e the word of
truth, and that those discourses in which I have best succeeded in
bringing the two doctrines to bear, in their combined force, on
the mind, have been more blessed to the awakening and conversion
of sinners, than almost any others which I preach. When both
doctrines are wisely and truly presented, the sinner has no
resting-place. Ho cannot well avoid a sense of guilt while
proposing to remain in his sins, for he sees that he is a free
moral agent, under all the responsibilities of such an agent to
immediate duty. He cannot well presume on his resolution of future
repentance, for he sees that sovereign, injured grace may at once
abandon him to hopeless sin. He is thus shut up to the faith,--to
the immediate performance of his duty. In accordance with these
views, I aim, in my instructions to those who are preparing for
the ministry, to inculcate the importance of a consistent,
well-proportioned exhibition of the two great doctrines of the
sinner's dependence and responsibility, that, in this respect,
they may hold the minds of their hearers under the full influence
of that gospel which is the power of God to salvation.

"I have thus stated, more minutely, perhaps, than you anticipated,
my views and opinions. I could wish that they might be
satisfactory to all our Orthodox brethren. I have no doubt that
they will be to very many, and to some who have been alarmed by
groundless rumors concerning my unsoundness in the faith. With
respect to what I have called _leading doctrines_, I regard these
as among the cardinal truths of the Christian system. They are
truths to which I attach the highest importance, and in which my
faith is more and more confirmed, the more I examine the word of
God. To _some_ of those of which I have spoken as _comparatively
minor points_, I attach a high importance in their practical
bearings and doctrinal connections. They are points, however, in
regard to which there is more or less diversity of opinion among
the Orthodox; and, as it is not my intention nor my practice to
denounce others as heretics, merely because they differ from me in
these matters, so I should be pleased with the reciprocation of
the like catholicism on their part."

SWEDENBORGIANS, OR, THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH.

Emanuel Swedenborg, the father of this sect, was th