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him of a person who said, "I don't intend to do anything to-day, but to-morrow I'll make business ache." It did ache, for want of doing. A much wiser man said, "I want to do something for the Church. I want to do it to-day, for to-morrow I may have no money. True wisdom is to do what we are able to do to-day. The Lord does not require a man to give five pounds who can only give one. He is teaching us to do the work of the day in its day. Still we have money enough for all that the Lord requires of us if we would only use it. This statement Mr. Giles illustrated by a pleasant reference to the sums spent in useless indulgences. A church cannot pay its minister, and yet its members disperse in smoke more than would support him. If we would only take from the natural man and give to the spiritual man, the wants of the Church would be more than supplied. In the Church in America are many noble men. There are also men who are afraid to be ruled over, who only approve of one kind of rule, that is, their own. Yet the only way to get freedom is to join some organization of the Church. The steam-engine is free to move so long as it moves along the line. If it forsakes the rails its freedom soon comes to an end. There is no fear of the New Church ever going into bondage. It is utterly impossible for any man to come into the New Church, and admit its principles into the mind, without coming into the love of freedom. It is only possible, however, to get freedom by obedience to the laws.

The Rev. R. Storry read a report of the administration of the Tideswell Bequest, and was again appointed to take charge of this matter.

The Committee appointed at the last session to solicit contributions for the Building Fund, reported that they had only collected £42 during the past year. It was explained that this was owing to the feeling of the Committee that it was better not to interfere with the efforts of the Church for the support of the Augmentation Fund. On the proposal to appoint a committee to solicit contributions for the "Students' and Ministers' Aid Fund," Mr. Parkinson asked to be excused, on the ground that he had had to ask for money so often recently that in some quarters he was far from being welcome. A member of Conference suggested that perhaps the same excuse might be pleaded for the Treasurer.

The Committee on Foreign and Colonial Missions presented an interesting report which included the addresses received from Denmark, Sweden, and Vienna. As to Sweden, it was stated that the religious state of the country had so far changed as to permit of the establishment of a small New Church Society. Though it was

Swedenborg's native land, yet for more than a hundred years it had stood in almost the same position towards the Lord's Second Coming as the land of Judea to His First Coming, and they still needed more religious freedom. English and American help was also wanted. The Society at Copenhagen expressed thanks for seven years' assistance and reported a slow progress. The pastor of the Society at Vienna reported that the Society had been dissolved by order of the municipal authorities, the ostensible reason being the administration by them of the Sacrament of Baptism. The Committee also pointed out that there was a wide field for the spread of New Church doctrine opening out in British India. Upon the reception of this report it was proposed that a special committee be appointed to consider if any steps could be taken to assist the friends in Vienna, the mover (Rev. J. Deans) suggesting that it might be found desirable for the Conference to memorialize or seek an interview with the Foreign Secretary on behalf of the minister of the Vienna Society, who was ordained by order of the Conference. Dr. Bayley proposed as an amendment that the matter be referred to the ministers and representatives present from London, and urged the necessity of extreme caution in dealing with it. He stated from his knowledge of Austria that religious liberty existed there to a larger extent than was generally supposed. The government not only permitted Protestant worship, they also sustained from the government funds a college for the training of Protestant ministers. He had no doubt that if it was ultimately necessary to approach the Foreign Secretary and the Austrian Ambassador upon the subject, they would be disposed to help the Conference in the matter.

The discussion was continued by Mr. Broadfield, Mr. Mackereth, and Rev. W. Westall, and ultimately the amendment was carried.

A motion by the Rev. R. Storry, recommending the Foreign and Colonial Missions to the generous support of the members of the Church called forth a long and interesting discussion in reference to the Italian Mission. The Rev. Mr. Benade (America) and most of the prominent members of Conference took part in the discussion, the general tone of which was of a character to show that the Conference was of opinion that a really good work was being carried on in Italy under the direction of Signor Scocia, though regret was expressed at the want of union between him and the American and English New Churchmen resident in Italy.

