where the arrow of refutation may easily infix itself; but we have pledged ourselves to silence till our opponent has reached his finale. So also two or three other topics we do not consider as yet entirely disposed of, but on the whole our purpose is to "alter our voice" by degrees, and to come nearer to the ideal standard of positive inculcation which we have in our own minds. We bespeak only a reasonable measure of indulgence and of patience on the part of our readers.

From all this our readers will be able to catch the contour of our views. A considerable number of our subscribers for the preceding year have fallen off, and still more will probably follow their example; but some new ones have been added, and as we have a pretty strong confidence that our programme will meet the approbation of liberal-minded and judicious Newchurchmen, we shall trust the omens of the Divine Providence for another year; and if those who sympathize with us in our plans and aims would put forth some little effort in our behalf, the vacant places in our subscription list would soon be made good.

The highest paying number on our books for the last year was about 750. This number for the present year will be diminished about 100, leaving our maximum number about 650. This, with punctuality on the part of subscribers, will pay expenses, and leave a small overplus, but nothing like an adequate remuneration. It has, however, long been our lot to labor for a bare sustenance, and we are still willing to continue in the vine. yard of use on the same terms.

At the commencement of another year, we are grateful for the privilege of looking round with our brethren, and beholding the manifest tokens of the advances of the Lord's New Church during the twelvemonth just elapsed. The testimonies are indubitable that within that space of time the Heavenly Doctrines have found their way to hundreds at least of minds previously unvisited by their light, unblessed by their consolations. The name and claims of Swedenborg are continually receiving a more and more respectful consideration; he is being more and more regarded as an authority in spiritual matters, especially where abnormal phenomena suggest the value of an authentic test; while the palpable affinity between his doctrines and those spreading sentiments of justice, right, love to the neighbor, sympathy with the oppressed, and charity towards all men, inspires a growing conviction that the man himself spake with a wisdom more than human, and that his teachings are no longer to be made light of. If the feeble efforts put forth in and through the pages of the Repository shall have contributed in any measure to this result, we shall feel that we have never-ceasing cause of gratitude to the Divine mercy of the Lord," and shall take it as an earnest that our future labors in the same blessed cause will not be without their fruits.

From the exposé made above of the state of our subscription list, it is obvious that we cannot safely commence the new year, as is often the wont of periodicals, with the prom ise of new and important improvements in our work. Such improvements necessarily involve expense, and increased expense our patronage does not warrant. The Repository will exhibit the same general features as heretofore. Our original matter will consist of the free-will offerings of our friends, who are prompted to seek a medium for the utterance of their thoughts. In proportion to the depth and intensity of holy affections in the Church will be the abundance of such offerings, and as we have never yet found ourselves forsaken in this respect, so we have no fears for the future. This, however, does not preclude us from expressly soliciting the continuance of the favors in this line for which we have hitherto had so much occasion to be grateful. Our pages have from the first been liberally open to the discussion of all subjects bearing upon the well-being of the New Church, and neither the pro's nor the con's on any topic have had reasonable ground of complaint. This trait of freedom we design that our pages shall still retain, both as it respects our own remarks as Editor, and the communications of our fellow-laborers. At

the same time, it will be wholly against our settled purpose if the laws of charity or courtesy are violated in regard to those who may differ from us. We have for ourselves peculiar views on several matters of social reform, church order, and others, which we shall feel at full liberty from time to time to enunciate, and in doing so we shall only ask that forbearance and candor of construction which we shall always be ready to evince towards those who may feel constrained to dissent from our opinions.

We feel, however, that we are continually in danger of postponing the claims of Good to those of Truth, and of making our pages an arena of intellectual prowess instead of a palastrum for the exercise of the virtues of the heart. On this score we would invoke the aid of our correspondents, in behalf of ourselves and of our readers. We would have them share with us, in a kindly solicitude, to give that prominence to the demands of Love which we are ever prompted to bestow upon those of the Understanding. In this way we may hope to render our work an auxiliary to the regeneration, as well as a minister to the intellectual interests of our fellow-men.

