ally, to be easily given up. It is so very pleasant to the selfish proprium to take the words in their false sense, and then say, that the author of them told a palpable falsehood, and he knew it."

The low Catholics believe that God will not hear them, except through the intercession of the Virgin, the saints, and the priests, and even that Christ is to be approached through his mother generally, if not always. Thus they believe of God, that by and of Himself, He will NOT listen to their prayers;—but that the Virgin and the saints ARE willing to listen to them, and, consequently, would be willing to grant them, had they the power. In this case, it is impossible but that the saints should occupy the first place in esteem, and God be left to put up with the second; or in other words, such believers must love the saints, while they dread but cannot love God! Surely any one may see that in such a case, the former is worshiped rather than the latter,-for what is meant by the word worship? - it means—an ascription of worth; and do we not ascribe more worth to the merciful than to the unmerciful? I therefore do believe that, in the sense explained, the Roman Catholics worship themselves instead of the Lord. But still I believe, with Swedenborg, that the Roman Catholic system, as in operation in Protestant countries especially, is more favourable to charity and morality than the preaching of the Protestant sects. Swedenborg says (No. 108) "The Roman Catholics hold charity, good works, repentance, and attention to amendment of life, to be essentials of salvation, and these are also essentials of the New Church; but the case is otherwise with the Reformed, who are confirmed in faith alone; with these the above are neither regarded as essentials nor formalities belonging to faith, and consequently as not at all contributing to salvation."-(See passage to the end.)

the

No one has more shamelessly calumniated the New Church than Bishop Milner, in his celebrated "End of Controversy," which work, however, is a bundle of sophistries, and little else. This Roman Catholic bishop tells the world in this work, that the Swedenborgians "believe that God is a mere man." These are his very words. A man that can assert such a falsehood as this, which he must have known to be a falsehood, is utterly unworthy of credit on any subject. Your Catholic friend may put this palpable falsehood, then, if he pleases, into the other scale, and see whether it will not weigh down even that atrocity which he mistakingly imputes to Swedenborg in N. J. Doc. 8. And let him remember the thousands and tens of thousands of copies by which Bishop Milner's false witness is published abroad.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE EXTENSION OF THE NEW

CHURCH.

To the Editor of the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY.
DEAR SIR,

In the midst of the general activity and zeal that at present seems to
pervade the church, a few suggestions, which have been found useful in
some places, may not be without use to the church at large. We
observed, with pleasure, the hint that you gave in your editorial article
in the concluding number of last year, and which was also particularly
noticed by Mr. Parry, respecting making grants of the works of
Swedenborg to Mechanics' Institutions, Athenæums, &c. Swedenborg,
and Swedenborg's works, we may rest assured, will henceforth be much
more inquired after than they have hitherto been. Mr. Dawson will do
much good in this respect. But, independently of him, the time seems
to be at hand, when "all things are to be made new." A stranger spirit
of candid inquiry has come down from heaven, and has begun to walk
abroad. It has already taken hold of the youth, and particularly the
commercial youth, of our country. It seems to have found a steady
friend in the liberalizing spirit of trade. And may their connexion be
perpetuated! This spirit, however, unless fed with the right food, will
become an enemy.
If we permit it to see husks and the appearance of
truth only, it will not be long before it will behold their fallacy, and
will then soon conclude, that truth is all a fiction and no reality.
Should we not, therefore, take every opportnity of putting real truth in
its path? We have no doubt it would be found by many, if put in the
libraries of Athenæums, &c. In fact, we cannot tell what may result
from the works being thus pointedly brought within the easy reach of the
public. In the first place, when the titles are inserted in the catalogue,
we shall have standing advertisements, which will continually be brought
before the notice of the very parties we desire most to see them. And
who can tell how much curiosity may be excited thereby. And who can
tell what this same curiosity will do for us! It can do us no harm, but
we all know how much good has been done heretofore by it.

And then, there is a convenience to the public, in the works being so easily and cheaply obtained. Many strangers, who visit our churches from time to time, would be glad to know more of the writings; but, in many cases, they don't want to tell us so. They seem to think that if they did, we should jump to the conclusion that they are becoming one of us; which, if noised abroad, would be a sufficient annoyance to persons

in some circumstances of life. But if our books were at such places as the Athenæums, they might obtain them, and read them, and foster their opinions of them in retirement, which would be an obvious advantage. But how are we to get our works into such places? Private grants, and the efforts of single societies, will, we are afraid, but very imperfectly accomplish it, could we not do it by a general subscription? We have been successful in raising sums by this means for purposes of far more questionable use than this; and we have no doubt that this also could be done. It is not well, we admit, to do too much in public begging; but there are some things, and this seems to be one, that cannot be done without. It is hoped, therefore, that the end will justify the means. It would be a misfortune, in our eyes, to permit such a suggestion to fall to the ground without an effort to realize it. The Printing Society, and the Swedenborg Association, seem to be the proper parties to take it up; and if they do, we are satisfied that they will be seconded by the church at large.

