of our departed friend; and it is hoped that it may be received as an earnest of the determination of the society that the loss of our friend will not be even apparently felt. The amount collected, including £1. 1s. 5d., the contributions of the Sunday scholars, in the morning, was £28. 16s. The services were well attended, especially that in the afternoon, and the congregations seemed much interested with the discourses. They certainly responded nobly to the powerful appeals made to them in behalf of the object they were met to promote. The doctor also visited the Sundayschool in the morning, with which he expressed himself highly gratified. The scholars were addressed by the Rev. W. Woodman and Dr. Bayley, and appeared much interested. The whole of the proceedings were not only satisfactory, but delightful, the enjoyment being also heightened by the excellent singing, accompanied by the splendid organ, at which Mr. George Broadfield, of Manchester, kindly and efficiently presided.

Social Meeting.-On Monday the 19th ult., being the occasion of the annual wakes, the teachers of the Sundayschool, with the view of providing for the young people amusement of a more rational and instructive character than that supplied by the wakes, held a social meeting, at which music and speaking were introduced. The music consisted of selections from Mozart, Haydn, Miss Stirling, Danby, Dr. Cooke, &c., viz. choruses, glees, songs, and instrumental performances on the pianoforte, and was performed by the choir, all of whom, with one exception, are young people, in a very superior man

ner.

Some interesting remarks were made in the course of the evening, and though the assembly was not quite so numerous as it is sometimes on similar occasions, everyone seemed to be highly gratified with the evening's proceedings. The intelligence which follows has, from the pressure of Conference matter in the last number, been unavoidably reserved for the present.

Ashton-under-Lyne.-The anniversary sermons at this place were preached on Sunday, August 7th, by Mr. J. Robinson, of Failsworth: collection, £6. 14s. As the present place of worship is inadequate, our brethren at Ashton-underLyne are about to erect a new and more suitable building, of which we hope to

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give an account in our next. Subscriptions in furtherance of this useful object may be sent to Edwin Moorhouse, Esq., Burlington House, Ashton-under-Lyne. Since the above was in type we have received the following account, by which it will be seen that the foundation-stone of the proposed building has been laid.

Laying of the Foundation Stone of a New Jerusalem Church at Ashton-underLyne.-On Saturday afternoon, September 3rd, about 150 scholars, teachers, and friends assembled in the New Jerusalem Meeting-room, Fleet-street, Ashton, and walked in procession to a plot of land in Catherine-street, for the purpose of laying the foundation stone of a New Jerusalem Church, now in the course of erection. A suitable hymn was sung on the occasion, and an excellent address delivered by Mr. David Whitehead, showing the beautiful truth of the New Jerusalem. After the ceremony the procession returned to the school-room, where an ample tea was provided. After tea a pleasant evening was spent in mutual congratulation upon the event.

Shields.-Mr. Gladwell.-In addition to the open-air services mentioned in a previous Repository, a public discussion has been sustained by Mr. Gladwell, with a Mr. Holland, a secularist, in the Temperance Hall, on the evenings of the 8th and 9th August. The subject was as follows:-" The Bible is a Book Divinely Inspired, and harmonizes in its spiritual sense; and that such spiritual sense is reasonable to man,”—Mr. Gladwell the affirmative, Mr. Holland the negative. The hall was well filled each evening, at the charge of 2d. and 1d., which cleared all expenses. Mr. Holland's "charge in chief" was, that the Bible was full of contradictions, which Mr. G. admitted to be true to some extent in respect to the literal sense, but insisted that the question was the spiritual sense, not the literal; and Mr. Holland was bound thus to shew the negative of a great principle, the affirmative of which he had never heard or considered. The secularist was often reminded of this during the debate, but he could only flounder in the literal sense, which he villified and blasphemed, but the interior spiritual was above his reach. A large majority of the audience fraternized with Mr. Gladwell, who seems now to have got a

footing in Shields and Tynemouth for the heavenly doctrine, which will prove a blessing to many of the inhabitants, who will also form new centres for their distribution. The usual Sunday and week-day evening services are well attended, and in addition to those mentioned last month, Mr. G. now "speaks to the people" every Tuesday night, at the high part of South Shields, near Christ Church. Any one having a few Tracts to spare, would do well to send them to Mr. Gladwell, 131, Linskill. street, North Shields.

