College Letters

Seal of the "College of the Academy of the New Church"

College Letter No. VI
October 22d, 1887

SOCIAL MEETING, APRIL 13TH, 1887
REMOVAL TO WALLACE STREET BUILDINGS
MEETING DURING CONVENTION
CLOSING EXERCISES OF SCHOOLS, JUNE, 1887
THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION
THE DAY IN CHICAGO
A MEETING IN BERLIN, CANADA
NOTES FOR THE BIRTH RECORD
NOTES FOR THE MANUAL

For Private use of Members of the Academy. Please read carefully, and, when read, return immediately to the undersigned.

No. VI, __ Philadelphia, October 22d, 1887=118.

DEAR FRIEND:—The unceasing mercy of the LORD, His constant care and watchfulness over the Academy, have manifested themselves in visible blessings, both internal and external, of which those that have come to our consciousness since our last College Letter was written have indeed been manifold. The work of the Academy has shown results, both with the students and pupils under its immediate care as also in the Church at large, which have surprised the laborers. At the same time the instrumentalities for carrying on the work have developed and promise further growth. Two Associates have been installed in the College, and two new members have been added to the Associates, while one whose interest in the Academy does not extend to its order and form of government is no longer in our connection. Five more infants have been born, giving promise of future usefulness in the Academy. Property has also been bought and fitted with the needed accommodations for carrying on the uses of the Academy better than before.

To all this and more must be added the new impetus given to the members of the Academy by the Chancellor's words at the meeting on the 20th of June.

But to proceed to particulars.

SOCIAL MEETING, APRIL 13TH, 1887. top

ON the 13th day of April the Academy in Philadelphia met at the house of Councilor Pitcairn. Besides the Philadelphians there were present Mr. Walter C. Childs, of California, and Mr. W. M. Carter, of Trenton.

The Chancellor stated that this was to be purely a social meeting. It was to be opened with the reading of the College Letter (of March 12th). Then were to follow remarks of interest to all. Then the company was to form a number of circles for informal conversation on topics of interest to the Academy. We need to cultivate conversation, and this will give the opportunity. There had been complaints that there was too little opportunity for members to ask questions, and to obtain and impart information on important and on minor subjects bearing on the Academy and its work. To meet this want, social evenings like the present would be provided.

The College Letter was accordingly read.

After the reading the Chancellor stated that the request at the end of the Letter, not to show the mwlv wl[v [in the original publication the Hebrew charcters for "sh'lw shlwm" are included] to others than members, or to sing it in the presence of others, was made in accordance with the general principle followed by the Academy from its beginning: that the things belonging to the Academy as a body, as a brotherhood, are to be considered private, not secret, as in any family which is prudent and wise certain things are not spoken of to people outside of the family, but are kept private. They are proper to the family, and do not belong to others. So is it with us. It is of prudence and of wisdom to observe this principle. For the observance of the privacy of our concerns will guard us from misapprehension and misrepresentation on the part of our opponents, and will thus prevent disturbances and infestations. Again, kindly consideration for the feelings of others will prompt the same observance. There are persons naturally and socially connected with us who, if Academy matters are talked about in their presence, feel excluded, as if we kept ourselves separate from them. This causes feelings which it is not well to excite, and which may be injurious to the sphere of activity and the progress of the body. Therefore we had better reserve all remarks and allusions concerning the internal affairs of the body for Academy meetings, and not speak of them in the presence of others. Let us be careful, prudent, and charitable, by withholding statements of things which may cause unpleasant feelings. It is necessary to cultivate reticence, especially in the present conditions of the world and of the Church. The Academy is not received with favor, but with antagonism, and casual remarks made by its members may, as they have in the past, be misrepresented, and cause the spreading of ideas altogether wrong. Our uses cost time, and we ought not to be compelled to go out of our sphere of uses to answer misrepresentations of this kind, which, when made, may need to be answered. This subject will be treated of more fully in one of the College Letters.

"Our affairs are not secret, we do not make efforts at concealment; our affairs are private, especially certain transactions which it is our duty to keep to ourselves. We are now in the endeavor, spending time and pains, to give information concerning the meetings, also concerning the work of the Council and of the College. We desire that such information may come directly from us to those concerned, and not indirectly."

The Chancellor, who, by virtue of his office, presides over the Council's Board of Finance, announced that the Board had bought a new property on Wallace Street, containing several buildings which may be so altered that they will prove just what we need for our schools. We can have the students and pupils all together under the eye of Professors and Teachers. The buildings, besides affording opportunities for convenient arrangement for all school purposes, will also enable us to hold meetings of the Academy. We shall thus have a common place of meeting without being under the necessity of inconveniencing our friends. Our friends may continue, as heretofore, to invite the Academy to meet at their houses, but when this is not convenient for them we can meet in our own rooms, not only for business, but also for the enjoyment of Academical feasts of charity, and like purposes. We shall likewise have a place for the safe deposit of our archives and for the meetings of the Council and of the College.

The central sphere of such buildings will be very helpful in many ways.

The plot of ground on which the buildings stand runs from Wallace Street on the south to North Street on the north, one hundred and eighty feet. The frontage on Wallace Street, occupied by the main building, is forty feet; that on North Street, occupied by a tenant house and stable, is sixty feet. Between the two groups of buildings is a generous play-ground. The main building, which is three stories in height, and has a mansard roof in addition, will be devoted to the Library, Theological School, College, Girls' School, and Infants' School. The stable, which will undergo extensive alterations, will be occupied by the Boys' School. The tenant house is for the janitor and his family. All the buildings are of brick, with brownstone fronts.

The company now formed into groups for conversation. Occasionally some one would talk to the entire assemblage, and thus additional topics of conversation were introduced. Thus a letter from the Rev. F. Görwitz, of Switzerland, telling about the state of the Church in that country and in Germany and Austria, was read.

Mr. Pitcairn made some suggestions as to the air of secrecy with which some members invest their attendance on the Academy meetings. He said that they ought not to try to conceal the fact that they are going. They need not make it known, but if they are asked about it they can answer that they are attending a meeting of the Academy, but what is said and done at the meeting ought to be kept private.

Mr. George G. Starkey suggested that such matters ought not be mentioned unnecessarily.

In answer to the question, what answer should be given if one were asked whether he was a member of the Academy? the Chancellor answered, "Yes;" and whether some one else was a member? "Yes."

The Rev. Louis H. Tafel spoke of the undesirableness of showing to others the list of members. We should be cautious, and keep it under lock and key. The list is not to be in the hands of any one. Nor will it be desirable to have it so for some time to come. Because the list is for the private use of members, it has no heading to indicate of what class of people it is the "Manual of Addresses."

As to the picture of the loving-cup, the Chancellor stated that members may hang it up in their rooms. It need not be shown to people, but if they see it and ask what it is, they may be told that it is the loving-cup of the Academy. While its use may be in general explained, its history ought not be given.

After enjoying the delights of conversation for some time, the assembly adjourned to the dining-room.

