sacrifices, and especially of the Passover, and signifies all that they signified. Their sacrifices were holy; so is this Sacrament. They represented the Lord's love to man, and man's reciprocal love to the Lord. So does the Holy Supper. The altar was called the Lord's table, and the flesh of the sacrifices His Bread. — Mal. i. 7; T. C. R., 703–7. And when sanctified by being offered to the Lord, the people and priests ate of it near the altar: thereby representing their nourishment from His table, and by receiving His Love and Life. So in the Holy Supper. Bread, instead of flesh of lamb, and wine, instead of the blood that was poured out, or of the wine that was poured on the sacrifice, or drank with it; and a holy table, which may properly enough be called an altar to distinguish it as the Lord's table, represent the same things-the Lord's Love to man, and man's reciprocal love to the Lord. The Lord's giving His own Love and Wisdom to feed the souls of men, and men acknowledging that all that is good and all that is true in them is from the Divine Humanity. And because the Lord is the source of all good, and to love Him is to love all who receive Him, or are fed by Him, therefore the Holy Supper is also a sign and testimony of brotherly love, or the acknowledgment and love of the Lord in our brethren. It is the representative and seal of all things of redemption and salvation. It is therefore the completion and fulness, or it represents the completion and fulness, of the work of redemption and salvation, just as all the sacrifices and holy feasts of every kind in the Jewish Church together represented the same thing. The Holy Supper in itself alone represents and signifies the same as was represented by all the Jewish sacrifices and feasts. Hence Swedenborg says: -"The Holy Supper includes and comprehends the whole of the divine worship instituted in the Israelitish Church; for the burnt-offerings and sacrifices, in which the worship of that church principally consisted, were denominated by the single term BREAD; hence also the Holy Supper is the completion and fulness of that representative worship." - H. D., 214. That the Jews and the first Christian Church have quite mistaken the nature and meaning of their sacrifices, and hence of the Holy Supper, does not destroy the fact, that whatever the sacrifices altogether signified, that the Holy Supper still signifies. They represented the Lord in His work of redemption and salvation. So does the Holy Supper.

This work was wrought out by the Lord during His life in the world, and continues to be carried on really every day in life, but especially and formally on the Sabbath, in the forms of external worship. It would, therefore, seem proper that this Sacrament should be celebrated on the Sabbath, though not to the necessary exclusion of other days; and if not every Sabbath, then at such times through the year as would serve most forcibly and fully to cause us to remember the Lord, and His work of Redemption and Salvation, and most deeply impress their vast importance upon our minds.

There were three great feasts in the Jewish Church during the year, at which all the males in Israel were required to be present. Swedenborg also speaks of receiving the Sacrament "two or three times in the year"; and also of receiving it "frequently every year.”—H. D., 124. If more times than we have named seem desirable, such intermediate times may be chosen as will most call to mind the Lord's Love, and the work He did, and does, for us. We are deeply impressed with the feeling that the Holy Supper, as well

as the Sacrament of Baptism, is too little regarded by us. We can but consider it as THE great act of external worship, to which all others bear a subordinate relation; the most holy act, the most important act, the most powerful, in effecting and confirming states of salvation, of all external acts of formal worship in the Church. It has been already shown to be the completion and fulness of all the representative worship of the Jewish Church, and to signify now to us, all that the whole sacrificial worship of the Jews signified. The sacrifices were called in one word, Bread, and signified "The Bread of God that came down from heaven, to give life to the world." The Holy Supper signifies the same. The sacrifice, when brought to the altar and offered to the Lord by the priest, was thereby consecrated as the Lord's meat (or bread), and was then eaten by the worshipper as the Bread of God given to him. So in the Holy Supper, the Bread, at the institution of the Supper, was taken by the Lord and consecrated by blessing, and then broken and given to the disciples, who ate it as the Bread of God, as the Flesh of the Son of Man. The change of sacrificial worship at the end of the Jewish Church was not the destruction of it. It was a change from the use of animal flesh to bread, and a condensation of all the various sacrificial rites into one. The Jewish sacrifices figured forth the great sacrifice of the Lord Himself for the salvation of men, in other words, His glorification. And just so the Holy Supper shows forth" the Lord's death till He come." By His death is signified His resurrection, - that is, His glorification. And now in the Holy Supper is represented and signified the true sacrifice, the devotion of our souls to the Lord, the acknowledgment that all good in us is His, offering it to Him, and praying for His blessing, receiving it again from His table, and appropriating it to the nourishment of our souls. And its power to open heaven to the worthy communicant is in its correspondence. And when properly regarded and properly received it does open heaven, bring the angels near, conjoin the souls of the communicants with the Lord, seal them as the sons of God, and introduce them into interior membership in angelic societies. Without the internal things signified by it, "Faith in the Lord and Charity towards the neighbor; Remembrance of the Lord and of His love for the salvation of men,” — T. C. R., 725, 709, the Holy Supper is but a hollow formality; but accompanied by the internal things it properly signifies, it possesses the power of the Divine Omnipotence to save.

