NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. 



599 



hibition party were also held. There was no 

 general election for State officers this year, but 

 six members of the State Senate and all mem- 

 bers of the Lower House of the Legislature 

 were chosen. The Democratic National ticket 

 was successful at the November election. Four 

 of the six State Senators elected were Demo- 

 crats (there will consequently be 10 Repub- 

 licans and 11 Democrats in that body in 1889), 

 and the Assembly will have 32 Democrats to 

 28 Republicans, giving the Democrats a ma- 

 jority of 5 on joint ballot. In the Legislat- 

 ure of 1888 the Republicans had a majority 

 of 17 on joint ballot. For members of Con- 

 gress, Republicans were elected in the First, 

 Second, Fifth, and Sixth Districts, and Demo- 

 crats in the Third, Fourth, and Seventh, the 

 Democrats gaining a member in the Third Dis- 

 trict. 



NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. The General Con- 

 vention of this body is composed of the Canada 

 Association, 7 societies ; the Illinois Association, 

 11 societies; the Maine Association, 5 societies; 

 the Maryland Association, 5 societies, and indi- 

 vidual members ; the Massachusetts Associa- 

 tion, 19 societies; the Michigan Association, 

 5 societies ; the Minnesota Association, 2 socie- 

 ties; the New York Association, 14 societies; 

 the Ohio Association, 12 societies; the Gen- 

 eral Conference of Pennsylvania, 12 societies; 

 8 single societies ; and four members by elec- 

 tion. The list of ministers of the General Con- 

 ference includes the names of 8 " general pas- 

 tors"; 100 "pastors and ministers'': and 9 

 " authorized candidates and preachers.'' The 

 number of members is not given in the reports. 



The General Convention of the New Jeru- 

 salem Church in the United States met in Bos- 

 ton, Mass., May 19. The Rev. Chauncey Giles 

 presided. The" treasurer gave the amounts of 

 the capital investments of the funds of the 

 General Convention as follow: Simpkins fund, 

 $20,000 ; Wales fund, $5,000 ; Jenkins fund, 

 $2,000 ; Wilkins fund, $3.750 ; White fund, 

 $4,500; Richards fund, $1.000; in all, $36,250. 

 The Board of Publication reported that the col- 

 lections for the " Fifty-Thousand-Dollar fund " 

 to date amounted to $42,065, $421 having been 

 added during the year. The property of the 

 publishing house was valued at $9,274. The 

 year's business showed a net loss of $1,009. 

 The Endowment fund of the Theological 

 School was returned at $31,370 ; and the 

 whole amount of funds the income of which 

 is applicable to the support of the institution 

 was $99,310. Eight students for the ministry 

 had attended the school during the year. The 

 course of instruction includes Latin, Greek, 

 and Hebrew, Swedenborgian theology, Church 

 history, and homiletics and pastoral duties, the 

 younger pupils beginning with the " Athan > 

 sian Creed." The New Church Building fund 

 amounted to $1,269. The amounts of other 

 special funds and legacies were returned as fol- 

 low : Rice legacy, $8,519 ; Rotch legacy, *24,- 

 364, with $8,507* invested in plates, books, etc.; 



lungerich fund, $36,696 ; fund for photo-litho- 

 graphing Swedenborg's manuscripts, $2.400 

 subscribed, $191 paid. The committee of this 

 fund was authorized by the Convention to make 

 arrangements for the publication of the manu- 

 scripts as soon as the amount raised in the 

 United States and in England for the work 

 should warrant beginning it. The trustees of 

 the lungerich fund had distributed during the 

 year 5,508 copies of Swedenborg's works, mak- 

 ing the whole number of copies distributed un- 

 der this fund since its institution 88,816. The 

 receipts of the Board of Home and Foreign 

 Missions had been $3,383, and its expenditures 

 $3,304. It expected also to receive a legacy of 

 $1,000. Report was made of mission work in 

 Nova Scotia, Canada, Southern and Western 

 States and Territories of the United States, 

 Sweden, Denmark. Italy, France, and Switzer- 

 land. The Swiss Union of the New Church 

 having indicated a desire to be received into 

 the Convention as an association, the Con- 

 vention responded, that on account of the in- 

 convenience with which such a position would 

 be attended by reason of distance, it seemed 

 better that the Union should act as a sister 

 body, having a position in Switzerland corre- 

 sponding with that of the Convention in Amer- 

 ica, with which annual messages should be ex- 

 changed, "to be conveyed personally when- 

 ever it can be done." In the address adopted 

 by the General Convention to the General 

 Conference in Great Britain, reference is made 

 to the growing strength of the State Associa- 

 tions, which were becoming less dependent 

 upon the general body. With some of them 

 there was a desire for more latitude in the 

 choice of a General Pastor and in the rules in 

 regard to his continuance in office. The gener- 

 al body had shown a willingness to leave to the 

 State associations the particular arrangement 

 and classification of their ministers, so f&r as 

 their rules did not conflict with the order of 

 the general body. By the observance of this 

 principle the freedom of the local bodies would 

 be recognized, and the general order of the 

 Church at the same time preserved. The rela- 

 tion between the organized bodies of the New 

 Church and those of other churches had engaged 

 the attention of a portion of the New Church 

 people in the United States. How much, if any, 

 affiliation and co-operation could or ought to 

 exist could not well be determined by any 

 formal action ; and only a single instance of 

 such action in which members of the New 

 Church were excluded because they were not 

 regarded as orthodox was mentioned. An 

 address was received from the Australian Con- 

 ference. 



The British Chnrrh. The whole number of 

 New Church societies in association in Great 

 Britain was reported to the Conference in Au- 

 gust to be 70, and the whole number of mem- 

 bers 5,920. The number of churches had in- 

 creased by three, and the number of members 

 by 200, during the year. 