REMOVAL TO WALLACE STREET BUILDINGS. top

THE Library and the Schools were removed to the new building from April 25th to 28th, and the first sessions of school were held there on the 30th day of April, on which occasion the Chancellor made a short address, in which he spoke of the building as being a temporary home of the Academy; that the Council is looking forward to erecting permanent buildings in the not far distant future. We are, as it were, encamped—not yet in a condition to inhabit a fixed habitation. He alluded to the fact that a part of the school had moved from that building (the school-house on Cherry Street, between Twentieth and Twenty-first) which in this city and in this country, yea, on earth, had been the first in which the work of education lead been carried on in the acknowledgment of the LORD in His Second Coming—in the acknowledgment that the objects taught and the manner of teaching them must be from the LORD in His Second Coming in the Writings of the New Church. This was a thought for the scholars to bear with them throughout their life. They were among the first who had received specific and distinctive New Church education. They should carry the sphere of the work with them here in the uses which they would perform in life, and hereafter.

He urged upon them, while abiding in this temporary habitation, which he likened to the tabernacle in the wilderness, to be attentive and obedient, to be among themselves as in a family, kindly, brotherly, unselfish, thinking of others as of themselves, or more than of themselves.

MEETING DURING CONVENTION. top

DURING the meeting of the General Convention in Detroit last June, members of the Academy in attendance on Convention met informally at the Brunswick Hotel, where a delightful evening was spent in discussing various matters in connection with the Convention. Ten members were present, five Councilors, three Collegiates, and two Associates, one of the latter being the wife of one of the Collegiates.

CLOSING EXERCISES OF SCHOOLS, JUNE, 1887. top

THE closing exercises of the schools were of more than usual interest. Three days were devoted to them, June 15th, 16th, and 17th.

ON June 15th, all the students excepting the graduates read essays which they had prepared. Only the professors and teachers of the schools were invited. As each student finished his essay, the Chancellor commented on the style and subject-matter, and generally made a few remarks in further explanation of the subject treated of. The essays were a surprise to all present, and some of them will be published in the Life from time to time.

ON the 16th day of June the boys', girls', and infants' schools held their closing exercises in the presence of teachers and parents. The exercises consisted of an English song, a recitation by one of the boys, a dialogue written by the larger boys, in which they gave a sketch of their school-life and of what they had learned during the past year, a French song by the larger girls, the Ten Blessings in Greek by the same girls, the LORD's Prayer in Greek by the entire school, the Ten Commandments in Hebrew by the same, a Hebrew anthem (Psalm cxviii, 21-24) by the same, a Hebrew chant (Psalm cxxi), and a German song. Between the chant and the anthem a special ceremony took place. The Head Master read the descriptive part of the glorification of the LORD on account of His Coming (C. L. 81, T. C. R. 625) while the boys, the infants, the girls, and then the whole school, successively rose and recited the verses quoted as having been sung by the angels of the various heavens and of all the heavens.

This exercise had been arranged as a surprise to the Chancellor. Upon its conclusion, Professor Tafel advanced to the Chancellor, and spoke of the usefulness of bringing together the various departments of the schools in these closing exercises. We could thereby better realize the work which is before the Academy in its application to the education of the little children even till they are young men and young women. The work is as yet in its beginning, in the germ, but there has been some development. It is a great work that lies before us, but systematic plans for accomplishing it have been devised and laid down. We are about to acknowledge the work done by the LORD by presenting a token of acknowledgment to the Chancellor, who more than any other has labored in this work.

Here Professor Tafel exposed to view a copy of the Word of the Old Testament in Hebrew, beautifully bound, and arranged according to the Canon of the New Church. This had been selected as a representative token of the subject of the Chancellor's teachings. Professor Tafel explained that the old Testament in this form was one of the works of the Academy, as it was through its exertions that the Word in the Hebrew may now be obtained purified from the parts not belonging to the Word, and with its component Books in their true order. He asked the Chancellor to accept it as a slight token of the acknowledgment of the high use he is performing, and of the love of the children, students, and teachers who had united in presenting it.

The Chancellor: "Mr. Tafel and Mr. Headmaster, I have passed from one surprise to another, and the last is greater than the first. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot accept anything for myself. For the kindness and good-will shown by you, I thank the LORD. I see in this, as in the other exercises of these days, the evidence of the union of spirit which animates the schools; there is in them one end, one object, one will, one purpose, one thought, which can come from the LORD alone.

"One of the scholars at the close of the dialogue expressed the sentiment that they would do better in the coming term, and give more pleasure to their teachers. To this let me add, more pleasure to their parents and to the angels above, and thus to the LORD, in seeing that His Will is done on earth as in the heavens.

"In your exercises I have observed and felt that you were all becoming united more and more day by day. When I heard the one harmonious sound of the voices of the children reciting from the Word, singing from the Word, and responding from the Word to the reading of what has come down from the LORD, I thought of the teaching concerning what all must pass through to be prepared for their uses here and hereafter; I thought of the training into choirs in heaven, to the end that all may think and act as one and in harmony, from love to the LORD and in charity to the neighbor.

"This copy of the Word in the original, written by the LORD by Divine dictate; preserved by Him among men that He might be present among them; the Word from which you sang, and from which the angels also sing and glorify the LORD, leads me to think of one thing in the work of the Academy, the presentation of the Word of the LORD, as the LORD Himself, appearing out of it, transfigured before His New Church, His face shining as the sun, His garments white as the light, and His presence now and evermore in this His appearing.

"In Him and from Him alone is life. If we love Him, we shall do His commandments. If we do His commandments, we shall live in love one to another. If we so live, we shall do what is right, and true, and just, and honest, and sincere, one to another. In this manner we shall stand together united in the Heart of the Word, in the Divine Heart of the LORD, for the sum and substance of the Divine Life is love of the LORD and of the Wisdom proceeding from Him. Every truth in the Holy Word leads to this. Every teaching drawn out of it opens more clearly the path of duty in doing this, in loving one another.

"The purpose of the Academy is to establish on earth an institution of the New Church, in which the first word shall be the acknowledgment of the LORD, and every successive word shall be a living prayer that the Word given in His commandments, in His blessings, and in His prayer, may be fulfilled. If we enter into prayer in the acknowledgment of Him as the Father in the heavens, and seek His Presence in every thought, affection, word, and act, His prayer will be fulfilled. The Word is to live in and also out of us; it is to be planted in our hearts and to appear in our acts. The LORD is to be present in our midst, and we are to gather together in His Name, and to ask for the fulfillment of His Promise.

"The Academy designed this in the establishment of its schools. This is the one purpose and end to which its energies are devoted.

"We have come to this termination of our school year, and you have come to tell us that this step has been taken, and to assure us that something has been done, that preparation has been made for the future, that the school has been for you a real school of the LORD's. He alone is the source of Light, Intelligence, and Life. If you have been led to acknowledge this, you have been prepared to go forward, as you advance in life, in the doing of His Will here on earth as in heaven. Go forward from Him, according to the Truth."

Before the final close of the exercises, a little wooden church in which the girls and infants had deposited their mites for the Orphanage was opened. One of the boys also presented the Council with a photograph of the former Summer Street school building, which he had taken with his camera, as he had heard that the Council wished to preserve such photographs in the archives.

ON June 17th the graduation exercises were held in the church on Cherry Street. The essays read by the three graduates and the Chancellor's address are being published in the Life.

