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- Painted by J. Allen Faz" by Jas Thomson - t A M E M O I R. OF THE LATE /40% REv. JoHN CLowes, A.M., RECTOR OF ST. JoHN'S CHURCH, MANCHESTER, AND FORMERLY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF : TOGETHER WITH A HISTORY OF THE COMMENCEMENT IN GREAT BRITAIN OF THE NEW CHURCH, CAL LED THE NEW J E R U SALEM, WHICH WAS Foretold by the LORD, in DANIEL, chap. vii. 13, 14; and in the Rev ELATION, xxi. 1, 2; the Doctrines of which Church are delivered in the Th E o Lo GICAL W R iT IN Gs of ‘r H. E. HONOURABLE EMANUEL SWEDEN BORG. To which Is A DD ED, A SELECTION OF LETTERS, oN VARIoUs suBJECTs of cHRISTIAN LIFE AND DocTRINE, ADDREssED BY THE VENERABLE AUTHOR OF THE ABOVE MEMOIR TO SEVERAL PIOUS AND INTELLIGENT FRIENDS. MANCHESTER : PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. GLEAVE: SOLD ALSO BY MESSRS. CLARKE, MARKET PLACE ; BAYLIS, ST. ANNE'S STREET: AND IN LONDON, BY J. s. HoDsoN, CRoss STREET, HATTON GARDEN ; AND BY SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL, STATIONERS’ HALL COURT. 1834. --- P R TE F A C E. IN publishing the following autographical memoir of the late Rev. John Clowes, who, during the long period of sixty-two years, was the highly venerated Rector of St. John's Church, Manchester, toge ther with some of his valuable and edify ing correspondence with several pious and intelligent individuals, on subjects of vital importance to Christian life and practice, we consider that we are performing a most solemn duty to the public at large, and especially to all those whose chief iv PR E FA C E. end consists in cultivating that spirit of humility, meekness, and mutual love, which constitutes the kingdom of heaven. in the soul, and which so highly adorned the life and character of the late excellent Rector. We therefore presume that there can be no need of any apology—no neces sity for any elaborate argument, to justify our presenting the following memoir and correspondence to the Christian public. No individual has, probably, been more extensively known, by his various enlightened and practical publications on every subject tending to promote the inte rests of vital Christianity in the minds of his fellow-creatures, than the late esteemed author of the following memoir. His numerous works for promoting the cause of real religion, and consequent salvation, may be considered as so many pure and * unsophisticated channels, through which f s \ P R. E. F. A C E. V the genuine truths of God's Holy Word have been conveyed to numbers of pious minds, who have “hungered and thirsted after righteousness.” It may, therefore, be reasonably expected that the perusal of the following memoir, which was writ ten by himself, will be highly delightful to the numerous readers of his instructive and edifying works. When we have received any essential and solid benefit through the agency of any individual, we naturally feel desirous of knowing something of our benefactor: thus, in respect to the late venerated Clowes, through whose instrumentality thousands have been essentially benefit ed, we naturally wish to become ac quainted with his character in all its bearings, and to know in what manner he had acquired a knowledge of those sublime doctrines of heavenly truth, which vi P R E FA C E. are derived from the Word of God, when properly understood, and which had en lightened his understanding to an extra ordinary degree, and actuated his heart by the most noble ends and motives that can exalt and dignify our nature: these ends and motives refer to the glory of God, and the salvation of His intelligent creatures. The human heart is so consti tuted, when influenced by proper prin ciples,—the principles of genuine Chris tianity, as to feel a strong and almost irresistible impulse to reciprocate in mu tual love with all from whom we derive essential and lasting benefits; and if there be no other means of testifying our reci procal and mutual regard, we must, if actuated by a proper influence, show it in the spirit of sincere acknowledgment and gratitude. Hence, we have no doubt that many readers of the edifying writings of the late venerable Clowes, have fre PR EFA C E. - Vii quently experienced a strong desire to know something of the leading features and important events of his long and use ful career. It is generally acknowledged that man is created for the enjoyment of a happy immortality; and from this acknowledg ment it may almost be intuitively seen, that the human race is the seminary of heaven, and that generations of mankind are