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Sunday Services. — The newly-appointed minister conducted the services on Sunday, September 26, with much acceptance. He chose for his text at the morning service the 5th and 9th verses of the 99th Psalm. He said that it was plain that the duty of every Christian was to exalt the Lord, and worship at His footstool. Was it possible for them by exercising all their powers and abilities to exalt God? Yes, it was possible, but this exaltation of the Lord must be within them, in their hearts and minds, in their affections and in their thoughts, and this they can only do by loving what was good, and thinking what was true, for the Lord is goodness and truth itself. To receive Divine truth in their minds was to receive the Lord, and when they cherish Him in their affections, they are exalting Him; and in their daily life, while engaged in the business of the world, when they were subjected to troubles and temptations, they should endeavour

of the New Church would go on and the accompaniment in a pleasing and prosper. He (the speaker) came that effective manner. evening to represent the Scottish New Church Missionary Association, and in its name to welcome Mr. Pulsford to his work in Scotland. He promised him that he would have all the help and sympathy that the Association could possibly give him. He also welcomed Mr. Pulsford in the name of the Paisley Society, and assured him a hearty welcome there when he should favour them with a visit. Mr. Presland, of Edinburgh, next addressed the meeting. He said that he stood in a somewhat different position from any of the other speakers. He was Mr. Pulsford's brother-inlaw, and they might conclude from that fact that he had considerable acquaintance with him. Whilst he had been listening to the various speeches that had been made, and witnessing the exceedingly warm welcome they had given his dear friend and brother-in-law, many happy memories of the past had crossed his mind. After recounting some of these happy reminiscences, he said it was therefore a very great plea- in thought and deed to seek at all times sure for him to welcome Mr. Pulsford as a fellow-worker in the Lord's New Church in this important country, Scotland. One great thing for a minister to have was sympathy, and the power of speaking words in season to those who stood in need of counsel and advice. They should not regard him as simply an intellectual acqusition, or one who could explain hard passages of Scripture to them, but they should regard him as one who could enter into their trials, and who would be ready at all times to give them solid counsel and assistance as far as it lay in his power. The great need of the present day was a heart-to-heart sympathy between the workers in the world's work and the workers in the Lord's vineyard, and if they could feel themselves at one with him who was leading them, at one with him in all things, and always ready to help him in his work, they would reap a rich reward indeed.

to do what was right, for love to God and charity to man was exalting God in their daily life. They should also exalt the Lord in their worship; if that worship was not genuine, it would not produce good, and consequently could not be productive of glory to the Lord. Divine worship consisted of Divine exaltation of the Lord, and took place only according to the degree they humbled themselves before God, as humiliation before the Lord was essential to Divine worship, and by doing that, they would receive the blessings of His Divine love and wisdom, which constitute eternal life.

Their natural tendency was to exalt themselves before the Lord in worship. By so doing they were clos ing the interiors of their minds to the reception of the Lord, and consequently receiving no benefit from their devo tional exercises; but each of them should endeavour to say when leaving the Mr. Smith, of Manchester, Mr. E. H. church, "It was good for me that I Craigie, Edinburgh, and Mr. Andrew was there." The first important thing Eadie, Glasgow, afterwards made short he wished to say to one and all of them addresses, all of a congratulatory char- on this the first day of his ministry acter, and auguring well for the future among them was, "Exalt ye the Lord." success of the Church in Alloa. During Let their chief object, he said, in all the evening the choir sang with fine their endeavours in that place of worship effect a number of anthems, Mr. John be the exaltation of the Lord, for only M'Lachlan, jun., leading and playing in that could spiritual blessings be

the pure doctrines of Divine truth. The most effectual and most powerful way of preaching the truth to others was to embody that truth in every action of their lives. When they cheerfully, freely, promptly, and spontaneously did their part in helping the cause of the Church and bearing their share of its expenses, they knew that each one of them was a centre of power.

given. And while exhorting them for ten thousand different ways by which their own sake, for their neighbour's they might be preaching to the world sake, and for the Church's sake to exalt the Lord their God in their thoughts and affections, he would at the same time resolve to the fullest extent of his abilities, under the blessing of the Lord, to do likewise. He was certain that if they joined together in striving to exalt God, and to worship Him, He would give them peace and prosperity. Their meetings would also be blessed with the Divine Presence, which would tend to unite them as members of one family, and would add to the number of those who now worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ as the Incarnate God, Jehovah manifest in the flesh, Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour, who is over all and in all. In the evening Mr. Pulsford preached from the 9th verse of the 22nd chapter of Matthew-"Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.'