Rhodes.-Appeal of the Rhodes Society to the Members of the New Church.-Dear Brethren,-The object of this appeal to your liberality is to enable us to erect a building more suitable for a Sunday-school and public worship than the one we at present occupy. We are aware that our brethren in the church have of late contributed heavily to matters such as we now bring before your notice, and were it not that our numbers are few and in humble circumstances, this appeal would not have been made. The position of our society in relation to the other societies in our village, and to the public generally, precludes the possibility of obtaining any material assistance at their hands; so that when we have done all that we can for ourselves, we have no other resource but to appeal to the sympathies of the church at large. Our society is under the disadvantage of having a place of worship too small to accommodate the numbers who attend. The want of a chapel sufficiently large, with what else is indispensable to afford ease and comfort, has for a long time been a barrier against our progress. The oppressiveness of the heat of the room, which is a consequence of its narrow limits, is almost intolerable, and is the means of keeping away many who would otherwise regularly attend. Other disadvantages could be brought before your notice, but we trust that what we have already adduced will be sufficient. The following is the state of our pecuniary position:

Deposits in a building fund, £20. Society and friends at Rhodes, £50. The surplus remaining by the sale of our chapel, after paying off the debt, is estimated at £20. The cost of the building proposed to be erected is calculated at £100. Considering our circumstances,

we think it imprudent to commence a building until we shall have £250. in hand. Having briefly laid before you our position, we commit our case to your favourable consideration, in the hope that it may call forth the liberality of those who are blessed with the means, and are willing to contribute to the object in view. For this purpose contributions will be thankfully received by Mr. Samuel Pilkington, Rhodes, near Manchester.

We remain, in the cause of the New Dispensation, and on behalf of the society, Yours, &c.,

DAVID BROWN, Leader.

Jos. CLARKSON, Treasurer.

SAMUEL PILKINGTON, Secretary.

In connection with the above there is in preparation a bazaar, the proceeds of which are designed for the same object. Any of our friends who can in any way render assistance in this matter are kindly requested to forward the same to Mrs. Mary Briggs, Mount Pleasant, Rhodes, near Manchester.

We, the undersigned, from our knowledge of the society at Rhodes, and of their want of improved accommodation for their Sunday-school and religious services, cordially recommend the above appeal to the favourable consideration of the church.

RICHARD STORRY, Dalton, near
Huddersfield.

JAMES BOYS, Radcliffe.
JOHN B. KENNERLEY, Salford.

J. H. SMITHSON, Manchester. The ministers whose names are attached to this appeal have kindly consented to receive subscriptions in behalf of the Rhodes Society.

Nottingham.-The Nottingham New Church building committee have appointed Mr. William Clarke, Forest Grove, Nottingham, to receive contributions from societies towards the contemplated new place of worship; but isolated receivers and others who

may feel desirous of rendering assistance will please to forward their donations to the address already given them in the circular. The committee gratefully acknowledge the following donations:-Mr. Bogg, £1. 1s., Mr. James Hall (London), £2., Mr. W. Newton, Skillington, Lincolnshire, 10s., Mr. Thomas Westcott, Sidmouth, 2s. 6d.

Baildon, Bingley, and Keighley.— The Rev. W. Woodman's l'isit to Baildon and Keighley, and two Visits to

Bingley. It has been intimated in the Repository that the Rev. W. Woodman had, through the circulation by Mr. Bowes of the report of the Bolton Discussion, been invited to deliver a course of lectures in Bingley, and on Sunday, the 31st of July, he made his first visit into that locality. It will be also remembered that early in the spring Mr. Storry officiated at the opening of a Sunday-school at Baildon, a few miles from Bingley, and the few friends there availed themselves of Mr. Woodman's visit to preach for them in the afternoon. The school is carried on in a cottage, which has been fitted up with forms and a desk, which also serves for the use of the person who officiates at the services. On this occasion about thirty or forty were present, the room being quite filled. We have not heard what impression was made; but from the attention and interest of those present, it is to be hoped that the effort has had its use. We know that no effort can be made without leaving some impress behind it, though its nature and extent may not be seen at the time;-"Cast thy bread upon the waters, and after days it shall appear." In the evening Mr. Woodman commenced his labours in Bingley, in the Odd Fellows' Hall, which had been taken for the service and the subsequent lectures. From one hundred and fifty to two hundred persons were present; many appear to have gone to scoff, but the impressive nature of the service, and the character of the discourse, soon restrained any spirit of levity; and if those who "went to scoff" did not actually "remain to pray," there were many who evidently left with very different feelings from those with which they entered. The Keighley friends also greatly enhanced the interest of the worship by the efficient services of their excellent choir, by which the hymns were very sweetly

sung.

