Life and Correspondence of the Rev. John Clowes. Edited by
Theodore Compton. (Longmans.)—The notable fact about Mr. Clowes was that he was a follower of Swedenborg. If that meant nothing more than the holding very definite notions about the invisible world, about the order of spiritual beings, and the localities of heaven and hell, there would be nothing remarkable in it. But Swedenborg and his followers are distinctly heretical, if judged by common standards of orthodoxy, on the doctrine of the Trinity. This volume contains the notes of an interesting conversation between Dr. Porteous, then Bishop of Chester, and Mr. Clowes, who had been accused of denying the doctrine of the Trinity. "My idea," explained the accused, "is that the whole Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is contained in the one divine and glorious Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who, as to his inmost, hidden essence or soul, is Jehovah, the Eternal Father; as to His outward existence or body, is the Son of Goa; and as to his divine operation, is the Holy Spirit." Whatever may be the merits of such teaching, it is not Trinitarianism, and one is somewhat surprised to find
the Bishop replying that these sentiments were in a great degree' congenial to his own. Mr. Clowes seems to have been a man of singular excellence. Some readers will remember a vivid sketch of him that Do Quincey has left ; "holy, apostolic, the most saint-like of all human beings I have 'known through life," are among the writer's words. A notable figure he was in Manchester, where he was rector of St. John's Church for more than sixty years! a man of culture, of singularly happy and genial temper. His life, which is to a certain degree told by himself, is certainly worth reading.
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