Finally, we are disposed to thank God and take courage. The falling off numbers above alluded to is not likely, from all we can see, to prevail to such an extent as to prevent the work's clearing expenses, and so long as this is the case our present purpose is to hold on in the enterprise. We have abundant reason to believe it has been hitherto an instrument of good on somewhat of a wide scale, and with the same resources and succors we know no reason to doubt that it may continue to do so, and in an increasing degree.

We may

From the Dec. No. of the Intellectual Repository we learn that the London "Parlor Magazine," No. 15, a work intended for the million, and having a most extensive circulation, contains an article headed "On the Metallurgy of Iron. By Swedenborg." After quoting several paragraphs from this work of the illustrious Swede, the Editor exclaims, "These are assuredly noble words, and such as mark clearly Swedenborg's presentiment as to the future influence of metallurgy on the destiny of nations. seek in vain in all the authors who, before his time, treated of this science, for views thus liberal and profound. Although written more than a century ago, one might almost imagine these words to be an utterance of our day. It is the distinctive mark of most great minds thus to speak the language of posterity; and therefore it is, that whilst in their own age they are too often reviled and misunderstood, posterity treasures up their sayings."

"The Shekinah" is the title of a Quarterly Review recently established by S. B. Brittan, of Bridgeport, Conn., and devoted to the elucidation of vital, mental, and spiritual phenomena, and the progress of man. It is published by Stringer & Townsend in this city, and two Nos. have already appeared. The second, for Jan., 1852, is before us. One of its prominent departments is devoted to sketches of the lives of the most distinguished Seers, and in this No. Swedenborg leads the van-a very beautiful portrait accompanying the memoir. This memoir, which is from the pen of an anonymous Unitarian clergyman, is well framed, and as the sum of his testimony the writer says, "from all we know of Emanuel Swedenborg, we may safely say, that as a scientific man and a philosopher, the world yet waits to see his equal. But we learn from his own testimony, and that of his friends, that he regarded all his vast stores of knowledge, all his profound studies in philosophy, all his wonderful attainments in science, as merely a preparation for his lofty spiritual mission." In the subsequent series of this department we shall probably have Jacob Behmen, John Engelbrecht, the Maid of Orleans, &c The other departments of the work will contain "Elements of Spiritual,” “Classification of Spiritual Phenomena," and "Psychometrical Sketches." Under this latter head we have in this No. Sketches of Prof. G. Bush, Horace Greeley, Sarah H. Whitman, Rev.

Theodore Parker, Alice Carey, and Virgil C. Taylor. These sketches are delineations of character made by holding a sealed letter against the forehead, when a sympathetic union is entered into with the writer which enables the subject to make a revelation of his internal man. The "Skekinah" does not, that we can perceive, make the doctrines or informations of the New Church in spiritual matters authoritative, though it evidently regards them with general respect; but it is interesting as a sign of the times, and will undoubtedly embody a mass of materials that will prove in many respects attractive to the members of that Church as collateral confirmations of its truths.-Price $2 per annum, in advance.

We are happy to learn that near 2000 copies of the Report of the Speeches delivered at the public meeting of the New Church at London in August last have already been cir. culated in England. It makes a handsome pamphlet of 64 pages, and can be obtained here at about 12 1-2 cents per copy. We cordially agree with the opinion of a writer in the "Intellectual Repository" for Dec., that this Report "is admirably adapted for giv ing, lending, and otherwise circulating throughout the entire community. Being the result of many minds, all speaking with the same object, all differing, yet all agreeing, like a beautiful chord in music, where each note differs, yet combines with all the others to produce the harmonious whole. Respectable in appearance, this pamphlet can with propriety be laid on the table of the drawing-room, yet so low in price, that it is placed within the most limited means. It is well calculated for extensive purchase by the affluent, who, we trust, will procure it by the dozen, and circulate it among all classes by every means with which Providence has blessed them." We presume, that upon application to Mr. Allen, of this city, or Mr. Clapp, of Boston, the Report could be obtained, at least after a few weeks, in any quantities.