Monday Evening.-This evening the first of a series of three lectures was delivered, the subject being, "Heaven, Hell, and the Intermediate State." The lecture appeared to be favourably received by a more numerous audience than met on the preceding evening, nearly three hundred being present. A few questions were asked, one by the principal party among Mr. Bowes's friends, relative to the locality of the

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world of spirits. "If heaven (he said) were so near as the lecturer had stated, and hell were equally near, where could the world of spirits be?" Mr. Woodman explained that the spiritual world was equally near as were heaven and hell. "But perhaps (he added) the friend who has propounded the question may have the impression that the other world, as we regard it, is a mere state, consequently a mere abstraction. Both heaven and hell, with the world of spirits, are places as well as states; the intermediate state, for instance, was a placeviz., a spiritual place, like the others, growing out of the states of those who inhabit it. But it is not governed by the laws of space, but by those of affinity and contrariety of state,-the impassable 'gulf' between heaven and hell being thus the direct contrariety of the two states, presented palpably, as it were, to the spiritual senses.' The gentleman expressed himself satisfied, since the lecturer did not deny that heaven was a place as well as a state. We were informed that the same gentleman remarked of the lecture, that he agreed with very much of what was stated by the lecturer. "But (added he) what an awful hell he (the lecturer) made!"

Tuesday Evening. The subject of of this lecture was the "Trinity and the Atonement." It appears the religious parties not feeling themselves competent to cope with Mr. Woodman, had engaged a Mr. Fyfe, from Shipley, another large village, about two or three miles from Bingley. This gentleman was originally intended for the Baptist ministry, and educated in one of their colleges, but turned to commercial pursuits in preference. He accordingly undertook to controvert Mr. Woodman's arguments. But he himself does not appear to be very orthodox on all points. He would not, for instance, commit himself to a trinity of persons, he would not go beyond affirming that there were three "manifestations," which Mr. Woodman showed him might mean anything or nothing, so that it was evident that he had no definite idea whatever of the Trinity. He afterwards virtually admitted this, stating that he really knew little or nothing on the subject, "the language of Scripture being quite inadequate (!) to convey an idea!" and in fact, he said it was not of much

consequence. Mr. Woodman did not fail to impress on the audience the awful libel on the Divine Wisdom, and also on the Bible, involved in Mr. Fyfe's as sertion that the former could not find language to express the divine teachings the latter was designed to reveal, whilst, so far from the knowledge of God being of no moment to man, it was declared to be life eternal. "This is life eternal, to know thee, the true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Of the Divinity of the Lord, Mr. Fyfe's ideas were equally unsatisfactory. He maintained that the Lord had a human body and a human soul, and thus could not be divine as to his human nature, which led Mr. Woodman to tell him that he ought to connect himself with Socinianism, since if the Lord had a human body and human soul, he could be no more than a mere man. Not much was said on the subject of the Atonement on this occasion, excepting that Mr. Fyfe contended that our view only took one side of the Atonement; but more was said on the subject on Mr. Woodman's second visit. Mr. Fyfe's manner was anything but becoming; he evidently came with the idea of an easy triumph, and when he found the New Church arguments somewhat more potent than he anticipated, he affected to despise them, and to treat them with derisive laughter, till a timely rebuke from Mr. Woodman led to his being more serious. Wednesday Evening.-The subject on this occasion was the "Resurrection." He combated the New Church ideas with the common arguments, alleging that the resuscitation of the spirit was not a resurrection at all. This, as Mr. Woodman observed, was a singular statement, after his repudiating the resurrection of flesh and blood, consequently of the body put in the grave, and contended for another body in its place; so that his own view, even if his objection were valid, no more amounted to a resurrection than ours. But during the evening he veered round to all points of the compass, leaving it in doubt whether the resurrection body was to be atmospheric, or electrical, or galvanic! for all these, he said, subtile as they were, were material. During the second evening Mr. Fyfe challenged Mr. Woodman to discussion, engaging to prove that he ignored a great portion of the apostle Paul's teaching on the Atonement, but when Mr.

Woodman accepted it, he shuffled out, which led to the publication of the following hand-bill:

"To the Inhabitants of Bingley.—I have recently visited your town to set forth what I firmly believe and conscientiously feel to be truths of the deepest moment to man's spiritual and eternal welfare. In the performance of this duty, I have been opposed by the gentleman refered to in the notice appended below. It is not, however, to complain of such opposition that I address you— questions and discussion having been invited—but to state that that gentleman having, in a conversation after the lecture of the 2nd inst., challenged me to a public discussion on the subject specified below, which challenge, though unsought, and I may add unprovoked, on my part, I at once accepted, and he having moreover, when publicly reminded of it last evening, virtually retracted it, I feel it due to myself as a stranger to you, to place before you the following statement containing my acceptance of his challenge, which was then read, in his presence, to the audience. I will merely add, that of course I shall, in the event of such discussion taking place, claim such terms as are in justice due to me as the party assailed, and who has to defend himself from the allegations laid to his charge.

