Sunday services in the Town Hall, on May 10, and to deliver four lectures on the four succeeding evenings. The Sunday services were attended by about fifty persons on each occasion, and the lectures by about a hundred on the Monday night, which number gradually increased until many were obliged, but contented, to stand the whole of the evening. The subjects treated were "The question of the Philippian Jailer, 'What must I do to be saved?' and the answer to that question;" "The Nature and Uses of Prayer, and the Divine Purposes effected thereby;" "The Descent of the Holy City and the Spiritual Lessons contained in its description;" "The Life of Man after Death, and the true Nature of Heaven and Hell;" "The Second Coming of the Lord, its true Nature, and the Time of its Accomplishment;' "The Love of God in the Gift of His Son." Questions were invited and answers given at the close of each lecture.

meet their present and immediate Missionary Society, arrangements were engagements. To assist them in made for Mr. Gunton to conduct two this Mr. John Lancaster had kindly given them £25, in addition to a previous sum of £25 which he had favoured them with at the commencement of the new buildings. With a view to wiping off the whole debt, it was decided to have a bazaar at Christmas next in aid of this object, and he solicited their earnest co-operation and support, and trusted they might be able to realise the amount required. On referring to the day-schools, he said they were now almost crowded in every room, there being 665 names on the books, and it was owing to this fact, that the school enjoyed such an excellent reputation not only amongst the parents of the scholars but the principal gentlemen of the town. The Sunday-school was in a very flourish ing state, and the Mutual Improvement Society, although it had been reposing during the last session, would shortly resume its meetings. In conclusion, he hoped the friends of education would assist them to make their institution second to none in Wigan for usefulness and good designs,-nay, second to none in the world. The entertainment, which was successful, followed.

RUGELEY.-A few isolated receivers of the doctrines of the New Church in the above town have lately been delighted by a visit paid them by Mr. Gunton, under the following circumstances:-Some time ago one of their number disposed of several of Bayley's Brighton Lectures, and one of them fell into the hands of a Wesleyan local preacher, who, after reading it, had his views of the Trinity somewhat altered, and stated his belief in the new views to his friends. The circumstance at length reached the ears of the resident Wesleyan minister, who took him to task on the subject, the result being that, after certain proceedings, he was removed from the place of local preacher, and his sphere of usefulness in that capacity taken from him. As might have been expected, this caused some excitement in our little town, and made many inquire what these doctrines really were; the more so as the rev. gentleman also preached a special sermon, announced by public placard, on Sunday, March 22, on the "Swedenborgian God not our God." On the matter being reported to our energetic London New Church

GENERAL CONFERENCE. - Ministers and representatives intending to be present at the approaching Session of the General Conference are requested to communicate, as early as possible, with the Secretary of the Argyle Square Society, that arrangements may be made for their accommodation.

April 30, 1874, entered into the spiritual world, after a protracted and painful illness, aged 34 years, Eliza, the beloved wife of William Plastow, member of the New Church Society, Liverpool. Our departed friend was introduced into the Church fourteen years ago through attending the ministrations of the Rev. Dr. Bayley, then of Argyle Square, London. Physically of a delicate constitution, and compelled to remain much indoors, she found sweet solace in the Heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and her life in public and private was eminently

illustrative of the power of the Christian religion when it is allowed to permeate the thoughts, words, and deeds. Being naturally of a retiring disposition, her circle of acquaintances was limited; but her strong affection for the young, her tender consideration for the weak and erring, and her love for all, will long live in the memories of those who knew her.

"To those who knew her best her name will be Sufficient to express her quality."

Passed into the other life, May 12, Joseph Clarkson, of Boardman Lane, Rhodes. He had been a receiver of the New Church doctrines from being a young man, mainly through the instrumentality of Mr. Thomas Ogden, who at that time visited Rhodes frequently. He was a regular attendant at Divine service until prevented by indisposition. He was also the respected treasurer of the Rhodes Society. On the day of his funeral his remains were taken into the New Church, and the New Church burial service read by Mr. E. Jones, who also preached his funeral sermon.

