and who thus love the truth of God for its own sake. There are two Divine names in the Old Testament and two in the New that are eminently expressive of love and wisdom as essentials of the Deity. Jehovah is expressive of the Divine Love, and God of the Divine Wisdom; and to these correspond the two names of the Lord in the New Testament, Jesus and Christ. Theophilus, therefore, means a lover of wisdom or of Christ. And only by such can the truth be received. The love of truth is not a prepossession in favour of any particular kind of truth, but a condition of mind that is favourable to all truth. Truth is as grateful to a sound intellect as light is to a healthy eye. And it is as useful; for we cannot walk mentally without the light of truth any more than we can walk physically without the light of this world. But an intellect is not sound by being logically so. Intellectual soundness implies moral soundness. The moral faculty has a powerful influence on the intellectual. It is the moral faculty that loves, and the intellectual faculty that perceives; and such as the love is such is the perception. The Gospel is addressed to one who had been already instructed in the truth; the testimony of Luke was added, in order that Theophilus might know the certainty of what he had learned. Knowledge and certainty are distinguishable, and are sometimes expressly distinguished, in Scripture. Jesus, in His prayer to the Father, says of His disciples, "They have known surely that I came out from Thee" (John xvii. 8). Even faith is distinct from certainty. Peter said to the Lord, on that crucial occasion when many went back and walked no more with Him, "We believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (John vi. 68). Certainty is wrought in the mind, not simply by a higher testimony, but by a higher view and appreciation of testimony-a deeper insight into, a more interior reception of, the truth as it is in Jesus. This was the end of Luke's writing to Theophilus. May it be fulfilled in us!

Periodical Literature.

NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE.

THE MASSACHUSETTS NEW CHURCH UNION.

WE mention this periodical for the purpose of giving what publicity we can to an announcement in the December number, that its price is to be reduced from three to two dollars a year, and that clergymen of all denominations will receive it at half that price. As this magazine, for the excellence of its articles, the intelligence of its

reviews, and the varied interest of its monthly notes and comments, occupies the very front in our periodical literature, it deserves the highest encouragement.

A

Belgravia has an article by Richard A. Proctor, entitled "Some strangely fulfilled Dreams," the writer's object being, seemingly, to disprove the truth of his own title, by endeavouring to show that the dreams have been manipulated to answer to the facts, or that the dream and the event are odd coincidences. He begins with some of the dreams recorded in Scripture, which he treats with something of lightness approaching levity. The dreams of Joseph, the butler and the baker, Pharaoh, and Nebuchadnezzar are introduced. These dreams were symbolical, and the manner of their fulfilment was according to their interpretation. The truth of these does not seem to be disputed, although innuendoes are introduced that credit one of the interpreters with ingenuity that differs considerably from humanderived wisdom, on the part of him who ascribes the power of dreaminterpreting to God. But we pass with the writer from these to those which have not the sanction of Holy Writ. He cites some dreams recorded by Dr. Abercromby in his work "Intellectual Powers," which it is hardly necessary to repeat. They all had relation to natural events. The principal one had, or was supposed to have, its fulfilment in the assassination of Percival in the lobby of the House of Commons. few are mentioned besides from other sources. Since the article in Belgravia appeared some contributions have been made through the newspapers. We may add one to the number, which we had at first hand, and which is so simple that it could hardly admit of two different versions. When the late Rev. Samuel Noble lived in Kentish Town, his brother William, who lived in the City, usually spent Sunday with him, coming on Saturday evening and returning on Monday morning. It was before the age of omnibuses and railroads; but a stage coach passed in the morning through Kentish Town for the City, and by this conveyance William Noble used to proceed to his town house. One Monday morning when he came down to breakfast he told his brother he had dreamt that he was on his way to London by the stage, and that one of the wheels had come off, and the coach was overturned. We think he mentioned the particular wheel, but this we are not certain about, and do not insist upon. The dream was exactly fulfilled. That morning the wheel came off, and the coach was overturned, although, we believe, no one was seriously injured.

