these doctrines are very clearly and fully unfolded in the writings of the divinely illuminated herald of the New Dispensation, yet those writings are at present in the hands of a comparatively small number. The public at large scarcely know the titles of our author's works, and this is true even of those who are daily receiving with delight some small portions of those truths, which are derived from his works. One of the best means of introducing these works to the attention of the public, appears to be by the general distribution of smaller and more transient works, by which some portions of the Heavenly Doctrines may be presented in a more popular form, and may thus serve as a medium through which the mind will be gradually prepared for their full reception.
The belief that such works are needed and may be useful, has induced the writer to attempt the preparation of the one which is here presented to the reader. It goes forth with his earnest desire and prayer that it may afford some aid in the dissemmination of those heavenly doctrines which he loves, and which it is the delight of his life to make known.
The work has many faults, some of which the writer has himself discovered and could point out. But it is unnecessary; the reader will easily find them. Some of them may have arisen from the necessity of attending upon other duties at the same time, and others from the successive portions of the manuscript having been sent to the compositors as fast as they were written; thereby preventing the possibility of subsequent revisions. But apologies are unnecessary and useless. Of course the writer is not conscious of having falsified or misrepresented any doctrine or principle of the New Church Theology. If such were the case, the whole edition should be burned, rather than the work should be permitted to go out to the world, to give false impressions in regard to those Heavenly Doctrines which it professes to teach.