Mrs. Isabella Mason, relict of the late Mr. John Mason, departed this life on the 18th of May,' at the house of her daughter, Mrs. Yates, Rock Ferry, Birkenhead. The deceased had reached the advanced age of 74 years. Her active life was chiefly spent in the town of Wigan, and she and her esteemed husband were among the early members and active promoters of the New Church at that town. The beginning of their connection with the Church was indeed "the day of small things." The few receivers of the doctrines met in small rooms and out-of-the-way places. The preachers, frequently from a distance, who ministered to the small flock, found a welcome and a warm-hearted hospitality at the home of our departed friend. This continued for many years, with only the interruption of a short residence at a distance from Wigan. To the end of her life she continued warmly interested in the Church, and cheered by the evidences of its progress. Latterly she had resided with one or other of her children, who have all been brought up to a knowledge and love of the Heavenly doctrines.

For some time past she has been declining in health, and has at length finished her earthly course, with a reasonable hope of entering into the joy of her Lord.

At Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on the 12th June 1874, Robert Reed, aged 41 years. Deceased first became acquainted with New Church doctrine during the ministry in this town of the Rev. G. B. Porteous. His mind being well prepared for receiving the seeds of religious truth, he was not long in becoming an ardent admirer of the writings of Swedenborg, and ultimately of becoming a member of the Society. He was a man whose intellectual powers were far above the average, whose disposition was both unostentatious and self-sacrificing, and who possessed a high sense of duty, coupled with a love for everything noble and elevating. He is now in the happy realization of those blessed truths about which he so much loved to think and converse. He leaves a young widow and one child to mourn his loss.

At Melbourne, on the 8th of May 1874, Mr. Thomas Adcock, late of Ashby de la Zouch, passed out of the natural into the spiritual world, in the 78th year of his age. For many years he had been an intelligent receiver of the doctrines of the New Church and a member of the Melbourne Society. He was one of the intimate friends of the late Rev. William Mason, to whom he was indebted for much of the knowledge he possessed concerning the interior truths of the Holy Word. As a man he was highly esteemed by all who knew him, for his intelligence, great business capacity, and the uprightness of his conduct. Although for a period of forty years he resided six miles from Melbourne, he attended the worship of the Church once, and occasionally twice, on the Sabbath day; and for some time, when the Society was without a minister, he conducted the morning service. By his removal the Melbourne Society has lost a valuable friend and supporter; but doubtless he has gone to his rest, and to join those happy spirits who find their delight in performing works of usefulness in the kingdom of Heaven.

ERRATA on "The Date of the Opening of Swedenborg's Spiritual Sight." Page 269, line 17 from the top. For "prison" read "person."

Page 273, line 4. For "his scientific works, Regnum Animale and Economia Regni Animalis," read "for his scientific and philosophical works, Regnum Animale and De Cultu et Amore Dei."

PREACHED BY THE REV. THOMAS COLLEY, IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF

ST. ANNE, WANDSWORTH.

"Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find."-John xxi. 6. SKILFUL workmanship in any handicraft compels admiration; whereas blundering stupidity deserves, and gets, scant patience; especially when reasonable expectation hopes for that measure of perfection which a long apprenticeship to experience should show.

Each has a speciality and aptitude for some given work in which he may stand supreme without a rival: and most of the bungling patchwork of misdirected effort, and the disastrous failures in a man's career, is the unhappy result of a mistaken vocation, and first forgetfulness to test the adaptability of the mind and bias of the will for the thing attempted.

If instead of at haphazard beginning to build, our earliest care led us to mature our plans by prayer, and consultation with the Master Architect of the universe, there would be fewer unsightly moral ruins in the world, heart-break, soul-wreck, and a wasted life; and Satan would have smaller occasion to mock, saying, "This man began to build and was not able to finish."

