wires along which motion is acting as a medium of communication between mind and mind.

We have before seen that when force begins to act (so to speak) it goes out from a centre, and then tends to return to it again. This is the great law of all motion; it really has no beginning and no end any more than a circle has, but simply Is.

Now the outgoing of force from the sun is perceived by us as heat and light, but its return as gravitation is not perceptible to the eye so much as it is to the sense of touch generally, when it gives us the idea of weight. This again is an effect of polarity which will be explained hereafter. It is, I think, therefore apparent that there is a constant action and reaction always going on between the earth and the sun, of which the law is that it is equal and contrary, just as is the law of the magnet.

I do not say that heat and light are the sole outgoings of force from the sun, nor that gravitation is the only mode of return. I wish only to convey the true and general idea that such is the Path of Force, originally impressed upon it by the finger of Almighty God.

Perhaps one of the best illustrations I can give of this alternate or reciprocal action of force through bodies, is as follows: There is operating in nature a reserving, storing principle which I hope to exemplify more fully hereafter; at present it is enough to advert to the fact that in coal, force is stored, and that it is also stored in the air, just as it is between the opened poles of the magnet. Now when heat and light have operated to separate poles or substances, it follows as a necessary consequence of the law of reaction that their coming together again will reproduce that heat and that light, or other equivalent form of force.

George Stevenson denominated coal "bottled sunshine." It is not so precisely, but it will serve for our purpose of illustration. When this coal is burnt or combined with air in the furnace we have the sun principle reproduced,-force goes out, acts expansively, and generates motion in the steam-engine. This is its exodus; now for the reaction or return. The motion of the engine is fed into the magnet so as to continually strengthen and extend its sphere to a considerable amount, and arrangements are made by and through which

electricity is conveyed so as to reproduce the sun type with its intense heat and its brilliant glowing light. To complete the idea, it needs only to put together the electric light and the furnace fire, when the action and reaction are seen to be full and complete.

But what about reproducing and augmenting gravitation? Simply this, that if instead of using the electro-magnetic power developed by the coal and air to reproduce light and heat, we employ it to feed the sphere of gravity force by the lifting of weight, we shall then have the true idea and exemplification of what obtains in the great circle of natural law. The same law holds good in the employment of force to overcome atomic resistance. Atomic force, like every other, is fed and upheld by the sun. Heat and light are re-developed by its reaction, and in like manner.

These conclusions to which natural science has slowly arrived are to be found plainly indicated in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. They have been overlooked, misunderstood, or neglected ever since they were first penned, but there they are. And they are a strong confirmation the one of the other, and of the general principles of truth held and taught by him. All truth is from the Lord, all points in return to Him, and therefore it is that the sincere. seekers after natural truth must at last find the Lord, and become glad worshippers in His holy temple.

W. A.

CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS.

IT has been truly said at more than one of the public meetings held to celebrate the Centenary of the New Church, that it is not probable that any one who takes part in these meetings will be permitted to witness their repetition, at the end of the second century of the Church's history. Some of our friends have furnished us with full reports of their meetings, which we publish both for the instruction they contain and as a memento of the occasion.

LONDON, as was becoming the Societies established in the metropolis, where the first meeting took place, and public New Church worship was first instituted, occupies the first place in

this Centenary celebration. Their meeting, which was held in Argyle Square, was a joint meeting of all the Societies established in the metropolis and its immediate vicinity. The meeting was very numerously attended, and was of the most interesting kind. The chair was occupied by the President of Conference, and most of the London ministers and several influential laymen took part in its proceedings. The report of this meeting reached us too late for insertion in our present number. We hope, therefore, to present our readers with a notice of it in our next issue. In the meantime we give at length the following reports of the meetings at Manchester, Accrington, and Birmingham, and brief notices of some other places.

MANCHESTER AND SALFORD.