The parable, he said, from whence the text was taken represents a certain king making a marriage feast for his son. The kingdom of heaven mentioned in the parable is wherever the Lord reigns. It is within them, when the Lord's truth is the leading principle of their minds; and when the Lord's love is the leading principle in their hearts. The king means the Lord as to His supreme Divinity, and the son meant the Lord as to His Divine humanity. He was also the Bridegroom and the Husband of the Church; and to establish His Church on earth is to establish His kingdom in heaven. The New Church was the crown of all Churches, it was the Church of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world, the Church which John was permitted to see as the New Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven, and that its establishment upon earth was not for time but for eternity. The Lord says, Go into the cross-ways or crooked ways, and as many as ye can find bid them to the marriage. But the question might arise to some of them, How was this to be done? They could not all work in the same way, they could not all preach, many of them had not the ability to enter deeply into theological subjects. It was true they could not all work in the same way, it was never intended that they should, but they must know that there were

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SALISBURY.-A Band of Hope has just commenced in connection with our Society which promises to be quite a success. At the first meeting we admitted sixteen as members, upon their signing the "Declaration of Abstinence; songs were sung suitable for the occasion, and the interest of the young people was so excited that it is hoped that the Sunday school may be increased, and the church brought under more general notice by this new arrangement.

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October 3.-Mr. R. Gunton visited the Society and delivered two discourses on this date. In the morning he preached to a congregation (of about forty in number) on the subject of Baptism and the Holy Supper, plainly setting forth the teaching of the Church concerning these institutions, showing their significance, and the wisdom of using them as 'divinely appointed" means of assistance in becoming regenerated. After this service the "Sacrament" was administered to seventeen communicants. In the evening the bills which had been circulated announcing the visit attracted more strangers than had ever before been present in the building now occupied ; and all seemed interested as Mr. Gunton explained, from a New Church point of view, "The Love of God manifested in the Gift of His Son." The grand truth of the revelation of the "Everlasting Father" in the person of "Jesus Christ” was clearly presented, and also the necessity of so believing in the God thus revealed, as to avoid those things He has forbidden, and carefully attend to all the laws laid down as necessary for obtaining spiritual health and happiness.

October 4.-Mr. Gunton delivered a lecture, the subject being "Hell, and why God, as a Being of Infinite Love,

permits such a place to exist." The lecturer explained in a logical manner the origin of hell, its nature, and the manner in which the infernals live in the other world. Although the evening was both wet and cold, an audience of about forty persons rapidly assembled at about 8 P.M., comprising a large proportion of strangers, some of whom responded to the lecturer's invitation for questions. At the close of the meeting eight books were sold, chiefly copies of the "Brighton Lectures" and "The Spiritual World."

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On October 6th, at the New Church, Wretham Road, Birmingham, by the Rev. R. R. Rodgers, Walter, younger son of Isaac A. Best, of Summer Lane, Birmingham, to Eva, fourth daughter of the late Henry Wilkinson, Esq., of Handsworth.

On the 14th of October 1880, at the New Church in Antelope Square, Catherine Street, Salisbury, by the leader, Mr. Leonard Herbert, Mr. William Charles Roach to Harriet, third daughter of Mr. Charles Best, of 31 Endless Street, Salisbury. On the completion of the service the bride and bridegroom were presented with a handsome Bible as an acknowledg. ment of theirs being the first marriage in the building at present occupied by the Church. Flowers were also strewn in the path of the newly-married pair, and they were received with showers of rice on leaving the building.

Obituary.

At Accrington, on 28th September 1880, John Wade, of Plantation Square, departed this life, aged sixtythree years. Our friend was not one of those who actively served the Church, still he loved her worship, and was constant in his attendance at her services. And hence she regarded him as by no means one of her least esteemed members, for he adorned her

doctrines by a steady and consistent, if uneventful, Christian life.

He had been ailing for some time, but neither he nor his friends anticipated that the close of his career would be marked by the severity of struggle through which he disengaged himself from his mortal tenement. Mercifully the welcome release was given, and John Wade passed peacefully away to the world where there is no more pain.

