the Lord Jesus Christ; and thus being, fully and properly, "God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." Nor did the light stop here, but opened my beclouded understanding to a new and more heavenly contemplation of the nature of sin and its remission, of redemption, But conversion, and regeneration; of faith, charity, and works; of the supremacy of God and the freedom of man; in fine, of all the doctrines of the Word, undimmed by Arianism, Socinianism, Calvinism, Arminianism, Universalism, Athentianism, Unitarianism, or any other of the isms of men. But exhibiting the truth itself, in its own pure light, and in so distinctly conspicuous a view, that all who rightly behold it see it to be true, without any diversity of sentiments; because it is seen really and philosophically,—seen analytically, and not synthetically,-seen positively, and not hypothetically. Hence there are no discordant views among the members of the New Church upon the doctrines of the Word, which is, perhaps, the strongest evidence we can offer to the natural mind, that we have the truth, and which, if they believe us, we should think would be conclusive, or at least sufficiently strong to excite a spirit of investigation, in any mind honestly desirous of seeing the doctrines of the Word in a light in which they themselves become the indisputable evidence of their own truth. If, as we believe, there are no two persons who, without this light, do agree as to the doctrines of the Word, and no two, who have it, that disagree, the question, as to its truth, becomes a startling one. And we believe the reason why the learned and pious of the same denominations have such a diversity of sentiments upon this all-important subject, which occasions so many divisions and subdivisions of sects, such peculiar individuality of thought and opinion, and such commotion, and wonder, and fear, and doubt, as is now felt throughout Christendom, upon the nature and fulfilment of the prophecies, is not because God has so indefinitely expressed Himself that He cannot be understood, but because men perceive not the pure language of analogy in which Jehovah speaks; and which, if understood, we think as inevitably leads to the same conclusions in every jot and tittle of the Word as light leads to the sun from which it flows. This language of correspondence is explained throughout the voluminous writings of Swedenborg; a clear, philosophical view of which may be seen in a volume entitled "Plenary Inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures." And yet we differ not from the mass of the Christian world in a solemn fact, that there is a hell of everlasting misery for the wicked, and a heaven of everlasting joy for the good; that man is in a fallen and depraved state, and requires a complete regeneration of thoughts, feelings, and actions, from evil to good, to fit him for heaven; that God while manifest in the flesh, opened up a way by which we may be saved, and without which we must inevitably have been lost; and that our eternal destiny, either for happiness or misery, is determined in this life. These, and many other things, we, in common with other Christians, believe; not, however, solely because God has said so, but also because He enables us to see, in a rational light, what it is He says, and how, and why He says it. We therefore view the facts themselves, and all the circumstances connected with them, in a new, brilliant, and self-evident light, entirely dissimilar to our former views. Now, whether we do really see what we profess, or are all alike deluded and deceived, we leave it for those to judge who understand the generally received doctrines of the Word, and are willing to examine the Word in the light of the New Jerusalem. And you will pardon me, my dear Sir, if I have said anything disrespectful or unkind of yourself or the Church of which you are a Bishop. And, be assured, I have not the presumption to write this with a view or expectation of teaching you theology, but that you and my other friends may have some of the reasons why I have gone to the New Church. It would pain me to wound the feelings of any member of that Church, or cast an uncharitable reflection towards her. We are indebted to her ministry for some of the first translations and English publications of the writings of the New Church. Swedenborg himself was the son of a Bishop, and a devoted member of the Church. The Rev. John Clowes, Rector of a Church at Manchester, was among the first translators of his works. And, for the last thirty years of his life, while Rector under Bishop Porteus, he boldly preached, proclaimed, and published to the world the doctrines taught through Emanuel Swedenborg as being the only true doctrines of the Word. Accompanying this you will receive a "Dialogue," by Mr. Clowes, on the views of the New Church, and also a "Letter from the Rev. Augustus Clissold," another Episcopal clergyman, "to the Archbishop of Dublin," wherein you will see the doctrines I have embraced to some extent explained and defended by good and able ministers N.S. No. 55.—VOL. v. M m of your own Church. But the best place to see them is in the "Arcana Calestia," and the "True Christian Religion," by Emanuel Swedenborg. 66 But methinks I hear you ask why, after all, do I leave the Episcopal Church? I must answer that, as I now understand the Holy Word, the Christian Church is consummated and come to its end, as was the Jewish Church, at the first coming of the Lord. That the "end of the world," unto which the Lord promised to be with the Christian Church ministry, has even now indeed come; and that the Lord, as the Divine Truth or Word, is now actually making His Second Coming in the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, by which He is creating a new heaven and a new earth," or a new spiritual and a new natural mind and life in His Church,— indeed commencing the work of making "all things new." For, strange as it may seem, the doctrines of the Old Church and those of the New, are in no one point or particle in harmony, though all supposed to be the doctrine of the Word. There fore, though we acknowledge and embrace with delight all as the children of God, of whatever name, who truly love God and their neighbour and live a good life, yet, believing that the world is to be raised from its present state of spiritual stupor and death, to spiritual life and order, through the New Jerusalem Church, and that the Lord is now causing it to "descend from Him out of heaven" for that purpose, it seems to be plainly my duty to become one of its members, and to walk as such, in newness of life. Were you, my dear friend, but fully aware of the exalted views which the New Church has of the Holy Word, and of the life-giving spirit of Truth and Love, which they are aware flows forth from its internal sense, and of that perfect spirit of lamb-like innocence and virtue, that goodness of heart and life, that purity of thoughts and affections, into which they must permit this life-giving spirit of Truth and Love to bring them, in order to be fit members of the New Jerusalem, were you, I say, aware of these things, your own goodness of heart could not but love and admire the heavenly principles we aim at, though you should pity our ignorance. My dear wife joins me in affectionate remembrance, and begs that you will not now pass us by, but will consider our house one of your homes. We are now snugly situated in Phoenix Cottage, and can make you more comfortable than at your last visit to this portion of your diocese. I am, as ever, with sincere regard, Edwardsburgh, Jan. 10, 1844. ABIEL SILVER. POETRY. A MORNING HYMN. Be mine the heart that would Thy law fulfil, |