College Letters
College Letter No. VII
September 1st, 1888
Letter Heading and Date
THE CHANCELLOR'S SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY
DEDICATION OF THE LOVING CUP
A Song for Father Benade
A Song for Chancellor Benade
A Poem for the Chancellor's Birthday by Miss Plummer
The "Decennial March" Song
A Song Honoring the Chancelor
THE HOME DEDICATION SONG
SOCIAL MEETING, NOVEMBER 13TH, 1887
IN MEMORY OF MRS. ANNIE BENADE
OTHER MEETINGS
CONSECRATION OF COUNCILOR PENDLETON
THE CHANCELLOR'S ADDRESS
ORDINATION OF A BISHOP
PRAYER
A Song Honoring the Vice-Chancelor
THE CLOSING EXERCISES OF THE SCHOOLS
THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION
Poem by George G. Starkey: "FOREVER"
THE CHERRY STREET BUILDING
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. VII, __ Philadelphia, September 1st, 1888=119.
DEAR FRIEND:—In a former Letter the celebration of the Chancellor's
seventieth birthday was referred to, at which the Loving Cup was dedicated.
An account of this memorable event has been desired, and therefore, although
somewhat late in the day, the wish shall now be complied with.
THE CHANCELLOR'S SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY. top
THE celebration was in the form of a supper, given by Councilor Starkey at his residence, No.1633 Green Street.
When the time for toasts had arrived, it was announced that the first one would be to "The Academy," because this was a home gathering of the Academy and not a general Church meeting, and also because the Academy was an interior Church, and when we drink to the Academy, we drink to the Church.
A telegram received from East Liberty (Pittsburgh) conveyed "Our hearty congratulations and affectionate greetings to the assembled saints. Vive l' Académie!"
DEDICATION OF THE LOVING CUP. top
The Loving Cup, which was described in a former Letter, was now produced by Councilor Pitcairn, who formally presented it to the Academy, and said:
"I have here a Loving Cup, which is presented to the Academy to be used at our June 19th and Decennial Celebrations, and also at other important feasts of charity, such as is the present occasion.
"It seems according to the fitness of things that this Cup should be appropriately dedicated to the use for which it is intended. Two toasts are to be drunk with it this evening, the first to the Academy and the second to be announced presently.
"On one side of the Cup are the Academy arms, and on the other side the verse, 'Our Own Academy.'
"The spaces formed by the rays around the sun, in which are the arms of the Academy, are to be used for inscribing the dates and places of Decennial Celebrations, and the last of these spaces will be filled by the inscription of the twenty-fifth Decennial, or two hundred and fifty years from the establishment of the Academy.
"I do not wish it to be inferred that the life of the Academy will be completed in two hundred and fifty years, for, as General Stuart would say, 'we all believe that the Academy will go thundering down the ages,' and that its special mission will continue to be to clear the New Church atmosphere. We expect this Loving Cup to go with it, at least part of the way. It being a material thing, it may be worn out in the performance of its noble use, but as it wears out it will help to make the Academy stronger.
"It has been suggested by my friend opposite [Mr. Childs], that it would be a cheerful occupation to compute the gallons of tod that will be drunk in this Loving Cup.
"It seems to me that it will take an able mathematician to make such a computation, as you will see as it passes around that it is substantially made, and is likely to last a long while; but he has tried his hand at figures in a paper read at our first Decennial, and who knows but that he may, when he has a few years of leisure, devote them to this inspiring work."
The Chancellor received the Cup and, in acknowledgment, spoke as follows:
"The Cup is a vessel that has been prepared to contain the Divine representative of that which proceeds from the LORD. Infinite Love for the salvation of the human race forever goes forth from Him, and in so doing it descends through the heavens on to the earth where it is ultimated in the form of Divine Truth. In Divine Truth the LORD is present with men; by it, Divine Good is introduced to men. When they receive the Divine Good, there is that in them which conjoins with the LORD, and brings with it order and heaven, and the life of heaven. That which the Cup contains and is to convey to us, represents the LORD's infinite means of saving human souls. To be in the stream of Truth is to be in the stream of His Providence, for all things that are done of the Truth are in the stream of Providence. Those who are in it willingly are led by the LORD from self and the world to Him,—from what is afar off to what is near. When we, brethren of the Academy, use this gift, let our inmost thought be of thankfulness and joy in the LORD, that He has vouchsafed to give us the internal of His Word, His Spirit.
"Let us think, as we drink, that we are thus to take in, into our lives and into the affections of our understandings, that spiritual truth is the very light of heaven, that in it is the life of heaven. When the LORD said, 'Let there be light!' He declared that the Divine Human was the First Work which He made. As the First He is also the Last. The Union of the First and the Last is light to angels and men, and the spirit of their life.
"As we take the Cup, let us all consecrate ourselves to the service of the LORD, as servants of His Truth that we may be led to Good,—to that use which He has given us to perform according to His Will as that is manifested in the Truths written for the establishment of the Church. Let us consecrate our life to what the Truth teaches. Let us take that into ourselves. The LORD works in us, and as He once came in the flesh to fulfill the Will of the Father, so He has now come in the spirit, in order that we may do His Will, from the spirit, in the body.
"As the Cup is dedicated to the Academy in its social gatherings, may they be consecrated to Divine things; may the blessing of the LORD go with its use as it goes to other hands; may the spirit of the LORD rest on the whole Academy in its spiritual working, and in its social life. In all the doings of its natural existence, may the Academy do the LORD's Will on earth as it is done in Heaven.
"Brethren! let the Cup be received with respect and reverence. Let it be used as the symbol of the Holy Word, for this Cup then is and will be to us a representation and symbol of the Cup of Salvation."
The first toast, to
"The Academy,"
was then proposed. The verse engraved on the cup, "Our own Academy," was sung, Mr. Childs playing an accompaniment on the guitar. This was followed by "Companions in Uses," whereupon the toast-master again asked the Chancellor to respond!
The Chancellor could not do otherwise, and said:
"The Cup is a surprise, but the loving suggestion was not a surprise; it is not the first evidence of affection, and I hope it is not the last." He then adverted humorously to the fact that he had been invited here to an editorial meeting, which he considered a false pretext.
"I look upon this meeting as a social one, one in which the feelings of affection, which grow stronger from day to day, may manifest themselves around a common board at which we partake of a feast of charity like those held in the other world, and to which the partakers are drawn together from a common cause. May the Loving Cup pass around freely, and may it carry from one to the other pleasant, fraternal, loving thoughts, which are brought forth by the use in which we are engaged.
"This year the Academy completed the first Decennial of its existence, a period in which it has come into a more perfect form. The first struggle of its infant life is ended, and has been succeeded by a certain measure of peace, quiet, and tranquillity, in which we can think of other things than those in the external Church. We can now turn our thought to something else that is of first importance: to social life in its higher and better aspects as applied to scholars and students. The schools are our central use: they are our care, the object of our exertions. Let us turn our attention from the merely intellectual development to the affectional, to all that goes to make up the life of man.
"On a social occasion like this, which is the first after the Decennial, we must take up the central use of the body as to the life which exists in this form of a body: the life of the boys and girls, and of the students who are to be our future teachers and priests. We must provide for them a life in our society, in homes. The charge of our students, of our boys and our girls, as to the development of the social life, lies not especially with the teachers, but with the members of the Academy. All have homes, and these together constitute the home of the body. As these young beings are in our charge, the whole body of the Academy should hold itself responsible for their social life. This is an important use into which the other members of the Academy must enter with us, the teachers. Within our sphere we do all we can for their instruction. But this is not sufficient. We must educate our young people in the order, courtesies, proprieties, and amenities of social life as these ought to exist in the Church, for it is the province of the Academy to establish genuine charity in the life of genuine love of the neighbor.
"The development of affections for each other in mutual love, the cultivation of the external forms of decorum, come from the LORD. But they can be effected in the right way only by families, only by the co-operation of the heads of families with those who have charge of the scholars. The real and permanent usefulness of the young people who, eventually, are to lead others into the life of heaven, demands that they should know how to live, how to act toward each other on the social plane, how to meet and treat each other with respect and regard such as the angels have in their social intercourse: to learn by practical instruction to treat each other as they would be treated, and finally, as the angels do, to treat others better than themselves: ready to serve and to minister, and not suffering self to prevail. Teaching comes from teachers and preachers, but its practical application takes place in the family sphere, otherwise it does not descend into ultimates, to be stored up for use in heaven. The higher culture of our charges requires that we should unite on this.
"As we have reached this movement it seems that the time is at hand for us to engage in it. I wish to call out the sentiments of those present as to this proposition, to complete the use performed in the schools. We have more homes, more families than we had before. If we are devoted to the ends of the Academy we shall in this case, as in all others, engage in it with the assurance that as we do this there will be a reactive influence from heaven, and the sphere, the power, and the beauty of the home will be increased tenfold. The heavens will inflow into this extended plane and inspire and instil into it thoughts and affections given them from the LORD. Then the Academy will truly be like a large family: all brothers and sisters, and the LORD the Father of them all. In this family each one will have his place, duty, delight, and recreation. All will live for each and each for all.
"The social element may be cultivated in the way of music. This belongs especially to the family life. Musical sounds are correspondential ultimates, expressive and representative of the affections. In families where music is cultivated the external sphere of affection is especially strong: the influx from the other world produces a softening effect.
"Again, the art of drawing is absolutely necessary for the refinement of the mind and the elevation of thought. The cultivation of the imagination can be easily directed to carry man on high.
"By the cultivation of music, painting, and drawing we shall give the children greater power, knowledge, and facility for adorning and beautifying the homes, by which they are rendered more attractive, and more fit as planes for the reception of heavenly influx and for elevating us from lower things to higher, where heavenly love is more truly and fully ultimated. Again, by introducing music and art into the family life we shall cultivate the art of conversation. Few of us have had the opportunity thus offered, much to our regret. By conversation we communicate to one another what has been given to us. The gifts which the LORD has given are for others. It is therefore incumbent on us to cultivate the means of communication. Those that have will give with pleasure, and others will listen with gratitude. If those who have the gifts, will thus, in the right spirit, entertain their friends, it will cultivate with all the higher and delicate refinement of taste, and will then prove a constant restraint upon selfishness and worldliness.
"Such an effort, if successful, and honestly made, will remove from our sphere things discordant, harsh, and inharmonious, and thus prepare the way for heaven. As all who are introduced into heaven must first be trained in choirs, so we must learn to think, sing, and live together as one man. Each sings his own note, each does his own work, but it is done in harmony with the others.