OBITUARY.

Mrs. MARY G. THURMAN, of Chillicothe, Ohio, left this for the spiritual world, on Sunday, the 14th Dec., 1851, aged 62 years. She was the wife of the Rev. Pleasant Thurman, the mother of the Hon. A. G. Thurman, lately elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and sister to the Hon. Wm. Allen, ex-Senator of Ohio.

Few

Mrs. Thurman possessed a strong and well cultivated mind. She was ardent in her attachments, firm in her principles, and kind and benevolent in her feelings. women could speak and write in a more easy, or a more forcible and logical manner than she.

Some twenty-three or four years ago she left the Methodist connexion, and avowed her belief in the doctrines of the New Jerusalem; since which time she has been a zealous reader and defender of these doctrines. She was the first, by several years, to receive baptism into the New Church at Chillicothe; and has since been respected, consulted, and loved by our little society here as a mother.

For many years her frail tenement has served her but imperfectly, and several times has it come near dropping off, yet, although almost a constant sufferer, she still retained her lively, cheerful disposition.

On the evening before her death she was seized with a paralytic stroke which deprived her of speech, and probably of consciousness. She was thus saved the pain of parting with her friends. She needed no warning, for her lamp was burning.

A. D. S

THE general significancy of garments we have shown to be Truths, and the garments of Aaron the priest, in accordance with this, denote the Divine Truths of the spiritual kingdom, as adjoined to the Divine Good of the celestial kingdom. With this general interpretation as a basis, we are prepared to enter upon the consideration of the several details, and first of

THE EPHOD.

"And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulder-pieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And-the curious girdle of the ephod which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And thou shalt take two onyx-stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel. Six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on With the work of an engraver in stone, the other stone, according to their birth. like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel, and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his And two two shoulders for a memorial. And thou shalt make ouches of gold. chains of pure gold at the ends of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches."-Ex. xxviii. 6–14.

They shall make the Ephod, &c., Heb. 77, ephod, Gr. exwμida, shoulder-piece. The original comes from Taphad, to bind or gird on, and therefore signifies in general something to be girded on; but as to the

precise form of the vestment itself it is difficult to gather from the words of the narrative a very distinct notion; and even if we succeed in this, we must still depend mainly upon a pictured representation to convey an adequate idea of it to the reader. From an attentive comparison of all that is said of the Ephod in the sacred text, commentators are for the most part agreed in considering it as approaching to the form of a short double apron, having the two parts connected by two wide straps united on the shoulders. These are called, v. 7, the two shoulder-pieces which were to be joined at the two edges thereof; i. e. on the very apex of the shoulders. This junction was effected in some way under the two onyx-stones and at the precise point where they rested upon the shoulders. These stones are said by Josephus (who calls them "sardonyx-stones") to have been very splendid, and Bahr thinks that the symbolical signi ficancy of the Ephod was mainly concentrated in these "shoulderpieces," which, like our modern epaulettes, were a badge of dignity, authority, command--an idea to which we shall advert in the sequel. The two main pieces or lappets of the Ephod hung down, the one in front, the other behind, but to what length is not stated, although Josephus says it was a cubit, which would bring their lower extremity about to the loins. It seems to us probable on the whole that the posterior portion hung down from the shoulders considerably lower than the anterior. But without some other appendage these, dorsal and pectoral coverings would hang loose upon the person, to prevent which a "curious girdle," forming an integral part of the Ephod itself, and composed probably of two distinct bands issuing from the sides of either the frontal or hinder portion, passed round the body just under the arms, so as to encircle it over the region of the heart. The annexed cut will aid the reader's conception. The open space in the front piece is designed for the insertion of the Breast-plate. The appendant straps when brought around the body formed the "curious girdle of the Ephod."