in the present number of the Repository. Should this be done, it will be expedient to postpone the intended great meeting from the second week in July to about the 19th of August.

In reference to the meeting itself, we may state that it is proposed to hold it in Freemason's Hall, which has been engaged for the purpose. It is a noble room, in a central situation, and capable of accommodating upwards of one thousand persons. The public may therefore be invited, which must be done by advertisement-the admission by tickets, to be obtained, free, at certain places to be named. At the meeting, addresses will be delivered by ministers and others on given topics, which will doubtless prove interesting to our own friends, and useful to strangers, making them acquainted with the existence and the principles of the New Church. It has been suggested that a reporter should be engaged to take down those addresses, with a view to their being revised by their authors and published. Many of the members would be glad to possess such a record, and it might very usefully be put into the hands of strangers to the doctrines, and might lead to further inquiry. Tracts should be freely distributed at the meeting. It is estimated that the expenses, including rent, advertisements, &c., will be from £20. to £25. And with regard to tracts, that £50. or even £100. might be beneficially devoted to their dissemination, not only in English, but in French, German, and other languages, especially as so many foreigners will then be visiting the metropolis. No such opportunity has ever before occurred, and numerous meetings will be held by different denominations of Christians, zealous for the promotion of religious knowledge; at these meetings appropriate New Church tracts should be distributed in large numbers.

Enough has been said, it is hoped, to shew the grounds on which the Conference are anxious for support, and wish to know early what amount of funds will be at their disposal. It is suggested that, when convenient, collections be made for the purpose, so as to afford an opportunity for individuals to contribute according to It is not too soon, even now, to be making some arrangements, especially in regard to tracts. Delay in this matter will be certain to cause inconvenience, and, to a certain extent,

their means.

failure.

"

Communications are requested not later than the 15th of the month. H. BUTTER, Sec.

48, Cloudesley Terrace, Islington, 20th Feb., 1851.

PROPOSAL TO HOLD THE CONFERENCE IN LONDON, INSTEAD OF AT EDInburgh.

To the Editor.

Dear Sir,- It has been mentioned by several friends who are deeply interested in the welfare of the church, that it would be more beneficial to the good cause, and more satisfactory to our friends generally, if the General Conference could be held in London this year, instead of at Edinburgh. If our Scotch brethren would forego the pleasure and consent to its removal, and our London friends would undertake to make provision, the whole church in Great Britain, as represented in Conference, would be sure to meet with receivers from every other part of the world. If it were only to enable the ministers and representatives to shake hands with the brethren from every country and clime on earth, it would be worth the removal. There is no rule of Conference which would forbid the alteration. If the president and secretary could make it agreeable in London and Edinburgh, that would be all that is necessary. Every one appears to be inclined to go to the Exhibition, and if Conference were to be held in the metropolis, New Church visitors would, no doubt, go up during its sittings, and our friends there would see such a muster of receivers from the country as never was in London before. If this suggestion be acted upon, subscriptions would not be wanting to carry out any extra effort that the friends in London might deem desirable. A simple meeting of the kind named in former numbers of your Repository, .seems to fall

short of what the church desires to see on such an extraordinary gathering as the display at the "Crystal Palace" will bring together. The Conference is the thing; and we wonder it was not thought of at its last meeting. It is not, however, too late to remedy the mistake, and we hope that the president will instruct the secretary to make the necessary inquiries. I am, yours, &c.

A MINISTER. [The Editor begs to take this opportunity afforded by his correspondent, to inform the church, that he has received applications from various quarters, and

from numerous individuals, to the same effect-that the Conference be held this year in London instead of Edinburgh. It will, therefore, be gratifying to all such to see, from Mr. Butter's letter on the "Great Exhibition,' that our London friends are happy to make arrangements to have the Conference this year in the metropolis; and our brethren at Edinburgh will, no doubt, from the reasons alleged in the above letter, be ready to acquiesce in the arrangement, provided that next year the Conference be held either in Edinburgh or Glasgow, as our friends in Scotland may determine. Should this change be agreed upon-and our readers and correspondents are at full liberty to express their opinions on the subject-the president, the secretary, and the trustees of Conference will see that the legal forms, if any in relation thereto, are properly regarded.]

DR. TAFEL, OR PROFESSOR TAFEL.

To the Editor.

