and referred to the Executive Committee, with the request that they report at the next meeting of the Convention.

79. Mr. Hitchcock proposed to amend the Constitution by striking out Section 3, which was referred, under ByLaw 14, to the Executive Committee.

80. The Rev. Mr. Barrett offered the following Resolutions, and moved the previous question upon their adoption, and it was ordered. A call for a division of the Resolutions was made, and the Resolutions were both rejected.

Resolved, That a Committee of five, consisting of two ministers and three laymen, be appointed to consider, and report at the next meeting of the Convention, on the propriety of discountenancing and discontinuing the use of the title Rev., as a prefix to the names of ministers in the New Church.

Resolved, That the same Committee be desired and instructed to report, at the next meeting, on the breadth and catholicity of the New Church, and the conditions deemed essential to church-fellowship, both among preachers and people, in the New Jerusalem; and to united action in the performance of Church uses.

The Rev. Mr. Ager moved that the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs have power to revise the list of ministers, and publish it in the Journal. The motion was decided in the negative.

The Rev. J. P. Stuart moved that the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs report the revision of the list of ministers to the Executive Committee. Adopted.

The minutes of the session were then read and approved. A selection was sung, the Rev. Mr. Hibbard pronounced the benediction, and the Convention finally adjourned.

J. YOUNG SCAMMON, Vice-President.

WILLARD H. HINKLEY, Secretaries.

J. C. AGER,

VOL. XLIV. 2

MESSAGE OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT.

BRETHREN, THE Standing Resolutions and Orders of the General Convention require the President to "present an Annual Report, or Message, setting forth the condition and wants of the Convention, and to deliver an address before it on some day of each session, upon some of its more important interests." The first part of this resolution is so much in accordance with the universal requirement of the Constitutions of the several States of their Chief Executive Officer, and of that universal American course of procedure in all governmental bodies, that, in the absence of the President, or any address from him, I feel called upon to endeavor to comply with some of its requirements, in his stead. The first session of the General Convention in this city, held in 1853, eighteen years ago, marked the era of a "New Departure." Up to that time we had had a long and cumbersome Constitution, modelled very much upon the principle of colonial regulations for the government of communities during their condition of minority. Its particular directions, however well-suited and useful they might have been to the infancy and early childhood of its existence, interfered, it was felt, with the legitimate freedom of the Convention, and impeded its useful action. The Constitution was therefore much simplified, and an attempt made to set before the New Church people an express declaration that, while we acknowledge, in the fullest sense, the use of the ministry, and the necessity for its orderly and efficient establishment, yet we were neither a hierarchical institution, nor were we disposed in any way to interfere with the freedom of others, while we claimed the great American right, as the only general body of the New Church in the United States of America, to govern ourselves by such constitution, rules, and regulations as we might adopt, and to require that all our officers and members should conform, in their official action, to our constitution and decisions, and act in the utmost fairness and good faith toward the Convention in the performance of their duties.

To remove all occasion or pretence for clamor or misapprehension upon these subjects, we declared that "The authority of all ministers and licentiates, under this Constitution, is conferred upon them as officers of this Convention "; thus expressly negating any claim to regulate the ministry, or to interfere with its members, except so far as they were our ministers and officers -our representatives, deriving their authority and power, so far as we attempted to confer or

regulate the same, from the free and voluntary action of the Convention, and accepting their positions in obedience to it; thus expressly acknowledging the great American principle of Constitutional Law, that all official power must be exercised in conformity to the Constitution and Laws. To remove any possible misapprehension as to exclusiveness, or an arbitrary claim of power, we expressly declared, by resolution:

(Journal of Convention of 1853, page 240, No. 108 :) "That the only authority upon which this Convention exercises ecclesiastical legislation is based upon the free and unbiased consent of those portions of the Church which unite therein for the performance of its general uses."

Whether the ministers have any powers by virtue of their position as ministers, which are not thus conferred upon them- and if any, what the Convention neither assumed, then nor since, either to discuss or decide. We are a free and voluntary government, and, so far as our action is concerned, must be governed by our own Constitution and Laws, without interference from without, or arbitrary dictation from within.

