stone, corn and wine, bread and vineyards, the threshing-floor and winepress, are so many more figurative allusions to the intellect on the one hand, and to the will on the other, because all these things, and the moieties of nature universally, are original counterparts and emblems of the respective principles. The downcast and sorrowful states of the soul occasion such phrases as briers and thorns,' 'rod and staff,' 'sword and spear,' to be plagued and chastened; because of the similar affinities of the spiritual states and the material objects, or their adjuncts. The Prophets, like the Psalms, abound in this twofold language. When, for instance, Isaiah describes the fallen state of the Church :— 'The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint;' that is, there is neither recognition of truth, nor affection for goodness. That there may be an end to both sickness and faintness, the call is, 'Come, buy wine and milk, without money, and without price!' For wine is naturally identified with the understanding, and thus becomes a figurative name for that which shall strengthen and refresh it, or Divine Truth; milk, in like manner, is identified with woman, or the affections, and thus denotes the Divine Goodness, or that which ameliorates and nourishes the will. Everywhere, under all circumstances, the two great needs of the soul are still enlightenment of its understanding, and amendment of its desires. In wine and milk are included, therefore, all spiritual blessings, gifts, and privileges; everything that father and mother can unitedly bestow upon their child. The Urim and Thummim, and the Cherubim and Seraphim, owe their distinctions to the same grand bisection of the spiritual as well as the material universe. Seraphs are angels of love; cherubs angels of knowledge. Hence Milton's 'cherub contemplation.' The histories and incidents of Scripture, like its language, all have a spiritual significance. The crucifying of the two thieves, one on each side of our Lord, can only be understood as to its essential reason, through the medium of the principle before us. with his sending forth the disciples two and two.'

So

* Illustrated, not only in the spontaneous use of wine, the vine, vineyards, &c. to designate, in metaphor, the qualities and office of the intellect; and in the instinctive association of these things from the earliest times, in allegory and mythology; but also in the derivation of one of the oldest appellations of wisdom, or the intellect in its highest plenitude and glory, viz., the Greek σopia, the root of which, σop, presents itself in the Hebrew ND (saba) wine. The Latin sapientia, is from the same source (rather than from sapio, to taste,' as commonly supposed), and literally signifies the juice of the grape.'

N. S. No. 152.-VOL. XIII.

2 P

298

BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW!

(The Address of the President, Dr. Spurgin, delivered on the occasion of the celebration of the Forty-third Anniversary of the London Printing Society, in the Freemasons' Tavern, on Tuesday the 15th of June.)

A QUESTION may be put to Christianity as a system: "If a cup of cold water administered in the name of one of its disciples will insure to the giver a reward, is it to be inferred that his name is enrolled in the Lamb's Book of Life"? A reward is here intimated, a condition is expressed, and an act is the governing principle. But the nature of the act is not so apparent from the definition, seeing that a gift, though it be of the most trifling nature, must nevertheless be qualified by its being imparted in the name of a disciple." A disciple conveys the meaning of discipline, or a conformity of action with principle; a diseiple, then, is to be identified with the principles he receives, and as these may be true or false, or of a mixed character, partaking of some truth and much error, or, of some error and more truth, the disciple and the discipline are characterized accordingly. Pure principles imply purity of faith, purity of discipline, and purity of motive; and nothing short of these can come up to the disciple, who is made the type and representative of Him who is the alone Source of Truth, of Purity, and Life.

In the name of such a disciple, would this society give a cup of cold water to refresh the thirsty soul that is feverish from the passions of the body, and tormented by the burnings of selfish and worldly loves? Such a cup of cold water we know it is in our power to impart, and to such an end, we equally know, that the gift can be proffered: the act is characterized by the principles from which it proceeds, and sanctioned by the results to which it tends; for "it is enough that the disciple can be as his Lord, and the servant as his Master." We may therefore unhesitatingly reply to the question with which we set out affirmatively, viz., that the reward and the enrolment are identical, for a man can perform an action which is acceptable and pure, and which springing from the source of innocence and purity, is the manifestation of a state that is so powerful, as eventually to remove mountains of evil and error, and so worthy of the Divine Husbandman's care, that from being one of the least of the heavenly qualities, it will be perfected through an orderly course of cultivation, to the condition of a fruitful tree for ever flourishing in the paradise of God. Truth is universal only when it is universally applicable, and Love gives it its application with the most

exact minuteness and consummate order, for Love is all-comprehensive, and disregards nothing; it "numbers the very hairs of our heads," and "marketh the sparrow that falleth to the ground"-it estimates the reception of a prophet by the quality of a teaching as well as a teachable spirit.

Claimed as the Truth is for all forms of faith, it is most abused by that which confines it within the most limited sphere of action, by that which is ever proclaiming, "Lo! here is Christ, lo! there!" No; the truth, despite the selfishness of man,-despite the bad ground on which it may fall, is still the Son of Man coming as the Lightning, shining through all creation, and this with "power and great glory," for it enables every man to subdue his selfish loves, which are his weakness, and to disperse the false imaginations of his self-derived prudence, which are the only hindrances to his discerning the greatness of the glory which he was created to contemplate and enjoy.