"To establish this principle more firmly in your minds, let me read to you this from the Arcana Cœlestia, n. 687:
"'It is impossible for any angel or spirit to have any life unless he be in some society, and thus in the harmony of many, as society is nothing but the harmony of many; for there never is the life of any one disassociated from the life of others. Nay, it is impossible for any angel, or spirit, or society to have any life—that is, be affected with good [or] will: be affected with truth [or] think—unless there be conjunction by many of his society with heaven and with the world of spirits.'
"Even the solitary angels live in their own family, and they are in harmony one with the other. No man can live, will, or think except he be consociated with others here or there, and according to his intimacy with those who are in harmony, he is connected with the LORD and receives from Him fullness of life.
"Let us then learn to love, think, will, and speak together in harmony, then shall we fulfill the duty given by the LORD to us."
The second Toast, which had been so mysteriously referred to by Councilor Pitcairn, was now proposed:
"The Day we celebrate. The Seventieth Anniversary of the Birth of our beloved Chancellor,"
As the Cup went round the favorite refrain in honor of the Chancellor was sung:
Click on image for a larger version. top
Thereupon the Councilor Childs introduced the new song which has since become familiar to most Academians:
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Mr. George G. Starkey read the following poem, composed by Miss Plummer:
"CHANCELLOR BENADE'S BIRTHDAY. top
"'Tis our dear Bishop's birthday! He's seventy years old,
And we've come here to say so, if it isn't too bold.
We would drink to his health in big bumpers of wine,
And we'd sing him the songs that recall 'Auld Lang Syne.'
"And we also would say to our teacher and friend,
That we'll cherish and love him through life without end;
That we'll do all we can to make pleasant his stay,
And we'll shoulder his work when he passes away.
"But we can't well affirm we'll not stagger and groan
At a tithe of the work that he does all alone!
We only can promise we'll all do our best,
But hope he won't put us too soon to the test.
"Then here's to the Bishop! Our Bishop so dear!
We drink to the close of his seventieth year;
May his strength not decline, nor his shadow decrease,
But the rest of his days be all gladness and peace."
This was again followed by "Oh! Never by Thee!" and "The Chancellor's March." Councilor Pendleton thereupon responded to the toast.
"It is right to do honor to the man who has been the father of this movement, it is due to ourselves and to others who will come hereafter.
"We honor and love him for the use represented in him, for he is and has been to the Church and to us the representative of the Academy's use.
"It is fitting for the Academy to celebrate the age of his birth. In the Ancient Church the birthdays of kings, leaders, and others were celebrated because they are representative of the spiritual birth, representative of the conjunction of the external with the internal—of the world with heaven. The custom has come down to this time, but its significance has been lost. But the promise is that it will be restored.
"The principles of the Academy were born in the active mind of our beloved Chancellor. From the old charter of the Cherry Street Society one can see that those principles were then in his mind which are now being carried out.
"We can compare the beginning of the Academy with the beginning of our country. That was a struggle for civil liberty, the Academy struggled for spiritual liberty. In each case a man was provided for the emergency—to be instrumental in the hands of the LORD to establish liberty on the earth. Civil liberty had first to be provided to make possible the existence of spiritual liberty. In the one case a nation was born, in the other case a Church.
"It is impossible for me to express the appreciation of our hearts for our Chancellor, our leader, and teacher. I wish I had the tongue to express it. I can only say that we are thankful, and bless the LORD for the birth which took place seventy years ago."
Again was "The Chancellor's March" sung, while all marched around the table to do homage to our leader.
A diversion was now created by the arrival of what appeared to be an express package. It proved to contain the photograph of a babe. Mr. Childs announced that it was taken from an oil-painting of the Chancellor in his infancy, and accompanied the announcement by some humorous remarks. It was quickly passed around the table to enable every one to have a glance of it, but barely sufficient to reveal the fact that it was a hoax. The picture was presented to "Mother Benade," and, of course, called forth "And our Hearts must Bound " and "Here's to the Baby," the latter refrain awakening memories of the Decennial and of our African servitors.
The next toast was to
"The Absent Saints."
After the third "Hoch !" had died away, Collegiate Campbell responded to the sentiment:
'"The delightful memories that cluster around this toast lead our thoughts not only to those that share in our life here, but also to those who have gone beyond. ' The Absent Saints ' are those that are one with us, some of whom are waiting for us while we are celebrating the occasion in such a delightful way. The absent saints have followed our leader in the establishing of a Church on earth through the Clergy, which has been his aim from early days down to the present time. The absent saints stretch out their hands to us, they help us on, they send us word, and those on earth again listen for the tick of the telegraph that shall tell them what happened on the seventieth anniversary of our beloved Chancellor's birth. They join us in the joyful song to 'Father B.,' delighted that he is still with us and hoping that he will remain long."
"The Second Decennial"
was the toast next proposed, and led to the singing of the "Decennial March," the chorus of which had been sung at the Decennial, and to which Mrs. Whitehead had since added the following verses:
Click on image for a larger version. top
Councilor Tafel then said:
"Our last Decennial was a bright, happy meeting—a foretaste of heaven, and of the happy meetings that we are to have there. I hope that the next will excel it, if possible, and that we shall have all present that were at the Decennial, and especially the Chancellor. ("So say we all of us.") The Second Decennial began with twelve students. We do not lay so great a stress on the number as on its significance. It is the quality that we look for in the students. At the celebration of the completion of the Second Decennial let us hope the amount of peace will be still greater. We are thankful to the LORD for the peace that has been attained. When we think of the struggles which we have gone through, we may well be thankful to the LORD that He has brought us thus far. I hope that at the Second Decennial our numbers will have increased, our love be more ardent, our intelligence greater, and that we may more successfully carry on the use which He has intrusted to us."
A ditty, composed by a Pittsburgh Academician, and expressing the longing which the Eastern Academicians feel for Mr. Childs' return from the West, was sung, producing considerable hilarity, especially as Mr. Childs was required to accompany it on his guitar.
Mr. Childs thereupon described the Loving Cup again, and spoke of its growing more and more a loving cup. It had now been initiated in the sphere of social life, which it would help to grow continually stronger since power resided in ultimates and manifested itself in their use. The sphere of love from those of the present generation would cling to it and be carried by it to those of succeeding generations until the estimated two hundred and fifty years were at an end, and thus link those who had gone before and had entered the other world with those who were still using it on earth.
The Toast-Master, Councilor Pitcairn, introduced the next toast, "The Publications of the Academy," by saying that the Chancellor had referred to the uses performed by the Academy. The publication uses were among the most important. Collegiate Anshutz responded in a few words.
"The Academy Schools" was responded to by Collegiate Schreck.
When "The Academy Orphanage" was proposed, Collegiate A. J. Tafel stated that this department was under Councilor Pendleton's charge. There were nine orphans, and prospects of some more. The funds were still sufficient, but the income was not as large as desirable.
After the "Host and Hostess" had been toasted, the Chancellor said that he could not let the evening pass without expressing his profound thanks for the indulgent manifestations of love which had been given this evening. "I can take nothing of it to myself if in the LORD's Providence I have been the instrument for doing anything. It must all be ascribed to the LORD alone. And again, one man can do nothing without others, even as one angel cannot even will or think without others; it is only by the common life of a number that the LORD operates uses. In the work which the Academy has performed the burden and heat of the day have been borne from the first by men who were good and true, whom He had filled with love for this use. They have done it, they have sustained the hands of the simple workers with a power and energy that had not been manifested in the Church up to this time. We have together been of one heart and one mind. The encouragement, the sympathy, the strong, manly, honest thought and affection in those who have sustained the hands have enabled the doing of the work. To the LORD are thanks to be rendered for these men, for their broad, deep, and high strong will. To Him, through them, has the Academy come to the point that has now been reached. I ask you to pledge the good and truth, the willing hearts and ready hands which the LORD has provided to do the work here as it is done in heaven."
With a new meaning to the words did the assembled company give vent to their emotions in the refrain, "Our own Academy," upon which, as became the sphere called forth by the Chancellor's words, they sang mwlv wl[v [in the original publication the Hebrew charcters for "sh'lw shlwm" are included].
"The Saints who have gone before us" was proposed.
"Those glorious saints, they have gone to their rest,
And are waiting for us in the land of the blest!"
was sung in response, and then Dr. Starkey said that he longed to leave
the company on the earth and join the other. "What are they doing?
How do they live? Are they associated together there? Do they need us?
Do they love the same as they did here? I think they do. They probably
come together and talk over what is going on. No doubt they know something
of what we are doing now. I confess to a great deal of enjoyment in thinking
what they are doing. Probably they are all in the world of spirits. They
certainly keep a corner of their hearts soft and warm for the Academicians
left behind. Those are the men that made it possible for us to have a
good time, and we are now strengthened by them on the other side."
Among the songs sung after this, was another new one composed by Mrs. Whitehead
for this occasion
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The remainder of the evening was spent in conversation and song and impromptu toasts, the talk turning on the Academy in France; on the art of conversation, and other topics. The delightful evening came to an end at last, but will long remain in the memory of the partakers as one of the brightest and warmest ones in the history of the Academy.
THE HOME DEDICATION SONG. top
THE dedication of Mr. Pitcairn's home was described in a recent letter.
The following is the "home dedication song" used on the occasion:
Click on image for a larger version. top
SOCIAL MEETING, NOVEMBER 13TH, 1887. top
ON the evening of Sunday, November 13th, 1887, the last day of the meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, a social meeting was held at the house of Collegiate A. J. Tafel, No. 1724 Green Street. Portions of the last College Letter were read.
Collegiate Hugh L. Burnham, of Chicago, gave an account of their last 19th of June celebration, at which they had the privilege of Councilor Pendleton's presence. "If it had not been for Mr. Pendleton there would be no members of the Academy in Chicago. That last meeting was the climax of our life up to that time. It left its impression more on the heart than on the thought. In Chicago we looked upon Mr. Pendleton as our father. When he came to us last 19th we cast aside our business, came to him, listened to him, and felt. We did not think so much as feel. Mr. Bostock is our leader now, ably succeeding Mr. Pendleton, and proving most suitable in the Church and in the Academy. On the 19th he gave each of the speakers a piece of paper containing references to the Doctrines on the subject of his speech. When the Doctrine was quoted the truth was known to be present, and that thus things were said in the best way possible. The subject given to me was 'Michael.' On reading the numbers referred to, it became quite clear to me that this was the use of the Academy: and that 'Michael' is the war-cry of the Academy, when it finds the Truth assaulted. On the conclusion of my remarks, I proposed to those present to raise their glasses and shout two or three times ' Michael.' We did so, with marked effect. Indeed it fired Mr. Bostock so that he made a rousing speech and then led us to repeat 'Michael.'"
Collegiate Felix Bœricke, the acting Secretary of the Chicago Academicians, referred to the state of mind which Mr. Burnham had described, as the reason why they could not send a more detailed account of their meeting for the last College Letter.