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Unleavened bread and pure wine are proper elements to be used.

In regard to the proper posture of the body in which to receive it, whether sitting, standing, or kneeling, we have not, that we know, any positive instruction. It was undoubtedly received in the early church in a table-posture, such as was usual at meals. Yet it was not regarded, and should not be regarded, as an ordinary meal. It was, and is, the holiest act of worship.

We are taught in the Doctrines that in this Sacrament "the Lord actually presents Himself to man," and that man ought to "actually present himself to the T. C. R., 728. This last idea, we think, should be made prominent, and, when possible, should be ultimated in some suitable manner. It may not be essential, or very important, whether one having thus presented himself stands, sits, or kneels, while receiving it. To stand would represent a state of readiness to go forward in the path of duty. - A. R., 366. To sit

would represent a quiet state, looking to the Lord, and willing to act from Him.-A. E., 687. Kneeling, or bowing, would represent a state in which the natural man is subdued, cbedient, subject to the spiritual, in which the spiritual has the supremacy, and the whole man acknowledges the Lord, and humbly receives life from Him; a state in which natural good is joined with spiritual; a state of "acknowledgment, thanksgiving, and adoration, from spiritual good in the natural man."- A. E., 455. As it is to be regarded as the holiest and most sacred act of worship in which our whole natural man is subdued and ready to die, that our souls and the souls of others may live and be conjoined to the Lord, as was the case with the Lord Himself, in respect to the Father, on the night of the institution of the Supper, therefore we should come to it in that posture of body corresponding to such a state of mind. It was the evening of humiliation before the morning of the resurrection had come, and the night that followed before the morning was one of prayer, and agony, and blood. There is a sense in which the passion of the Lord is the subject the Holy Supper calls to remembrance. - T. C. R., 709. As of His suffering, it is sad; as of His Love, redemption, and salvation, it is glad. Both together produce that humble, holy, and quiet joy, that comes into the heart from a deep love for Him who redeemed us, and for our fellowmen, whom He has also redeemed.

The Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs report:

That it has given much attention to the subject of the use and effect of the laying on of hands in ordination, referred to it by the Convention, but that it finds important questions involved, in regard to which the members of the Committee have not yet been able to come to such an understanding of the subject as to be in a condition to report unanimously thereon. The Committee asks that the subject be continued in its hands.

Respectfully submitted,

W. H. BENADE, Secretary.

No. 6.-REPORT OF THE BOARD ON THE THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL.

CHICAGO, June, 1871.

The last term of the School was held at Waltham, as the other sessions have been, and lasted five months, commencing June 29, 1870, and closing in the latter part of November. The studies have been conducted by the same faculty of teachers that officiated the year before, viz.: Rev. Dr. Worcester, President, and Instructor in the doctrines of the Church, Rev. T. B. Hayward, Professor in Greek and Latin, Rev. T. O. Paine, Instructor in Hebrew, and Prof. L. B. Munroe, Teacher of Elocution and the general management of the voice.

The following Report of the President of the School to the Board will show what was done at the last term:

"The whole number of students that attended, was five: John S. Saul, Wm. F. Pendleton, Horace W. Wright, Hjalmar H. Boyesen, and Charles W. Saunders. Mr. Boyesen and Mr. Saunders were not able to continue with us for the whole term. They did not give up the intention of becom

ing ministers, but, having family connections that depended on them for support, they, for a time, engaged in other employments to obtain the means. Only three- Mr. Saul, Mr. Pendleton, and Mr. Wright continued through the term.

