Kingdom;" and in the short period in which it has been presented to the public eye, the results already elicited from it, have fully confirmed every hope of ultimate success, and to a degree that must place the British on a level with the most renowned of the foreign schools.

"The foundation of this patriotic structure is laid on the present enlightened and refined taste of the highest and most cultivated ranks of society, capable of appreciating the value of talent, whether considered nationally or individually, and who have imposed on themselves the duty to seek out merit in order to cherish it, and to discover genius to reward it. Adopting their native arts, as the offspring of peace, they wish to place them in the sunshine of national favour and protection. They have laid open the avenues to excellence, and the hand of liberality beckons forward legi. timate claimants to share the honours that await their ardour to excel.

"The first year of this establishment has presented to the judgment of the public a display of professional excellence in the classes of sculpture, and of history and landscape painting, that would shed lustre on the talent of any coun-. try. Many of those works had already passed in review in former exhibitions, with the highest eclat; and in that of the British Gallery, they have been again viewed and recognized as the germs of that sterling excellence, which it is the first wish of the patrons of British art to establish and protect. Its close was marked by the most liberal encou ragement to the artists, by the purchase made of their works to the amount of 5450/.

"A plan, simple in its construction, clear in its principles, and easy in its practical application, has enabled the governors and directors of this illustrious institution, to advance, on firm ground, their first important step, towards perpetuating the benefits and advantages to be derived from a liberal encouragement, and a judicious cultivation of native talent; and in this order will its dignified course be continued, till the grand purpose of its first prin

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ciple

Extra pentes P.56

ciple be established and made permanent by adequate pro vision from the state, to ensure its full benefit to the country and posterity."

ST. JAMES'S SQUARE, on the north side of Pall Mall, is very large and beautiful; the area on the inside, encom passed with iron rails, forms an octagon, and in the centre is a fine circular bason of water, in the midst of which is a pedestal, on which is intended to be placed a statue of William III. On the east side stands NORFOLK HOUSE, in which his present majesty George III. was born. Adjoining to which is LONDON HOUSE, the town residence of the bishops of that see. The square abounds with the houses of the nobility; but the curious observer will be gratified by a visit to the house and factory established by the late JOSIAH WEDGEWOOD, Esq. who invented and brought to perfection a species of porcelain, in imitation of the Etrus can and other potteries of antiquity, as well as of the best models of the moderns.

An ingenious author observes, "that though this square appears extremely grand, yet this grandeur does not arise from the magnificence of the houses; but only from their regularity, the neatness of the pavement, and the beauty of the bason: and that if the houses were built more in taste, and the four sides exactly correspondent to each other, the effect would be much more surprising, and the pleasure arising from it more just." We take the liberty to add, that were the south side completely levelled to the street, the effect would be considerably enhanced, by exhibiting the three other sides to amazing advantage.

YORK STREET. The house, now Wedgewood's warehouse, was formerly the residence of the Spanish ambassador, and the adjoining chapel a place of worship for his religious persuasion; when he relinquished the premises, the chapel was converted to the use of various congrega tiou, and is at present belonging to Mr. Proud, a preacher of the principles of Emanuel Swedenbourg, a Swedish nobleman, who died in London, in the year 1772." He professed

professed himself to be the founder (under the Lord) of the New Jerusalem Church, alluding to the New Jerusalem spoken of in the Revelations of St. John."*

Facing

The tenets of Baron Swedenbourg, although peculiarly different from every other system of divinity in Christendom, are nevertheless drawn from the Holy Scriptures, and supported by numberless quotations from them. He asserts, that in the year 1743, the lord manifested himself to him in a personal appearance; and at the same time opened his spiritual eyes, so that he was enabled constantly to see and converse with spirits and angels. From that time he began to print and publish various wonderful things, which, he says, were revealed to him, relating to heaven and hell, the state of men after death, the worship of God, the spiritual sense of the scriptures, the various earths in the universe, and their inhabitants, with many other extraordinary particulars, the knowledge of which was, perhaps, never pretended to by any other writer, before or since his time. He denies a Trinity of persons in the Godhead, but contends for a divine Trinity in the single person of Jesus Christ alone, consisting of a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, just like the human Trinity in every individual man, of soul, body, and proceeding operation: and he asserts, that as the latter Trinity constitutes one man, so the former Trinity constitutes one Jehovah God, who is at once the Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator. On this and other subjects, Dr. Priestley addressed letters to the members of the New Jerusalem Church, to which several replies were made.