The Committee appointed at last session to consider the propriety of compiling a new Conference Hymn-Book reported that

32 Societies with 2887 members were in favour, 15 Societies with 1462 members decidedly opposed to the proposal, 11 Societies with 262 members had made no reply to the questions submitted by the Committee, and 4 Societies with 152 members expressed themselves neutral.

The Committee recommended that a new hymn-book be compiled, and suggested that the compilation should be intrusted to an influential representative Committee, who should be instructed to make the existing hymn-book the basis for the new one; that no hymn be expunged without the consent of three-fourths of the members of the Committee, and none altered without the consent of two-thirds of the Committee. The Rev. J. Presland (Secretary of the Committee) moved that in the opinion of Conference it was desirable to have a new hymn-book. He explained that there was no desire to deal roughly with the old hymns, but that every care would be taken to preserve all such hymns as might be acceptable even to a minority of the members of the Church. Extreme action was very undesirable, but it was generally felt that since 1824, when the existing hymn-book was compiled, many beautiful hymns had been composed. The feeling was that we should try to bring out things new and old. Mr. T. Mackereth seconded the motion.

Mr. Broadfield was not prepared to support the proposition. He thought the time had not yet come for undertaking such a work, and maintained that the efforts at hymn-book compiling recently made in the Church had not been very successful. Mr. Ward stated that his Society were of opinion that the Church did not need a new hymn-book, and if it did, we had not the right men to make it. Mr. Gibbs and the Rev. T. L. Marsden also opposed the resolution. Rev. W. C. Barlow (Edinburgh) proposed to leave the present collection intact, but to add four hundred new hymns. Rev. J. F. Potts seconded the amendment. The Glasgow friends were not at all satisfied as to the ability of the Conference to give the Church a better hymn-book. The present supplement was a desert of Sahara" to the Scotch friends, and the results of the recent "tinkering" of old hymns tended to improvements in the wrong direction. Mr. Pixton could not enter into the literary merits of the question, but he objected to the multiplicity of service books.

Rev. Dr. Bayley in a lengthy address supported the views of the Committee. He said hymn production was one of the results of the New Dispensation; they, therefore, could not be a standstill people in such a matter. Before the New Church was established, there were but four hundred hymns in the world; there were now fifty thousand. Variety of hymns

was becoming the rule in religious bodies, and even the Methodists had revised Wesley's hymns. Good hymns should be taken, no matter from what source.

The Rev. C. H. Wilkins urged that there was an abundant field out of the Church for getting suitable hymns. Many of the deepest feelings were denied expression with the present restricted hymnary.

Rev. J. Deans supported the amendment on the ground that no sufficient reason had been shown for a change being attempted at the present time. He did not regard the old hymn-book as perfect, but felt sure that a new hymn-book would have as many faults as the existing one.

Mr. Sheldon and the Rev. R. R. Rodgers having supported the original motion, Mr. Presland replied. Twenty votes were given for the amendment, and the original motion was then carried almost unanimously.

A resolution expressing the thankfulness of the Conference for the services rendered by the late Mr. George Meek as one of the Trustees of Conference, and of sympathy with Mrs. Meek, was adopted by a standing vote. Mr. Isherwood of Heywood was elected Trustee in place of Mr. Meek.

The Education Committee recommended that grants be made to the nine schools making application. The Committee also recommended the adoption of a series of subjects in which the day scholars should receive religious instruction during the ensuing year. They also adopted the plan of appointing non-resident persons as Conference visitors. The report was adopted, and the Secretary was instructed to draw special attention to the new regulations. The addresses to and from the Conference were adopted and ordered to be printed in the Minutes.

The Letters Committee drew the attention of Conference to a communication from the Auxiliary Missionary and Tract Society, in reference to the Conference taking some action to induce the Wesleyan Conference to expunge from the writings of Wesley those passages in which 'Wesley had misrepresented Swedenborg. The Conference could not see its way to adopt the suggestion, which was received with the respect due to any communication from such an energetic society as the Auxiliary. In proposing that the President should communicate upon the subject with the Auxiliary, Mr. Deans suggested that the slanders should be allowed to die a natural death, upon which the Rev. T. L. Marsden explained that having as a medical man been in the habit of giving certificates of death for the past fifty years, he should be happy to give one in this case.

