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MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.

NEW CHURCH PRINCIPLES, OR CATHEDRAL MUSIC.

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I was extremely pleased in reading your last, by the admirable remarks of your correspondent S., replete as they were with good sense and with good feeling. I trust the worthy friend who had, I fear without due consideration, penned his paper advocating the Old Church and Cathedral music as more advisable to be followed than the New Church with its heartfelt but simpler melody, will be led to ask himself if he does wisely to resist the Divine call"Come out of her, my people, and be not partakers of her plagues," because of Cathedral music. I have from time to time had the opportunity of seeing our Cathedrals, and listening to Cathedral music, and just now I have had such an opportunity. I am a great admirer of music, and wish to see it minister as much as possible to the pure, sublime, and holy things of religion; but I must confess to a sense of dissatisfaction at every Cathedral service I have witnessed. I feel the sense of hireling service, not of heartfelt praise, in these performances. The performers are notoriously men for the most part with no reverence for the sacred things of which they sing. Their want of piety is often so manifest as to offend even a very ordinary sense of devotion. The other day I happened to be placed so near a man chorister that I could not avoid seeing he was scribbling on paper while singing the most solemn language; his prayer book even had its margin with evident marks of a busy pencil. These parties are said not seldom to have parodies of the psalms which they sing, and frequently they talk to each other in their music. The lives of these Cathedral functionaries, often including the clergy, bear witness to the utter failure of Cathedral music to win the soul from sensuality to heaven. And is it for a New Churchman to despise the sincere and truthful prayer directed to the God of his salvation, the God in whose hand his life is, and the Fountain of all his blessings, for the mere[Enl. Series.-No. 65, vol. vi.]

tricious tones of Cathedral music? Is it for a New Churchman, to whom the Divine Word is opened, and who feels his need of its saving power to strengthen, to elevate, and to cheer him, to forego these, and the opportunity of forwarding the truth by a faithful testimony openly in its favour, if perchance he can have Cathedral music? Assuredly not. Let us all get first the music of the heart and the understanding, and then, if the Lord will give it us, the enrichment of external song. But whether we have the latter or not, let us labour with all our hearts for the former. B.

[In order to obviate the necessity of any further remarks in reply upon this subject, which we are certain would not be agreeable to our readers, we will only add that, as everything is liable to abuse, "Cathedral Music" is not exempt, as our respected Correspondent has shewn in the above remarks, from this perversion. We must not, however, argue from the abuse of Cathedral music against its legitimate and devotional application, which is the only point contemplated by the originator of this discussion.-ED.]

WORSHIP IN THE NEW CHURCH. To the Editor.

Dear Sir, I know from experience the difficulties undergone by Editors of Periodicals, in their attempts to "keep down the matter standing over" from their numerous correspondents; but nevertheless, for the sake of truth, I hope you will allow me space in your next number for a rejoinder to the letter sent by "J. S.," entitled "Worship in the New Church," &c.

In the first place, that writer, commenting on my letter, says-" If any one adopts so unwise a course as to neglect or forsake the services of the Church of the New Jerusalem on that account (chanting) only, it is evident that such an one does not exhibit a right spirit for its welfare. * Why, then, should the New Church be slighted in her religious services? Is it not, I would ask, because the Old Church

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has more worldly attractions,-that more of the great of this world attend there, and on these accounts the New Church, in the estimation of the worldly-minded, ranks only secondary?"

Now, I must confess that I think this remark is unjustifiable, as it perverts (though doubtless unintentionally) the whole tone and argument of my letter. For my ideal character was an earnest Christian, who attended the services of the Church of England for the sole purpose of increasing his adoration of God and love to his neighbour. Cannot "J.S." see the difference between this motive and that which actuates the sensualist to attend the house of God for the sake of the chanting only; or what, perhaps, is worse, the motive which actuates the worldly-minded man to attend church for the sake of appearances, for the sake of being seen in the society of the great of this world? Does not "J. S." recollect the doctrine so strongly inculcated by Swedenborg, that "the end and the cause (from which anything is done) render the works either good or bad?" (See A.R. 76, and numerous other passages throughout the writings.) Though strongly convinced of the truth of your remarks with regard to the New Church not being a sect, yet, Sir, I am sadly afraid that some of its members are, individually, rather sectarian.