Baron Swedenbourg further maintains that the sacred scripture contains three distinct senses, called celestial, spiritual, and natural, which are united by correspondencies; and that in each sense it is divine truth, accommodated respectively to the angels of the three heavens, and also to men on earth. This science of correspondencies (it is said) had been lost for some thousands of years, viz ever since the time of Job, but is now revived by Emanuel Swedenbourg, who uses it as a key to the spiritual or internal sense of the sacred scripture, every page of which, he says, is written by correspondencies, that is, by such things in the natural world as correspond unto and signify things in the spiritual world. He denies the doctrine of atonement, or vicarious sacrifice, together with the doctrines of predestination, unconditional election, justification by faith alone, the resurrection of the material body, &c. and in opposition thereto maintains, that man is possessed of free-will in spiritual things; that salvation is not attainable without repentance, that is, abstaining from evils because they are sins against God, and living a life of charity and faith, according to the commandments; that man, immediately on his decease, rises again in a spiri

tua!

Facing York Street, is situated the parish church of

ST. JAMES, WESTMINSTER.

P

THIS structure, originally a chapel of ease, was by authority of parliament, in the first year of the reign of James II. constituted a parochial church; and the parish wholly taken out of that of St. Martin's in the Fields; the whole was erected at the charge and credit of Henry Jermyn, earl of St. Alban's, and of the inhabitants, owners, and occupiers of houses, lands, and tenements, as it is recited in the act of parliament; at the making which there had been expended 7000l.

The

tual body, which was inclosed in his material body, and that in this spiritual body he lives as a man to eternity, either in heaven or in hell, according to the quality of his life. past

It is further maintained by Baron Swedenbourg and his followers, that all those passages in the sacred scripture, generally supposed to signify the destruction of the world by fire, &c. commonly called the last judgment, must be understood according to the above-mentioned science of correspondencies, which teaches, that by the end of the world, or consummation of the age, is not signified the destruction of the world, but the destruction or end of the present Christian church, both among Roman

The walls are well built of brick, with rustic quoins, facios, door and window cases, of stone. The roof is arched, supported by pillars of the Corinthian order, and the door cases of the Ionic order; the apertures (especially the windows) are regular and well disposed.

The church is beautifully ornamented in its roof within, divided into pannels of crocket and fret-work, and the twelve columns that support it, and in the cornice. The galleries have neat fronts; and the door cases, especially that fronting Jermyn Street, are highly enriched. The windows at the east end, are adorned with two columns and two pilasters; the lower of the Corinthian, and the upper of the Composite order; and the wainscot round the church ten feet high, which is well painted. The pews and pulpit are neat; and on the font, carved by Grinlin Gibbons, is represented the Fall of Man, Salvation of Noah, &c. as at St. Margaret's, Lothbury. The type is also finely carved in basso-relievo, with a spacious angel descending from a celestial choir of cherubims. The altar-piece is very spacious, consisting of fine bolection pannels, with architrave, friese, and cornice, of cedar; with a large compass pediment, under which a very admirable carved pelican feeding its young, between two doves; also a noble festoon, with exceeding large fruit of several kinds, fine leaves, &c. all very neatly done in limewood; the altar is fenced in with a strong and graceful rail and banister of white marble, art

Roman Catholics and Protestants of every description or denomination; and that the last judgment actually took place in the spiritual world in the year 1757; from which æra is dated the second advent of the Lord, and the commencement of a new Christian church, which, they say, is meant by the new heaven and new earth in the Revelation, and the New Jerusalem thence descending.

Such are the general outlines of Baron Swedenbourg's principal doctrines, collected from his voluminous writings. His followers are numerous in England, Germany, Sweden, &c. also in America. They use a liturgy, and instrumental, as well as vocal music, in their public worship. Their ministers have a particular dress both for praying and preaching, so that they may be said to study variety.-Evans's Religious Denominations.

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