The Society at Peter Street, Manchester, resolved, at their committee meeting of September 24th, "That in connection. with the Centenary a general meeting of the New Church Societies in Lancashire be held in the schoolroom, Peter Street, on Wednesday evening, December 5th." A sub-committee was appointed to carry out this resolution; but on October 22nd the secretary of that committee reported "that circulars had been issued to twenty-four Societies in Lancashire. Replies had been received from fourteen-seven for and seven against the joint celebration; ten had not replied, and were therefore assumed to be indifferent about the matter. The sub-committee had therefore resolved:-" 1. That the proposal for an aggregate meeting of Lancashire Societies be abandoned. 2. That Salford be invited to join the Peter Street Society in a meeting to be held in the large room, Peter Street, and that the various ministers, missionaries, and friends who are accustomed to speak on New Church Doctrines be invited to read short papers or deliver short addresses, each speaker to be limited to fifteen minutes. 3. That a programme of suitable music be provided for the occasion. Tea to be provided."

The Salford Society had consented to join in the celebration, and the Rev. John Christian and Mr. Pownall were asked to join the sub-committee, which was entrusted with all arrangements for the meeting.

At the time appointed, December 5th, a numerously attended meeting was held, 250 persons being present. A fair propor

tion of this number was from Salford. The proceedings of the evening were enlivened by a pleasant musical service, in which members of the Salford Society took part. Mr. Hughes, who was appointed to take the chair, was prevented by ill-health from being present, and his place was taken by Thomas Parkinson, Esq., who also read the address forwarded by Mr. Hughes. The CHAIRMAN said-With reference to the occasion of this meeting the celebration of the Centenary of the inauguration of the organization of the New Church-we may congratulate ourselves on the attainment of its hundredth birthday, and wish many happy returns of the day, and greater prosperity in the future. Whether the establishment of a separate organization was a wise step to take or not, one thing is certain, that all in this room, and every one connected with the New Church, found it established, and whether by the appointment or permission of Providence we are not called upon to decide. It was a small beginning, one hundred years ago, when five men met together in London; and now, after the lapse of a century, we are still numerically a very small body. That in the hands of Providence the organization has been of great use, I have no doubt, and one of its greatest uses has been the circulation of the Writings of Swedenborg and the literature of the New Church. The Church of the Lord is not confined to any organization. Divine truth is as universal as the light of the sun, which corresponds to it. It finds its way into all Church organizations, by whatsoever name they may be called, and gradually fills their thoughts with a new light and life. This is what is now taking place around us everywhere in all religious organizations. They are becoming infilled with a new life. The central point in their practical creed is the Lord Jesus Christ. They are striving to carry out in their lives His Divine precepts, and thus we see, as never was seen in the world before, so many efforts to ameliorate the condition of suffering humanity.

All this is the result of the spread of the truth of the New Church, and these organizations the Established Church, Methodists, Independents, Baptists, and even the Catholic Church-are becoming more and more vitalized by the descent of the New Church amongst them. There is more good being done now by Christian men and women in the name and for the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, than was ever done before,

and this certainly is not a sign of death, but of life. Let us stick closely to the idea which is so distinctly taught by Swedenborg that all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and keep His commandments are included in the fold of the Lord's New Church; and we are also taught in the same Writings that all those who have lived in this world in the good of life, will, when they arrive in the other life, have all their false ideas removed, and will be instructed in the truth as it flows from the Lord.

WILLIAM HUGHES, Esq., on "One Hundred Years Ago."Centenary celebrations serve many useful purposes. In the first place, they are an evidence that a hundred years of existence have not exhausted the vital force of the institution which is the object of such celebration; and in the next place, they bring out into prominent relief the highest conceptions of good which enthusiastic believers, on the one hand, are disposed to attribute to them, and, on the other hand, they call forth a full record of the shortcomings and defects which opponents are always ready to point out as a dark background to the usual blaze of panegyric.

Hence in the recent Luther celebration, whilst the magnificent results of human freedom which the bold impetuosity of this determined monk inaugurated for the world have been portrayed in eloquent and burning language, truthfully, I believe, for the most part, for exaggeration would be difficult, we have seen at the same time all the petty personal weaknesses of the man, all the imperfections of his doctrines and opposing teachings with regard to the outcome of the great Reformation forced upon the public attention. The event which we meet to celebrate to-night is one of a very simple and unimposing character. In a small room in London, in answer to an advertisement, five gentlemen met to read and converse together on the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. These men were filled with undoubting earnestness as to the immense importance to the human race of the revelations contained in the Writings; and the result was a continuation of these meetings with increasing numbers, until some four years later an organization was founded, from which the religious body with which we are connected derives its existence.

So far as I am able to understand the teaching of Sweden