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THE REV. B. F. BARRETT'S REPLY TO THE REV. W. MASON.

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of a Divine Trinity which is not eternal in its nature, but which was provided and made" in time, is as contrary to reason and common sense as it is to the general tenor of Swedenborg's teachings and the teachings of Holy Scripture. And in view of passages like the following, which are of no unfrequent occurrence in my "Letters "- -"Christianity is nothing without Christ Himself; He is its central luminary, its vital force, its ever present and living power"-"looking to Christ is looking to God-obedience to Christ is obedience to God-the worship of Christ is the worship of God; the love of Christ is the love of God—the spirit of Christ is the spirit of God-the advent of Christ is the advent of God-and the three prime essentials of Divinity, expressed by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist together in Christ, as will, understanding, and action, or soul, body, and proceeding operation, exist together in one man. This is, as I believe, the great Christian doctrine; central in respect to all other doctrines, as the sun is central in our planetary system." "Who else, then, save the Lord Jesus Christ, should receive the supreme homage of our hearts? To what other Divine Person shall we look, of what other shall we think, when we bow our soul in prayer? Christians should worship God in Christ, not out of Him. We should worship the Father in the Son; the Divinity in the Humanity. Nor need we fear to worship Him whom the angels adore: nor doubt that, in doing this, we worship the All of that Divine Trinity, signified by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;" in view, I say, of passages like these throughout my "Letters," I submit that it was not in very good taste, nor indicative of very good feeling in Mr. Mason, to advise his readers that Mr. Barrett was "formerly a philosophical Unitarian." Orange, N. J., October 15th, 1860.

B. F. B.

THE REV. AUGUSTUS CLISSOLD ON THE SPIRITUAL EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE.

To the Editor.

Sir, The New Church may point to the "Spiritual Exposition of the Apocalypse," by the Rev. Augustus Clissold, M. A., with pride, as the most learned and scholarly production that modern divinity has produced.

To show, however, how little prized are some of the best productions, I will mention, that I procured my copy (dated 1851) from the Lyceum Library, Liverpool, where it had been so entirely neglected, that I had the pleasure of cutting the leaves open myself. In fact, how it got into

the library is a matter for wonder, and I strongly suspect that it was presented.

The design of this valuable and learned work-this great and honourable accession to New Church literature-is so well set forth in the preface, that I will content myself with an extract, which announces the design to be,

"To form an introduction of the Spiritual meaning of the Apocalypse, as given by Swedenborg, and also to vindicate his interpretations, which, as far as regards the testimony of the church, the impartial reader will admit to be completely justified. Not that the authorities adduced can ever supersede the interpretations of Swedenborg, but that they demonstrate that no objection can be made to the one without equally involving the other; that they constitute, therefore, a prima facie reason for a serious and devout study of his interpretations, and an appeal to those Bereans among us in the present day, of whom, in former times, it is said-They were more noble than those in Thessalonica, and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so.' Acts xvii. 11.

"Reader! if you have ever been prepossessed against the theological writings of Swedenborg, in consequence of any persuasion that his interpretations are fanciful or arbitrary, you have now the opportunity of comparing his interpretations with those of the most distinguished writers, whether Patristic,* Roman Catholic, or Protestant, of which the Church can boast; judge, therefore, for yourself, and may the Spirit of Truth alone guide you to your judgment.'

As an illustration of the laborious research and the immense reading necessary to the completion of the task the author proposed to himself, I will give a list of the authors whom he quotes or refers to, and I may safely lay it down as a principle that no future writer on the Apocalypse can venture to sit down and ignore the existence of this work, but will be compelled to refer to Mr. Clissold's work, if he wishes to keep clear of the charge of prejudice, idleness, or incompetence.

Before giving the list of authors quoted and referred to by Mr. Clissold, I will just point out the benefits that the Apocalypse confers on the advocates for the spiritual sense, by the utter impossibility of interpreting it, from the first verse to the last, by natural explanation. So unwieldy and impracticable does the Apocalypse prove itself in the hands of a naturalistic commentator, that the Council of Laodicea, in the fourth century-under a strong prejudice in favour of the letterexcluded it from the sacred canon, though the Council of Trent received it afterwards.

Mr. Clissold mentions an encouraging fact with regard to Swedenborg's "Apocalypse Revealed," "that beginning with a small circulation,

The early Fathers.

it has been gradually extending its sphere of reception, whilst other works have appeared, made some noise, and then sunk into oblivion.” Dr. Cumming is at this day exciting some attention, but his natural views, though attractive to audiences of an average intelligence, are destined to the same bourne.