As to another point, namely, about Mr. Clowes, I think "J. S." is again mistaken, as his remarks are in opposition to those of Mr. Clowes himself. For we find "J. S." saying"There cannot be a doubt that Mr. Clowes heartily dissented from many portions of the services of the Church of England. He seldom or never, I understand, for a considerable time previous to his leaving Manchester, read the Prayers, from which it would seem that, with his enlightened views, he could not heartily do so."

While we find Mr. Clowes, in a letter to a friend, (see p. 172 of his Memoirs) saying "I come now to the contents of your second letter, and shall begin by satisfying the curiosity of your society in their desire to know how I perform the liturgy of the Old Church, &c., by informing them that I never do perform it; but the reason is, not that I have any scruples of conscience about per

forming it, but that I am prevented by a nervous complaint, which for several years past has attacked me in reading the lessons appointed by the Church, but yet allows me to preach."

I am very sorry that the expression I used, namely, "miserably conducted," when applied to some of the services of the New Church, should have given offence; all that I meant by the phrase was, that the services I had in view were devoid of all beauty of form. God forbid that I should treat them with contempt, or doubt that He is in the midst of these small companies of faithful men equally as with worshippers in splendid cathedrals; yet to some classes of minds (and to these classes I have been referring in both my letters) such New Church services are not apparently conducive to growth in spiritual graces, though, as I stated in my former letter, they should nevertheless be attended, for the sake of forming a nucleus whereby the New Church may be increased. Permit me also to suggest that perhaps we have a clue to these minor differences of opinion amongst New Churchmen in the well-known axiom of Swedenborg, that "no two minds are ever exactly alike," and therefore of course no two people can see things from exactly the same point of view. In conclusion, I will quote a short extract from his work on the Divine Providence, which we should also bear in mind:"That celestial Man, which is heaven, in order that it may have all the corresponding parts of the natural man, cannot be composed of men all of one religion, but of men of different religions." This passage, in its most natural sense, would of course apply to the inhabitants of the world at large; but as natural organs are never exactly homogeneous throughout, would it not also imply that there would be slight differences of opinion in men of the same church?

I remain, yours very truly, CATHOLICUS. [Differences of opinion are not only inevitable but desirable, as varieties are necessary to constitute an harmonious one, such as Heaven is; but all these differences and varieties should arise from fundamental principles which are essentially true, as that God is One, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is that God, that the Divine Trinity is in Him, that

He in His Divine Humanity or "Glorious Body" is the One only Object of worship, and that salvation consists in loving Him above all things, and in loving our neighbour as ourselves; and that to love Him is to keep His commandments. On these fundamental principles, and on several others that might be mentioned, there is to be no doubt and no dispute. But when differences of opinion arise from non-agreement as to these fundamental points of Christian Doctrine, varieties of opinion do not then terminate in harmony, but in discord, and union and peace are disturbed and frequently destroyed. The church as existing among the gentiles, to which Swedenborg alludes in the above extract from the "Divine Providence," depends also upon several fundamental points of belief, such as the acknowledgment of a God, the Creator and Preserver of all things, and the necessity of worshipping Him, and of keeping His commandments, which, both from Revelation and from a kind of instinctive perception, are known to all nations. Varieties of opinion, founded on these universal principles of belief, also harmonize with true Christian doctrine; and such from amongst the nations as have been in this belief, and from keeping God's commandments, have, whilst in the world, lived in charity one with another, are, after death, readily instructed by angels, and become inhabitants of the Grand Man, or of heaven.

In like manner as to worship;-this must, in order that there may be peace and harmony among the worshippers, be established and performed upon the same fundamental principles of Christian doctrine. Thus (not to mention other fundamental differences as to doctrine between the Old and the New Church) it is impossible that concord and harmony can exist when one part of the congregation worship according to the doctrine of Three Persons, and another according to the idea of One, as in the New Church. As to the late Rev. J. Clowes, he lived and laboured for many years when there was no New Church formed, and when it was impossible, until the New Doctrines could be known, to establish a system of worship in agreement therewith. His mission was to translate the works of Swedenborg, and to make them known through the press, in which he was engaged as a labour of love to his fellow

man, during the greater part of his life, and he ardently desired to see the day when a system of worship could be formed upon the principles which he so openly and so ably advocated. It would, therefore, be obviously unjust to his memory to take him as an example to be followed now as a precedent, without considering the circumstances in which he was placed, and the very infancy of the church, the growth and prosperity of which he had, from a deep conviction of the truth of its doctrines, so much at heart.-ED.]