From the description given by Mr. Bœricke and others, it appears that the Loving Cup in Chicago is of glass of a ruby color, in the shape of a truncated cone, with two handles, and has a capacity of a bottle and a half of wine.
The conversation turned on the celebration of the 19th of June by both the Academy and the General Church. Formerly the young people had been invited to the Academy celebration in Chicago, but as our body had increased in numbers there, it was thought well to have a distinctive Academy meeting. This involved excluding a number who had previously taken part. Before starting for Chicago Councilor Pendleton had a talk with the Chancellor, who suggested that both the 19th and the 20th days of June ought to be commemorated. The twelve Apostles were called together on the 19th and sent out on the next day. This is one reason why the first is an Academy day, but a more especial reason is that the Academy was organized on the 19th. On the 20th they were sent forth to evangelize, and this is the function of the General Church. Therefore, it would be proper to have the Academy celebration on the 19th, and on the 20th a meeting of the General Church. This was carried out in Chicago, and the occasion was rendered the more interesting from the fact that the 20th was also made a celebration of the Decennial of the Immanuel Church, although the actual date was in August. The meetings were inexpressibly pleasant.
From this subject the conversation turned to the "war-cry." Councilor Tafel explained that lakym [in the original publication the Hebrew charcters for "myk'l" are included] meant, "Who is like God," "What is like the Truth," "What is like the Word." This is our war-cry in the Convention.
The Philadelphia gathering, under the leadership of Mr. Burnham, then tried the war-cry. The Chancellor thought that the shout was too much like a university cry: short and cut off, not full enough of the softer feeling which the friends must have had at a meeting where they "did not think, but felt." Those who are musical ought to bring out the fullness of this Divine question. Michael represents the LORD, and while we rejoice, we ought to do so in a manner in which the angels can more fully rejoice. In answer to an objection that the younger warriors, who had not, like the Chancellor, reached the age of wisdom, needed sharp tones expressive of their intelligence, of the zeal for truth, of the sharp points of their weapons,—the Chancellor replied that intelligence is not all pointed, it has charity within, and charity is soft. Charity is required in war. All war-cries are not sharp, some are soft, flowing, and full. The soldier going into the battle first looks to the LORD and prays, prays that he may fight, not from sharpness, but that all love and charity may come forth. "Michael" has in it the Divine Name. Let us be guarded not to degrade it.
Councilor Tafel suggested three notes, the first two alike, the last a third higher. Councilor Glenn thought the effect would be heightened by beginning in unison, then having a half chord for the second note, and a full chord for the third.
IN MEMORY OF MRS. ANNIE BENADE. top
ON the 21st day of November, a meeting was held at the house of Councilor Pitcairn, in memory of our Chancellor's wife, Mrs. Annie Benade, who had departed this life on the 19th day of the same month.
Councilor Pendleton led in worship, which consisted in the LORD's Prayer, the reading of a chapter from the Gospel of John, and the singing of a selection.
Councilor Tafel spoke of occasions like the present one as serving for useful reading and talks concerning the other world, by which our thoughts are removed from the shell that has been left behind, to the real substance that continues to live; and, in general, to things in the spiritual world. "We are taught that the delights of every one are turned into corresponding ones in the other world." (Here Mr. Tafel read from Heaven and Hell.)
"In these words are represented the changes which those undergo who love the LORD's Church, and are in conjugial love. They come into ineffable delights when they enter into the other world. So, we may believe, is it with our departed sister whom we all hope to meet again."
Councilor Pendleton:—"The passage to the other world of our beloved sister, the wife of our beloved Chancellor, suggests thoughts similar to those of previous occasions, and illustrates the principle of unity in the Academy, and of its being in the human form, where when one part suffers, all the rest suffer for we suffer with him, and sympathize with him in his bereavement. Necessarily, if this body is in the human form, no one can be isolated, but all are together. The love of the neighbor holds us together by bonds similar to those which hold together the human body, for in the human body we see illustrated the laws which exist in heaven and in the Church.
"Death is a change of state; not only in him who has passed over, but also in those left behind, as all have experienced who have suffered the loss of a dear one. We all most heartily follow our sister in her entrance into the other world, in her change of state onward where she will soon see the lovely picture suggested by the number just read. And the same thoughts and feelings will affect him whom she has left behind, with whom this change of state will produce peaceful and happy delights.
"Of the entrance into the other world which is so interesting to us, many views have been given. The description in Heaven and Hell of the three states after death is, no doubt, familiar to all. But there is a view in the Arcana not so familiar, in which man's entrance into the Grand Man of the other world is described as similar to the taking of food into the body. (See A. C. 5173-5176.)
"The functions of angelic societies correspond to the functions of the bodily organs. The tongue examines the quality of the food; thus the angels constituting the Province of the Tongue examine the state of those who have recently died. The best are immediately taken into the Grand Man and do not undergo the torture of the stomach, while profaners, on the other hand, are spit out, or as it is written in the Revelation are 'vomited out.' They cannot even go in to hell, as open devils do, by the natural way, but into a place apart. This is one of the many interior views of the resurrection which it is well to consider on occasions like the present one."
Councilor Tafel spoke of the Academy above. "While death is a severe trial to us here, yet as the eye looks up the pain is mitigated. How pleased they must be beyond, when a visitor from the Academy comes among them. We are told that the Ancient Sophi in the other world are pleased at such arrivals, and send out from time to time in order to hear the news from the earth. It must be similar with the Academy; they must have meetings, and they will be glad to learn of the news which our members bring them."
Collegiate Schreck referred to the meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania, which had been held only a week before the departure of Mrs. Benade, and in which she had taken more than ordinary interest, and which she had greatly enjoyed. "Of this meeting and the works undertaken there, she will doubtless speak when asked by the Academicians above, 'What news from the earth?' Especially delighted will they be to learn from her that we have actually determined to proceed with a new translation of the Word. Since the last Academician went over we have acquired our new buildings, and our educational uses have been enlarged and improved. How pleased they will be to learn of this from her mouth!
"The resemblance between the Academy in the other world and the Ancient Sophi extends further than to the mere feature of which we have just spoken. The Sophi have their name from the Greek word for wisdom; wisdom is the end of the Academy; in order that men may be led to wisdom—the life of acknowledgment of the LORD in His Divine Human, at His Second Coming, a life in which evils are shunned as sins against Him—did the LORD establish the Academy on the earth. To aid us in this, Swedenborg has incorporated in the Writings numerous references to the wisdom of the Ancient Greeks, for their science was the science of correspondences, their wisdom was of life. In the other world they live in Athenæum, near which are Parnassium and Heliconæum. They drink there the water of the fountain, which was burst open by the hoof of Pegasus and at which are the nine muses. Does not the same exist with us? Has not Pegasus (the understanding of truth by which is wisdom) by means of the experiences (which are of natural intelligence) laid open the fountain of truth, and have not the nine virgins (the affections of cognitions and sciences) taken up their abode in our schools?
"Another resemblance is to be found in the libraries. You will remember the mention of the collection of books in the Palladium, and also the immense classified library near it in Athenæum. One of the first uses which the Academy set itself to perform was the establishment of a Library which should in time become complete; and this Library began with the Word in the spirit and in the letter, and all its books are selected with the end of leading up to that sum and substance of all learning and study.
"Mr. Pendleton spoke of the whole body being affected when an important change goes on in any one part. We see this in the present case. Even the little children in the school have been affected by it. Their thoughts have been led by it heavenward and their affections have gone out to the Chancellor and his beloved wife, and to the heavenly life which as, we verily believe, our departed companions are leading.
"Our dear Chancellor has spoken of late of our work as coming into some form of ultimation, and of its becoming thus more complete. Of these and other things his wife will carry the news direct from him and us.
"From the present, and from former instances, it seems as though on important occasions some one of our number is called away from here, thus to strengthen the bonds between the body in the other world and our 'own Academy' in this."
Councilor Pendleton also spoke of the effect which a death has on little children. "It opens their minds to the spiritual world and its realities. They see those realities more than we do, because their minds are so open and pliable to influences from heaven. That is one of the uses of a death. It is a good thing for us to consider the uses of departure to the other world: there are more uses in it than we think of, and when we consider them, the grief at the departure of a loved one is softened. We indeed all know in a general way that it is for the best when one leaves us, but the LORD gives us to understand some of the reasons why it is. We have the Truth, and we must think from that. We need occasions when our minds will be elevated above the merely natural sphere, as is the case with the Ancient Sophi, then we can realize the loving Providence which operates for the good of all."
Councilor Pitcairn said: "We often see in the case of those going to the other world that they seem to have a premonition of their departure. Some of the ladies have spoken of Mrs. Benade's expressing great delight at the work done at the recent General Church meeting, and especially at the contemplated translation of the Word. The last member of our body that goes always has more news to carry than any that has gone before. So our sister will be received with open arms and give great delight by her coming."
Mr. Pitcairn then invited his guests to proceed to the dining-room, where the toasts were to be drank.
To the toast "The Academy," the Chancellor responded:
"In the message that may be and will be carried over will be the great work which the Academy now has on hand—the translation of the Word. I say the Academy, because those that are charged with this work by the Church are of the Academy.
"At last, after years of desiring and asking, we see the way open before us, and we see light on the way. We see how, in the LORD's Providence, we have taken the first step to that without which the Church can never be firmly established. The Word in its true literal form, as presented by the LORD, is that in which He will appear when members of the Church read it, and see Him transfigured out of it before those represented by Peter, James, and John, on the mountain of love. This will be the basis of real truth, on which the Church will rest as on a Rock, for it is the LORD Himself in the ultimate form of the Divine Human Who thus appears to men, manifesting Himself there as the Last in Whom is the First, the Infinite Esse, in the Human Form, visible to human eyes, audible to human ears, speaking with the voice which burned to the very heart of heaven: This is My Commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.'
"He is in all the Word. There is no other sound there but that of Infinite Love. All of the Word is the doctrine of love to Him and to the neighbor. This men will see in a light a thousand-fold brighter and clearer than now, when they can read what the LORD has written, in their own language. Then the Word will be accommodated to them. The Word is Truth, and the Truth is He Himself.
"This work of the Academy is a work which when spoken of in the other world will call forth a wondrous glorification of Him who in all His Providence is nothing but Infinite Life and Love—a glorification of Him Who has come, and has established His Coming in His Perpetual Presence in the Word, in order that men may see Him and be saved from sensuality, from their self-will and their self-intelligence. Profoundly thankful must we be if we can contribute a little mite to this work, although exceedingly small as compared to the things which are to be done from His Infinite Love, it will be the beginning of myriads of things to come. To Him be praise that He has found us worthy to engage in our imperfect way in this work!"