ON the evening of the same day the Council gave a supper in honor of the graduates. In evidence of the LORD's favor of the order and principles of the Academy it is worthy of mention that on all special occasions the number of those present have, without prearrangement, been of a good correspondence. So on this occasion twelve were present, and, indeed, in four groups of three each—three ministers (members of the Faculty), three lay members of the Council, three graduates, and three undergraduates. The graduates were crowned by the Chancellor with wreaths of flowers. The supper was of great importance, as it contributed not a little to that spirit of unity between all parts of the Academy, and between it and its students, which lies so deeply at the Chancellor's heart.

THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION. top

THE 19th day of June being a Sunday, services were conducted in the House of Worship of the Advent Society by the Chancellor, assisted by Pastors Tafel and Schreck. The sermon delivered by Pastor Tafel will probably be published in the Life for June, 1888.

ON the following day, the 20th, the annual celebration of the Academy was, on invitation of Councilor Glenn, held at Paul Brook, Pennsylvania, distant about fourteen miles from the new Academy buildings.

The day was perfect, and the place very well adapted to the purpose. In front of the lawn stood a magnificent old elm, whose trunk was about five feet in diameter. The Chancellor's chair and table were placed in front of this, while the chairs of members were placed in concentric semicircles on the lawn (which sloped upward toward the porch of the house) and on the porch itself.

At about 12 o'clock, the Chancellor opened the meeting. Associates John A. Wells and Arthur C. V. Schott, as Presenters, entered with Miss Rose L. Klein and Miss Annie M. Klein, daughters of Associate Klein, of Brooklyn, Candidates for reception into the Academy; and Collegiates Campbell and Schreck, as Presenters, with Associates Henry Schill and George G. Starkey, Candidates for inauguration into the College.

After all had knelt and offered up the LORD's PRAYER, the Presenters and Candidates advanced. The Chancellor read Psalm cii. The Presenters read Psalm cxxxviii. The Chancellor then read True Christian Religion, n. 108. This was followed by the Presenters reading responsively with the Chancellor Psalm xcvii. The Assembly chanted Psalm cxxiii, whereupon the first two Presenters addressed the Chancellor as follows:

"We, Associate Members of the Academy of the New Church, at the request of the Council of the Academy, present to you for reception into this Body of the LORD's New Church Miss Annie M. Klein and Miss Rose L. Klein, to the end that they may be joined with us in all the privileges and duties of membership in the same."

The Chancellor addressed the two Candidates as follows:

"You have been selected by the Council, and invited to attend this meeting in order that you may be received as members of the Academy of the New Church. To the end that you may more fully understand the nature of the step you are about to take, it will be necessary to give you some further instruction concerning the objects and order of the body into which you are about to enter.

"The Academy of the New Church is founded on the acknowledgment of the LORD in His Second Advent, as He appears in the Writings of the New Church, which are His Writings. By the Heavenly Doctrine contained in these Writings the LORD forms and institutes the New Church, understood by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, and on the basis of the full acknowledgment of this doctrine the Academy is a Church before the LORD, in the natural world.

"The LORD appears in His Divine Human in the Writings for the New Church, and to the end that He may be known and seen in His appearing, it is a first duty of the members of the Church to read often and to reflect deeply on the Doctrines which reveal Him in His Coming. To the performance of this first duty the Academy never ceases to invite all its members; and to the performance of the second duty, that follows hard on the first, the duty of doing the uses which are the ends of its existence, the Academy prays the LORD to ever hold it firm and steadfast. As a body, the Academy is a student of the LORD's Writings, that from them it may learn the words of Truth given for the instruction of men, and be prepared to teach all who would learn. This internal of the Academy's life has come forth in the establishment of schools, as its use of charity or love to the neighbor. In these schools young men are to be trained and prepared to instruct others in the Heavenly Doctrines of the Second Coming, and children of both sexes are to be imbued with the truths of those Doctrines, and to be led into all natural sciences and knowledges as seen and understood in the light of those Doctrines. The distinctive truth impressed upon all is that the Doctrine of the New Church is the LORD's Word to all men who will receive it, and that as the Word is the LORD Himself, that it is the LORD now present in the world, in the fulfillment of His Divine promises, and speaking to men in a form accommodated to their states, the words of life. The Divine Fact of the LORD's Presence is with us and before us in the Books written by Him through His servant Swedenborg, in the truths of which Books He appears out of the letter of His Word, transformed in His own DIVINE HUMAN, from which proceeds all truth and good for the salvation of the human race. In no other place can we seek our LORD, and be true to Him and to His Church.

"From this fundamental acknowledgment of the LORD in His Second Coming have sprung the uses and the organization of the Academy. They exist for us in the Writings of the Church—from these we have derived them, and from the study of these we hope to perfect them.

"All order appears in the human form, as in its very type. Heaven is in this form in the whole and in all its parts, from the greatest to the least. The Church, which is to be Heaven on Earth, is to begin and to grow more and more into the order of the human form, so that it may be a man before the LORD, composed of men, who are in the image and likeness of the LORD. This order we have designed to embody in the organization of the Academy, according to which the Council takes the place and performs the functions of the head, the College acts as the Chest containing the heart and lungs, and the Associate membership is as the extremities and cutaneous envelope of the whole. To the Council belongs the government of the body, including the selection of members; to the College, the duty of assisting the Council when called upon, in financial matters, in active performance of the various uses of the Academy, in the selection of members, in the care of orphans, etc.; and to the Associate members the duty of sustaining the College and the Council by spiritual and moral co-operation, by pecuniary aid, by support of intelligent word and deed, and by furnishing continually a supply of active agents and workers, from among whom shall proceed the constituent members of the other parts of the body, as the needs of the Academy may require.

"From this general view of the organization of the body let me pass to a rule of action governing our procedure. I refer to this because it is important, and because it has been misunderstood by members and others, and also because it has from forgetfulness ceased to receive as much regard as it deserves to have. The Academy has been looked upon as a Secret Society, because it has not printed, published, and proclaimed its order, organization, and deliberations. The Academy is a composite human body, governed by certain principles, and performing certain uses. The governing principles of the Academy have been published to the world; the uses of the Academy are known, or may be known, of all men, but the particulars of the order of the Academy, its counsels, modes of operation, and the like belong to the economy of the body, which is not exposed on the surface but carried on within. Like the functional action of the brain, the heart and lungs, these things are private, but not secret, in the sense of intentional secretion, but in the sense of that true and orderly seclusion which alone secures to the individual man any real freedom of acting according to his own reason. The condition of human society requires that every individual, and every body of individuals, engaged in the performance of uses, should observe a wise prudence and circumspection in respect to the things that enter into the rational determination of what is done and of what is to be done. The mental and moral processes of every human life are altogether private; their relation is entirely subject to individual judgment and determination; and their privacy may not be invaded by extraneous clamor or violence without a destruction of that freedom which is essential to all true human existence. The Academy does not seek or desire to interfere in any manner with the affairs of any other body of the Church, as it permits no interference with its own special affairs by other bodies or by individuals. The Academy holds to the Divine rule of charity: 'As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise'—a law which, like all other Divine laws, has a negative and a positive force. As we are enjoined to protect others against our evils by shunning those evils as sins, so are we also enjoined to protect ourselves against the evils of others by closing the doors to their entrance. Obedience to the one form of the injunction is as necessary to the just fulfillment of the rule as is obedience to the other form. And obedience to the LORD, in the fear of the LORD, is the beginning of wisdom.