CONFIRMATIONS OF THE STATEMENTS OF SWEDENBORG.

Africa. The following extracts from the Sarnia Observer and Lambton Advertiser, on the subject of Africa, will be read with interest by our readers. The friend who has kindly supplied it, refers to the remarks about abstract nouns, as corroborating the information relative to the Sichuana language in our papers on Africa:

"Learned and Wealthy Africans.Mr. Bowen, the returned African Missionary, in a lecture at New York, said that there were several libraries and a number of learned men in the heart of Africa. They knew a great deal more of us than we do about them. They asked, for instance, if the days of our weeks were not named so and so; and when answered affirmatively, replied that they had found it so in their books. The names of Abraham, David, Marianna, and Susannah are common in Central Africa. Mr. Bowen saw men with Roman noses, finely formed hands and feet, black skins, and wooly heads. They were called the black white men, and were deemed the most learned among the Africans. In Abeokuta there is a market two miles long. Dresses are sold there as high as sixty dollars a-piece. The lecturer knew an African intimately whose wealth was estimated at over two millions of dollars. The women do not work in the fields in the interior. The language has more abstract nouns than the English, which shows that Africans know how to think."

Effect of the Atmosphere and Breathing on Mental Operations.-One of the physiological doctrines of Swedenborg is the influence mutually exerted by thought on the breathing, and by the breathing on thought. An illustra

tion of the latter phenomenon is supplied from a description of the experience of M. De Saussure, when making observations on the summit of Mont Blanc, which occurs in an article on the subject in the Quarterly Review for last April. It may be hardly necessary to premise that, in consequence of the air being less dense on the summit of lofty mountains than in the plains below, the atmosphere in the higher situations does not supply a sufficient column of air for the requirements of the body, were it to make any lengthened sojourn there; the mental effects are under some circumstances experienced sooner than the physical. "Whilst still," says the Review, "De Saussure suffered nothing at the top of Mont Blanc; but the effort of reading the thermometer and other instruments, and of recording his observations, was such that he barely accomplished in four and a half hours what three hours sufficed for at the level of the sea." The writer justly adds, that "the fatigue of such sedentary occupations arises in part from the involuntary holding of the breath when the attention is deeply engaged." It appears that there is greater difficulty in doing so where the atmosphere is so rarified than where its density is more adapted to the bodily exigencies.

SWEDENBORG AT THE UNIVERSITIES. We are happy to announce that there is a movement on foot amongst some members of the New Church for the promotion of the reading of the works of Swedenborg in the English Universities. It is proposed, as we understand, to offer a premium for the best Essay on the Theological System of Swedenborg, in order to attain the desired end. The matter is at present too much in embryo for us to give a definite account of the plan intended to be pursued, but we heartily approve of the idea, and wish its promoters every success in the carrying of it out.

ED.

THE FUNDS OF THE NATIONAL MIS-
SIONARY INSTITUTION, AND THE AD-
MINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENT OF
THE LORD'S SUPPER.
To the Editor,

Sir,-Will you allow me to express the astonishment which I felt at the Resolution of Conference, to which our

beloved brother and minister, the President of Conference, thought it necessary to draw the attention of the societies of the church in your March number? It is uncongenial to my feelings to have to say a word upon this subject, but conscience says I ought to speak.

The resolution reads as follows:"That those societies which have neither resident minister nor leaders authorized to administer the Sacrament of the Holy Supper, be recommended to the President of Conference, who shall arrange with them to have a minister sent to them if possible for that purpose, whose travelling and other expenses may be paid out of the funds of the National Missionary Institution."