The Society at Besses-o'-th'-Barn was

received into connection with Conference. Messrs. T. Mackereth (Bolton), T. Child (Bath), J. R. Rendell (Bradford), H. Cameron (Blackburn), and J. Martin (Preston) were accepted, in each case unanimously, as suitable candidates for ordination.

Licences to administer the Sacraments were granted to Messrs. Pegg (Nottingham), and W. Alfred Bates (Horncastle). Messrs. J. R. Tilson and C. Griffiths were adopted as students.

The Committee on the Magazine reported that the Intellectual had fully maintained its character as a literary production during the past year. In reply to a question by Mr. G. Fairbrother, it was stated that the Morning Light had not affected the interests of the Magazine prejudicially. Mr. J. R. Rendell suggested that less space should be devoted to the Miscellaneous department, but the idea was not well received.

The next subject of importance was the report of the Special Committee appointed on Tuesday to consider the suggested new Rules for the Pension Fund. This matter, which has engaged the attention of Conference, and has been warmly debated for several years, was, thanks to the labours of the Committee, and an important addition proposed by the Vice-President, satisfactorily settled at this session.

It was again determined that the Conference Council should meet in Manchester during the ensuing year, although members were appointed upon it resident in London and Birmingham.

On the revision of the list of Ministers, suitable resolutions were adopted expressing the feelings of the Conference at the departure into the spiritual world of the Revs. E. Madeley and D. G. Goyder.

A resolution was passed requiring all ministers recognised by the Conference to forward an annual communication to the Secretary.

The Rules of Conference having been revised by a select committee, whose work had been examined by the ordinary Committee on Rules, a discussion of considerable importance was started upon a proposition by Mr. Gunton that the adoption of the new rules be deferred until the next session. Mr. Gunton urged that the members of Conference not having seen the new rules until the commencement of this session, they had not been able to examine them so closely as was desirable. The Rev. Dr. Bayley seconded the amendment, which was supported by Revs. J. F. Potts, J. Presland, and J. Deans, who urged the desirableness of careful revision. The immediate adoption was supported by Messrs. H. Best, T. Willson, and F. Smith. The amendment was lost, and ultimately the

rules were ordered to be printed under the revision of the Council.

Mr. H. Cameron proposed "that a committee of five be appointed to consider the rules relating to the admission of persons into the ministry, with the view of bringing the same more into harmony with the present wants of the Church: to report to next session," but the motion was not entertained by the Conference. Rev. P. Ramage moved "that this Conference, viewing with alarm the increase of intemperance in the country, recommends Societies to institute Bands of Hope, as a useful means of promoting sobriety among the rising generation." Mr. Ramage, in moving this resolution, referred to a remark used in the hymn-book debate, that New Churchmen should not be a stand-still people. All other religious bodies had taken up this subject of intemperance. He believed that the passing of a resolution such as he had proposed would help greatly to strengthen the hand of Sabbath-school teachers. If the young could be saved from the practice leading to intemperance until they arrived at the age of maturity, he believed a good result would follow. The resolution, which was warmly supported by several members of the Conference and feebly resisted by others, was adopted, and after a few other resolutions, Rev. Dr. Bayley moved a vote of thanks to the Salford Society for their excellent arrangements and kindness and hospitality. Every Conference, he said, was becoming dearer and happier than any that had gone before. We miss this year the bodily presence of one we have been accustomed to meet, but we may all say that we have had the spirit of John Broadfield moving among us, a spirit full of kindness and goodwill. Mr. Larkin, as one of the deacons of the Salford Society, in the absence of the minister, acknowledged this vote in a short but appropriate address, and the proceedings of a pleasant and most useful session of the Conference were soon afterwards brought to a close.