The following is the list of authors quoted and referred to by Mr. Clissold, and it is remarkable how clear and beautiful are these illustrations, and how nearly approaching to the truth are many of them, if they keep to a spiritual interpretation of this great Gospel of Christ in his power and glory, in this respect distinguished from the four Gospels of his humiliations and of his sufferings as "the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief."

List of authors, writers, and commentators quoted and referred to in the "Spiritual Exposition of the Apocalypse, by the Rev. Augustus Clissold, M. A., formerly of Exeter College, Oxford," 4 vols.

The Exposition derived from the works of the Hon. Emanuel Swedenborg, illustrated and confirmed by ancient and modern authorities.

Let any New Churchman attentively peruse, and make himself master of Mr. Clissold's work, and he will have exhausted a perfect library, of all authors, in all ages-Protestant, Catholic, or Puritan—who have made the study of the Apocalypse the business of their lives. He would find himself more than a match for all the Professors of Divinity in all the Universities of Europe.

Liverpool.

J. H.

WHAT ARE THE DOCTRINES OF SWEDENBORG AND

OF THE NEW CHURCH?

In a contemporary periodical" The Monthly Observer"-an article of considerable length has appeared, extending through seven numbers, entitled, "The Works of Thomas Carlyle Examined in the Light of Revealed Truth," in which certain principles, assumed to be those of the New Church, are placed in contrast with the sentiments of Mr. Carlyle. Appended to the concluding portion, in the number for the present month-December-are a few remarks by the Editor, ending with these words:"On the recommendation of a respected and wellread receiver of New Church doctrines, we promised, without previously seeing the manuscript, to allow our pages to be used for the purpose indicated in the title of these papers. The first portion of them was sufficient to convince us that in giving this promise we had made a great mistake. But for this reason only have we been persuaded into the publication of so much misrepresentation, misunderstanding, and misapplication of both Carlyle and Swedenborg."

The actual facts relative to the publication of the paper referred to

are these:-Without any "recommendation," the writer of it sent a specimen of the article, consisting of rather more than the first portion, which appeared in the May number, to the Editor, accompanied by a letter, stating the probable length of the entire article to be about three sheets, and inquiring whether he would consider it suitable for his Magazine; but in the event of his accepting it, certain conditions were proposed, without compliance with which the writer declined permitting it to appear in his pages. One of these conditions was that, to ensure their being read, the extracts from Carlyle should be printed in larger type than that usually employed for such purposes. A very few days after, on the 5th April, a reply was received from Mr. Hodson, from which the following extract was taken :-"Your article for the Observer' has been duly received, and as the Editors only write officially, and for public reading, I am deputed to give you the guarantee for the conditions laid down. . . . The article shall be printed without alteration. The extracts from Carlyle shall be printed in the type wished."

...

It is needless to enter upon a defence of the accuracy of the article in relation to Mr. Carlyle ;—the truthful believe in truthfulness; while no honest mind will cast sweeping imputations upon another unsupported by evidence ;—it would also be useless, as asseveration has little power of conviction, and the accuracy questioned can only be established by the examination of all Carlyle's works. But the writer is accused of misrepresenting and misunderstanding Swedenborg as well as Carlyle! The principal doctrines discussed, and attributed to Swedenborg, are these-The Supreme Being exists in a Divine Personal Form, and is to be "approached in thought as a Man." The Word of God is Divine Trnth itself, and the only source of spiritual light and wisdom. The Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah in a glorified Human Form, and is the One True Object of worship. Religion and the Church have their origin in Divine Revelation. The Ten Commandments are Divine laws. Man is created for happiness in heaven, and after death exists as a man in the spiritual world. A man's works are the embodiment of his interior principles. Man can do good only in the degree in which he shuns evils as sins against God. The Lord's Divine Providence is continually directed to promote in man the conjunction of goodness and truth, but to restrain him from effecting that of evil and falsity. Now are not these really the doctrines of Swedenborg? Are they not all embodied in the liturgies of the New Church, taught in her catechisms, preached from her pulpits? If to attribute them to Swedenborg is to misunderstand and misrepresent him, will the Editor of the "Monthly Observer" inform his readers what he does teach when rightly under stood and interpreted?