The toast to our departed sister was drank in brandy of a very high grade, which is preserved exclusively for such occasions. It was presented to Messrs. Pitcairn and Childs when they first visited Cognac, and was distilled in the year 1798. In order that the bottle in which it is kept may never become empty, it is always filled up with the choicest brandy that can be procured in the market. In the conversation that ensued, the occurrence of the date 1798 in the history of the New Church in America and in England was spoken of.
OTHER MEETINGS. top
ON the 20th day of January, Councilor Pitcairn gave a supper to a number of Academians.
A MEETING was held on the 22d day of January, at which Mr. Louis B. Pendleton, a brother of Councilor Pendleton, and his sister, Miss Emma Pendleton, were initiated into the Academy.
THE two hundredth anniversary of Swedenborg's birth was celebrated by the Academy in a public meeting, a description of which appeared in the Life for March, page 39.
AT a meeting held on the 27th day of April, Miss Wilhelmine Dœring (a daughter of Associate Dœring), and Miss Mary S. Snyder were initiated into the Academy.
At this meeting, addresses were made in memory of Associate Mrs. Elise Jungé, who departed this life on the 19th day of February.
The Chancellor said: "It is right and fitting to think of the sister who has removed to the Academy and the Church in the other world. Mrs. Jungé has long been active in the Church. The education that she received in the East she ultimated in the West, where she lived when married. When the Academy principles were represented to her and her husband, they were received by them and warmly espoused, and they became warm and earnest members. She became connected by marriage of her daughter with one of our Ministers and Councilors, and has given him great support and assistance. She loved the uses of the Academy; and in the performance of those that entered into her life, she was devoted to the Church, and prepared an Academy home. May the LORD speed her in the preparation for her final home where she will live to eternity in the uses which the LORD gives to those who look to Him for life and light."
Councilor Pendleton also spoke of the earnest support which the movement in Chicago had from Mrs. Jungé in its very beginning. "Her sympathy could be counted on as on the right side. I felt that she was there and that she could be relied upon for strength and support when these were needed. She is the mother of an Academy family, and brought up her children in the Church, which is saying a great deal. Two of them are members of the Academy. She will be remembered in Chicago, with affectionate remembrance, for a long time to come. She has gone to that part of the spiritual world whence our principles come to us, and when we go we shall doubtless find her there."
CONSECRATION OF COUNCILOR PENDLETON. top
ON Wednesday, the 9th day of May, the Academy met for the first time in its new buildings on Wallace and North Streets. The description of the North Street building, which is used for the Boys' School (see New Church Life for February, page 27), will enable you to locate the hall in which our meeting was held. It had been decorated with flowers. Against the east wall is a platform on which stands the Repository. This is made of cherry wood, and has three shelves. The two upper ones hold a complete set of the Writings in Latin. On the lowest shelf is the Sacred Scripture in Hebrew and Greek, and in an English translation. In the centre of the platform stood a table, with a table-cover embroidered by Mrs. Benade, and on either side a chair. The Head Master's private room was used as the robing-room.
On the entrance of the Chancellor, an introit was sung. He wore the robe in which he usually performs the functions of the Bishop's office, and which was presented to him, as Chancellor, by a member of the Academy. From his neck was suspended a silver medallion, bearing the seal of the Academy.
The members had been called together to witness the induction of Councilor Pendleton, of the pastoral degree of the New Church priesthood, into the episcopal degree, and his investiture with the office of Vice-Chancellor.
But before this ceremony took place, Mr. Fred E. Wælchly, presented by Associates Price and Pendleton, was initiated into the associate membership of the Academy.
After the ceremony of initiation had been completed, Councilor Pendleton entered the hall, escorted by Councilor Tafel and Collegiate Schreck, both of whom are of the second or pastoral degree of the priesthood. Mr. Pendleton wore the inner robe of white linen, girt about with a silk cord of a golden color. The two other pastors wore their customary official robes. They advanced to the platform and took seats in front of it and in the centre of a semicircle, the sides of which were formed by the members of the Council and their wives, and the remaining portion by the Collegiates and their wives. The Associates were seated behind the Collegiates.
THE CHANCELLOR'S ADDRESS. top
"MEN AND BRETHREN:—We have come together this evening to do a new thing in the Academy. We are about to begin and establish in this Body of the LORD'S New Church a Priesthood that shall be the Priesthood of the Academy. The Academy is a Church, but as a Church it has until this time borrowed its Priesthood from the General Church. We have reached a stage of our movement at which it has become clear that this state of things need no longer to exist, and ought no longer to exist. It is needful for the sake of order and for the sake of use that our ecclesiastical organization should take on the fuller and more complete form contemplated and provided for from the beginning. A Church is not a Church without a Priesthood in act and fact. A distinctive Church is not fully distinctive without its own Priesthood and without the authority and power of perpetuating its own Priesthood. It is proposed that the Academy now assume this authority and power which are inherent in the Church as the LORD's Body on the earth, and that the Academy now inaugurate its own Priesthood. The occasion for the taking of this step is the choice by the Council of a Vice-Chancellor. The office of the Chancellor is of the third or highest degree of the Priesthood, and he who is clothed with that Office must be in that degree of the Priesthood, or if not in it, will need to be introduced into it before being invested with that of Chancellor or of Vice-Chancellor. It is requisite that this order be well observed, to the end that the series of correspondent forms may exist, which are necessary to hold the office of the Priesthood on the earth in due connection with the Heavenly Trine of Priestly uses and offices. Now, concerning the Priesthood, we are thus instructed in the Arcana Cœlestia, n. 10,015–10,017:
"'Aaron and his sons,' in whom was established the Priesthood of the Jewish Church as a (prophetical) representative of the Priesthood in the true Church of the LORD, which is now beginning, 'signify the LORD as to Divine Good, and Divine Truth thence proceeding,' and when it is said, 'to them shall be the Priesthood,' this signifies 'the LORD as to the work of salvation in successive order as appears from the signification of the Priesthood, that it is a representative of the LORD as to the whole work of salvation (n. 9809). That it is in successive order is...because by the sons of Aaron are represented the things that proceed, thus that succeed in order (n. 9807). The case is this, the Priesthood represented by Aaron (the High Priest) is the work of salvation of those who are in the Celestial Kingdom of the LORD, which Kingdom is properly meant in the Word by the Kingdom of Priests, but the Priesthood, which is represented by the sons of Aaron, is the work of salvation of those who are in the Spiritual Kingdom of the LORD proximately proceeding from His Celestial Kingdom; hence it is, that by the Priesthood is here understood the LORD'S work of salvation in successive order, but the Priesthood which was represented by the Levites is the LORD'S work of salvation again proceeding from the former. There are three things which succeed in order, the celestial, which is the good of love to the LORD; the spiritual, which is the good of charity toward the neighbor, and the natural thence, which is the good of faith, because there are these three which succeed in order, there are also three heavens, and in them goods in this order. The work of the salvation of those who are in the celestial good is represented by the Priesthood of Aaron, but the work of the salvation of those who are in spiritual good is represented by the Priesthood of the sons of Aaron, and the work of the salvation of those who are thence in natural good is represented by the Priesthood of the Levites, and because these things which succeed in order proceed from the good of love to the LORD, which is represented by Aaron and his Priesthood, therefore is it said concerning the Levites that they were given to Aaron, for those things which proceed are of him or his from whom they proceed, for the things proceeding or succeeding derive thence their Esse....'
"As in the representative of a Church so in the true Christian Church, whose order is prefigured in the former, the High Priesthood, or the highest degree of the Priesthood represents the very end of the LORD's work of saving men, which is their conjunction with Him in the good of love to Him, and, therefore, does the whole Priesthood in the one as in the other derive its Esse from the highest or third degree of the Order. Without this degree the other degrees have no esse, that is to say, no inmost or first from which they proceed, and hence are they without connection with the very first or highest, the LORD, from Whom alone they proceed and Whom alone they represent. This degree when fully formed and presented in its own ultimate official is like the simple fibre proceeding from the cortical substances of the brain, and forming from itself fibres and nerves; or it is like an end, producing its own causes or means, and by them proceeding into its own effects. The Priesthood, as the office representative of the LORD's work of salvation, is pre-eminently of Divine Order, and whatever is of Divine Order is in a Trine; the first of which, proceeding from the LORD, becomes the very end and cause of the succeeding degrees. Without such a First or Highest in some form the second and third can have no real existence, and certainly no real power and validity of use. Now, the Academy aims to embody in its organization the laws of Divine Order as revealed by the LORD. Hence has it striven to know how to give to that organization the human form in which order exists in the Heavens, and in which order appears in the form of men composing the Grand Man, who is in the image and according to the similitude of the DIVINE MAN, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. And hence does it now bring to the full in this human form of a Church, the human form of the Priesthood, without which the Church can have no real existence, and without the actual appearance and representation of which in functionaries, who are men, there can be no coherence between that which is of the head and that which is of the heart and lungs and that which is of the body of the Church. A broken or imperfect series, a lost link in the order of the Priesthood as constituted by human agency among men, evidences an absence of coherence in the acknowledgment of the LORD as the First and the Only from whom proceed all things.
"It behooves the Academy, in view of its principles, in view of its entire acknowledgment of the LORD in His Second Advent in the world, and His appearing in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Church out of the letter of His Word, to have His Divine Office of Salvation most clearly and distinctly represented in the highest degrees of its use, function, and power to the end that by this as an Esse, all the other degrees may derive from Him a harmonious and clearly distinct succession. With a well-ordered and well-defined Priesthood in a clearly marked human organization of the whole body, the Academy trusts that the LORD has provided it with an equipment which shall enable it to do His Will in the feeble way of a beginning, and to come by degrees ever more fully into His service and the doing of His Will."
ORDINATION INTO THE THIRD DEGREE OF THE PRIESTHOOD, OR CONSECRATION OF A BISHOP. top
"'There are two things which must be in Order among men, namely, those that are of Heaven, and those that are of the World; those that are of Heaven are called Ecclesiastical, and those that are of the World are called Civil.' (H. D. 311.)
"'There must be Governors to keep the consociations of men in order, who should be skilled in the laws, wise and fearing God. Amongst the Governors also, there must be order, lest any one from caprice or inexperience should permit evils against order, and thus destroy it; this is guarded against when there are higher and lower Governors, among whom there is subordination.' (H. D. 313.)
"'Governors over the things among men which relate to Heaven, or over ecclesiastical affairs, are called Priests, and their Office the Priesthood.' (H. D. 314.)
"'By the Priesthood is represented the Divine Good of the Divine Love, thus every office which the LORD performs as Saviour.' (A. C. 9809. )
"'By Priestly ministries and their duties the LORD provides that the Divine may be in the consociations of men on earth.' (D. C. vi, 2.)