"I cannot close this address without expressing my sense of, and tendering my thanks for, the kind sympathy manifested towards me on the part of a large portion of the audience. I remain, in Christian affection, yours, &c.

"WOODVILLE WOODMAN. "Bingley, August 4th, 1859."

"Mr. Fyfe having challenged me, last evening, to a public discussion with him, in which he undertakes to prove that I hold only a part of the Doctrine of the Atonement propounded by the Apostle Paul,-I hereby accept such challenge, and am prepared to rebut the charge he has alleged, and to shew that the statement in the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians, 5th chap. 18th to 20th ver., embodies whatever relates to that doctrine in other portions of Paul's Epistles. I therefore await Mr. Fyfe's further communications on the subject.

Signed, "WOODVILLE WOODMAN.

"Stone Clough, near Manchester. "Bingley, August 3rd, 1859."

Keighley. The friends in this town availed themselves of Mr. Woodman's visit to Bingley, and arranged for his delivering a lecture on "Marriage," for which they obtained the Mechanics' Institution. The lecture was well attended, and appeared to give pleasure and satisfaction to the audience. At its close many pertinent questions were asked, and the proceedings terminated by a very cordial vote of thanks, which was proposed by a member of the independent body, who, though he said he could not endorse every statement of the lecturer, yet agreed with the main sentiments, and felt himself indebted to the lecturer for the outspoken and yet judicious manner in which he had treated so delicate a subject.

Attack on the Church at Bingley, and Mr. Woodman's Second Visit.-After Mr. Woodman had left, Mr. Fyfe announced two lectures which he headed, "Swedenborgianism weighed in the balance and found wanting." As Mr. Woodman was unable to attend, the friends procured the services of a competent person to make notes of all the leading ideas and arguments of Mr. Fyfe, with the view of Mr. Woodman's replying to them afterwards. They also engaged the efficient services of Mr. Heyes, of Leeds, to controvert the gentleman at the time, in whom Mr. Fyfe found no mean opponent. From Mr. Fyfe's explanation, it appears that his lectures were at his own suggestion, and from a remark or two at the close of them, it was evident both he and his party wished the subject afterwards to drop. The New Church friends, however, thought differently; and Mr. Woodman having obtained the sanction of the committee of the National Missionary Society, made arrangements for a course of lectures in reply, which took place on the 5th, 6th, and 7th ult. The bills were headed with the declaration of Solomon in the Book of Proverbs, "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord;" in reference to which Mr Woodman remarked, that great as was the moral turpitude of employing a false balance in commerce, it was greater when, in professing to weigh the reJigious sentiments of others, persons descended to detraction and misrepresentation. Of this he was sorry to find that Mr. Fyfe stood convicted; for in the first place he had charged him and the

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whole of his brethren with concealing certain features of their doctrines when they advocated them before the public, communicated them to the initiated; and in the second, he had stated, that Swedenborg's "revelations," as he styled them, were intended to supplement and supersede the Bible. A person who thus wantonly charged him and his brethren with conduct so grossly dishonest, the lecturer said, he held to be unworthy of notice; and but for the fact that the interests of truth were concerned, he should not have submitted to the moral degradation of confronting one who could descend to such means. As regarded the allegation that Swedenborg's writings were intended to supplement and supersede the Bible,he pronounced it to be an unmitigated falsehood, and reflected shame on one who professed, as Mr. Fyfe had done, to "weigh Swedenborgianism in the balance," and to "give them Swedenborgianism without reserve." So far from this being the case, Swedenborg again and again insisted that visions and dreams, or converse with the dead, did not reform, but the Word alone. Mr. Fyfe attempted to repudiate the statement that Swedenborg's writings were designed to supersede the Bible; but as Mr. Woodman had requested him to correct as he went on anything in the notes which did not correctly report his statements, and as he had suffered the statement to pass unchallenged, he must take the consequences; moreover from the testimony of others he had reason to believe he had been correctly reported. The discussion of the first evening turned chiefly on the Atonement. But Mr. Fyfe admitted his views were rather "in a mist." For instance, he did not believe that the Lord was punished instead of man, but that he "suffered" instead of him; and that by his suffering God vindicated his moral government in the forgiveness of sinners,very much like a distinction without a difference. But we cannot follow the argument into its details. On the subject of the Resurrection Mr. Fyfe was equally in a mist. He charged Mr. Woodman with misrepresenting the orthodox view; and yet, as Mr. Woodman showed, no one knew in what the orthodox view of it consisted. Besides which, Mr. Fyfe did not hold himself bound by it, since he had stated that it