"Passing to another point that has respect to our procedure, I remark that the selection of members of the Academy is three-fold, and in this it resembles the appropriation of food by the human body. New members first come within the sphere of the Academy's life and work, and are there discovered and entertained as persons in whom is perceived a sympathetic intelligence and affection. As they draw gradually nearer this first unconscious selection becomes conscious and takes form in thought and in further association. Coming to the attention of the College or of the Council, a more particular acquaintance is sought, leading to some conclusion in respect to the acceptance by such persons of the principles of the Academy and of their preparation for membership. This conclusion is finally considered and acted on by the Council, and if unanimously accepted then follows the last selection, which results in such an act as is about to be performed and in which the whole body takes part, and in which is openly manifested the unanimous life of the whole, engaged in the act of assimilating to itself the new nourishment provided by the LORD.

"The analogy of this procedure to the process of receiving and assimilating food to the natural body and also to the spiritual body is manifest. All food material first comes within the external sphere of the body's activity and is prepared to be eaten, is then taken into the digestive organs, but is not appropriated to the bodily life and incorporated into that life until under the investigation and determination of the brain fluids it is found to be in correspondence with the state of the affections ruling in the body. The last selection decides the question of homogeneity, and thus of final assimilation and use."

The Chancellor having asked the candidates whether they were now prepared to accept, freely and voluntarily, the selection of the Council, and having received a reply in the affirmative, proceeded to receive them into associate membership in the usual form. After the benediction, the Hebrew Hallelujah was sung.

MESSRS. Henry Schill and George G. Starkey were then introduced, and presented for installation into the College of the Academy.

The Chancellor, after a brief address to the candidates, setting forth the special uses and duties of their office, and exhorting to a study of the principles governing those uses, and a prudent and judicious performance of them, installed the candidates named into the College according to the usual form.

The benediction, followed by the anthem mwlv wl[v, [in the original publication the Hebrew charcters for "sh'lw shlwm" are included] closed the ceremonies of the day.

AFTER the inauguration ceremony was over, the members marched around the tree in twos, singing a song in memory of the Decennial, while our host counted them. Forty-seven members were present, but at noon another came who had missed the first train, thus making the number forty-eight.

THE tables for the common feast were set on the lawn, at the side of the house, a number of members sitting on the veranda that ran along the house.

At about three P. M. the first toast, "The New Church," was proposed, the Academy singing the mwlv wl[v [in the original publication the Hebrew charcters for "sh'lw shlwm" are included] in response.

Shortly after, Councillor Pitcairn announced that an important ceremony was to be performed. The Loving-Cup was to be used for the first time at a general meeting of the Academy. The Cup was accordingly brought forth from the rich red silk-plush bag, in which it is kept, and filled with champagne. The toast was "The Academy of the New Church." As the Cup passed from mouth to mouth the assembly, on their feet, sang, repeatedly, "Our Own Academy" and "Vive l' Académie."

The Chancellor read the following telegrams:

"Right Rev. W. H. Benade:
"Loving greetings to the Academy, the truest representative of the New Jerusalem. May she prosper forever.
Your brother and sister,
"SAMUEL S. AND MARY M. CARPENTER."
"CINCINNATI, June 18th, 1887.

"Rev. W. H. Benade
" Heartiest congratulations to the new members of our beloved Academy. Vive l' Académie!
"THE REMAINS OF BROOKLYN."
"BROOKLYN, June 20th.

The "remains" were Mr. and Mrs. Muhlert and Mrs. Dick, the other four Brooklyn members being in attendance on the meeting.

Copies of the following card, written in gilt letters, were passed around the table:
"19th June, 118.
"We wish you a happy and prosperous New Year.
"Yours affectionately,
"WILLIAM GIBBS,
"MARY ANN GIBBS,
"KATE GIBBS.
"Vive l' Académie!"

Councilor Pitcairn read the following extract of a letter written to him by Councilor Pendleton, who was conducting the celebrations in Chicago, having proceeded thither from the Convention meeting at Detroit:

"We held a meeting last night to dedicate Mr. and Mrs. Seymour Nelson's new home, into which they have just moved. The house belongs to Mr. Swain Nelson and has just been newly fitted up, and is quite snug and cozy. We followed in general the ceremony used by the Bishop in dedicating your home. It proved to be quite a delightful occasion, and a rather striking feature were congratulations to the couple, which, they said, made them feel as if they were being married over again. Another pleasant feature was the formal presentation to them of a set of the Arcana, on behalf of the Nelson family, which seemed quite appropriate to the occasion.

"I suppose that you have heard particulars of the late Convention. There seemed to be in this Convention, what I had not noticed so much before, a sort of unconscious recognition of the Bishop as the superior mind of the Convention, and a consequent greater deference to his opinion, and with it was a recognition of the General Church of Pennsylvania as a power in the Church." (Here the assemblage, raising their glasses on high, joined in a "Vive l' Académie.") The letter continues:

"This does not indicate that our fighting is over by any means, but we shall, probably, in the future fight on more equal terms than before. A remark of Mr. McGeorge to Messrs. Bostock and Hugh Burnham, however, indicates what we may have to fear when the Bishop passes away and we are deprived of his leadership, viz.: that 'after there are some funerals, the Academy and the rest of the Church would get along very well together."' (Here the assemblage gave three groans.) "They probably consider the Bishop the greatest obstacle to what they regard as harmony, and when he is gone it may require a very great exercise of prudence on our part to meet the advances which they will probably make. But we all hope that this is an event not near at hand"—(the assemblage sings, "So say we all of us")—"and that the younger ones of us may have a length of time to acquire wisdom for the emergencies of the future."

The Toast-Master proposed "The Academy in Chicago," to which response was made in the form of an Eu'ge [in the original publication the Greek charcters for "Euge" are included].

THE order of the day was next announced, the first toast of which was:
"The duty of the Academy in its educational use and ministry to the external New Church among men."

To this the Chancellor responded:

"The Academy acknowledges but one Church, the LORD's New Church. Of this Church the Academy is a part. The Church is internal and external. The principles of the Academy are internal of the Church, and from them we must view the condition of the Church around us, and determine our relation to the same.

"The Academy has now completed its eleventh year; one year ago we celebrated its Decennial. It appears as if that Celebration formed the completion of a certain state of the Academy's life. From later manifestations we are led to conclude that the Academy, having passed through that state, has now come to a point at which we can and need to consider more closely the proceeding of internals into externals, of principles into ultimates. This idea has suggested to-day's series of toasts.

"The Academy exists as a part of the LORD's New Church. In this Church it performs an educational function. All societies in heaven are forms of use and perform the functions of their uses on earth. Common loves of use give rise to societies of men, which freely assume the functions proper to their uses.

"The Academy has chosen the educational use. Of this we must obtain a clear, conscious conception, in order that we may understand our functions. We are not to regard this as simply a use of the Academy, but as the use which gives form to the body, and in the performance of which exists that body's ultimate activity."

(At this point a shower came down upon the assembled guests, which caused some to rise and seek shelter, but the gentle shower lasted only a short while, and from its very nature was looked upon more as the "fruitful shower" of which the Word speaks, and as a token of Divine promise concerning the fulfillment of what the Chancellor was saying.) The Chancellor continued:

"I wish to impress this upon the minds of members, so that we may see and acknowledge our use and ministry in the Church, and devote to it our lives with full purpose and intention. Like an individual, every body of men ought to assume its work freely, and perform it as a duty to the LORD.