"The Priesthood is, therefore, an office representative of the LORD, instituted in the Church, and existing in the Heavens for the purpose of presenting Divine Truth, such as it is in the Spiritual Kingdom, adjoined to the Celestial Kingdom, in an internal and external form (A. C. 9805), and for the purpose of preserving Order in the Ecclesiastical consociations or bodies of men on the earth. The uses of the Priesthood are pre-eminent, because they are of the LORD'S work of saving souls, because they are of the Divine Government and Order, because they are of Divine Worship, and because they are of Instruction in Divine things. These uses are in the office of the Priesthood, the functions of which are Government, the Performance of Holy Rites, the Administration of the Sacraments, the Teaching of Truth according to the Doctrines of the Church revealed by the LORD, and the leading to the good of life. Government in the Church, as in the Kingdoms of the Earth is the LORD's, and all the laws of Order by which He governs the Universe are Truths, as all the laws by which He governs the Universe as Priest, and by which He rules Truths themselves, are goods. (A. C. 2015.)
"The LORD's government of the Church as an organized Body of men who receive the Divine Truth, acknowledge the LORD, worship Him, and live according to His commandments, is effected by the Office of the Priesthood which is adjoined to men, who by virtue of this adjunction of that office, become Governors in Ecclesiastical affairs. And as order requires that there should be superior and inferior Governors, so also does order require that the several grades of the Priesthood be distinctly appointed and strictly maintained, and that inaugurations into the several grades of the Office whereby there is conferred authority for the performance of new and distinct functions of a more elevated character, and of a more extended bearing, should be performed with equal solemnity by the imposition of hands, as 'the representation of the translation of the Holy Spirit,' and its reception in the measure needed for the higher administration in the Church of the LORD's Office o saving men.
"Our Friend, Brother, and Fellow-Councilor, the Rev. W. F. Pendleton, has been unanimously selected by the Council of the Academy to fill the office of Vice-Chancellor, which has been for some years vacant, and inasmuch as this office requires that the incumbent should be in the third degree of the Priesthood, or a Bishop in the Church, he is now to be invested with these offices in the presence of this Assembly of members of the Academy. By this solemn act we propose to inaugurate a distinctive Priesthood of the Academy as a Church of the LORD in this day of His Second Coming to establish His new and crowning Church on the Earth. From this highest office will hereafter proceed the other offices of this Academic Church, which culminating in its uses and functions, will also derive from it, or by it, from the LORD, their Esse."
The Candidate arose, and the Chancellor, addressing him, said:
"My Brother, William F. Pendleton, you have been selected by your fellow-Councilors, Priests, and Laymen to fill the Offices of Bishop and Vice-Chancellor in the Academy of the New Church, and you are now to be solemnly invested with the same.
"To the end that the Council, Collegiate, and Associate members of the Academy here present may know from your own lips of your free acceptance of this your selection for the offices named, of your purpose in such acceptance, and of the intentions with which you will enter into these holy offices to the LORD, I pray you now to make your own declaration concerning them in the hearing of this Assembly."
The Candidate:—"Appreciating the importance of the step I am about to take, the sacredness of the offices I am called upon to fill, and the grave responsibility I take upon myself, I do freely accept the selection that has been made, and enter into the duties thus set before me with the purpose to faithfully perform them, as the LORD may give me strength. In so doing it is my desire and intention to be loyal to the Academy as a Church of the LORD, to be true to its principles and order, and to look to the LORD, as He has revealed Himself in the HEAVENLY DOCTRINES, for direction and guidance in all the uses I shall have to perform. And I do pray the LORD that He will instruct me, and fill me with that spirit which has actuated the Academy from the beginning. This spirit I believe to be the LORD's Spirit with us; to promote that spirit in word and work I do solemnly devote the energies of my life."
The Chancellor:—"You have made your declaration of acceptance, of purpose, and intention, in respect to the act now in hand, thus in the presence of the LORD and in the hearing of His people. Let us bow down and kneel before Him, who alone chooses and ordains His servants and ministers, and invoke His Divine blessing on the sacred act about to be performed, and on His servant, our beloved Brother, to whom, by this act, is to be adjoined the highest Priestly office of the Church, with its holy functions and most grave responsibilities."
PRAYER. top
O LORD JESUS CHRIST, our REDEEMER and SAVIOUR, Thou who art 'a Priest to eternity, according to Thy Word, Melchizedek,' let Thy Divine blessing rest on the sacred rite now about to be performed. We have come together in Thy name; fulfill Thy promise to be in our midst, and to give of Thy Holy Spirit according to the measure of our willing and humble obedience to Thy Word and Commandments. We pray to let the Light of the Divine Truth now descending from Thee out of the Heavens illuminate our minds, and the Heat of Thy Divine Love warm and animate our affections with glowing desires for all things of good and of use. In an especial manner be Thou, O LORD! with Thy servant, now about to consecrate himself to the higher duties and service of the office representative of Thee in Thy work of saving souls. Fill him with a holy fear and reverent love for Thee in the work about to be committed to him; with a deep love for human souls; with a superior light of wisdom to govern, counsel, guide, and direct in Thy Church with understanding heart and a just judgment. And, O LORD! do Thou now place Thine own loving hand on the head of all his ends, thoughts, intentions, and determinations, and sanctify him to Thy service, and to the permanent good of Thy Church.
"Our FATHER," etc.
The people having been seated, the Chancellor read chapter xv of the Gospel according to John.
The Candidate then knelt down and the Chancellor laid his hands upon his head, and pronouncing the Candidate's full name, William F. Pendleton, said: "In the name of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and by His authority in the Church, you are ordained into the third degree of the Priesthood, and invested with the Office of a Bishop in the LORD's New Church. May this office, thus established in the Academy of the New Church, become under the loving auspices of our LORD, the Saviour, a benediction to this Body of the Church, and to all who shall be brought within the sphere of operation; and may the LORD strengthen your hands, uphold you in all your ways, and be with you in your life, to lead, guide, direct you in doing His Will in the Church as it is done in Heaven. Amen."
"The LORD bless thee and keep thee, the LORD make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee, the LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Amen."
The Chancellor thereupon placed on the Bishop the outer robe of His office, made of ruby red wool.
Then taking the Bishop by the hand, and causing him to take his stand on the platform, the Chancellor proceeded to invest him with the office of Vice. Chancellor of the Academy. He began with the following address:
"Government in the superior degree is with us vested in the office of Bishop, who is clothed with special authority to perform in the Academy the additional functions of the office of Chancellor. It has been judged to be wise and proper at this time to make provision for the continuance of this office and to relieve the present incumbent of the same from some of his duties. To this end the Council has determined to fill again the office of Vice-Chancellor, and to provide a successor to our beloved Friend and Brother, the Rev. J. P. Stuart. The choice has fallen upon you, our Brother. It is a choice of our judgments filled with the warm love of our hearts. We are assured that this choice will commend itself to the judgments of our brethren of the College, and of the associated membership, and that it will receive their cordial good-will. The hearts of true men go forth to those who have been tried, tested, and not found wanting; they have confidence in them because the LORD has given them power to be trustworthy, and they look to them to lead in the way to the LORD, because they believe that the LORD never withholds His Divine Hand from the humble, who love to serve.
"You know what are the duties of the office to which you are called, and you know full well that you are not called to take upon you these duties in your own might and your own strength, but if you look to the LORD in humility and with a willing heart of service, He will be with you, and He will guide you, and give you of His might and of His strength, and you know also, that as you go forward in your work with serious thought and earnest trust in Him who is all-merciful and all-loving, He will give His angels a charge to be with you, to keep you in their sphere, to sustain and comfort you in all trials, and to communicate their joy in all the good which the LORD gives to them who love Him and obey His Commandments.
"I ask you now, are you willing and prepared to accept the office of Vice-Chancellor in the Academy, and to take upon you the duties and responsibilities of the same?"
Having received Bishop Pendleton's acceptance of the office of Vice-Chancellor, the Chancellor placed upon him the badge of his new office, which is similar to the Chancellor's, but of a smaller size.
Thereupon followed the charge and the benediction, and the entire ceremony closed with the anthem "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem."
The Assembly was invited to the rooms on the next floor below, where, in due course, toasts were proposed, the first of which was to the Academy, the second to the Chancellor, and the third to the Vice-Chancellor, in whose honor the following lines, composed by the wife of one of the Collegiates, were sung :—
Click on image for a larger version. top
A telegram from Councilor Childs, conveying his fraternal congratulations to the Vice-Chancellor and the Council, called forth a toast in his honor.
Mr. Pitcairn read a letter from Associate Vaissière, dated April 16th, the following extracts from which will doubtless interest you. After speaking of the state of the Church in St. Amand, the seat of labors of the late Le Boys des Guays, where at present no one apparently reads the Doctrines at home, but all content themselves with their Sunday readings, Mons. Vaissière says:
"I do not believe that it is possible to acquire the necessary knowledge and to progress in the way of regeneration and of reformation without applying one's self more or less every day to the reading and the meditation on the Word and the Doctrines.
"I have the pleasure of announcing to you that we have just had two interesting meetings with our friend the Rev. A. Bellais. The first took place at Nevers, on the 25th of March last, and the second at Autun, on the 7th and 8th of this month. Seeing that it would be very difficult if not impossible for me to go to Autun for Easter Sunday, I invited the Rev. Bellais to join me at Nevers, where I promised to be. On Sunday morning, the 25th of March, I found Mons. Bellais, accompanied by his wife, at the railroad station. They went with me to the Hotel d' Europe, where I had engaged two good rooms for them and for me, and we passed a delightful day together. In the afternoon we had worship and in the evening we celebrated the Holy Supper. Between whiles we talked of everything concerning the Church in general and our Society in particular. We modified some articles of our Constitution, acting upon the principle of rendering it as conformable as possible to that of the Academy, and finally, the next day, the 26th of March, before separating we proceeded to receive the Widow Vaillant and Emile Bonnet as associate members of our 'Society of the Second Advent of the LORD.'
"Then, toward three o'clock P. M., we separated at the station of Nevers, Mons. and Mme. Bellais bound for Autun to arrive there at eight P. M., and I for Chateauroux, where I arrived at eleven o'clock at night.
"Thus the Widow Vaillant and Emile Bonnet were received and inscribed as associate members, although they were not present, but we had their consent, and we were content with that, not being able to have more. In fact the Widow Vaillant is at Paris, and her position does not permit her to absent herself, and Emile Bonnet is in the Department of the Aude, his country, at the extreme south of France. He has been ill for several months, and does not leave the house. However, in his last letter, which I received on the 25th of March, he informed me that he is better and that he hopes to regain strength and health, and to be able thus to work and render himself useful to the Society and to the Church.