Mr. Proctor endeavours to account for fulfilled dreams, as they have often been accounted for before, by other than supernatural agency or by "brain waves." We do not, and we believe our readers generally do not, pay much attention to dreams. We think with Solomon that (as a rule) a dream cometh through a multitude of business. But there are cases in which the significance of dreams is too obvious to be denied. Mr. Proctor objects to dreams, generally, on the ground of their uselessness. The same objection has been

made against the value, though not against the truth, of some scientific discoveries. And the same answer which has been given in the one case may be given in the other. It is our business to pursue truth independently of its use, leaving its utility to be in due time found out. There is one use which significant dreams may perform even when they do not serve as warnings. They help to keep up a belief in the supernatural, which we think affords the only reasonable mode of accounting for them, and which we think is their primary use. It is because we believe in the supernatural origin of such dreams, and because we believe the philosophy of the New Church enables us to explain how an event can be foreshadowed in a dream, that we have brought this article in Belgravia under the notice of our readers.

The spiritual world is as closely connected with the natural world as the soul is with the body. As the soul is in the sphere of causes and the body is in the sphere of effects, so the spiritual world is the world of causes and the natural world is the world of effects. Matter, even organized matter, in itself is dead. It lives by virtue of its connection with spirit, either individually as of the body with the spirit in man, or generally as of the material with the spiritual world. Man as to his soul or spirit is in the sphere of causes; as a spirit, he is an inhabitant, although unconsciously, of the spiritual world, and he is as much influenced and acted upon by his fellow-spirits as he is by his fellow-men. If, now, events in the natural world have their causes in the spiritual world, it is evidently consistent with the nature of things that the cause should exist before the effect, and that, in certain cases, the natural event should be foreshadowed in dreams. Supposing there is a connection, which can hardly be denied, between some, or even between one, of these visions of the night and a waking reality, is there any other, or more philosophical, way of accounting for the connection? It may seem that some of the events are too trifling to be the effects of such exalted causes, or to be the intended means of teaching so high a lesson. But if the law of cause and effect between the two worlds reigns universally, the greatest and the least things are alike subject to it. And smaller events may be more effective as evidences than greater. For great events may be supposed to have wider natural ramifications, and be more likely to influence minds within the circle of their operations. Great events, like great discoveries, are often the culminations of a process that has been going on in the general mind, or in many minds, and may thus be explained, to the exclusion of an immediate spiritual cause, although such a cause is within the natural changes that immediately produce them. But an event that has no general cause of this kind, and is in itself of no general significance, is more entitled to be considered by itself and on its own merits. A dream that is of the very slightest importance may yet teach us that we live in the midst of spiritual influences that affect us both when we are awake and when we are asleep.

UNDER this head it may not be without interest to insert a letter of Dr. Parker of the City Temple, which appeared in the Times of Sept. 18, together with a response sent to, but not inserted in, that journal. A copy of the letter was subsequently sent to Dr. Parker himself, but he has never acknowledged its receipt, nor so far as we know taken any notice of it.

THE PRIMATE'S VISITATION.

(To the Editor of the "Times.")

