be glad to receive them. With respect R. GUNTON, Secretary. Post-office orders payable to Richard Gunton, at the Post-office, Holborn. DEATH AND ITS CAUSES. To the Editor. Sir,-In your February number the paper by "Medicus" on "Death and its Causes," seems to require further explanation. As far as it goes it appears true, though if carried out, I think, would maintain that had sin not entered into the world man would not have died "even naturally" (I would not here be understood to mean painful death, but merely the separation from the body), which is, I believe, contrary to the teaching of Swedenborg, and even, if true, so far does certainly confute the statement in the November number to which "Medicus" refers; which statement, though apparently incorrect, it is difficult utterly to reject, especially in respect to those whose course is upwards, and even to the wicked so far as regards preventing them from becoming worse. If you think the subject worthy of any further remarks, others like myself, desirous of receiving information, will esteem it a favour if you will elucidate the subject. I am, sir, yours respectfully, A CONSTANT READER. [If sin had not come into the world, death, or the separation of the spirit from the body, would not have been attended with disease and pain, as is most commonly the case now; but man would have departed into the spiritual world as in sleep; hence the Scriptural expression "to fall asleep," meaning to die. It is commonly supposed that death, or the separation of the spirit from the body, is a consequence of sin; but this is not the case; it is the death, or the extinction of the life of heaven in the soul, which is the result of sin, and not the extinction of the life of the body. The following extract from Swedenborg will be found very instructive on this point:— "As death is from no other source than from sin, and sin is all that which is contrary to divine order, it is from this ground that evil closes the smallest and altogether invisible vessels of the body, of which the next greater vessels, which are also invisible, are composed; for the smallest and altogether invisible vessels are continued to man's interiors; hence comes the first and inmost obstruction, and hence the first and inmost vitiation in the blood; this vitiation, when it increases, causes disease and at length death. But if man had lived the life of good, in this case his interiors would be open to heaven and through heaven to the Lord; thus, also, the smallest and invisible vessels would be open also, and hence man would be without disease, and would only decrease to ultimate old age, until he became altogether as an infant, but a wise infant; and when in such case the body could no longer minister to its internal man, or spirit, he would pass without disease out of his earthly body, into a body such as the angels have, thus out of the world immediately into heaven."-A. C. 5726.]— EDITOR. that ministers and leaders be requested to urge the above injunction on the attention of the societies with which they are respectively connected." QUESTIONS ON THE FOUR LEADING Mr. Rendell has requested us to say, that in noticing the Questions on the "Four Leading Doctrines" in our last number, it ought to have been stated that the idea was suggested by Mr. Butter's little work on the same subject, and that Mr. Rendell's pamphlet is only a re-arrangement and extension of Mr. Butter's publication, which circumstance would have been acknowledged in due form if the plan of publication had admitted of a preface. We also perceive from the last Report of the Manchester Tract Society, read at the annual meeting on the 14th ultimo, that the Questions were not printed, as intimated in our last, at the expense of the Tract Society but of the Sunday School Union, and incorporated into the stock of the Tract Society. Errata in the last Number. At page 225, line 14 from top, for Anthem read Author. At. p. 238, line 17 from top, for Thursday read Sunday. Cave and Sever, Printers, Palatine Buildings, Hunt's Bank, Manchester. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."-Matt. vi. 33. How happy would it be for mankind would they attend with the earnestness demanded by the subject, to the weighty admonition expressed in these words! We are hereby taught that there is an invisible—an eternal kingdom, to be sought after, to be found, and to be enjoyed, even the kingdom of God and His righteousness; compared with which, all the kingdoms of this world are but as dross, and their most splendid dignities but as shadows, which presently pass away. These words teach us, that our souls were created for better things than this world can administer, and point to the seats where alone true blessedness is to be found. We are not left without a sure guidance and direction to the harbour of eternal peace. The course we are to pursue is plainly pointed out to us; and it is our own fault if we do not see and pursue it. How insane must we be, if we do not open our eyes to the light of the Divine Wisdom, and our hearts to the reception of its comforts, so as no longer to be bewildered in the darkness of error, nor bound fast in the chains of our disorderly appetites; but, seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, find true light and liberty unto our souls! [Enl. Series.