The vast mass of mankind, as far as they themselves are concerned, are the slaves of chance, creatures of circumstance, who drift hither and thither, ever at the mercy of the next event. They hail from nowhere in particular, and are bound for the dim uncertain: objectless,

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aimless, with no definite plan or purpose, their course is zig-zag: carried about by every wind of doctrine, the frivolity of fashion, and the new madness of the hour, they are as vinegar to the eyes of the honest toilers who plough the deeps to explore God's wonders and make provision for the morrow.

At best we are unskilful to note the times and seasons, and profit by the manifold opportunities around us. We toil all night and take nothing. We disquiet ourselves in vain; we heap up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them. We labour hard for the meat which perishes, and fish in troubled waters for the glittering tinsel and toys of earth: and when the night of time staggers back at the opening of eternity and the day-break of the other life, despondent and deluded, we find that we have taken nothing.

The Master stands on the golden shore, which the waves of immensity kiss, and over the tumult of life's wild sea cries, Children, have ye any meat? I called you to be fishers of men, to be spiritual anglers, for the despondent and the weary; the downcast and the sinful. Yours was the high vocation to draw humanity from the depths of depravity, and rescue homo from diabolus; to draw out the noble from the ignoble, reason from insanity, the high human from the low brutal, and the true manly from the mere animal. I called you to be fishers of men. What is your occupation now? And what is ours! Fishing for honours, power, wealth, position? Toiling to net some grand advantage? When the inquiry comes, with shame and confusion of face we shall have to confess that we have toiled all night and have taken nothing.

And why? Because we have neglected to let down the net on the right side. We have had a blundering, left-handed way of doing even good things, which is really equal to a right-handed facility for doing evil things. A favour may be rendered in such an ungracious and ungainly fashion, that a courteous refusal of it would have been far pleasanter. And people of this sort are very much like the left-handed men of Benjamin, who could sling stones at a hair's-breadth and not miss. They pride themselves on their ability to sling sarcastic speeches at their neighbours, "they shoot out their arrows, even bitter words." They speak the truth, not to amend, but wound, and are brutally rude under cover of being outspoken and plain. But when did this sinister style of angling ever net large results, or do anything but mischief, or cause aught but trouble and pain? Such left-handed action will never win a soul, though it appear never so dexterous in the sight

of men. We must cast the net on the right side of the ship if we would find. We must speak the truth in love; bear and forbear; give and forgive. You may catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than a barrel of vinegar, you may toil all night and take nothing, and marvel that your persistent endeavours to dragoon sinners into right ways are not more successful. But who is at fault? Is it their depravity or your stupidity that is to blame? Let go your high heroics for a time, and try a little homely common sense in these things. The overmuch righteous sometimes give occasion for the overmuch wicked to blaspheme. Indeed it is rather more than suspected that when the Pharisee shews himself in God's sunlight the shadow of the Publican and sinner is not a great way off. When we see the one we have not far to look for the other. So, bearing this in mind, if you wish a man to act right don't ply him with too many opportunities of acting wrong, by multiplying trivial rules and regulations for him to break; and don't tempt him, by useless limitations and captious curtailment of due liberty, to rush at your poor fences and foolish prohibitions, lest the impetus should carry him beyond his neighbour's landmark and lead him to trespass on forbidden ground. Be your brother's keeper by all means, but mind you keep your temper, and in charity forbear the hot reproof, and lovingly exhort: for it must needs be that offences come. But though there be a woe unto the world because of its offences, there is a greater woe to him by whom the offence cometh. We know there is the command, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right," but there is at the same time the words, "And ye fathers provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." There is the command, "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters;" but there is also the injunction, "Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven."

In patience therefore possess ye your souls, and in meekness rebuke, but in harshness, never. In mercy chide, but never in anger. Ask, don't bid. Win, don't force. Lead, don't drive. Bend, don't break. In short, just do according to the Lord's words, and let down the net on the right side, and ye shall catch men, and win their love, and net many friends; and yet not one too many, for

"He that hath a thousand friends hath not a friend to spare,

And he that hath an enemy shall meet him everywhere."

So to gain the former and miss the latter, let us do after the manner of our text, and let it be the golden rule and maxim of