exist in the human soul. The wicked are like a troubled

is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."

sea; "There

The unrest, the struggling, the agitation, the conflict, the wild tumult of things, and the anxiety and animosity which arise from the universal restlessness are manifest everywhere. Many forms of religion have not the slightest effect in producing rest of soul, and age often presents the unlovely spectacle of old professors living in the daily affliction of bewailing their often fancied sorrows, their fears, and their miseries. The sumptuousness and the splendours of the highest rank make no exception to the universal rule that all with age increase in restlessness who do not seek peace where alone it can be found, in union with the God of Peace.

History has no bitterer satire on magnificent misery than Madame de Maintenon, privately married to the so-called Louis the Great, when both were over seventy, in agony bewailing her lot "that she had to spend her life in striving to amuse a man who could no longer be amused."

But peace with the Saviour will not come instantaneously. This perfection of the heavenly state, this gem of sunshine of the soul, is the result of a right method diligently and persistently persevered in. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace."

There must be, first, piety; secondly, faithful obedience; thirdly, a diligent seeking after higher truth; fourthly, a constant desire for growth in peaceful love—the love of the Lord and of man.

We have said that those who would attain the invaluable blessing of peace must first cherish and practise the spirit of piety.

This was illustrated by Jacob when there came upon him a deep overwhelming sense of the presence of God, and he exclaimed, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. How awful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the GATE OF HEAVEN."

This sense of awe and devotion is the spirit of piety. Swedenborg says of it, "Piety consists in thinking and speaking piously, in devoting much time to prayer, in behaving with becoming humility during that time, in frequenting places of public worship and attending devoutly to the discourses delivered there, in receiving the Sacrament of the Holy Supper frequently each year, and in a due observance of the various parts of Divine worship, according to the appointments of the Church" (H. D. 95),

These are the means by which strength, food, and thé fragrance of the kingdom of heaven can be obtained. He who truly desires the end desires the means.

And yet there are some, in many ways, estimable people, and truly prudent and sensible in all other things, but who are weak in the sense of piety. They hope to become right, and they hope for peace, but they are not resolute in the practice of piety. Their seat is often empty at church. A light reason will take them elsewhere, or keep them at home. If they treated their business as they treat their church they would soon be in the Gazette.

We should remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. But we should remember Saturday night too, not to keep late hours or otherwise dissipate it, so that we are unfitted for Sunday.

Some people keep petty ailments ready for Sunday which would not keep them from business or an engagement of pleasure on any other day, but it is the all-sufficient excuse to keep them at home or send them for change of air on Sunday.

These are symptoms of want of spiritual earnestness. Inspect and examine yourselves keenly and sincerely. There is a worm at the root of the tree. Beware lest it destroy it.

Swedenborg says, too, the pious "receive the Sacrament of the Holy Supper frequently every year."

Do we all do this? Why don't we? Are we wiser than our teacher? Wiser than the Lord, who said, "Take, eat: this is My body. This do in remembrance of Me. Drink ye all of it. This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is SHED FOR YOU."

My beloved friends, whatever may be the excuses or hindrances that keep us back from these exercises and duties of piety, let us cast them aside and follow the Lord.

We yearn for purity, and we yearn for peace. These are the means. No natural business could prosper without a diligent use of means. Our spiritual business cannot prosper unless we also attend to the

means.

We have said, secondly, to attain peace there must be FAITHFUL

OBEDIENCE.

In Divine things, at first, we are ignorant as children, and, like children, we should obey. In some things we shall not see much of the reason why. But, nevertheless, we should simply do what the Lord in His Word says is right to be done. The mother of Jesus at the marriage feast said to the servants, "Whatsoever He saith unto you,

Do it." And this is the true temper for spiritual progress. The Lord Himself says, "Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" The commandments of the Lord are not grievous, they are the laws of happiness, but they must be diligently and daily done to form those habits which will make them easy and delightful. Great PEACE have they who love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.

Thirdly, we must diligently seek after deeper and higher truth if we are to attain to constant peace.

"Whoso walketh in darkness," the Lord saith, "knoweth not whither he goeth." A person who is in a fog must be anxious. He cannot tell what unexpected danger may be hovering about. "If the truth shall make you free," the Lord said, "ye shall be free indeed."

We should be familiar with the Word and the writings of the Church, for these lead to light.

We should first gather together the facts and lessons of the letter of the Word, then read and reflect well upon the writings of the Church, from an earnest love of truth, and we shall find all the general truths of the Church fitting harmoniously together, and being filled up by details ever multiplying and ever brightening. We shall have the LIGHT OF LIFE, the truth which leads to love.

Lastly, we must have a constant desire for growth in peaceful love -the love of the Lord and of man.