continually arising, in endless succes sion, in order to furnish continual and increasing supplies for the enlargement and population of the heavenly kingdom. The establishment, therefore, of this glo rious kingdom, is a work truly worthy of the Divine Love, Wisdom, and Power, and to accomplish which, all the divine ener gies and operations, in the infinite variety of their manifestation, are continually di rected. But the chief means made use b viii P REFA C E. of by the Divine Mercy and Power, for the accomplishment of this glorious end, is the revelation of the Divine Word. This revelation is the essential Divine Truth, which, considered as to its “spirit and its life,” is, according to the declara tion of the Evangelist, the “Lord Him self.” It is that light which, irradiating His gloriously Divine Person, forms the “Sun of Righteousness,”f and which the Lord identifies with Himself, when He says, “I am the Light of the world.” To receive, therefore, the divine truth of the Lord's Word into the mind, and to incor porate it into our affections, by loving and doing it, is to receive the Lord Himself, according to His own merciful declaration, “Behold, I stand at the door and hnock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, , *. John i. 1. + Mal. iv. 2. # John ix. 5. PR E FA C E. ix. and he with Me.” But we cannot receive the Divine Truth, unless it be understood; hence the Lord says, “whoso readeth, let him understand;”f nor can we understand it, unless we are guided by the light of a genuine doctrine; henge when Philip asked the eunuch “whether he understood what he was reading, he said, How can I, except some man should guide me”! Now in the character of a most able guide to the proper understanding of the truth of God's Holy Word must we consider the esteemed subject of the following memoir; and numbers of individuals are ready to acknowledge that their minds have been enabled, through his instrumentality, to understand the divine Oracles of Truth in a most satisfactory and edifying man ner, so as to experience that power and efficacy upon their hearts, which should * Rev. iii. 20. Matt. xxiv. 15. Aets viii. 30, 31. X P R. E. F. A C E. always accompany the proper understand ing of the Sacred Scriptures; and in the memoir which we now present to the Christian public, it cannot but be most interesting, to see in what way the res pected author was led to see those prin ciples of scriptural interpretation, which enabled him to be so extensively useful to his Christian brethren. The chief object of the following me moir, the brevity of which we regret, ap pears to have been accomplished, which was that of giving an historical account of the first establishment and progress of those Heavenly Doctrines, which are de rived from the Holy Word, on new and exalted principles of scriptural interpre tation, and which the author, after the enlightened Swedenborg, was one of the first to advocate in this country; and as the adoption of these exalted principles— PR E FA C E. xi the laws of correspondence between things natural and things spiritual—by which the Scriptures may be expounded in a most luminous and edifying manner, so as entirely to obviate all the objections, and to frustrate all the attacks, of deism and infidelity, is intended to lead to the esta blishment of a new Christian church, in which the Lord Jesus Christ will be ac knowledged and worshipped as the only God of heaven and earth, and thus to form a new and glorious era in the Chris tian world, the Rev. J. Clowes, at the same time, intended to give an historical sketch of the rise and progress of that New Church, called the New J erusalem, which is now being gradually and perma nently established in the world. As the memoir is deficient in many things which might truly be said of that excellent man,—a circumstance, indeed, xii PR E FA C E. which we must naturally expect, when we consider that it was written by himself, we have deemed it proper to append to it some interesting information concerning him, which was published soon after his decease. The extracts which we have made are from a variety of pens, and from different parts of the kingdom. Hence it will be seen, how high he stood in the estimation of all who knew him from his extensive and useful publications, and also how much he was venerated by all who had the happiness of being personally acquainted with him, as an example of Christian humility, intelligence, and love. With respect to the selection of let ters, which the Rev.

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