As the seconder of the resolution in Conference, moved by yourself "That in the opinion of this Conference, the best permanent memorial of the Centenary will be a National Missionary Institution of the New Church in connection with the General Conference," nothing was further from my mind than the application of its funds to such a use as that of paying the expenses of ministers visiting societies for the purpose of administering the sacrament. And when I read in the Minutes of last Conference the resolution above cited, I felt really both shame and astonishment that the Conference should so far have sanctioned, at the expiration of a single year, such an evident misappropriation of the funds of an institution expressly founded for the purpose of showing that the New Church is not sectarian in spirit; but holds the spreading freely and widely of the divine truths of the Gospel as far more important than the building up of an external church organism. I am sure this resolution of the last Conference must tend to shut out the support which the institution might otherwise have obtained from those earnest receivers who are not of the same way of thinking about the Administration of the Lord's Supper, as the Conference ministers themselves

are.

And while I feel truly sorry that my dear brethren of the church in Conference assembled, should have taken what appears to me so evidently a wrong course, I cannot but suggest for the consideration of both the President and others, that it may be that the reason that so few as "only two" of the societies

of the church have applied for the assistance of "authorized" ministers to dispense the Lord's Supper is, that the societies do not believe in the "authority" hereby understood. The Lord never authorized either his Apostles or those who should believe in him through their word, to administer either one to another or to newly-converted Christians, the Supper which was to be a memorial of himself. He said to them-"take and eat,"—" take and drink”—and " drink ye all of it;" but he never said "take and give"-because he is the alone giver. And by reception the church is to be conjoined with him; not conjoined with any intermediate party. And how deeply must every sincere member of his New Church who desires to see his bride put on her wedding garments, deplore the continued offering of Babylonish garments-(pardon the expression, for my pen has stopped to find a truer, and I cannot)-which is ever and anon made by acting ministers, sincerely, no doubt, but not the less mistakenly for all that.

I doubt whether England contains a man more fitted, in every respect, to proclaim far and wide the heavenly doctrines than the President of Conference himself is, but I am sure his services would be more generally useful and acceptable, as well as those of his brethren in the ministry, if it were not for this assumption of unwarranted authority in this matter. Yours faithfully,

J. ROBINSON.

[In the communication of our esteemed correspondent, issue is raised on two points: Ist. The assumed mis. application of the funds of the National Missionary Society, in applying it to pastoral purposes; and 2nd. The assumed authority, as our friend conceives, of ministers to administer the sacrament of the holy supper in preference to others. With reference to the first point, the writer of this note having been present at most of the meetings of the Committee appointed to consider the centenary memorial question, can state that the employment of the funds for pastoral as well as missionary visits was contemplated from the first. Without attempting to decide whether the Conference is right or wrong in the course our friend complains of, we may remark that the fact of his having seconded the resolution adopted by Conference, relative to the establishment of a National

Missionary Institution, does not, as we conceive our friend will allow, commit that body to the views he may hold on points of detail; nevertheless, we doubt not Conference will carefully consider any suggestions which may be offered on the point. The question of the administration of the holy supper, and the mode of its administration, is too large to be summarily disposed of. We presume our correspondent fully recognises its importance, but if we understand him rightly, he would exclude ministers from the administration of it. "The Lord," our friend urges, "said unto them-' take and eat,' 'take and drink,' and 'drink ye all of it;' but he never said 'take and give,' because he is the alone giver." If this view is the correct one, the Conference has been wrong from the very first, and will have to consider the subject de novo; but in the present views of the church at large-the great body of her members, with we think few exceptions, holding the administration of the sacraments to be one of the most important duties of the ministerial function, and wishing to see the orderly administrations of it, and indeed the whole of the uses of the ministry, provided for-have entrusted to Conference-in other words, to the whole church assembled in Conference—the appointment of those who by their moral and intellectual qualifications are deemed by that body suitable for the office. The Conference, we think, is fully justified in carrying out the wishes and convictions of the church at large, without laying itself open to the charge of cherishing a Babylonish spirit, and especially as it does not dictate to nor in any way interfere with any society which holds a different view or pursues a different practice. As regards the view that our Lord commanded his apostles to "take" and not to "give" the holy supper, we cannot attempt anything approaching to a full discussion of the point; we would, however, submit that the mode copied by the New Church from the Protestant Churches is everywhere recognised by Swedenborg as fulfilling the requirements of the Lord's institution of it, whilst in the administration of the ordinance the minister is the representative of the Lord, since "all kings, even at this day, by virtue of their kingship, represent the Lord, and also all priests." A.C. 3670.]

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