"We regretted that we did not have more, but we were thankful that we had so many that would enter so fully into the purposes of the school. There were but three, but I believe that they came together in the name of the Lord; that they were drawn together by His Spirit; and that He was in the midst of them. It is a delightful exercise to meet daily and study the Heavenly Doctrines together; to see that they are Divinely-human in their origin, flowing down from the Lord Himself; and to see that, under His influence, they have a tendency to produce true humanity in angels and men.

"It is a great work that the Lord is doing in this day. It was foretold thousands of years ago. He then promised that He would make a new covenant with men, different from any that He had made before; for in this new covenant He said that He would put His law in the inward parts of men, and write it in their hearts. More than a hundred years ago He revealed this covenant by opening the Word, and revealing the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem; and ever since then He has been endeavoring to put it into the inward parts of men, and to write it in their hearts. We regard our School as one important means to this end. The study of the Doctrines is our regular morning exercise. And once a week each student prepares a written statement of some one of the Doctrines that we have been considering. These papers are read in the presence of the whole school, and of all the teachers, and all unite in making such remarks and giving such instruction as seems to be called for.

"Mr. Hayward and Mr. Paine have been diligently and successfully employed in teaching the languages in which the Holy Word and Heavenly Doctrines were revealed.

"Mr. Munroe has given two courses of lessons on the culture and proper use of the voice. He is an excellent teacher, and this department, though a subordinate one, is indispensable in preparation for the ministry.

"We made arrangements, last year, to have instruction given in the correspondence of natural things with spiritual, and in anatomy and physiology; but the teachers whom we depended on were prevented, by ill-health, from performing that service. We hope to be more successful this year, for we regard those branches as of very great importance."

The expense of conducting the School has been $2,599.88; which has been expended as follows, viz.:

Of this sum, all but five dollars, viz., $2,594.88, has been drawn from the Permanent Fund in the hands of the Trustees; the five dollars was received from Mrs. Towne, as a donation.

In addition to the above expenditures, the sum of $250 was paid by the Boston Society for a second course of lessons in elocution by Prof. Munroe, given in the vestry of the church in Boston, and attended both by the students in the Theological School and the ministry of the Massachusetts Association.

A history of the school, together with the action of the Convention in relation to it, from the beginning, has been prepared by a committee appointed by the Board, and published in a pamphlet of 26 pages, and is now laid on the table of the Convention for the information of members. At the close will be found a statement from the Board of Trustees in relation to the Permanent Fund; which, as will be seen, amounts to about $27,000.

The Board has made provision, this year, for a course of lectures on anatomy and physiology; the term is expected to begin the nineteenth of June, to continue five months, and a larger number of students than we had last year have already signified their intention to attend.

The term of Messrs. Rev. J. P. Stuart and S. Reed expires this year, and it becomes necessary, therefore, that two persons shall be elected at this session of Convention to fill their places on the Board for three years.

By order of the Board,

WM. B. HAYDEN, Secretary.

No. 7. REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF MISSIONS.

Being appointed at the last Annual Meeting of the Convention to provide for and superintend the general Missionary Work, I found many and large fields of labor, but few men qualified to do well the work of missionaries, who were not already engaged as pastors, or over-worked in other fields.

My duties as Pastor of the Chicago Society, and Superintendent of the Illinois Association, have left me little time to devote to the care of the general work, and my infirm state of health during the whole year has also much interfered with the efficient performance of my duties. So you will not, I trust, be very much disappointed at the small amount of work done, as shown in what follows:

Considering the small amount of money in the Treasury, or likely to be raised for the Missionary Fund, it seemed to me more useful to spend it in aiding and stimulating the efforts of the weak associations to sustain missionaries than to use up all the funds in the employment of one or two missionaries for only a short time. Several of the associations are so circumstanced, that, with a little assistance, they can sustain a missionary all, or a large part of the time, in the field, while, without such assistance, they would not be able to employ one at all. Many more persons can be reached, more families visited, more receive the benefits of the sacraments, and the sphere of the Church be more strengthened, and built up, and extended by several ministers working through the year, than by one or two noted lecturers working a few weeks.