Sir,---I notice that Mr. Bayley, in the account of his visit to Germany, given in the January number, invariably speaks of "Dr." Tafel as Professor Tafel. May I ask what is the nature of the Professorship which he holds? If he does hold any such appointment, I do not think that it is generally known in the church here. But if he does, I doubt the correctness and propriety of designating him by the lesser title, instead of the greater. The title of Dr. is the more permanent, being for life: the title of Professor only continues during tenure of office. Thus the Rev. Mr. Bush, having resigned his Hebrew Professorship, is no longer, properly, called Professor Bush. In the case of the Regius Professors in our Universities, I believe the title of Professor is the more honourable, as being for life, or till the party is raised to a higher dignity. Perhaps your correspondent will explain.

T. C.

[Dr. Tafel is Professor of Intellectual and Speculative Philosophy at the University of Tübingen. In this department he has published several works of great merit, one entitled "A History and Critique of Skepticism and Irrationalism, in relation to Modern Philosophy, with special reference to Hegel; together with irrefragable Arguments for the Existence of God, the Laws by which the operations of Reason are conducted, Freedom and Immortality.

1834." This work was extensively reviewed in this Periodical for 1836; see p. 357 and p. 473. In 1848 Dr. Tafel published the first volume of another work, entitled "Fundamental Philosophy in its Genetical Development, &c." We are not aware that the second volume has yet appeared. As to the immediate object of our correspondent's inquiry, we beg to say, that the title Dr., of which there are various degrees, is the more permanent, and also the more honourable, since a man may be a Professor without being a Dr., but a man cannot legitimately be a Dr. in reference to any branch of literature without being able to teach it, for a Doctor signifies a teacher, consequently a Professor. Among the students at the German universities it is customary to call the public teachers professors, and we presume it was from hearing Dr. Tafel so called, that Mr. Bayley has more frequently employed that appellation.--EDITOR.]

IMPORTANT AND CONCLUSIVE ARGUMENT AGAINST BOTH THE TRIPERSONAL AND UNITARIAN THEORIES.

The Tripersonalist believes in the Father, Son, and Spirit, as three Divine Persons; the Unitarian believes in them as being and meaning, first, One Divine Being; secondly, one finite human person (Jesus Christ); and, thirdly, a Divine influence proceeding from the Divine Being, not from Jesus Christ. Now the words of Jesus Christ prove that there is but One Divine Person, namely, the Father, and that He and the Father are One Divine Person. First, let it be settled that a person, in order to be a person, must possess self-action, or the power of acting, or not acting, from his own moving. Every finite person has this power. How, then, can a Divine Person be without it? And yet Jesus Christ says most expressly that he is not a Person, and also that the Spirit is not a Person, for he expressly declares that neither possesses the power of acting or speaking from his own moving, or of himself." Of" the Son," Jesus declares this in John v. 19, 30; viii. 38; xii. 49; and of the Spirit, in John xvi. 13. But of the Father the like is never said. There can, then, be only One Divine Person, for of only One Divine Agent can self-action be predicated, consistently with the Scriptures. Consequently, the Tripersonalist is in error in saying that the Son is a

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second, and the Spirit a third Divine Person; neither are they Persons at all; for the indispensable personal attribute of self-action is denied to both by the highest authority, namely, by Him who spake from his own lips the words of God who dwelt in Him in infinite fulness; who manifested His invisible Essence in his Person, as in his own glorified human form in which He dwelt as a soul in its body. According to the Scripture testimony, the One Self-acting Divine Person, Jehovah, invested Himself-not with another Person, having distinct self-action, whether Divine or Human, but with a personal form, having no action but that of the Father who dwelt therein, yet having that reaction which the body of man possesses to the action of its soul, with which it forms One Person. The Unitarian is right in saying that the Holy Spirit is not a person, but he is wrong in saying that the Son is a human person, and therefore possessing self-action; for, as shewn above, Jesus denies that any personality appertains to Him besides the alone self-acting Infinite Person of the Father, the Only Divine Person worshipped under the Old Testament Dispensation. W. M.

MODERN CHRISTIANITY A SERIES OF PERSONAL INTERCESSIONS.

The Romish religion consists of the following scale of intercessions:

1. God the third Person will not sanctify us, unless God the first Person intercedes in our behalf. (It is said that the first sends the third Person, but as the Persons are 66 co-equal," sending must be

identical with interceding).