From the unregenerate state to the state of heavenly peace the way is long and the changes many; but we shall have many helps, many bright days and peaceful nights, and the end of entire and everlasting peace will be certainly secured.

The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

Your brethren in the Conference, while trusting to see all the duties connected with the Church and the schools faithfully and vigorously performed, would above all things urge upon every one receiving the truths of the New Church to "seek peace, and pursue it."

"Of peace from the Lord," says Swedenborg, "by His Divine mercy, somewhat has been given to me to experience; but I testify most sacredly that no language can at all adequately describe it, for it is the union of all felicities filled with the highest life; with no feeling arising from low desires or bodily pleasures. In it there is no care nor anxiety for the future. It is to repose on the bosom of the Lord." Love contains peace in its delicious essence; so remove, we entreat you, all that at any time jars with the spirit of love, until it pervades

the whole soul, realizing the sacred assurance of the Divine Saviour, "In Me ye shall have peace." Then shall your peace be like a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.

I am, dear Brethren, yours affectionately, in the name of the Conference, J. BAYLEY.

THE WORLD'S FUTURE.

(Resumed from vol. lv. p. 234.)

THE MILTONIAN AGE OF THEOLOGY.

NEARLY two centuries ago there was published in this country a theological work, now little known, and found only in certain ecclesiastical libraries, entitled "The Reasonableness and Certainty of the Christian Religion." The book itself is not less remarkable than the title and the fate the publication met with. A treatise so learned, so compact, so complete, and so truly religious, would, one might suppose, have been worthy of a reprint; yet the very name of the author has wellnigh sunk into oblivion. For some time I knew the work only by a casual reference from an Episcopal pen; but the superscription struck me as a most suggestive one, especially considering the period at which the volumes appeared.1 The religious discussions of the two preceding centuries, from the accession of Henry VIII. down to the death of William III., embracing the period of Milton and other eminent controversialists-Chillingworth, Jeremy Taylor, Cudworth, Tillotson, South, Bull, and Sherlock; these discussions, it must be acknowledged, were sufficiently remarkable, but not for demonstrating the "reasonableness" of popular religious systems. Never (as before observed) was the conflict of the Church more apparent as "a house divided against itself." At such a period it seemed pure irony for a writer to cast upon the troubled waters a theological essay appealing so pointedly to the reason. His standpoint, however, is a commanding one. The grand teachings of Christianity pre-eminently claim our homage as Divine Truth. If we place ourselves in the position of the early Christians-especially men so mentally distinguished as Stephen and Paul—we can hardly fail to feel the transcendent power of the new Faith. The intellect, freed from the intolerable yoke of Judaism and Paganism, the bondage of thousands of generations, was like a The first volume bears the date 1698,

captive, long immured in the dungeon, brought forth into the glorious daylight. As the scales fell from the eyes of Saul, so the minds of men were delivered from the dense falses which blinded society. The Gospel was verily "glad tidings" beyond conception. Dispelling the long and dreary night; striking at the root alike of belief and unbelief; restoring the heavenly doctrine of one all-wise and all-good Father; displacing cumbrous systems of imposing but corrupt rituals, and establishing a simple worship "in spirit and in truth;" drawing aside the thick veil which had hidden the Spiritual World, and revealing the Future State as the real existence of man: what an inexpressible light burst over the whole sphere of human thought and social duty!

Many causes (as previously intimated) tended to retard the full benefit of this ever-memorable transition. Nevertheless the world did not go back to the deadly gloom of pre-Christian times. The Gospel, if not successful to the extent it might have been, was never obliterated; and in spite of the declension of the Church, the grand truth of human redemption, although in an imperfect form, was kept prominently before the eyes of men. In an age of dense ignorance painting kept up in glowing altar-pieces and illuminated missals the main incidents of the Bible. Moreover, learned and pious men preserved some knowledge of apostolic and patristic teachings; and even in the dark days of King John, Hugo of Lincoln revived the noblest example of a Christian bishop. Still they were, in a religious point of view, "hard times," scantily supplied with the precious "bread of life;" for the Bible was withdrawn. Its restoration opened men's eyes to deep corruptions in religious instruction-the worship of saints and relics; the idle veneration of images; the mummeries of pretended miracles, of masses for the dead, of shameful indulgences, of fleshly penances; and, not least, the audacity of human absolution from sin. Contrasted with the travesties of Divine truth in Romish ritual, the "reasonableness" of the Gospel, as far as understood, became a theme of rejoicing to good and earnest men. But how could the errors of twelve centuries of darkness be eradicated at once? I must here recall the argument of the fifth section of this essay, that between the time when Luther affixed his ninety-five theses to the door of the church at Wurtemberg, and the era of Voltaire, the most terrible conflict ever known raged in the theological world. And it may be useful to take a more particular survey of the period which succeeded the advent of Protestantism, especially in England, in order