"Our little Church is very poor and very feeble in every way. Poor in knowledge, poor in science, poor in money, and above all poor in virtue, and yet we see that it influences the external Church [the Society of the rue Thouin] and makes it march forward. A work is going on in that Society that will cause a division among its members, some taking some steps forward and others remaining in the same place like statues of salt.
"Mons. Larue, of St. Amand, told me that a priest of the New Church in America, the Rev. F. Sewall, had written him to announce his arrival soon in France, and that he would go to sojourn in France during two or three months with what intention I do not know...
"Replying to the question that you addressed to me, I can say that
Mons. Bellais translates faithfully the letters of the Academy, and sends
them to me regularly. You cannot believe, dear friend, how much these
letters interest me. I read and re-read them four, five, six times, and
always with increasing pleasure. I beg you, my dear friend and brother,
to present my very respectful and affectionate salutation to our dear
and venerable Father, the Rev. M. Benade. Salute Miss Plummer also for
me, and receive for youself, Madame Pitcairn and your dear children, my
wishes for your health, prosperity, and peace. "Always yours,
"P. ALEX. VAISSIÈRE.
I depend upon being able to send you the sum of two hundred dollars by the next mail. Perhaps, even they will arrive at the same time with this letter."
In the subsequent letter dated the 23d of April, Mons. Vaissière writes:
"Upon arriving in Paris I learned that a division had taken place in the Society of the rue Thouin, I am going to inform myself as exactly as possible and give you the details in my next letter."
THE CLOSING EXERCISES OF THE SCHOOLS top
took place on the 21st and 22d days of June, as reported in the Life (page 112). As there had been considerable trouble in the schools during the past year, owing in great part to a want of thorough co-operation of parents with the school authorities, the Chancellor directed his remarks chiefly to this matter. He spoke to the following purport:
"The words which you have just recited are words to be received and believed as expressing the LORD'S merciful doings. Let them sink deep into your minds and establish there the truth that there is nothing in this world like the New Church and its teachings. The LORD is in them. There is nothing like the privilege of learning from His Revelation which has been given that we may enter heaven. You may think that the world is of great importance. No fault is to be found with you for this, for it is common to all who are in the natural state; but keep the thought uppermost which was announced in your to-day's exercises. What the LORD has told you is something of infinitely greater importance. Stand on this in your preparation. It gives import to whatever you learn and do here. You are to get ready here to live as angels in the heavens. These are simple truths, but it is necessary to comprehend them. The man who is wise in the things of heaven is also wise in earthly matters. He who is wise in earthly affairs and foolish in heavenly is not wise.
"The body was created to cover the soul. The soul was placed in it that it might perfect itself to become an angel. Keep this in mind. However much your associations may lead you away, keep this in mind whenever you can. You will then see that unless you live in obedience to the Truth, you can not be saved. To be men and women, heavenly men and women, you must learn that the first and all of Life, as the LORD brought it down and presented it in His own Human Form and Body, is obedience. He Himself did not do His own will, the will of His Human, but the Divine Will, the Will of the Father's Love. The Divine Love assumed the human form in order that what had been purposed at the creation might be accomplished: Obedience to the Father's Will. In that obedience He carried out every word of Scripture: He was obedient even to the death of the cross. Let this abide with you, and let it ever admonish you that it is best for you and for all concerned with you to be obedient to the LORD first and last.
"Obedience to the LORD requires obedience to the authorities in the Church and in the civil community. In the name of the LORD I demand obedience to His teachings. As they come through men they require respect and obedience, else you cannot become regenerate. This is not demanded because of men, or for the sake of the external form of the school, but because of the salvation of your souls, for which the LORD has established the Church and the schools, and has prepared teachers. Put away from your minds and thoughts any insinuation—no matter from where it comes—that it is men who seek to rule you. That is not our idea. It comes from a region whither you ought not to turn your eyes. It is for your salvation that we have taken this burden upon us. When you are older and have trials and tribulations, you will find such a responsibility a heavy burden. It meets with opposition from you. You have selfish loves. You know that. Those who send you to the schools must aid you to control your self-conceit and self-will by not interfering with the workings of the schools, but by coming to the teachers and co-operating with them.
"I speak this designedly and purposely. The time has come to say things with a sound so certain that it cannot be mistaken. Only one rule will be observed hereafter: obedience to the authorities of the school. Either you render entire obedience or you go elsewhere. We cannot have it otherwise. I cannot bear the burden any longer. And it is not for the teachers to do so.
"A number of you have given great satisfaction—good, kindly, and affectionate attention. In the name of the teachers and of myself, I thank you for this, and hope that the LORD will enable you to do still better. Let what you have done in the past be remains in you that will grow and increase and bring fruit in superabundance, then the LORD will give you the reward of a clear intelligence, and an obedient heart, and He will support you through life. As we have had great satisfaction with many, we have also at times had the same with all, except when some were misled.
"Let the future be a time of serious study and obedience. Our relations in the future will be different. We are thankful that the LORD has enabled us to see and to do this most glorious use of preparing the young to be men and women of truth, justice, and goodness in this world and angels in the world to come."
THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION, top
on the 19th day of June, was held at Hainesport, N. J., on invitation of Associate Aitken.
There was no formal meeting in the morning. Forty were present, all from Philadelphia and vicinity, except Mrs. Whitehead from Pittsburgh, Mr. Hicks from Watsontown, Pa., and Miss Falk from Chicago.
The tables for the feast were set on two porches that ran at right angles with each other, and thus formed two sides of a hollow square.
The first toast was
"The Academy"
The Chancellor responding thereto, said: "We have met once more on the 19th day of June, the special memorial day of our own beloved Academy. The LORD, in His Providence, has given to His New Church a 19th of June as a memorial of His great provision for the salvation of the human race in the preaching of the gospel that the LORD JESUS CHRIST reigneth. In His Providence this gift has been passed on to this small body. Without our intention and purpose the beginning of the work was made on this day twelve years ago. It is fitting that we let our thoughts go back to that beginning. It is fitting to think, not only of the uses and principles of the Academy, but also to review the past and to see the progress made in time past and look forward to the future, and after reviewing to reconfirm the uses and principles by finding truths as the LORD has given them in our reason and established them by the experiences of the past, then to express to the LORD our profound thankfulness for what He has done and enabled us to perform for our fellow-men, and for the preparation which He has thus made for the future, a marked, certain, and great future to this work of a small beginning. And it is fitting to add a rejoicing over things past and those to come hereafter. I shall not dwell on these matters, but shall leave them to the speakers who will follow. But as one of those who began the movement, as the only one here who was at its first initiament, I wish to say a few words concerning the principles that ruled in the beginning and which should be borne in mind so that the young men now with us may be in mind together with the originators of the movement, and carry it on in their spirit.
"The Academy is the result of the growth of seed planted by the LORD to establish among men one form of the Church in which the acknowledgment of the LORD in His Second Coming may be prominent and fundamental. From the first of the Church there were some who saw this clearly. From the first there were those who believed in the Second Coming of the LORD in the Revelation of the Internal Sense, appearing out of the letter of the Word, transfigured, to put upon Himself the crown of sovereignty over the universe, and to give to the Church that she become the Lamb's Wife. There have been those who believed in this, have seen, known, written, spoken, printed it in order that a seed may go down to future ages: the acknowledgment of the LORD in His Divine Human, appearing in the letter of the Word.
"Remnants of those teachings came down to us in time past to be carried out in spiritual, civil, and moral life. The remnants implanted the conception of a development of the Church such as was not seen around us. We saw this, believed in it, and unconsciously we gathered around us a solid nucleus to establish what had not been before. Going into the general councils of the Church we came together, stood together, and finally united together. This caused a separation between us and the rest of the Church in thought, intention, and purpose. From this time forth there was internally a separation, and as first principles and first states enter into all that succeed in series, and establish in the future what was in the inception, so also was it with us. As at that time there was a separation internally, that separation has continued steadily from that time on. As we then said that the Church was established by the Second Coming of the LORD, that it was given to the Revelation, to its Divine Author to rule and govern in the Church, so the separation from those who denied this or received it with qualifying admissions became more and more marked. This separation between those who are not of this body and those who are, must have its effect also upon our own lives, our affections, and thoughts. If it is true that the LORD has presented Himself as the Very Truth and Law of moral and spiritual life, then it is true that every conceit of human intelligence, every impulse of selfishness must yield to the LORD'S Revelation of Himself. So the separation must go on increasingly with the whole body of the Church, with the membership within, and in the lives of members. Thus comes the judgment, the ability to see clearly the right and wrong of things, whether in the world, or in the body, or in our own minds.
"As we look into the past of this body in the short time of its existence, we find that as it has gone forward with a single eye to the LORD's Truth, those who have held firmly to the promise of the Divine Love inflowing from above, have had their grasp made firmer by the confidence inspired by the LORD, while those who came from without and have not held to that principle firmly have dropped off and out, and have left those who believe alone, alone so far as associations were concerned, but not as to love and affection, nor as to the Divine influence operating through the heavens.
"As we hold firmly to the Truth, we hold to the LORD; as we follow it, we follow the LORD, for the LORD is the Truth. He who follows the Truth is led, not as he desires or imagines, but whithersoever the LORD leads, be it against himself, the neighbor, or the world, it is always to the LORD and Heaven, because the Truth is from His Will; it is the enunciation of His Voice.
"If we take this that comes from the past and apply it now, looking into ourselves, a plane will be opened for judgment concerning ourselves, concerning our relation to the Academy, and to the LORD's work. This is one of the great uses of an occasion like this, our annual gathering. We cannot prepare for the future except as we look into our own lives and examine whether we have been faithful to the trust which the LORD has committed to our charge. If it is true that the LORD has given us fundamental Truths for us and our uses, then we have not only a Guide to all things of life, but also a judge, which shall determine whether a thing is to be done or not, what is our duty to do, and this will then stand by virtue of faithfulness and dutifulness to the Truth, and will be a preparation for the work to be done in the future.
"Let us make this examination. We need to know where we stand. Do we hold the relation to the Truth as in the past? Have we gone to this side or to that, or have we turned back? I place this question before myself and before you. The Truth must be made the centre and core of our living and loving. Is there anything else important for us? Have we been willing to yield our conceits, our selfishness, and worldliness in doing our duty? If we answer sincerely we shall open our hearts and thoughts to the LORD and to Him alone.