2. God the first Person will not intercede with the third Person, unless God the second Person will intercede with Him.

3. God the second Person will not intercede with God the first Person, unless his Virgin Mother will intercede with Him.

4. The Virgin will not intercede with the second Person, unless the departed 66 saints" will intercede with her.

5. The "saints" will not intercede with the Virgin, unless some one at least of the Romish priests (and especially the Pope, or a prelate or dignitary of the Romish church) intercede with them.

6. The priests will not intercede with the saints unless they are paid for their

intercession.

7. The laity therefore intercede with the priests, paying them in proportion to the quantity of their intercession.

The Protestant Tripersonalists stop short with the intercession of the third Person by the first, and the intercession of the first Person by the second; and here lies the chief difference between the Romish and Protestant Tripersonalists. But some Protestant priests and people think highly of the efficacy of the intercessions of the Protestant, but nothing of the intercession of the Romish priesthood. !!!

THE GLORIOUS FUTURE.

An orthodox Baptist minister lately closed a lecture in a provincial town with the following description of the glorious future, little dreaming that he was describing the descent of the New Jerusalem, or that the writings of Swedenborg have anything to do with that bright manifestation of truth he so beautifully hails. He remarked as follows:"Through the midst of all the complicated movements of this great world, its governments, its merchandise, its arts, and its revolution, a highway of the Lord is preparing, along which a triumphant and beneficent Christianity will advance, with songs of everlasting joy.

"There is a fount about to stream, There is a light about to beam, There is a warmth about to glow, There is a flower about to blow, There is a midnight blackness changing into gray, Men of thought and men of action, clear the way! Aid the dawning, tongue and pen, Aid it, hopes of honest men, Aid it, paper, aid it, type,

Aid it, for the hour is ripe,

And our earnest must not slacken into play,
Men of thought and men of action, clear the way!"

PROPOSALS

For continuing and completing the Work commenced by the late Rev. T. Goyder, entitled " Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year, with Morning and Evening Prayers.”

Two volumes out of the four contemplated by the author have been published. Since the publication of the volume of sermons by the same author, the Rev. D. G. Goyder has received many requests to complete the work commenced by his late brother. This, if Providence permit, he is willing to do, provided a sufficient number of subscribers can be obtained to secure him from loss.

Died, 20th September, at Cirencester, aged 47 years, Mrs. Legg, wife of Mr. Charles Legg, late of Chippenham. She was brought up an Independent, and from early childhood cared for eternal things. She became a member of the Independent church attended by her family, and continued for many years in communion with congregations of that persuasion, in various places where she was called to reside. From education she imbibed the errors of Calvinism, and she remained in these fallacies till about her 30th year, when the doctrines of the New Jerusalem were set before her through the instrumentality of an elder brother. As might be expected from her religious education, and her long continuance in the errors of predestination, she resisted them for a long period, but the truth, in its mightiness, at length began to illumine her mind. Now all things gradually became new to her, and from the light thus given she was enabled to look into herself. Growing in this most essential knowledge, she constantly mourned her depravity; sometimes so deeply as almost to lose sight of a Deliverer. She was naturally of a very nervous temperament. The Lord, in his Love and Wisdom, saw fit to lead her, for the sake of her purification, through a "great and terrible wilderness." From time to time, as her strength permitted, she gave advice to those around her. Once during her last day she said, "I die, thanking God for the beautiful light of the new dispensation, and lamenting that I have been such an unworthy receiver." The exquisite tone in which the word beautiful was uttered the writer will never forget: if tone corresponds to affection, she must indeed have loved the truth. Every trace of the old leaven had disappeared from human observation some time before her

death, and at length, at the right period, she was delivered from her trials, and taken, we trust, to a glorious home.

On the 7th of November, 1850, Mr. Joseph Turnbull, of Scotswood, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, departed this life at a very advanced age. Deceased only survived his wife about six weeks, who was also very aged. He was one of the oldest receivers of the New Church doctrines in Northumberland, and was one of those who aided the efforts of a zealous and intelligent soldier, who, on Sundays, attended Scotswood and preached the doctrines, nearly half a century ago. The deceased was a worthy and consistent member of the church, and, though his circumstances were poor, so that he could not buy many New Church works, the few that he did buy were freely lent among his friends and inquiring acquaintances; so much so, that he told the writer a short time before he died, that he had not one left to himself. So long as our late friend was able to walk, even by the aid of a stick, he was a regular attender on divine worship. His countenance always wore a cheerful aspect, and always brightened with joy when he heard of the spread of the New Church doctrines; because he considered that the well-being of mankind is involved in their reception in faith, love, and practice!