ciples are, so is the man, we can see nothing in the acts of men, but their principles in display. The wars, revolutions, famines, pestilences, poverty, diseases, arising out of the political administration of things, are too well known, too much felt to be here introduced in detail. We insist, that all these evils are unavoidable concomitants of that existing state of things, wherein politicians rule over all, whilst it is a notorious fact, that the most horrid outrages against the divine law are continually perpetrated by most, if not all, of these "honorable men." Of the government of these states we know something, though we shall prefer drawing our illustrations from any or all of the European nations, England, France, Germany, Spain, whose administrations are conducted, if we can believe the reports of history, and the testimony of intimate friends, by persons who will, a la cœur, rob, steal, lie, cheat, commit adulteries, blaspheme the name of God, covet their neighbor's goods, bear false witness, &c. when the varnish of state is wiped off, and their deeds presented in their naked form to the eye of the moralist. Need we wonder, then, at all the desolations which have overspread the earth?

The life of our blessed Redeemer, replete in his practice with the theory of his Church, first rose from the tomb in a natural body, and on the earth too. A type of the Church, in its early stage, bearing the marks of his sufferings, insulted, buffeted, spit upon, by evils and falses bearing rule over the state. Yet this same contemned natural body, being raised a spiritual body, entered into a glorified rest. You, Reverend Gentlemen, will not deny, that the man of the Church is one with the Church, and the Church being of and in Christ, we are all in all, as branches of the true vine, partaking in the afflictions of the natural body, partakers of the glory of his spiritual body.

We are not so enthusiastic as to suppose, that by putting merely good external Christian men into power in the room of the others, a contrary result would be produced. So far from this, that we see the bench of bishops, in the English house of peers, as quiescent under the system of abomination and desolation, as any other class of men, and as eager to promote the views and to share in the profits of the spoiler. But we rely on the efficiency of new and better principles, which expose and magnify, to their actual extent, the deformities of vice, and exhibit the charms and advantages of virtue. It is by men professing those principles, professing them practically, acting in providential agency under their influence, that we look for better times on the earth, from the reign of THE Messiah.

It is true, Reverend Gentlemen, many of you, who are well acquainted with the hypocritical quality of human virtue, in this our day, will, with the mere politician, smile at the conceptions of " well-meaning visionaries." Yet, do not, Gentlemen, in this affair, deceive yourselves; for we have our own interests fully in view. We ask you here, as you have frequently done to others, from your pulpits, whether our temporal or our eternal interests ought chiefly to guide the rational man in his resolves? And whether a good temporal condition is not concordant with a good spiritual and eternal condition?

Neither would we confide in the virtue, the rectitude of any few, who might be invested with the administrative functions; for, without the support of a regenerated community, equally enlightened by similar principles, such men would quickly be destroyed by Machiavelian rivals. The benefit of their endeavors would be limited to the sphere of their immediate presence, or perverted into a reverse operation by discordant, infernal agency, thus bringing down on the measures of wisdom, all the reproaches to which folly and vice would be liable.

Whoever is acquainted with the political history of the United States, and thereby knows how, under a righteous sense of justice and mutual interest, guided by fixed principles of law, civil and moral, our ancestors, of these distinct, separated colonies, congregated together in federal union, thereby pledging themselves mutually, to the extent of their territorial powers, to a permanent peace in political communion. Such an union would have been deemed a very chimerical thing some centuries before, when force, only, was supposed to be the sole guarantee for the stability of such an alliance against the selfish passions. But now, that we see the project in successful operation, we admire not only the success, but the simplicity of it. We therefore offer no new plan, when we suggest the possibility that the spiritual principles of the New Jerusalem, when generally received, will ensure a convention of delegates from all parts of Christendom, to make arrangements for AN UNIVERSAL AND PERMANENT PEACE, throughout the world, under the influence and sanction of DIVINE LAW. That man, convinced at length, by instruction and frequent punishment, that he is able to do no good, to procure for himself no happiness by his own measures, independent of his Creator, will acknowledge the Redeemer, and submit to his authority, as KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS; whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and whose dominion is that which shall endure throughout all generations.

Thus, Reverend Gentlemen, have we sought to introduce you into some of our views and purposes. A little leaven leaveneth the whole, VOL. II.

9

No. 2.

and may the heat of Divine Love, now about to be shed abroad, perfect that which hath aforetime been begun in your hearts.

Let not our political neighbors be alarmed at our daring ambition these views are not expected to be so quickly realized as to interfere JOSHUA. with any of the schemes of our cotemporaries.

TRUE STATE OF THE PRESENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

(Concluded from page 29.)

Turn your ears inward, and listen, and you will hear the sound of the trumpet! Lift up there your internal eyes, and behold, the angels already gone, and still going to gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other, separating good from evil, light from darkness, truth from falsity. Keep on the right hand, that you may be gathered with the sheep.