SABBATH SERVICES DURING THE CONFERENCE.-The President in his report says: "I have been most happy, as a member of the Committee of the Manchester and Salford Missionary Society, to unite with members of that Committee, and especially with our earnest and excellent Secretary, Mr. Francis Smith, in the arrangement of an extended series of religious services in connection with this session of the Conference. Not fewer than eighty sermons will be preached in the several churches of Lancashire, and every one known to us who can lift up his voice to proclaim the truth has been invited to do so. The social enjoyments of the Conference are too

warmly appreciated to need commendation. They are of inestimable value, but are not the only, nor the chief things to engage the attention of the Conference. Without religion, without fervent piety and earnest devotion in individual culture and the public proclamation of the truth, the Church will perish. With all these agencies harmoniously united, it will gird up its loins afresh for the journey and conflict of life, and go forward under the leadership of the Captain of our salvation as an army with banners." The services thus alluded to by the President extended to nearly all the Societies in and around Manchester. Some of these Societies made their own arrangements, which were not interfered with. The presence of three of the American ministers, all of whom took part in these services, added to their interest. Of all the private arrangements we are not informed. Those published by the Missionary Committee found employment for nearly all the ministers and leaders in attendance on the Conference. So far as we have ascertained, the services generally were edifying to the churches, and seem to have been warmly appreciated. At Heywood, Bury, and probably other Societies, special advertisements were inserted in the public papers, and services were held which will be long remembered.

PUBLIC MEETINGS DURING THE CONFERENCE. On the Tuesday evening a public service was held in the Church, succeeded by the Sacrament of the Holy Supper. The sermon this year was by the Rev. G. H. Smith, of Accrington, who selected as his subject the call of Abram, Genesis xii. 1-3. The attendance both at the sermon and the sacramental service which followed was good, and the entire service was felt to be both instructive and edifying. The offertory as usual was devoted to the Pension Fund.

Two other public meetings of great interest are held during the Conference week. Both are preceded by a public tea, and attended by large numbers of visitors. The first of these is on the Wednesday evening, and is of a social character. The evening after tea is occupied with music, short addresses, and mutual intercourse. This meeting was this year held in the Salford Town Hall, which was inconveniently crowded while many who desired to be present could not be supplied with tickets. The music provided was of a high order, and seemed to yield an intense enjoyment to those who were present. In the course of the evening a pleasant address was given by Mr. Giles, whose presence was enthusiastically welcomed. He had made, he said, two discoveries. These were that the Atlantic had grown much narrower. The attraction from

America was so strong that it was merely crossing a pond to reach England. He was not sure that it was narrower in the direction from England to America, but hoped it would become so. His second discovery was that of a vessel of so singular a kind that the more you poured into it the more it was capable of containing. This vessel was the mind. He found that whereas he could formerly embrace hundreds in his affections, he could now embrace thousands, and by meetings of this kind the capacity was constantly enlarged.

The second meeting was the annual Conference tea-meeting, which was held on Thursday evening, August 15th. The public meeting after tea was in the church, and there was a very large attendance. The chair was taken by the Rev. W. Westall, who said that it was customary at the annual Conference meetings to consider some one of the questions of Christian doctrine, and to endeavour to draw from it fresh light, inspiration, and encouragement for the prosecution of the great work which they as a Church had in hand. The subject of the evening was second to none in interest and importance, and had been suggested by what was going on in the Christian Churches around-it was the need of a definite theology, more especially in regard to the subjects of the Divine Word, Immortality, Judgment, Hell and Heaven. Any one acquainted with the religious literature of the day well knew that on these subjects Christian faith was very much unsettled and the mind of the Christian Church very much embarrassed. Any man acquainted with the history of Christian thought in the past would be able to trace to some extent the way in which the Christian Church had been brought to this pass. When their present temple was built sixtyfive years ago, Christians held very tenaciously to their creeds, and doctrines were very precise in their definitions. New Churchmen then had to fight very hard for every inch of ground they took up. After a time that state of mind subsided, and was superseded by another in which creeds were not so much insisted upon, either in the pulpit or the religious literature of the day, as a good, holy, and righteous life. That was a satisfactory step in the progress of Christian thought, and was attended with a very great benefit. It was impossible, however, for Christian thought and faith to remain simply in the desire to promote a good and righteous life. Religion without theology, life without doctrine, could not long be maintained, any more than feeling without thought, emotion without principle; if they did not go together, religion would very much deteriorate. Where religion existed without theology, it was a molluscous kind of religion, and could occupy no

higher position in the scale of spiritual being than did the molluscous animal in the scale of animated being. This was the position in which many of the most eminent Christian thinkers were now finding themselves; they could not go on teaching this religion of life without something of doctrine, and in coming back to the great subject of doctrine they were bringing again the old embarrassments. These embarrassments the speaker traced in the conflicting sentiments which were prevalent on the several subjects which were to occupy the attention of the meeting, and concluded by calling on Dr. Bayley to introduce the subject of the Word.

