by no means satisfactory, yet the visit may have sown the seeds from which has sprung the respectable society which now exists in this large and important town.

The Intellectual Repository for the New Church was commenced with the year 1812, to be published quarterly; and the writer had prepared to contribute to its pages,—some articles for the purpose having been found amongst his papers: but he was removed to the spiritual world on the 16th of April of that year, in the 59th year of his age. In the 3rd No. of this Periodical, which contains his Obituary, is also given the following Poem,— the only contribution he made to the work; but since his decease many papers from his pen have appeared, commencing with the year 1819, under the signature of “ Tepidus.”

"ON FAME.

""Twas night! sweet silence reign'd around,

No breeze disturb'd the billow's breast,
The crystal dew-drop pearl'd the ground,
The sky in sparkling gems was dress'd;
When by the Isis' classic tide,

The young Eugenius musing came;
And oft with ardent wish he sigh'd

To shine among the sons of Fame.
Enwrapp'd in thought, his lucid eye

He cast upon the heavenly blue;
When swiftly through the yielding sky
A meteor's short-lived glories flew.
He paused; and strove with lab'ring thought
To draw some moral from its flight;
When lo! a voice with music fraught,
Broke through the silence of the night,
"Twas sweeter far than Handel's fire,
E'en when with rapture's voice he sings;
'Twas like the music of a lyre,

When a bright Seraph sweeps the strings;
'Eugenius!' soft the minstrel cried,
'Behold you not the Meteor's glare?

'Did you not see its gaudy pride,

'Which vanish'd soon in empty air?

From it learn this useful story,

(For your instruction know it came)
All the warrior's boasted glory,-
'The bard's renown,-the sage's fame,-
'That fame to which your soul aspires-

The proudest fame which earth displays,—
'Though it should live till time expires,
Is but at best a Meteor's blaze.
'But seek to tread the paths of truth,

'Then heav'nly joys your hopes shall find,
'For trust me, heav'nly joys, fond youth,

'Are worthy an immortal mind.'”

The writer was succeeded in his office as Minister of the Society in Dudley Court by the Rev. Dr. Churchill, by whom the following lines were written, and appeared in the Intellectual Repository for January, 1814:

"SWEET are the contemplations which attend

The placid moments of the good man's end;
Sweet is the hope that bids the Christian rise,

In blest extatic vision to the skies;

And sweet the thoughts that soothe the troubled breast,

And lull our sorrows and our cares to rest.

Suppress the sigh, profane no more with grief

The welcome hour which gave his soul relief.

As, like a shock of corn full ripe, he goes
To the pure haven of secure repose,
Enraptured seraphs greet him, 'Brother come!'

And lingering wait to waft his spirit home.

Wisdom, who fill'd thy breast with heavenly lore,
And taught, with upward wing, thy thoughts to soar;

Virtue, whose deathless image lived enshrined

Within the sacred temple of thy mind;

And Charity, soft smiling thro' her tears;
And meek Religion, tenant of the spheres,
Thy pious labours and thy love approve,
And bear thee, HODSON, to the realms above.
There shalt thou live, with joys celestial crown'd,
Where honour, peace, and happiness abound."

In the October of the same year a tribute to his memory was presented to the widow in the shape of a handsome Silver Salver; bearing an Inscription of which the following is a copy;

To MRS. HARRIET HODSON,
this Salver is presented,

Oct. 1814,

by the Congregation of the Lord's New Church lately worshiping in
DUDLEY CHAPEL,

in Testimony of respect for the Memory

of her late Husband, their esteemed Friend and Pastor,
The REV. JAMES HODSON,

whose affectionate, edifying, and disinterested Labours,
and amiable and inoffensive Conversation,

endeared him to every Member of his Flock;
while by his Doctrine he instructed them,

and by his example led them, in the Way to that Heaven,
which it is their best consolation to know,

JEREMIAH IN THE DUNGEON.

SERMON I.

Jeremiah, xxxviii. 6.

Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah, the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison; and they let down Jeremiah with cords: And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: So Jeremiah sunk into the mire.

It is well known by the members of the Lord's New Church, that the Word of God, as to its literal sense, is written entirely by correspondences; that is, by such things as represent and signify the spiritual things of heaven and of the church; and that this was done on account of the internal sense, which is in every part of it, and consequently for the sake of heaven; inasmuch as the heavenly inhabitants do not understand the Word according to the literal sense, which is natural, but according to the internal sense, which is spiritual. The members of this Church are also convinced that there is this internal sense in every part of the Word of God, although we may not be able to discern at all times its exact interpretation.

But notwithstanding that we may not be able, in all cases, to discover the particular correspondence or spiritual import of every passage, we may in general discern sufficient to render it applicable to our spiritual instruction; and even if we see no opening of its spiritual contents, we may in most cases derive some moral advantage from a literal application thereof to our own circumstances and situations. Neither is it to be expected that our illuminated Scribe, even in his voluminous writings, can have given us the precise correspondence of every passage in the holy Scriptures;-he has left a considerable portion of them for us to exercise our understandings upon, when en

lightened by a general knowledge of the doctrine of correspondences, under a spiritual influence from heaven.

The history of which our text is a part, contains one of those subjects from which we may obtain much instruction, both in a moral and spiritual view, although we may not be able to open it according to its exact and full internal correspondence; for the account of the external sufferings only of Jeremiah must inspire us with that spirit of charity, compassion, and benevolence, which are peculiar to the doctrines of the Lord's New Church.

It appears that in the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, when Jerusalem was besieged by the Chaldeans, the prophet Jeremiah, by direction of the Lord, recommended to Zedekiah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to give up the city to the Chaldeans, since it would most assuredly fall into their hands in the end. But Zedekiah having obtained assistance from Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the Chaldeans raised the siege for that time; wherefore the Jews ridiculed Jeremiah, because his prophecy respecting the overthrow of their city, was not fulfilled. In confirmation, however, of the Lord's former denunciation against this corrupted city, the prophet declares (chap. xxxvii. v. 9, 10, &c.), "Thus saith the Lord, Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us; for they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.' Having delivered this dreadful sentence against Jerusalem, the prophet, in order to escape the general destruction of the city, "went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to slip away (it is said) from thence in the midst of the people;" but he was seized by Irijah, the captain of the ward, as a rebel falling away to the Chaldeans, and carried before the princes of the people, who smote him, and cast him into prison. Zedekiah, the king, however, liberated him from the close confinement unto which the princes had condemned him, and secretly sent for him to inquire, "Is there any Word from the Lord?" The prophet, faithful to his commission, notwithstanding the personal danger that awaited him, boldly answered, "There is; for thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon." In consequence of this interview with the king, Jeremiah obtained