"I find that time as it passes leaves behind it the things of the world more and more, while the interest in the things beyond becomes greater and greater. Is there anything worth living for, loving for, and doing for, but that which the LORD has given us, the Divine Revelation of the Truth and of the Good to which it leads? If we make this examination conscientiously and see whether we have been faithful, we may leave the response to our hearts in their innermost recesses. If we have done wrong, let us pray the LORD to forgive the sin. If we have done the best in our power, let us pray that He will continue His Light and Life; and grasp us more firmly by the hand to lead us on.
"If we do this, then this 19th of June will be a day of rejoicing in very truth and deed, and we shall gather new life and strength to go forward hand in hand, as we pledge ourselves that nothing shall be of value to us but what the LORD has given to us, that we shall devote mind, soul, and body to that which the LORD has given us to do."
To the second toast,
"Authority in the New Church,"
Associate Price responded: "The authority of the New Church is the Word of the LORD in the Literal Sense and in the Doctrines, which is the Law according to which we must live that we may be called New Churchmen. This is a thing that has been felt, known, and believed by individuals from the beginning, but it has been of slow growth. The conviction that the Doctrines are of Divine Authority, that by them men are regenerated and become angels, that there must be no temporizing with them nor any interference on the part of man's self-intelligence has had some extension in the Church. In the Academy this conviction has been growing and has been ultimated in practices. The acknowledgment of the Divine Authority is necessary for progress. Where the Divine Authority is not acknowledged thousands of things cannot be seen. The acknowledgment of the LORD and thought concerning Him extends man's rational view; where this acknowledgment is not, thought is not, except that which is from the eye, and thought from the eye closes the understanding, while thought from the understanding opens the eye. When the Divine Authority is not acknowledged there is only eye-thought, and no proper judgment except in things palpably true. In the Academy there has been a gradual advance and ability to discriminate between one thing and another. The men of the Academy have been advancing in their duty as to generals and particulars of life. Perhaps not all can follow in this onward movement; those that cannot ought not to retard those who can.
"The acknowledgment of the authority means to know, understood, and apply the Doctrines to the particulars of one's life."
The subject which engaged our minds on the third toast was
"Judgment;—The Last judgment and its Effects,"
and was presented by Associate Wælchly, as follows: "Judgment is the separation of the evil from the good by the Divine Truth. When the state of the Church or of mankind becomes such that there is no longer any faith and charity then a general judgment takes place. The last one occurred in the year 1757, when those who were from the Christian world were separated, the good from the evil, the good were elevated to heaven, and the evil cast themselves into hell. That was the last general judgment ever to take place. From that time on all go either to heaven or to hell soon after their death. The effect of that judgment was a state of greater freedom to think of spiritual subjects, which state was not possible before, because of the obscurity induced by evil spirits and genii. At the same time that the LORD executed the Last Judgment He revealed the Doctrines of the New Church to men. By these Doctrines all judgment takes place because they show the way of life, they teach what is evil, and so separate the evil from the good. Judgment is regeneration. There is no regeneration without judgment. Regeneration follows the separation of evil from good, and this continues throughout the life of man. The separation or judgment has its effect upon mankind by the separation of those who are in the love of truth from those who are not in this love, those who are willing to accept the Doctrines from those who are unwilling to accept them.
"In the New Church a judgment has taken place: another separation between those who do not receive the Doctrines as Divine Authority and those who do. It is the separation of the apparent New Church from the true New Church. The true New Church is a man and its progress is as that of an individual, which is made up of continual judgments, of separations of the evil from the good; thus the regeneration of the true Church takes place.
"There are dangers and temptations against which the Church must be on its guard. Among others are the evils of self-confidence and pride in the goodness of self. The Church as a man must fight against pride of goodness, but look forward to something better and higher, otherwise there will be no progress. That higher state will be reached by judgments. Man must fight against the Old Church in himself, against customs, habits, ways of thinking, and acting. He cannot overcome at once, but he will do so gradually, and as he overcomes the LORD's Will will be done more and more on earth as it is done in heaven."
The fourth sentiment proposed was,
"The Life of the New Church in Uses, from Uses, by Uses."
Councilor Tafel spoke in these words: "The LORD is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself, which are continually operative in Use. All the heavens and the earth are one theatre, where uses are continually taking place. And these uses are continuous. He never sleeps or slumbers. His energy is going forth continually, giving life and existence to all. As the Church regenerates and becomes formed into an image and likeness of the LORD, it also performs uses from the LORD. In so far as the Church performs uses it is in the life of the LORD, and He is present, operating in and through it. When man is in the sphere of use the primary thing is not man, but use. As use is in the first place and man in the second, he has a true conception of it. Many things that seem troublesome will disappear as we look to use and see that the proprium must be annihilated; and this the LORD thrusts out as man enters into use. Where man thus acknowledges that he is nothing, that all that is his own is from hell, the LORD alone becomes present, and the life from Him flows in and is received into all the uses which the LORD gives to the Church to perform, so that all uses will be seen to be through men, but performed by the LORD Himself.
"In Use is the First and the Last of the Conjugial, which is Heaven,"
was the sentiment next proposed, and on which the Vice-Chancellor thus addressed us: "You will remember that in the first Memorable Relation in the work on Conjugial Love, the Prince conversed on the subject of use, and that among other things he said that the seat of wisdom is in use. This subject was to be continued by the wise of that society, which they did, carrying it out in particulars, which can all be referred to the principle that love and wisdom are only in use. This point, that the seat of wisdom is in use, is of especial interest in connection with the toast. All wisdom points out use, and has its life in use. We are taught in the Doctrines that the love of man is the love of growing wise, and that the love of woman is the love of that love in the man. If all wisdom is in use, we can see the connection of use with the conjugial. The conjugial lives in use and by use, and the first of conjugial is use, and its last is use, and heaven itself is in it.
"Into conjugial love are gathered all the delights and joys of heaven from first to last, and so also into the use of conjugial love from its first to its last, because the use of conjugial love is the use of uses, being the means by which the LORD forms the heavens from the human race, and this is the end of creation from which the LORD created the universe, that from it there may be an angelic heaven where man may live in the happiness which flows from use to eternity. Such is the use of the conjugial, which, considered spiritually, is the propagation of goods and truths forever. The use of the conjugial with us here and in the spiritual world goes with us forever. Without it there is no life and happiness. By it man is elevated into heaven, and by no other means, for it implies the shunning all loves, habits, and practices which are contrary to it.
"The conjugial has for its end the propagation of the human race and of heaven. This is being continually assaulted. This body stands alone in its position that this use must be carried out, regardless of consequences, and that in opposing this use men oppose the LORD. This use has been with us from the beginning, and a determined effort has been made to carry it out. It is encouraging to know that our members have realized it, and with it the importance of marriage between two of the same religion. The integrity of the Church depends upon it, and without it the Church cannot grow. The adherence to this principle separates us from all that assault it, and is involved in obedience to the Authority of the LORD. Let us thank Him for His merciful preservation of the pearl of human life and the repository of the Christian religion."
"Instruction the Means of Education; Education the Preparation for Regeneration; Regeneration the Lord's Leading of Man to Heaven,"
the sixth toast, was responded to by Collegiate Schreck, who connected it with the preceding one by reading the following poem, composed by Mr. George G. Starkey:
FOREVER. top
Oh! soft are the breezes that breathe on the ear,
And tell of a land where all sorrow and fear
Are banished in spring-time that smiles all the year,
Where the sea only murmurs, Forever.
'Neath a sky softly glowing the surf gently beats,
Where the rose-scented zephyrs breathe heavenly sweets,
And the smile of the angels the wearied soul greets,
And he shares in their gladness, Forever.
For the FATHER, in pity, looks down where we crawl,
He speaks, and if only we list to the call,
Will trust to Him fully, resigning our all,
He leads to that heavenly land, Ever.
And forgot are the warfare and anguish of breast;
In that heavenly friendship are comfort and rest,
And the love that would give all to others is blest
With a joy that increases, Forever.
To each happy angel a loved one is given
They together on earth may have suffered and striven,
Or they may have met first in the dawning of heaven,
But the two become one there, Forever.
And deep in their bosoms this holiest love
Dwells in innermost peace, like a pure, snowy dove,
And their mutual joys in that Eden above,
Grow sweeter and purer, Forever.
And the LORD's Divine Love is the life that is there,
That warms every heart and makes everything fair,
And all good He provides with an infinite care,
For He loveth His children, Forever.
"In these soft yet glowing words, which speak so fervently to our hearts and appeal so powerfully to our imaginations, is presented the object of the instruction and education of the Academy.
"We have been invited by the Chancellor to review the history of the past year. One of the most important of the many lessons which that history teaches us, is that the work of education is truly a priestly work, and that in all its aspects it must be considered as under the domain of the laws concerning the priesthood. The priestly use, what is it? To lead by truths to the good of life. And what is e-ducation? What but the leading forth out of ignorance, fallacies, falses, foolishness, pride, and passion, into knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, humility, and peace: out of the earth of vacuity and inanity, out of the abyss of thick-darkness, into the eternal brilliancy and spring of heaven. The means to this end is instruction,—instruction in the truths of every degree and every kind, for the truths which the LORD gives us to instruct mankind in are as varied, as infinite, as the goods to which they lead.
"The work of education and instruction in schools is considered in the world at large to be in preparation merely for usefulness in this world. This falsity reigns with many New Churchmen and is in danger of creeping into our body. We are derelict in our duties as Academicians, we trifle with our privileges as New Churchmen, we violate our country's good as citizens, if we consider the object of our education to be the favorable standing and prosperity in the world, and not the standing and prosperity in the sight of the LORD,—when we fail to recognize that all truths have been given to us by the LORD, and that of these the spiritual must be in the moral, the moral in the civil, the civil in the scientific, to fulfill their work and to be and remain truths with us. Our education is only a means of the preparation of human beings for the other world, their standing in this world is of secondary consideration. It is only as we raise our eyes above things worldly and look to the LORD, that we can receive from Him all the truths needed to accomplish His object, for He is in all and every one of them. And this truth that He is the all in all needs to be as a sign upon our hands and for a memorial between our eyes: as a sign upon the hand, for a perpetual remembrance in the will, so that whenever the hand is moved, we may remember; and for a memorial between the eyes, for a perpetual remembrance in the understanding, so that whenever we look, we may remember. Thus doing and thinking, the merely human agencies in our work will vanish, and the LORD will be seen to be the Only Doer. For whatever is done now is by the very same Divine Truth—the Word—by which the world was created, and without which not anything was made that was made. It still creates, and by creating preserves the world and all that is therein, the Church and all that it contains; and as we receive the truths needed in the work of education from the LORD Alone, the Divine Truth will create and establish in this work a Divine Order. This Order it then becomes our duty to observe and maintain. And it will stand, for it is the Divine Order. Let us beware lest we attempt to shake, undermine, or destroy that Order. We shall do so at our own peril. Our efforts may indeed bring discomfort to any elements of disorder that still remain with us from old states, but the Order itself, which is from the LORD, will not be affected thereby, but will simply do unto us as we endeavor to do to it. We need have no fear for the continuance of what the LORD has established. The Truth will prevail. That only will suffer which is not of the Truth.