Dr. Bayley, after expressing the pleasure it afforded him to see assembled so many faces that for a series of years he had respected and loved, and the benefit to be derived from such gatherings, said that he had been desired to speak upon the amazing blessing that they were enabled to enjoy as having a definite idea of the Divine Word. In former days they had a phase of thought to consider somewhat different from what prevailed at present. Then the idea commonly held was that the Word had only the literal sense, and that nothing more or better could be made out of it. At that time the teachers of the New Church pointed out that the Divine Word, being the Word of God, who is a Spirit, must be of a spiritual nature; and they were then often mistakenly thought to undervalue the letter, and not to care so much for it as other people did. This most serious mistake existed to a very slight extent at the present day. People's notions now were that the Word is not merely literal, but that its inspiration is of a very general kind, and that it is not inspired in particulars, or in the exact language of the letter. This was quite a different phase of thought from the former one, and to some extent gave the members of the New Church a different class of teaching to do. No principle could be true in general which was not true in particulars. A revelation of God which was one in mere general ideas would be no revelation at all. It was like thinking of a house in the abstract which had no bricks or stones connected with it. The Divine Word was coming to be so regarded in a very large portion of the Christian Church. The battle at the present time in the theological world was, whether the Word was inspired in every particular, every chapter and verse, or whether there was only a general supervision, men being left to get the sense out of it according to some interior conceptions of their own. This was not a whit more sound than the idea they had had to encounter in their early days. The New Church, however,

not only gave no uncertain sound on the
subject, but was going in the very direction
in which science was going, to greater de-
finiteness and greater detail. In any sci-
ence other than theology, the difference be-
tween what it was fifty years ago and now
was that people knew more about it. They
now entered into particulars that were not
suspected before, without denying the gen-
eral arrangements, and in the knowledge of
those particulars came a certainty. The
New Church could say that the Word was
inspired down to its very letter. The
Word was either inspired down to the
letter, or not inspired at all. The New
Church also knew the precise way in
which the Word was composed. As the
prophets themselves said,
"The Spirit
of the Lord came to me;" "Thus saith
the Lord," and so forth. The Word
was given verse by verse, chapter by chap-
ter, phrase by phrase, definitely. An angel
pronounced to the prophet what the pro-
phet had to write, and he wrote it.
It was
in that way the Word was given, and con-
sequently the Word, in the original lan-
guage, was divine, as Swedenborg ex-
pressed it, as to every iota, jot, and tittle.
That must necessarily be so if one great prin-
ciple of the New Church was true, that there
was a spiritual sense running through the
whole sacred volume. That sense could not
be provided in
any other way. A person
might say, “ Perhaps not, but is it there?"
Let such a person come with them, and
they would show him that was there.
The idea that the early chapters of Genesis
were intended as a physical revelation had
been obscuring men's minds. There was,
however, a divine signification in them ap-
plying to every man's soul, and which every
single man could verify in the states that
followed each other in his own soul. The
Word could be thus verified as no other
book in the world could be verified. The
book in this way was its own evidence,
just as every single man was his own evi-
dence of being a formation of infinite love
and wisdom. We were not only fearfully
and wonderfully made, but divinely made.
One of the first scholars of the day in natural
history had told him how he became a
receiver of New Church truth.
"In the
house of a friend," he said, "I opened
upon the general sense of the first chapter
of Genesis, and that came home to me as
such a wondrous revelation that I said to
myself, 'Where have you been all your
life that you have not seen that this is the
meaning of the Bible?' It seemed as if a
veil had been taken away from before my
eyes." In this way the Lord had magni-
fied His Word, above all His name.
thing in the single attributes of the Al-
mighty could be compared with the mag-
nificent exhibition in the Word of God

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