"We cannot be wrong in taking upon ourselves the doing of what we consider to be right. Let us understand that our duty to the LORD and to the Church is the performance of the educational use.

"This use takes a great variety of forms. The highest of all is theological, because theology concerns man's spiritual life; and, when we enter upon the work, believing that it is our use to instruct—"

(Here a peal of thunder was heard above our heads—by no means of a terrifying nature, and its quality, and the occasion when it was heard, reminded us that in the spiritual world thunder is a sign of Divine confirmation of what is being said. Remarks to this effect were made, and the Chancellor was also impressed with the same thought, and said:)

"It is my abiding conviction that this is the living use of the Academy, and that we are associated with those in the spiritual world who are there appointed by the LORD to engage in the same ministry."

(Here the same kind of thunder was repeated.)

"We cannot do less than learn of the LORD and instruct others for the salvation of human souls. When we see that this is our duty, the question will present itself: What must we do first, in order to be prepared to perform our use? First and last and always, we must bow humbly before the LORD, and acknowledge Him as the sole source of good and truth, of life, ability, and power. Of ourselves we are nothing. We can only offer ourselves as means in His hands to perform the work which He has given us to do in this His Second Advent.

"It is the work of evanglizing for the establishment of a New and Crowning Church, in which men are to be saved, and the heavens to be perfected in their order, by the establishment of corresponding forms in this world upon which they may rest.

"In the light of this idea let us look at our duty, first to the New Church, and then to the whole community, to its moral condition, to its civil condition, to science and literature, to the arts and industries. On this ground the New Church must ultimately stand. Let her position be declared with no uncertain sound. The truth is to be repeated again and again, that the Old Church is dead, and that all the influences operating through that Church are from hell, and that so far as they prevail, the human race is injured and destroyed. It is the LORD's Will that we shall teach this truth, not only as to things theological, but also as to things moral and civil and scientific. Whatever inflows through the moral way of the Old Church is from hell, and only through the New Church can true morality be restored. So is it with things civil. Men would have us believe that the democratic form of government is from heaven. Day by day do I become more fully convinced that this idea is infernally false. The government of the Church is a government of the LORD, by the wise, and not of the people. We are told by those who claim to be wise that power resides in the ultimates, with the people. But the power is from the LORD. That power manifests itself as forces in forms, and by these forms He exercises His power. The forms must be organized. His power cannot be exercised by an unorganized mass. The people of themselves are not organized, but by the Truth learned and received by them an order is established among the people, and an ultimate plane is thus formed into which the Divine can inflow. The power is then not from the people, but from the LORD by the people. This principle is also illustrated by the influx into the moral and civil planes and into literature.

"As members of the Academy we must see that these principles are carried into every plane and sphere of life into which it is carried by the LORD. The LORD is in the midst of us in His teachings which He has given to us from the heavens. We are under the responsibility to Him to do our duty as men, not blindly, but rationally. For His Revelation is not as formerly through blind agents, but it is spoken through a man whom He Himself prepared to see the Divine things of the Divine Love and Wisdom and Power in the spiritual and thence in the natural world, so that it might be brought to earth, and here be rationally developed and formed into forms of intelligence into which He may inflow to do His will among men who are men, because they receive the human from Him. Such a man the Academy is to be in the sight of the LORD; and every one of us must pray and work to become such a man in particular. He is never a man who does not rationally perform his duty and go forward without fear of consequences, doing what he sees to be right, according to the LORD's Will."

(Another shower having caused the entire assembly to leave the tables and resort to the front porch, the Chancellor there concluded his speech.)

"In conclusion, let me repeat the suggestion that the time has come for us to consider all these matters in a more practical bearing on things around us and within our body. We are of the world and within it; but we must begin at home, in order that we may extend our ministry to the men of the New Church, and to the world around."

THE next toast: "How to exercise the functions of this ministry in the spiritual things of the Church," was responded to by Councilor Tafel, who said:

"The twelve apostles of the LORD were sent out throughout the whole spiritual world to proclaim the gospel that the LORD reigneth. This same doctrine is promulgated this afternoon in its application to the ministry of the New Church.

"It might seem as if there were no need of such evangelization among New Churchmen, as if the man of the New Church, and especially the minister of the New Church, ought to have no doubt that the LORD JESUS CHRIST reigneth, and that His commandments should be obeyed. But experience at the last meeting of Convention showed that the prevailing opinion in Convention is that New Churchmen may do what they please without reference to what the Doctrines teach. Leading ministers and laymen agreed in this opinion, and if such men can be said to have anything of the Church in them, they need a great deal of instruction as yet concerning their proper attitude to the LORD, and to the Writings in which He is present among us.

"What we need to teach them is this very simple maxim: What the LORD has commanded must be altogether believed and done. Our visit to Convention has been of use to us in showing us how far the External Church in general is yet from recognizing this principle. In the circle formed among ourselves we take it for granted that what the LORD teaches must be accepted and done without question, and we lose sight of the actual state of the New Church at large. Thus at the last Convention a woman was admitted as a delegate, to take her seat with the men and act as one of them, and this although the Divine Law has repeatedly stated that man's duties are forensic and woman's are domestic. They acted in effect as though they would say, 'We can do what we please; what the LORD says on the subject concerns us not.' If the Doctrine had been quoted as it is given in the letter of the Word, 'There shall not be the garment of a man upon a woman, nor the garment of a woman upon a man, because this is abomination' (Deut. xxii, 5), they would, perhaps, have hesitated to violate the law, for they acknowledge the letter, but not the spirit.

"When we go to Convention, we must be prepared to instruct, we must recognize that it is a thing necessary to argue with them—that what the LORD has taught must be studied, found out, and obeyed. This is our first educational duty to the external Church.

"This duty holds as to the innumerable particulars in respect to which the Doctrines are not acknowledged and obeyed. We ought to insist that what has been commanded should be done, and we ought also to insist on time being taken for the consideration of the principles bearing on a subject before action is taken on it. To the Convention this seems a waste of time, and we must educate it in this respect also. Mere persistence in teaching what is true carries a great deal of weight with it. We must not only vote right, but also speak right, repeating the Truth again and again, that the Truth may make more impression, and that the members of the Church may learn that what the LORD has commanded must be studied, investigated, and done.

"The question of the priesthood is the most important one before the Church at present. This question was kept on a low plane in Convention, and, indeed, was dragged into the dust and the dirt. The Chancellor, alone at the time, raised the trumpet-sound of Truth, and although he is not the most popular man in Convention, he was the one who was most vigorously applauded.

"The priesthood is the representative of the LORD. Its function is to find out His teaching, and to proclaim it and insist on its being carried out. The representative quality of the priesthood must be acknowledged, so that through its teaching and leading the LORD's Will may be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

"The subject of the priesthood is one of the burning questions at present also among the Germans. They are accustomed to think and speak of hierarchy and prelacy in a contemptuous way. It is new to them when they are shown that the priesthood is the representative of the LORD, making present among men the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. It is our duty to make this prominent until by persistent teaching it is acknowledged and recognized as something to be acknowledged and acted upon.