SIR,-The boldness of the proposal I am about to submit warrants me in seeking for it a place in columns no less distinguished than your own. You have recently published reports of the Primate's visitation addresses, and a day or two ago you commented upon them in a tone with which my proposal will distinctly harmonize. I cannot but express very deep dissatisfaction with the authoritative addresses which are delivered from many of our ecclesiastical chairs from time to time. As sectarian or denominational addresses they are admirable, and are justly applauded by the companies for which they were prepared; but, viewed in their larger relations, I cannot but feel that they are often wholly outside the thinking of one section of the community, and the immediate need of another. Has not the time come when the points of union should be magnified, and the points of difference be reduced to a minimum? My own impression is that there are thousands of Christians in England who have no connection with the sects, and who, strange as it may appear, are not aware of their own Christianity. This anomaly is to be accounted for by the fact that in the hands of the sects Christianity has become a set of theological opinions and definitions, instead of being left as the spirit of self-sacrifice for the good of others. Christianity is not a form, it is a spirit; it knows nothing of articles, catechisms, standards, and subscriptions to tests or creeds. All these are merely human arrangements or conveniences, and if not kept in their proper places they will do more mischief than it is in the power of Atheism to effect. I do not hesitate to say that sectarian theology is the most mischievous influence of the age. Men who think carefully and broadly will never be united on this basis; it is too narrow, too vague, and too controvertible. Is it not possible to find a point at which all reverent thinkers will unite in cordial fellowship? In my opinion it is quite possible, and if possible it must be infinitely desirable. Whoever adopts and practises the principle of self-sacrifice for the good of others is, in iny view, a living Christian, whatever he may think of any point in so-called dogmatic theology. He may not even be a theologian at all; and if not, so much the better, unless he be a man of very exceptional intellectual and moral capacity. I make the broadest possible distinction between Christianity and theology, and my proposal is to operate upon that distinction by encouraging the formation of an inclusive alliance, whose one principle of union shall be that self-sacrifice for the good of others is the true law of life. Christians must come to the rescue of Christianity, when it is disfigured by sectarian badges and compelled to speak the alien language of sectarian definitions and orthodoxies. I do not propose to interfere with anything that is legitimate in denominationalism. As long as the world endures men who think alike will unite for the propagation of their opinions, and this is most wise and proper; but my inquiry is whether there is not below and above all denominational formations a principle which can unite and inspire men of the most diverse theological convictions, and whether that principle ought not to be primarily recognised

so as to set all differences in their just relationship and perspective. I cannot but believe that there is a nobler word than Pan-Anglican, PanPresbyterian, or Pan-Methodism, and that nobler word is Pan-Christian. The Trinitarian and the Unitarian are both Christians, so are the Calvinist and the Arminian; but when do they ever meet on the broad ground of Christianity and make a common declaration that their religion is deeper than their theology? I leave my proposal of an inclusive alliance or association to make its own impression on your readers, and I hope that his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury will not regard the suggestion as out of harmony with his broad and generous addresses. JOSEPH PARKER.

THE CITY TEMPLE, Sept. 17.

SIR,-The views so ably stated and so powerfully enforced by the Rev. Dr. Parker in the Times of the 18th, will be found very clearly set forth in the works of an author he possibly does not know, and are held by a body of Christians he does not mention. The author I refer to is Emanuel Swedenborg. Most distinctive in his theological views, he is truly catholic in his religious teaching. He shows what is the true bond of Christian union and ground of Christian fellowship. Perhaps you will allow me to give a few extracts from his voluminous writings. The work from which I quote is entitled "Arcana Coelestia," originally published in Latin, in the latter half of the last century.

"Love and faith," he says, "form the internal of the Church, and worship with its rites and ceremonies form its external. Doctrines alone do not constitute the internal of the Church, nor even its external; nor do they serve to distinguish Churches before the Lord, but this is done by a life according to doctrines, all which, when true, regard charity as their fundamental principle; for what are doctrines but the means of teaching men how to live? In the Christian world Churches are distinguished from each other by their doctrines, and they hence call themselves by different names, as Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Evangelical Christians, with many others. This distinction of names arises solely from doctrines, and would never have been made, if love to the Lord and charity to the neighbour had been the principal point of faith. If this were the case, doctrines would only be varieties of opinion concerning the mysteries of faith, which they who are true Christians would leave every one to adopt according to his conscience, whilst the language of their heart would be that he is a true Christian who lives as a Christian, that is, as the Lord teaches. Thus, from all these diverse Churches there would be one Church; and all disagreements arising from doctrine would vanish, nay, all enmity against each other would be dissipated in a moment, and the kingdom of the Lord would come upon earth.

"Mutual love and charity are effective of unity even amongst varieties; for one is formed out of varieties, when all, however numerous they may be, are in charity or mutual love. All have then one end, which is the common good, the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord Himself. Differences in matters of doctrine are then like the various senses and organs in the human body, which contribute to the proportion of the whole. For the Lord by means of charity enters into and operates upon all, with a difference according to the genius or temper of each, and thus disposes all and every one into order on earth as in heaven, and the Lord's will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

"When the Church is raised up anew by the Lord, in the beginning it is in a state of innocence, and its members love one another as brethren, as is known from what is recorded of the primitive Church after the Lord's