-No. 19, vol. ii.] 20 Many, doubtless, may be ready to inquire,-How are we to seek this kingdom? The answer is,-In the same manner as you would seek anything else that you desired to obtain, namely, with the desires, affections, and strivings of your souls. How does a worldly man seek after worldly wealth? How does a vain man seek worldly reputation? How does a sensual man seek carnal gratifications? Do they not, every one of them, desire and labour after such things? Are not those objects which they seek after ever uppermost in their minds? Is it not their continual thought, and study, and contrivance, how they may attain them? Are they not happy in proportion to the success of their endeavours? And are they not miserable in proportion as they are disappointed? Let us, then, go and learn of the worldly-minded, the vain, and the sensual, how we are to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and let the reproach not be applicable any longer to any of us, that the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. But there are persons who fall into the extraordinary error of fancying that they are seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, when their hearts and affections are turned quite another way. But how is it possible, in such case, to find that kingdom? Can words or opinions, can the mere gestures of worship, penetrate into the heavenly world, gain admittance to the throne of God, and draw down His divine graces and blessings? Assuredly not. It is the earnest desire, the aspiring affection, the fervent longing of the heart after God and heavenly things, which alone truly seeks, and therefore finds them; wherefore a type of true seekers in the days of old has left this record of the spirit and manner in which he sought :-" Like as the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come, and appear before God!" But in vain shall we think of seeking, so as to find, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, until we are thoroughly convinced that they are better worth our seeking than anything beside. It is a fact which daily experience evinces, that men only seek that which they have learned to value, and that their earnestness in seeking is always in proportion to the estimation in which they hold the thing sought; agreeably to the divine maxim-"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." This is eminently the case in reference to the high prize proposed to us by the Gospel. If we are not aware of the magnitude of this prize, we shall never seek after it at all. If we conceive other things to be of superior, or even of equal value, our quest will be proportionably cool and languid. We never can be zealous and real seekers, till we are convinced that the worth of the prize is infinitely superior to every other,―till we learn to say with the Psalmist— "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison with thee.” Here, then, we must begin our work, if we would become successful seekers of the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We must labour to convince ourselves (and there are abundance of reasons to impress the conviction when we are disposed to receive it) that there is nothing whatever so deserving of our seeking as these imperishable treasures. Ask the world what it contains that can be compared with the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The question itself, if seriously proposed and candidly answered, would determine the point at once, and make us all delight in seeking the things belonging to a better world. For, alas! the true reason why the things of this world are in general more sought after than the things of God is, not because they really, in themselves, are more estimable,—not because they make their possessor more truly happy; but because, in general, we are deceived by specious appearances, and for want of examining into their intrinsic nature, we imagine them to have a value which they really have not. We fancy them to be sterling gold, because they have a glittering outside; when lo! weighed in the scale of serious consideration, they are soon discovered to be base metal. Nothing is wanting but a moment's serious thought, to convince any reasonable person, that the kingdom of God and His righteousness are things of infinitely higher value than any which the world has to offer us; and that if they are not at once seen to be so, it is because they are not examined into; it is because man is willing to be deceived, and to substitute vanities for realities. Let him but once open his eyes, and the delusion is at an end. He sees by a light brighter than the noon-day sun, that in seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, he can alone hope to find a real good, compared with which, everything else is but the Psalmist's " green bay tree," of which it is written—“ He passed away, and lo, he was gone; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.” In this way, also, we shall be led to comply with the requisition of our text, which directs us to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness in the first place. For if seeking anything means to make it the object of our love and affections, and to be greatly delighted with the acquirement of it, then to seek anything first, or in the first place, must mean, to make that thing the first object of our love and affections, and to be most of all delighted with the acquirement of it. |