With pretensions humble as they are exalted, a dispensation is dawning upon the world, which no description of mine can adequately commend to its notice. I can only testify to its universality of application; to its being adapted for the lowest moral condition of man; for his spiritual degradation and ignorance; and for all the states of his deepest humiliation. To all whom it embraces within its sphere, it is calculated to impart an interest in and for every child of humanity, and whether it prompts to the giving "a cup of cold water" from a spirit of love, unsullied by selfishness, it is content with the acceptance which imparts to it a rich reward.

Such is the spirit and the character of the New Dispensation which we this day are assembled to make known to our fellow-men. It is now a settled, an established reality upon the earth, and neither the pride of man, nor his worst conceits concerning it, can avail to check its onward career; its past obstructions and its manifold tribulations,—its unpromising aspects and its unpretending exterior, with its despised revelations, have severally contributed to strengthen its hold upon the hnman apprehension, as well as upon the deeper loves of the human heart. What has been done, as well as what has been endured by it, have secured for it an everlasting sway over the consciences of men, and over their most secret springs of action.

Oh, my dear friends, it is a marvellous dispensation with which we have to do in this life, and for which we have to act and live! I speak from long experience, I speak to tried friends, to friends tried by worldly circumstances or by inward strife and self-denial; and I feel that I am freed from the necessity of urging argument upon argument,

proof upon proof, reason upon reason, to commend our cause to our own regards as well as to the best attention and consideration of every class and grade of human society. Of this New Dispensation it may be truly said, that those who are not against it are for it, for the Divine Providence, in its government of mankind, is evidently preparing them for an entrance into higher moral states; it is enlarging the boundaries of human freedom, and affording a wider scope to the intellect, whence come the extraordinary contrivances and happy inventions which augment our natural resources, and diminish our bodily toils; and yet, a spirit of presumption may be justly imputed to us in claiming for our principles the title or character of a New Dispensation. I say justly, because there is very much around us and about us to justify the imputation. The skill, the enterprise, the knowledge, the general advancement of society; the spreading forth of civilization; the defensive rather than the aggressive and offensive relation of nations; the deference to religious tolerance, whether it be assumed or genuine, has become itself a principle admitted and acted upon to an extent that must satisfy every lover of religious liberty; the improving tendency of legislation, whereby the rights and the privileges of individual life are more completely secured, and the kindly tone and civil bearing of man to man in the social circle, unitedly impress upon the observant mind the idea that there is enough in human affairs to render the notion of a New Dispensation of Truth, or, of guiding doctrine to man, a presumption, if not a delusion, or an idle and a vain conceit, if not a groundless and silly pretension. Nay; the outward aspect of human affairs justifies the assertion that a New Dispensation is not required, and that, therefore, the advocates for it are themselves deluded by a vain pretension or needless assumption. A further justification may yet be pleaded for those who so estimate the New Dispensation we are urging upon their notice, and this is, the want of any discriminating mark or distinguishing sign of superiority on the part of its advocates-there is nothing, in short, that can be proffered by them, or that is presented from them, to interest another in their favour-there is no peculiar attraction or striking recommendation to render the alleged New Dispensation inviting, or even the examination of its principles particularly desirable.

We readily admit all this, and, at the same time, adhere to our position, that it has pleased the Divine Providence to furnish mankind with a New Dispensation, and this by the instrumentality of His servant, E. Swedenborg. Yes! a servant of Him who is the Truth, was Swedenborg! Yes! the doctrine which this servant has written down, con

tains within itself the spirit, the majesty, the power, and the force of the Divine Original. The servant is lost, and lost sight of altogether, in the perusal of the record: the servant there fulfils his Divine Master's bidding, and heavenly are the precepts which the language uttered by him conveys; thrice heavenly, indeed, because they teach man his duty on the several grounds of obedience, of a love of truth and of a love of goodness. This is the science of the theology of the New Church in the abstract; it is as true as is every mathematical problem. But in the practical application of the science it becomes a reality which testifies that the doctrine is divine—and here the justifying plea for the world's indifference to the announcement of a New Dispensation ceases to apply. Upon all worldly grounds the above pleas may be urged, but upon no other; the higher grounds, which pertain to the interests of a future state of being, afford no extenuation for the prevalent indifference to our announcement of the New Dispensation with which we are visited. Our temporal welfare is but a trifling consideration in the matter: the arts and sciences, commerce and manufacture— the tilling of the soil, the enactment of laws, the welfare of nations, and all that may be characterized as the world's progress, and individual prosperity, are as nothing in the comparison with the value, or with the end and objects of the New Dispensation. We aver that this Dispensation is in no respect akin with aught that is of the world; it claims both precedence and mastery; it cannot form any connexion with what would render it unholy or not heavenly. It is neither a section nor a secession. It has the Word of God for its basis, and the Spirit of God for its superstructure. The human understanding is adequate to the former, the human will to the latter, and liberty is secured to both that both may freely knit themselves together in the bonds of an everlasting and blissful union. In the renovated constitution, indeed, of man, and of human society, what goodness prompts, truth will sanction, and what truth teaches, goodness will adopt: and whilst reason is free to analyse and examine, it is strictly accountable for its shortcomings in the exercise of its wonderful powers.

"Search the Scriptures," is an injunction that is eminently applicable now. The letter of God's Word is sealed no longer; its observance, however, is not the less, but the more important, for such observance teems with the life and spirit which the loosened seals have liberated, and our motives and our promptings can be more clearly seen and judged by virtue of the brighter light within us. A right-minded Christian ought to rejoice when he hears the announcement which his fellow-Christian can in honest conscience, and in conscientious honesty,