ADVERTISEMENT.
This discourse was hastily drawn up at intervals during four days preceding its delivery, and without the least intention of its ever appearing in print. The delivery was attended by a very respectable audience, and I have been given to understand that it was received with very general satisfaction. It was this alone which induced me to consent to its publication. In revising it for the press, three or four short passages have been added, and a few verbal alterations have been made: with these exceptions, it is precisely the same discourse as met the approval of those who heard it read. It has no pretension to any thing new in argument or in facts; it is rather a collection of these, in a condensed form, as they have been urged by various writers of the New Church at different times, set forth in a brief and general manner. I sincerely hope that it will contribute something towards promoting the knowledge of truth, upon what is believed to be an important subject in these times; and thus respond to the expectation of those at whose suggestion the publication was undertaken, and particularly realize the usefulness contemplated by him, who, with so much kindness and liberality, undertook the expense of it.
Blenheim Street, Newcastle, Nov. 24, 1841.