Aside from establishing and maintaining an orderly and efficient ministry, one of the greatest objects of the Convention has been to provide for the publication of the writings of the Church, and their dissemination through the press; for this is the great instrumentality of the New Church, and the present dispensation of Divine Truth. We have endeavored to do this by means of a BOOK-PUBLISHING HOUSE, and PERIODICALS; and, however imperfectly we have succeeded, or inefficiently our work has been done, and whatever may have been the extent of the criticisms upon the acts of the managers and editors, I think we have great cause of thankfulness for what we have done, and more occasion for wonder that we have done so much, than dissatisfaction that so little has been accomplished. We have great occasion for modesty and humility in the New Church, and to remember, and be reminded of, the paucity of our numbers, and the feebleness of our means, and the little progress we have made in the work of regeneration. We cannot do great things, as the world counts greatness, but we can endeavor to do our duty. This is all we can do. If it were desirable or necessary that we should do more, the Lord would give us more ability; and He will give it to us so far as we endeavor to use faithfully what we possess.

When we come together in Convention, we always need to remember that the kingdom of God cometh not with observation, and

that, if the Church is the heart, its most important action is unseen of men, while its life-giving powers are indispensable to the existence of the world.

We have no occasion to be discouraged because our members are few and our means inconsiderable, if we endeavor honestly and faithfully to use the means we possess. A short time before Swedenborg left this world, Doctor Hartley, one of the first translators of Swedenborg's works into the English language, asked him how many New Churchmen he supposed there were on this earth. He replied he could not tell possibly fifty; but this was of little consequencethe connection of heaven and earth could be maintained by a few as well as many; but his books would be read, and the numbers would gradually increase.

The reports of the Executive Committee and Board of Publications will show the condition of our Publishing-house and Periodicals, and that some decided measures must be taken in relation to the same, if we wish to continue them, and give them efficiency. It is not in accordance with our American ideas to concentrate all our operations at any one point or in any one State, except as a temporary measure. The New Church public seems better satisfied to have, as far as convenient, each section of the country represented in its work. Carrying out this idea, the New Jerusalem Magazine has remained in Boston, the Messenger and Children's Magazine have been published in New York, and the Little Messenger in Philadelphia. The Convention has kept up a publishing-house in New York, the great cost of which has been from rents, and the incidental expenses of doing business in that expensive city. In neither Boston nor Philadelphia have we any rents to pay. If our friends in New York could provide us a publishing-house free of rent, we should not be in so much danger of running behindhand. The New Church book depositories in Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago, are maintained at considerable expense, by exclusively local contributions. An effort was made, some years since, to obtain a permanent PUBLISHING FUND for our Board of Publications; but this met so little favor or cooperation in New York, that those who had specially been instrumental in raising the money to establish the publishing-house there, were unwilling to continue their efforts in that direction without local coöperation, in the shape of contributions there. The consequence is, that our publishing-house in New York is now in debt, and our operations greatly embarrassed.

These facts are not alluded to for the purpose of casting any cen

sure or blame upon any party, but in explanation of our present condition. No brother is to be censured for expressing and advocating such views and measures of policy as his judgment tells him are best suited to promote the welfare of the Church, provided he does not attempt to force his views upon others without their free and rational consent. We should all come together as brethren, in the recognition of the Church, in each other, and in the fullest acknowledgment that all orderly associations are made up of different members, each of whom has his own particular position, and consequent sphere and use, as much as each separate or distinct organ or member of the human body.

New Churchmen should remember this above all others; for in the Apocalypse, that Book of the Word, which treats specially and particularly of the New Church, we are told that the measure by which the Holy City was to be measured, was "the measure of a man, that is of the angel." We should regard ourselves as one man, recollecting that no one of us can see truth for another, or very clearly any truth which does not relate to his own specific and appropriate duties. We therefore all need the wisdom of each other; and herein is the great distinction between republican American government and ideas, and European, arbitrary, monarchical, or personal government and ideas.

Swedenborg-in that important work which treats of the end of the first Christian dispensation, and the commencement of the New Church, "THE LAST JUDGMENT"-when speaking of the state of the world, and of the Church hereafter, says:

"The state of the world hereafter will be quite similar to what it has been heretofore, for the great change which has been effected in the spiritual world does not induce any change in the natural world as regards the outward form; so that the affairs of states, peace, treaties, and wars, with all other things which belong to societies of men, in general and in particular, will exist in the future, just as they existed in the past. The Lord's saying that in the last times there will be wars, and that nation will then rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and that there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in divers places' (Matthew xxiv. 6, 7), does not signify that such things will exist in the natural world, but that things correspondent with them will exist in the spiritual world; for the Word, in its prophecies, does not treat of the kingdoms, or of the nations upon earth, or, consequently, of their wars,