"Whenever questions come up it is our duty to stand up as representatives of the Divine Truth, of 'Thus saith the LORD.'"

THE clearing of the sky induced the greater part of the assembly to move out on the lawn. This intermission enabled the Toast-Master, Councilor Pitcairn, to introduce a toast not on the written programme. All the toasts except the one to the Academy had been drank in individual glasses. Raising the Loving-Cup, the Toast-Master read the inscription: "'This Loving-Cup was first used at the celebration of the Seventieth Anniversary of the birth of our First and Beloved Chancellor, William H. Benade, October 3d, 1886." He recollected their regret that every member could not take part in the toast to the Chancellor on the occasion of the dedication of the Cup. But at this general meeting every one was to have the opportunity of drinking this toast. He asked Councilor Tafel to begin.

While the Cup went round from member to member, they sang, "Hoch soll er leben," "May our dear Chancellor," "Oh! never by Thee," and "The Chancellor's March," while toward the east in the sky a beautiful rainbow made its appearance.

The Toast-Master's toast led the Chancellor to propose another, which, as the champagne had given out, was drank in brandy.

The Chancellor referred to the bow of promise in the sky, and spoke of the LORD's Church, existing by the Truth from Him. We should rejoice in the appearance of every form of Divine order as a form of the Divine Truth. He wished to toast the new recipient form of Divine Truth which had made its appearance in the Academy—"Vera"—and prayed for the blessing of the LORD on the babe, on the mother (whom severe illness prevented attending the meeting), and on the father.

To this the assembly responded by singing, "May Heaven's Choicest Blessings," and other appropriate songs.

THE next toast in order:
"How to exercise the functions of the Academy's educational use and ministry in respect to the moral things of human life. The Family," was

Responded to by Collegiate Schreck, who spoke of the importance of morality, and referred to the Doctrine in the Arcana Cœlestia:

"The first state of the New Church is such, that first of all the LORD is unknown to them, but still because they live in the good of charity, and as to civil life in the just and equitable, and as to moral life in the honorable and decorous, they are such that the LORD can be with them, for the presence of the LORD with man is in good, and, therefore, in the just and equitable, and further in the honorable and decorous. Honorableness is the complex of all moral virtues, Decorum is only its form. For these are the goods which succeed in order, and are planes with man, upon which by the LORD is founded conscience and consequently intelligence and wisdom; but they who are not in them, namely from the heart or the affection, in them there cannot be inseminated anything of heaven, there is no plane, consequently no ground, thus no recipient; and because there cannot be inseminated anything of heaven, the LORD cannot be present there; the presence of the LORD is predicated according to good, that is, according to the quality of good, the quality of good according to the state of innocence, love, and charity, in which the truths of faith are implanted, or can be implanted."
—A. C. 2915.

"The LORD can thus be present with those who are in the good of charity, and who live, as to civil life, in the just and equitable, and, as to moral life, in the honorable and decorous—even though He is unknown to them. This is the soil in which the Church can be implanted, and it is prepared by the LORD with those adults to whom the Church will come, and with children who are being reared for the Church. It is our duty to co-operate with the LORD in this.

"This is their first state. Afterward, when the Church has been established, the moral life is the life of true charity, in which is the spiritual life, the life of love to God. (D. W. xi.)

"It is, then, necessary to teach the precepts of morality and to lead to the moral virtues: for those who are in first states, that it may form in them a basis and a preparation; and for those who are in the Church, that they may the better live the life of charity to the neighbor.

"The LORD must be in this work of education, and He is in it if we first of all go to Him, acknowledging our ignorance and our weakness, and learn from Him at His Second Coming the laws which He has revealed on the subject, and pray for strength to keep them and act according to them.

"How little are these laws known! Hardly the first thing! And yet the little that is known is the main substance of New Church preaching. Little of spiritual truth is taught, for the LORD is not yet known. Although he is present among us in the glory of His Second Coming, He is not yet acknowledged in the New Church. In the Academy's work of educating the young, we have made a beginning of a systematic study of the moral virtues, and are realizing more and more the necessity of educating the young to cultivate these virtues. Without them, without being drilled in honorableness and decorum, all their instruction in science will be of no real value.

"Our experience in Convention has shown us a sad lack in it of honor and decorum, a lack most marked in the conduct of the President and of the Vice-President. We must insist when attending Convention on the observance of honor and decorum, and on this as on other planes we must let no mistaken considerations restrain us, as representatives of the LORD, to proclaim clearly and fearlessly the LORD's Will and the rulings of His Wisdom.

"The want in the Church of the recognition and observance of true morality is shown in the treatment of the Work on Conjugial Love, the Second Part of which is rejected and the First Part little read. Swedenborg in a letter says of it that it 'does not treat of theology but chiefly of morals.' It should be used as our text-book on morals, for there we are taught how man can be raised out of evils which are of all the most immoral. But the part which treats of this exposition of the Divine Mercy, and of our duty in co-operating with it, is rejected by the external New Church, because New Church people are under the persuasion—and we are all inclined to it—that man is good. The truth is, we are in hell, but we are loth to believe it. We keep our minds fixed on the promise that 'conjunctions with those who are similar and homogeneous' are 'provided on earth' 'for those who from youth have loved, have wished, and have asked of the LORD a legitimate and lovely connection with one,' but we pass lightly over the further teaching that such love and wish and prayer involves the 'scorning and shunning of wandering lusts.' (C. L. 49.) We are prone to 'wandering lusts,' to all forms of adultery, and the evils that spring from this fundamental evil; and we must recognize this, and be wise and prudent, loving and obedient, by learning the LORD's Way out of the hell in which we are, and the successive steps of that way, and then by fearlessly co-operating with the LORD by treading that way and leading others to ascend it, that we may reach that conjunction with the LORD from which is conjugial love.

"And where the as yet unsubdued evil loves manifest themselves in any one who in the true sense of the word is our neighbor, let us be patient with him as we would be patient with ourselves, and have others be patient with us. Let us exercise true charity, follow the LORD in this as in everything else, by having regard to our neighbor's intention. As neighbor let us have faith in his sincere endeavor to shun his evils, and let us love that in him. When his evils appear, let us make light of them, and not dwell on them, and we will help him to put them away. Pre-eminently is this the attitude that every one should assume toward his own consort; honor and decorum both demand it, and as each consort does his or her part and helps the other, conjugial love will enter, and a centre formed for the inflow of celestial, spiritual, and moral loves. It is also the attitude to be assumed toward the children which the LORD has committed to us as parents or as teachers. Not that their evils should be ignored. When grievous they must be punished, and thus through fear the ground laid for the observance of morality. But many evils must be permitted, even as the LORD permits evils. How to do this wisely must be our study. But it defeats our end and object to treat all evils alike, and to be equally severe with all. Not that any evil must be ignored; they must all, so far as possible, be observed and taken note of; but the children must be gradually led out of them. The manner of this leading we must learn from the LORD.

"We must insist with children upon the formation of correct habits. Politeness, being on an external plane, must be cultivated by them, then will there be a basis for future spiritual graces. Politeness with them will not be destructive of childish pleasure, but the reverse. It brings with it the sphere of heaven, which is a sphere of delights, and this delight, by inflowing into the joys and pleasures of the childish sports, gives them an added charm, the substance of genuine happiness. Only let the precepts concerning politeness ever be accompanied by the injunction that the end regarded therein must not be the love of appearances, but love to the LORD and genuine love of the neighbor.