"What has been said may appear like repetition of familiar truths, and it may therefore weary us. But the influx that causes such a feeling cannot be from the same source as the truths themselves. There is need of repetition of vital truths, as there is of household words. It is not in vain that we are commanded to bind the memorial upon the hand and between the eyes. It is to be a perpetual remembrance. Truths like those that we have heard to-day cannot be too frequently repeated, for the existence of the Church depends upon them, and the LORD has provided occasions like the present one that on them the members of our body may themselves be instructed in the truths of the Academy.
"The instruction and education of our members is as much our use as the care of children and young people. We are an Internal Church. As such we have a priesthood and preaching. We differ in many respects from an External Church, one of these differences is that we do not meet at stated times as such a one does. In this we approach external observances in heaven. Our Sabbaths are proclaimed by our priests. It is important to bear this in mind and not to look upon all our meetings as devoted to recreation. They are meetings of charity, and charity requires the promulgation of truths as they are seen by the priesthood to be called for by the exigencies of the time.
"Our name, the 'Academy,' expresses this characteristic of our body. In the garden of the Academy, near Athens, the ancient Greek philosophers met, and while they walked about under the trees, they conversed about, and thus were instructed in, the matters of wisdom, which was a wisdom not of mere knowledge but of life.
"In our meetings, our consociation at a common board where we eat and drink together, forms a correspondential plane for the reception of the spiritual truths and goods with which our minds are meanwhile engaged.
"Education in its various forms being the interior priestly use of the Academy, and the life of the Church being in use, from use, and by use, we can say that the life and existence of the Academy is in education, from education, and by education. Education gave birth to the Academy, Education builds it up, and to Education are directed all the efforts of the Academy,—that education which shall make angels of men, images and likenesses of the LORD JESUS CHRIST."
"After the more serious presentations which we have had," said the Toast-Master, Collegiate Starkey, " after the more serious introspection which we have made, and in which we have seen our lacks and errors, and which calls up the saddening feelings of our unworthiness, our hearts naturally reach out to our brothers in our efforts and in our short comings. I therefore propose the toast, 'The Academy of the Pacific,' from whom this telegram has been received:
"'SAN FRANCISCO, June 18th, 1888.
TO CHANCELLOR W. H. BENADE
"'We celebrate the great day. Oakland Society celebration in the
evening.
"'ACADEMY OF THE PACIFIC.'"
To the toast, Collegiate Campbell responded in a few words in which he pleasantly referred to the electric throb from the Pacific which called forth a responsive spiritual throb in our hearts, and spoke of the telegram as presenting Councilor Childs most vividly before him. After expressing in a melodious strain the sentiment that where'er he may wander in the far western wilds, we will love him forever, our dear Walter Childs, "the Branch in Brooklyn" was toasted, who had sent the following dispatch:
"BROOKLYN, N. Y., June 18th, 1888.
"TO REV. W. H. BENADE
"A prosperous and happy New Year! May the LORD bless our beloved
Academy! Vive l' Académie!
"THE BRANCH IN BROOKLYN."
Collegiate Tafel, in response to the toast, spoke of the warm heart of the members in Brooklyn, and that as all of them could not attend the general meeting, they had decided to hold their own celebration.
"The Academy sojourning in Switzerland," consisting of Councilor Pitcairn' and wife, Councilor Starkey and wife, and Councilor Glenn, were toasted to next, and the Chancellor rose in response.
The important ceremony of the presentation of the Loving Cup by the Toast-Master to the Chancellor now took place. The Chancellor filled the Cup and then announced the toast, "The Brotherhood of the Academy; may it forever be in this world as the Brotherhood of the Lord's Church is forever in the heavens."
The Assembly removed from their places at the tables and gathered on the lawn, where several more toasts were drank.
At the consecration of the Vice-Chancellor, one of the important occasions on which the Loving Cup is to be used, its use had inadvertently been omitted. To atone for this omission the Vice-Chancellor was now toasted in the Loving Cup.
THE CHERRY STREET BUILDING. top
ON the 1st day of April, Easter Day, the last New Church services were held in the Cherry Street building. They were conducted by Bishop Benade assisted by Pastors Tafel and Schreck. Although the services were not, strictly speaking, of the Academy, it is due to the noble uses for which this building has served to make mention of them in this letter. For, long before the Academy was organized, its uses were foreshadowed in the movement which led to the building of the Cherry Street house, and after its organization this building was turned over to our body, whose uses have been mainly carried on in this house, which has thus practically been the centre of Academic influence in the New Church during an entire generation of men. And our Father Benade, whose simple but most confident reliance on the Divine Providence was the means of the erection of the building, has witnessed the development and firmer establishment of the Church, whose end and soul are the uses of charity, and has been spared to see the conclusion of the usefulness of the one building, in place of which the LORD has mercifully made more extended provisions in the new buildings, which are better adapted to the growing needs of this Church.
The Philadelphia Society of the New Jerusalem was formed on the 16th day of April, 1856, and was formally recognized by the General Convention as "an ecclesiastical body." (Journal for 1857, minute 39.) In order that the members of the Academy may see for themselves that at that early period Father Benade was endeavoring to establish the principles which are so fully acknowledged and carried out by the Academy at the present time, although they did not have the support which they have now in the minds and hearts of his associates, we quote from the first report of the Society to the General Convention:
"Inasmuch as the Constitution by which our Society has its existence is based upon the principle, that all organizations of the Church should have as their end and object, or as what is primary and essential to them, charity, and not piety, and not charity in general, but some specific use of charity, which is a good in act (because, according to the teachings of our Church, charity is the primary and essential of worship, whilst piety is its secondary or formal); or, what is the same thing, because charity ought to be the end, and piety the means, of genuine life-worship of Him who is Love itself and Life itself; and inasmuch as, from the beginning of its formation, we elected the use of education to be our Society's specific use of charity, we felt it to be our duty at once and simultaneously with the formation and adoption of our Constitution, to proceed to the selection and purchase of a lot for the erection of a school-house, wherein to carry out the chief end and object of our social union and organization.
"The corner-stone of this school-house was laid on the 11th of September, 1856, and the building, which is of stone, brought under roof and the first story completed by December, 1856. On Christmas Day the room was first opened for Divine service, and the sacrament of the LORD's Supper administered. In the evening there was a social reunion composed of a large number of the members and friends of the Society, with their children, who all entered heartily into the festivities of the occasion.
"On the 12th of January, 1857, the school was opened with fourteen scholars, male and female, under the charge and tuition of Rev. W. H. Benade, pastor of the Society, who, by its Constitution, is also Superintendent of the school.
"At the commencement of the present session in September last, the Superintendent received most valuable aid in his labors by the removal of Dr. Leonard Tafel to Philadelphia, and from the generously volunteered services of Miss Keller, of Baltimore; and the school is now approaching the close of the session, with thirty-seven scholars, who are instructed by four teachers; another young lady, from Wilmington, Del., having been added to their number during the course of the year, besides which it has the benefit of the valuable and kindly volunteered services of Dr. Cowley in teaching vocal music, and of Mr. H. Faber in drawing and designing.
"It has been the endeavor of those who have charge of this institution to carry out, as faithfully and fully as possible, the purpose of the Society in its establishment, by giving to it a distinctively New Church character and form. To this end the scholars receive daily instructions in the Word and Doctrines of the Church; and such of them as are sufficiently advanced are also instructed in the Hebrew language and required to commit to memory a portion of the Word in the original. In addition to this the truths of the New Church are applied, wherever a suitable opening occurs, in the course of the scientific instruction which the scholars receive; and an effort is made to lead them to a perception of the great fact, that these truths underlie the whole fabric of human knowledge, and are as necessary to the infilling of all forms of knowledge and science with genuine light, as they are to the imparting of vital power and energy to all the forms of human life. Very imperfect and entirely experimental as the mode of instruction in this important particular has necessarily been, it is yet believed that if faithfully carried out, with a constant looking to the LORD for the needed wisdom and power, it will ultimately be productive of lasting good results, by thoroughly grounding the children of the Society and of other members of the Church in the Heavenly Doctrines, as well as by introducing them to the minds of those who have been intrusted to us by others not members of the Church. And the Society cannot leave this subject without expressing the hope that the whole Church may speedily come to an active recognition of its vital importance, and, by a united effort, labor toward the accomplishment of that which can be but feebly and imperfectly done by the small number now engaged in the use."
NOTES FOR THE BIRTH RECORD. top
SINCE our last Letter the following infants have been been born of Academy
parents:
Agnes Sophie Gyllenhaal, Chicago, Ill., December 16th; Gwladys Hicks, Watsontown,
Pa., January 6th; Leonard Immanuel Tafel, Philadelphia, February 6th; Sydney
Benade Childs, San Francisco, Cal., February 29th; Rebekah Kirk, Concordia,
Kansas, April 12th; Leroy Wells, Philadelphia, April 15th; Ottley, London,
England, April 15th; Ariel Pendleton Burnham, Chicago, Ill., April 22d; Benjamine
Louise Victoria Bellais, Autun, France, August 7th.
NOTES FOR THE MANUAL. top
THE Rev. Rudolph L. Tafel has ceased to be a member of the Academy, and his name is therefore dropped.
"The following additional changes are to be made in the Manual of Addresses
To the list of Associates are added the following names and addresses: Mr. Louis
B. Pendleton, in care of Dr. F. E. Bœricke, 921 Arch Street, Philadelphia; Miss
Emma T. Pendleton, 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia; Miss Wilhelmine Dœring,
Milverton, Ontario, Canada; Miss Mary S. Snyder, 2218 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia;
Mr. Fred E. Wælchly, in care of Rt. Rev. F. W. Tuerk, Berlin, Ontario,
Canada.
The following are corrected addresses: Mrs. E. A. Farrington, 531 N. Nineteenth
Street, Philadelphia; Mr. William H. Jungé, 394 Federal Street, Boston,
Mass.; Mr. Richard Roschman, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; Mr. Ferdinand Muhlert,
268 S. Third Street, Brooklyn, E. D., N. Y.; Mr. Sobieski C. Smith, Jr., Justin
City, Los Angeles County, Cal.
In conclusion, it may be necessary to state, that the speeches reported in this Letter were not, as in former Letters, revised by those that made them. An exception is to be made in the ease of the consecration services of the Vice-Chancellor, which had been written out beforehand.
Eugene J. E. Schreck
Corresponding Secretary
Go to: Index of College Letters