At Headingley, near Leeds, September 13, 1880, Mary, wife of Mr. Henry Ramsden, aged sixty-six years. Our departed sister had been for many years a sufferer from a painful rheumatic affliction which she bore with exemplary patience. Death to her was a release from suffering, and opened before her the hope of a happy future.

September 13, 1880, at West End House, Ashton-under-Lyne, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, after a very short illness, Edward Holt passed peacefully away into his eternal rest.

To those amongst the preachers who have been called to do duty at Ashton his familiar face will be well remembered, and to write his biography would be to recount the whole history of the Ashton Society. Nothing that concerned the welfare of the Society ever took place without his hearty sympathy and co-operation, and the writer of the present notice remembers with deep affection the endearing manner with which he always strove to win the young to the Church. His last act, two days before his removal, in its service was to organize and carry out a picnic for the children, at which he entered most cheerfully into the various games, running with youthful agility, and encouraging them with a heartiness that seemed so unlike the immediate prelude to his entrance into the spirit world for ever.

His sudden removal has produced a profound and solemn impression amongst his numerous friends, ac quaintances, and fellow-members of the Church, several of whom from Liverpool, Manchester, and Southport attended the interment of the remains. Prior to the removal of the body from the house, Mr. Henshall, the Lancashire colporteur, delivered a touching address and offered up an appropriate prayer.

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THE book of Nature and the book of Revelation are but two different modes by which the Universal Father makes known to His children His eternal power and godhead, and His loving and wise care for their temporal and eternal happiness. If men could read these two books aright, they would see that each illustrates and confirms the other, and that they unite their testimony to the existence of a Being of infinite love, wisdom, and power. It is possible to read these books wrongly, so far as their relation and testimony to each other and to their common Author is concerned. Each may be studied alone, or at least apart, and apparently without reference to the other. Yet this is only an appearance. It is true that we cannot even read, much less understand, Revelation without having been educated in the school of Nature. Our faculties must be first opened and trained and endowed by Nature before we can know and comprehend the teaching of Revelation. And yet we could not have the power of acquiring or understanding a single natural truth if it were not for the inflowing of Divine light into the mind, and the operation upon it of spiritual agencies both angelic and human. It is not uncommon for scientific men to estimate the relative capacities of animals and men by the relative size of the brain. But the difference of volume cannot account for the great and impassable gulf that separates man and animalsthat lies between human and animal nature. The difference is not one of degree but of kind. Human nature in its lowest state is

capable of being elevated by education, so as to become highly scientific, rational, and religious; while mere animal nature is incapable, even with the aid and influence of man, of any measure of human intelligence, either natural or spiritual; and, if left to itself, shows neither aspiration nor effort after a higher state than that which has ever been known to characterize it. There is a Divine influx through the souls of animals as well as into the souls of men, but both receive that influx according to their nature. To the animal it gives the innate or instinctive knowledge which guides it to all that its animal nature requires; to the man it gives, not knowledge, but the power of acquiring it and of applying it to the requirements of his higher nature. It is a remarkable fact that animals should be born with all knowledge and man with none. The scientists of a certain school ascribe the innate knowledge of animals to heredity. They inherit the acquired and treasured-up knowledge or experience of former generations. One might reasonably think that man would transmit to his descendants, still more perfectly than his mute companions of the field, the knowledge and experience he had accumulated. There is this great distinction between animal and human knowledge-that of the animal is unconscious knowledge, that of man is conscious knowledge. And surely that knowledge which is an object of the consciousness, and every step in the acquirement of which has been made by a conscious exertion of the faculties, should be more deeply impressed upon the mind and more transmittible than that which comes unbidden and remains unrecognised. Human beings do inherit something from their predecessors. They do not inherit knowledge, but they inherit improved aptitude for acquiring, and enlarged capacities for accumulating knowledge. The faculties of animals is never improved by inheritance, and their measure of instinctive knowledge remains always the same. No doubt the character of animals is modified by change of surrounding circumstances, especially that of domesticated animals under the treatment and influence of man. But no animal by the most favourable circumstances can be raised above its animal condition; and according to all accounts, when animals return to their wild state they relapse into their wild nature, although this has recently been disputed. Not only do they never of themselves improve upon what they have gained, but they are unable to sustain it; when the forcing power is removed they fall to the level from which they have been artificially raised, as cultivated plants, when left to themselves, return to their wild condition.

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