"Let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains;" them who are already entangled and catched in this snare of the hunter, and are in the midst of this desolating flood of error and strife, inward perplexity, doubts, fears, and uncertainty, arising from these false doctrines, and endeavoring to find rest in the midst of them; yet honest and upright of heart, loving their brethren, and a desire kindled in their soul after the true light and bread of life: "Let them flee into the mountains; stay not here, come out from the Old Church and all its doctrines, and flee to the Lord, from whom they may receive love and charity, which are the true mountains of safety, when all false doctrines are overthrown; rely not on any of their broken reeds; build not on this sandy foundation: rest not on any of their invented false doctrines concerning the one true God, thy Lord and Saviour; receive them not as truth, for they are polluted; hearken to none of their voices, who are severally crying, Lo, here! for they are deceivers come in my name, I sent them not; but turn thy listening ears inward, join my sheep; learn to hear my voice, who am always calling to thee; know my voice from that of a stranger; follow me, and thou shalt escape the confusion and hastening destruction."

"Let him that is on the house-top not come down to take any thing out of his house." Let not him that is in the good of charity (which is the house-top in spiritual things) descend into the inferior state of talking, reasoning, and cavilling about faith. The top of the house

signifies man's superior state, or his state of regeneration. The things at the bottom of the house, denote man's first state, when he is mostly engaged in the pursuit of truth, or the things relating to faith. This state is indeed proper before regeneration; but after regeneration, it would be a perversion of order; for in spiritual things man must proceed from the lowest to the highest, and not vice versa; like the building of a house, which is begun at the bottom, and carried up to the top.

"Let not him which is in the field return back to take his clothes;" that is, they who are in the good of truth, or in the good of life, let them not return back to the false doctrines above mentioned, but with all their might reject, explode, and forsake every false idea, that implies more Gods than one, more divine persons than one, or that supposes any other to be the one only God of Heaven and earth, than the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Let all the destructive notions about justification by faith alone, and the imputation of the Lord's righteousness and merit, be immediately laid aside, for they are no other than foul, ragged, and loathsome garments. It is better to escape naked, or without any doctrinals of the Old Church, than to venture into the city of Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was and is spiritually crucified. In the holy WORD, a field signifies the good of truth; and garments the doctrinals of truth.

Thus have we clearly seen what is meant by the Lord's second com ing. In respect to individuals, his appearance or second coming with. out sin unto full salvation is manifested in the souls of men; it is there alone that we can experience his desirable and glorious coming: it is there his power is displayed, and his judgment-seat erected: it is there he discovereth and condemneth evil, and maketh a separation : it is there the world must first be dissolved in its spirit, and its power de stroyed; and its grossness burnt up by his Spirit and fire of his love: it is there the temple of the Lord is built; for his tabernacle is with men, with whom he delights to dwell: it is there he raiseth the pure human nature, with whom he will forever dwell.

This is his coming: and his coming thus must be continued until he has overcome all opposition, all that darkness, evil, and falsity already mentioned, which is put for light and truth; and consequently overthrow and put an end to the present Church, (so called) and dissolve that body of darkness and error in its doctrines; for the axe So we see the Lord being laid to the root, the tree must soon fall. is already come, and is still coming in his mighty power, and will continue to come until all in Heaven and earth is subdued into himself.

We have taken notice that the Church believeth in three Gods, or, which is the very same, in three persons: each person, distinctly and separately, to be God and Lord; and that all its doctrines are calculated and raised upon this false foundation, and consequently must be erroneous in themselves; and that the faith (so called) which is now preached, is only a variety of false notions concerning imaginary things, or false objects: therefore it cannot be faith, but falsity, because it is not founded on truth.

For the belief of a Trinity of Gods, the doctrines raised therefrom, and the faith which has this for its object, must all be false, confused, and perplexed in themselves, and mixed with innumerable absurdities and irreconcilable contradictions, too well known and obvious to be needful to mention here: therefore, that which is called faith being only a false notion, it cannot be productive of any good, but evil; for falsity and evil are inseparable.

Real faith is real truth itself, and truth and good are likewise inseparable; therefore we conclude, it being undeniable, that these false notions cannot be saving, but destructive of Divine Life. For instance, suppose a man has imbibed the notion of the covenant between the three Gods, and has persuaded himself that he is one of those that were elected and decreed to be saved, what real good can this notion bring into the soul? will this certainly purify the heart? or may it not tend to security? may not a man have this persuasion, and yet have earthly desires, living to the flesh?

Again: Suppose a man receive that invented false notion of the imputation of Christ's personal righteousness, applied to, or rather, as a spotless robe, put upon his chosen people to cover all their pollution, sin, and deformity, can this bring in any real good? has this any terdency to change or renew the man, to crucify the corrupt earthly nature, and bring forth a divine birth? or is it not possible for a man to believe this, and yet to continue earthly, selfish, and devilish?

But once more: Suppose a man persuade himself that God the Father sent God the Son into this world to suffer and die instead of the people, to bear the punishment due to Lem in strict justice for their offences: or, which is often enforced, but contradictory to the above, that God the Son being of a different mind from the Father, voluntarily offered himself to go and suffer in man's stead, to satisfy the Father's justice, to appease his wrath and anger; will this notion, false as it is, renew the man, and bring forth a new creature? Will this bare persuasion in the mind in any measure bruise the serpent's head, which is lifted up in every soul? It is certain a man may have any or all of