"The Chancellor, in his address to the candidates for membership, spoke of the propriety of observing privacy in the Academy and in the family. One of our chief objects in inculcating the moral virtues, especially the virtue prudence, will be privacy, the right observance of the privacy of others and of one's own. Besides our duty to the children's own character, we owe it as an obligation to the Academy, for which they are reared, that they should early learn just ideas on the subject and drill themselves in them.

"As these principles are observed, we shall, as we ought to, make every home a heaven—and by home I include the schools. And our power, as the LORD's servants, of promulgating these principles in the Church at large, and of establishing them there, will be greatly increased, for then can the LORD's Power be exercised by Him through His own ultimate, through those ultimates in us individually and as the Academy, which, while we have been seeming to act of ourselves, He alone has purified and reduced to order."

To the toast,

"How to exercise the educational use and ministry of the Academy in respect to things economical? Business,"

Councilor Pitcairn responded as follows:

"We are taught that there are three kinds of good: spiritual, moral, and civil, and that there is nothing saving in civil or in moral good, but only in spiritual good.

"The Academy has taken up the establishment of spiritual good in the Church, which up to the organization of the Academy had been neglected, more attention being given to civil and moral good.

"We know from teaching, that at the present day the things most in order are the ultimates. They are in order so that the spiritual may exist. Disorderly as is the state of the Christian world, ultimates are to a certain extent in order. We have, for instance, civil order. The civil government grants us protection in our various callings and in the expression of our views. It is owing to this order that we can meet here at this place to-day. In the present state of the Christian world, if civil things were not in order we could not meet thus, but they being in order, it is possible.

"In the 'left wing' this order and many other things are looked upon as the effect of an influx permeating the Christian world and effecting the change known as the New Age. This is a fallacy.

"While there is order on the civil plane, and to a certain extent on the moral plane, in the Old Church, there is none on the spiritual plane. The spiritual is to be the soul of the moral and of the civil. The internal things relating to it must first be taught. We should be orderly on the civil plane, not from fear of consequences, such as the punishments prescribed by the civil law; we should be moral, not for the sake of earning the good opinion of men—but we should be both civil and moral because of the Divine Law.

"It is important to bear this in mind. It is not considered in the New Church as it ought to be. It has been said that one is apt to be deceived in New Churchmen as civil and moral men. This is because we expect New Churchmen to apply their spiritual principles to the lower planes, and do not regard the fact that their hereditary tendencies make it difficult for them to apply the spiritual principles. We are more apt to be deceived by New Churchmen because they do not bring the Church down into daily life. But the Church will never be thoroughly established until the application is made to the moral and civil planes. In the uses that belong to laymen, and which are on these planes, they must always bear in mind to obey the spiritual and moral principles of the Church. If they do not bear this in mind there will not be a firm foundation on which the Academy can rest, and its spiritual will go to pieces. The spiritual principles which the priesthood teaches must by the laity be made of life—of moral life and of civil life.

"These respective functions are recognized in the organization of the Academy and in the organization of the General Church of Pennsylvania.

"Every business man knows that civil and moral things are kept in order, though there are exceptions daily.

"When the spiritual principles of the Academy are recognized it will be different.
"Our duty as Academicians is to administer the civil things of the Academy in such a way as to act according to the spiritual principles which the priesthood gives. We must administer the civil affairs of the Academy honestly, faithfully, never losing sight of the spiritual."

THE Toast-Master announced that the last toast on the programme, "How to exercise the educational use and function of the Academy it, respect to things of science and literature," would be responded to by two gentlemen—Councilor Starkey, treating of science, and Associate Price, of literature.

Councilor Starkey referred to the essays read by the students at the Closing Exercises, in which, as he had heard, science had been ably treated. He regretted that he had not been able to hear the essays, so that he might have something worth saying.

"We have been asked to base our remarks on the memorable relation recorded in The True Christian Religion, n. 625. This relation describes the glorification of the LORD because of His Second Coming in His Human, and was made by the angels of the heavens from the east to the west and from the south to the north. The angels must have been in a state of enthusiasm of which we can have no idea. It shows us that all teaching must be of such a quality as to show that the LORD is the Origin of everything. All truths must be taught so that they will open the mind to the LORD Himself. This will produce a great change in the world, for at present science is upside down. It must be made new, Truth must be established on the ultimate plane, so that the spiritual may be in security. The principle underlying the Academy work is that in every step in learning there must be the acknowledgment of the LORD as the Source of what is being taught. This principle must obtain in even the natural sciences.

"Over the gate of the temple significative of the New Church, which appeared to Swedenborg, was written 'Nunc Licet,' and we are informed that now for the first time we can enter into the mysteries of faith. In the explanation of the inscription we are first shown the danger of entering by the under standing into the dogmas of faith which are formed from man's own intelligence and thence of falses, and still more to confirm them from the Word; thence the understanding is closed above, and by degrees below. In consequence of this danger of doctrines derived from elsewhere than from the LORD, the Word with the Roman Catholics was taken away from the laity, and with the Protestants it is for the same reason shut up by their common saying that the understanding must be kept in obedience to faith.

"The LORD, although omnipotent, uses means. The more we realize this truth, the more we can become fit mediums through which HE may operate.

"In the letter of the Word science is represented by Egypt. Egypt is glorious when in order. The land of Egypt was that country in which the Ancient Church was as to science, and the remains of the Ancient Church that are still preserved in Egypt are still matters of surprise.

"But Egypt is dreadful when perverted, and that is its present state, but it will again be rendered glorious when it forms the ultimate of that ladder of truths which goes up to where the LORD stands, and it will be alive, receiving life from Him through the angels that ascend and descend on that ladder, for then science, like the Letter of the Word, which is on the same plane, will be full of things spiritual, and then will be fulfilled the prophecy concerning the glory of Egypt: 'In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria; and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, whom JEHOVAH of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance' (Isaiah xix, 23-25)."

ASSOCIATE Price introduced his remarks with the proposition that Literature must be from the LORD, and that where there is no acknowledgment of the LORD there is no truth.

"In regard to science there exists a confusion as to facts and truths. Facts may be the basis or ultimate of Truth or they may be the opposite. He who investigates facts must first investigate the Divine Truth, and then seek to confirm the Truth by facts, else he will invariably find facts as ultimates of falsity.

"Does the Science of the present day acknowledge the Divine? If so we cannot find this acknowl edgment. Is science a collection of truths? No!—of facts. Every one of these facts is with the scientists a falsity.

"We must make no covenant with the nations.

"In this line we must regard the literature of the day. Do the writers acknowledge the LORD? We are taught that the simple acknowledge the LORD, but the simple do not write fiction. But if the writers have not the acknowledgment of the LORD their books contain not truths.

"Fiction ought to present pictures of life. Of recent years it has come to be filled with treatises on political economy and philosophy instead of morals and of domestic life. But even were the latter portrayed, when the Divine is not acknowledged, the portrayal would be all wrong.