The committee of the Tract Society, I am sure, will excuse me for calling attention to their often-repeated solicitations to establish branch tract societies in connection with every church society in the kingdom,— yes, in the world. The advantages of such a step need not here be detailed; for they are so many and so obvious, that, we presume, no society is unconscious of them. But in connection with this, we would also suggest that some respectable bookseller be induced to keep a stock of our tracts. There are some, who are not particularly attached to any religious party, who would, if they were allowed a liberal per centage. If no better terms could be made, they might have them gratuitously, on condition that they would effect bonâ fide sales. The tracts frequently left on hand by subscribers, would enable branch tract societies to supply them upon these terms. By this plan, our tracts would get into hands that we could never reach without. Thousands might be sold among the old church public, who, most likely, would not have them given; and it is all very well if we can please them this way. In this, as in the former case, we cannot tell what may be the effect: good must spring up where truth is sown; for "God gives the increase." Witness the remarkable particulars of a tract mentioned in the Ashton missionary intelligence! And we ourselves can bear testimony to similar results in our town. They would be certain to attract attention, particularly if the Tract Committee would procure large placards, with abbreviated titles of all the tracts.

There would great good be effected if ministers and leaders could make it convenient to exchange pulpits occasionally, with each other.

Visits from other preachers generally cause a little extra activity, especially if it be understood that they come with that intent. And we all know how useful a little extra activity would be to us! But more good would be effected still, if ministers could pay visits to societies that are without ordained preachers, to administer the sacraments, deliver lectures, and to incite members to more zealous and active usefulness. Probably each minister might obtain liberty for this purpose once or twice a quarter. We fear that the Holy Supper is much neglected by societies who have no minister. This may arise from the fact of ministers generally, and perhaps justly, discountenancing its administration by unordained preachers; but if they do so, should they not see to its general administration themselves? A greater reason, however, is, the societies themselves are careless about it. If they would make it a custom to have it regularly administered at certain times in the year, and solicit the company of some ordained minister, they would seldom, if ever, be denied; and most probably the Missionary Society would pay the expenses, as he would supply the place of a missionary.

But above all, we would recommend the practice of holding housemeetings. By this we mean religious meetings held at private houses, generally among the poor, but they need not be confined to that class. The audience is composed of the friends and neighbours of the person at whose house the meeting is held; and is, for the most part, composed of strangers, who may not have heard a word of the doctrines in their lives before. We sing, and pray, and read a lesson, and then give an arm-chair discourse, usually taking for the text some passage previously selected by some doubting person. All sorts of believers, Socialists, Unitarians, Predestinarians, Methodists, and every other sect, have availed themselves of such opportunities to express, and receive explanations of, their doubts; and in some instances we have been fortunately able to convince them, and bring them to see the truth. We would particularly recommend such meetings to young preachers; for by the questions that are put, and the religious feelings exhibited, they may see which are the texts most relied upon by the masses to prove certain doctrines; and also what are their wants; and thus hereafter shape their efforts accordingly. Knowledge thus gained is from nature herself. Books may do pretty well to tell us how the upper and middle classes think, but nature teaches the truest lessons respecting the lowest. No book can truly paint this class. In all cases we allow questions to be asked, and, generally, a lively and interesting conversation ensues. The best sermons and lectures, from a necessity that there is of being brief,

leave many minor points of the subject untouched; and these meetings afford excellent opportunities of clearing up all the dark shades, and presenting the picture complete. This is very useful to the poorer classes, who cannot always reason from propositions to their consequences. We believe there are no means more powerful of extending the Church, and of giving a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the doctrines, than this. And what is important, it involves no expense. There is, therefore, no reason why it may not be adopted as extensively as the number of our preachers will permit; and when we say preachers, we do not mean ministers only, but all who preach at any time. A minister who has time, may hold two or three of these meetings in different districts during each week. In Manchester and Accrington, and every where else where there are regular staffs of preachers laid up during the week, extensive districts might be periodically visited. What immense fields such places as the Metropolis and Manchester present for such missionary efforts! A full battalion of men might easily find full employment! There is, therefore, no time for inactivity. Notice what some sects do in this respect! They employ persons on purpose; there are several in this town, and many in Manchester. They understand its use. And if all our ministers and preachers were zealously to devote themselves to this work, we also should not be without much fruit. What admirable opportunities such meetings present for extensive loans of tracts! Each preaching place would thus become a small tract depôt, and might supply the whole neighbourhood to a considerable distance. No one need fear that he will have no one to hear him, or that the number will be so small as to be not worth while preaching to; people will come providing he has any thing interesting to communicate. It all depends upon this. At our meetings, and we believe similar results have been obtained at Kersley and Heywood, where the thing is in operation, we have usually from twenty to thirty, and, at some places, we have had as many as fifty, all assembled in a common cottage. And in Manchester the meetings for reading and conversation on some portion of the Word, or on some subject of doctrine, have been found very beneficial. The minds of many have thereby been opened to a perception of the excellences and beauties of the New Church Doctrines. These meetings are held at the school-room in Peter-street, and at the houses of various friends in the district of Cheetham Hill, and preparations are also being made to have similar meetings at Ancoats, a populous suburb of Manchester. These meetings are attended by the minister, who is also employed in lecturing on the Sabbath and on the Thursday evenings, on some important subject of doctrine.