"Fiction ought pre-eminently to portray the life of conjugial relations. Is this to be found in the fiction of the day? The writers do not acknowledge the LORD, and hence know nothing of conjugial love, but know only what is rightly termed by themselves 'conjugal.' They write what appears beautiful, but it is not so in reality. It is the embodiment of maudlin sentimentality.

"In this sphere of literature the New Church moves. It, and especially the Academy, must rectify it. In poetry and literature true pictures of life must be painted. The doctrine must not be taught therein, but the application of Doctrine be brought out. And in this the Academy has made a beginning—a beginning in which the acknowledgment of the LORD shines conspicuous."

THIS address was completed by the reading of a poem written for the occasion by a lady member of the Academy.

SOME informal toasts followed, and the meeting broke up in a happy frame of mind over this delightful occasion.

THE DAY IN CHICAGO. top

THE Academy in Chicago asked Councilor Pendleton to visit them and be present at their celebration of the 19th of June this year, which invitation he accepted, and his presence aided in bringing about an unusually happy and most useful meeting. The Academy met at six o'clock in the evening at the house of Collegiate Hugh L. Burnham, where a banquet was provided. Councilors Pendleton and Bostock were seated at opposite ends of the table, besides whom there were nineteen members of the Academy present, which made altogether three times seven. After eating, drinking, and conversation had been indulged in for some time, the regular toasts, which had been arranged by the Councilors, were proposed. The subject for the first toast was "The Academy an Internal Church," which was drank from a loving-cup of ruby glass, belonging to the Academy in Chicago. This toast was responded to by Councilor Pendleton, who, in his address, impressed again on the members the fact that the Academy did not claim to be "the" Universal Church, but that it is "a" Universal Church. He made mention of many other useful points. There followed in succession toasts to "The Relation of the Academy to the General Church," "Education," "Michael, or the Church Militant," "The Brotherhood of the Academy," "Social Life of the Academy," "Our Children," "The Study of the Doctrines in the Academy," and "Conjugial Love," which toasts were responded to by different persons present.

A MEETING IN BERLIN, CANADA. top

ON the evening of the 17th of August, the day preceding the meeting of the "German Missionary Union of the New Church in America," an Academy meeting was held in Berlin, Canada, at the residence of Councilor Tuerk, Presiding Minister of the Canada Association of the New Jerusalem.

There were present the ten Berlin members; Associate Dœring, of Milverton, Ontario; Councilor Tafel and wife and Collegiate Schreck and wife, of Philadelphia; and Associate Adah Nelson, of Chicago.

Councilor Tuerk led in Divine worship.

The first toast, "The New Church," was responded to by the mwlv wl[v [in the original publication the Hebrew charcters for "sh'lw shlwm" are included]; the second toast, "The Academy," was drank from a Loving-Cup of Bohemian cut-glass, and was responded to by the usual songs, and by addresses by Councilor Tafel and Collegiate Schreck.

Councilor Tafel delivered his address in the German language, giving the history of the Academy, the needs of the Church which caused its origin, the trials in its early days, the uses it has performed and is performing. He spoke also of the distinction observed in the admission to the General Church and in the admission to the Academy, stating that in the General Church it was not feasible nor was it desirable to inquire particularly into the rationality of the reception of the Doctrines, nor into the personal character of one who seeks admission. Hence so many Old Church falses and evils are imported into the New Church, which occasion the heresies and the want of harmony so observable. In the Academy it is different. Having interior uses to perform, the Academy needs to be composed of a united, harmonious membership, all unanimously agreed on the principles of the body and conforming their lives thereto. Hence the necessity for care in the selection of members. The Academy is the kernel of the New Church, for it holds and preserves those truths in the Church on which its existence depends.

Collegiate Schreck spoke in the English language of the principle of privacy as observed in the Academy, and also of the duty of members as to spiritual consociation: "The Academy is a spiritual as well as a natural body, performing spiritual uses in the natural world. What the Doctrines say concerning spiritual consociation must, in application to its uses, be believed and acted upon. Members must bear in mind that their affections and their thoughts have an effect upon the whole body. If all study the Doctrines zealously and make them matter of reflection and of practice, the whole Academy will be a more compact and a more truly human body. Members will, as to their spirits, be together, however far and wide they may be scattered over various countries as to their bodies. When the affection and thought of members are founded by and from the Doctrines and are loyally directed to the Academy and its work, then those who are in the provinces of the Academy, which execute the uses, will have greater support, greater strength, greater illumination, greater power to do their work. Thus members, no matter what or where they are, can speed on the work of the Academy."

Conversation and addresses followed on the use of wine and bread or cake in our meetings, and of the use of our songs. This led to a toast to the host and hostess, and the singing of a couplet in honor of them.

The toast, "The Absent Saints," was greeted with a "Hoch sollen sie leben," and as the Chancellor was among the absent ones the Chancellor's March was sung, and the Loving-Cup described.

Associate Dœring gave reminiscences of the Decennial, speaking of the wonderful sphere that prevailed and of its effect upon members. "It was a heaven on earth."

"The Schools of the Academy" were also toasted, and the establishment of a New Church school in Berlin was talked over.

The meeting was the largest and most enjoyable one held in Canada since the admission of the resident members.

NOTES FOR THE BIRTH RECORD. top

SINCE our last letter not less than five infants have been born in the Academy:
William Francis Jungé, Boston, Mass. March 28th;
Arthur Benade Wells, Philadelphia, April 23d;
Phœbe Bostock, Chicago, Ill., May 9th;
Vera Pitcairn, Philadelphia, May 31st;
Victor Rudolph Tilson, London, England, June 4th.

NOTES FOR THE MANUAL. top

THE Rev. Richard de Charms, of Denver, Col., has resigned from the Academy. He states as his reasons his isolated condition, and that he does not find himself in sympathy with the Academy as at present administered.

THE following changes are to be made in the "Manual of Addresses:"

The names of Messrs. Henry Schill and George G. Starkey are transferred from the list of Associates to that of Collegiates, and the name of the Rev. Richard de Charms is dropped.

To the list of Associates the names of Miss Rose L. Klein and Miss Annie M. Klein are added. The address of both is "148 Broadway, Brooklyn, E. D., N. Y."

The following are corrected addresses: Collegiate Blackman, 521 1/2 Fulton Street, Chicago, Ill.; Collegiate Bœricke, 83 De Kalb Street, Chicago, Ill.; Mrs. A. Matthias, 521 1/2 Fulton Street, Chicago, Ill.; Associates William B. Aitken and Miss Susie G. Aitken, Hainesport, N. J.; Associate Arthur Faraday, 8 Hampden Terrace, Mount Florida, Glasgow, Scotland; Associate Glendower C. Ottley, 107 Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, London, W., England; Associates William Gibbs and Miss Kate Gibbs, 6 Camden Square, London, N., England; Associates Miss Evelyn Plummer, Miss Alice Grant, Miss Electa Grant, Enoch S. Price, 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.; Associate F. Muhlert, 268 South Third Street, Brooklyn, E. D., N. Y.; Associate Miss Laura H. Vickroy, Homœopathic Hospital, Second Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Associate Sobieski C. Smith, Jr., 870 Taylor Street, Philadelphia, Pa.; Collegiate Hugh L. Burnham, 91 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill.

Eugene J. E. Schreck
Corresponding Secretary

Go to: Index of College Letters