USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The New church and Chicago; a history > Part 21
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Since its organization, all the work proposed in its declaration has been carried on without cessation with the exception of a break of some years in the continuity of the paper or organ.
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The first paper was The New Church Reading Circle, immediately following the organization of the Union with its initial number April, 1886. Rev. Mr. Eby being the editor; February, 1889, the name becoming, The New Church Reading Circle and Parish Register, so continu- ing until the cessation, April, 1890. Beginning with October, 1899, the Union assumed the responsibility of the Western New Church Union Bulletin which, with December, 1900, became The New Church Bulletin, con- tinuing each month during the year, except August, to slip into the homes of those who subscribe one dollar, seventy-five cents of which goes towards maintenance of the Union, the remaining quarter to pay for the little visitor with its four or more pages of doings in the Church in the West, choice clippings, and carefully written editorials by Rev. John S. Saul, secretary of the Union. Now, autumn 1905, the secretary and editor being Rev. John W. Stockwell, to which offices he was recently elected. The custodian of the rooms, librarian, and business agent is Miss Sophie M. Saul.
Oct. 1, 1892, there appeared the first number of The Sower, a New Church Sunday-school paper, bearing the imprint of the Western New Church Union, under the editorship of Rev. Mr. Mercer, made possible by the liberality of Mr. Saul, the publisher. This little teacher, now in its thirteenth year, is published weekly, nine months in the year, October to June, and is the official Sunday-school paper of the New Church in America. It has the unusual distinction of New Church publications- that of being self- supporting. The careful editing which The Sower has always had, has for a number of years been performed by Mr. Saul. Within the body which the printer's art furnishes, The Sower conveys the message, "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
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The established income of the Union is measured by what the invested amount as above produces, say three hundred and fifty dollars per year; add to this the little amount that is realized as profit on books that are sold, the commission that is realized from subscriptions taken for different publications, and the amount of the member- ship fees of one dollar, and you will have the amount of, and sources of income; the amount being vastly insuffi- cient to meet the expense of carrying on the establishment. To help sustain the important use, the Union has gen- erous friends who give it some money in different amounts, and at odd times; but to one, generous and never failing, does the Union owe the possibility of its past, present, and, it seems, future existence. From the Chicago Society has, and does come its home-the place in which to keep and display the books, to receive its patrons and those whom it desires to serve, and do business.
Now, with the other members of the church family- the Illinois Association, Swedenborg Club, and the New Church Messenger, as guests of the Chicago Society, in the beautiful and commodious suite, 501 Masonic Temple, the Union holds to view of the visitors and patrons, its large library, made up of the writings of Swedenborg and collateral works of the New Church, in such impress- ive form as to be very effective.
But the Chicago Society should not be expected to do more, and if the membership list, now reduced to a small number, is not increased, and if the donations are not kept up, this inestimable use of the Lord's New Church must run behind, and it seems will not be able to exist.
Every adult member of the New Church in the world ought to be a member of the Western New Church Union, 501 Masonic Temple, Chicago, costing one dollar annually, entitling them to the New Church Bulletin, and by this very easy thing to do, help to maintain one of the
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most important factors in church extension, and in feed- ing hungry souls.
Those who may be contemplating giving money for church uses are invited to consider the Western New Church Union, which they will find to be faithfully trying to execute the trust which the Lord has placed in its hands.
THE CHICAGO SOCIETY-CONTINUED.
Sunday morning, Jan. 2, 1887, there was a special meeting of the Society held in the temple, at which the following preamble and resolution were adopted:
Whereas, our old and warmly esteemed brother, Dr. Alvan Edmund Small, has just been removed to the spiritual world, in ripe age, and at the end of a very useful, practical, and devoted New Church life; and it is deemed proper and useful that a suitable memorial of a life so distinguished for knowledge and usefulness, while bedewed with that charity which thinketh no evil, should be placed on record and given to the press,
Therefore, resolved, that the Hon. J. Young Scammon be requested to prepare such memorial, to be submitted to the executive committee of this Society for its sanction, and when approved, it be published in pamphlet form for distribution.
To the meeting of the executive committee held Janu- ary 10th, Mr. Scammon reported a memorial which, at the request of the pastor and others, he had read to the congregation Sunday, January 9th, which being adopted by the committee, the secretary was instructed to pro- vide for publication of the same as a tribute suitable to this distinguished and useful member of the Society.
HON. JONATHAN YOUNG SCAMMON At seventy-five years of age.
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In his report for 1886 Mr. Mercer tells of continued service in the temple during the year, with the exception of five Sundays during the midsummer, when he was enjoying much-needed rest from routine work, though he preached two and three times per Sunday. Speaking of the closed church, he says: "I am more than ever con- firmed in the opinion that it is unwise and untrue to the idea of a church, to suspend its Sunday morning services at any time."
He tells of Sunday morning doctrinal lectures in Union Park temple during the year, save in July and August, with an average attendance of one hundred; and of after- noon Sunday service in Lincoln Park chapel a considerable portion of the year; and of mid-week lectures in the Van Buren street temple, on subjects from the work on Divine Providence during the first half, and during the last quar- ter on the Sunday-school lesson for the following Sunday; all by himself, save the services in the Union Park temple.
He tells of the Young Ladies' auxiliary and its work; of the Ladies' Aid society; of the Young Men's society; of social affairs, and parish work, and of his performing the correspondence of the Illinois Association and Western New Church Union.
At the meeting of the Illinois Association, 1887, held in Chicago, Rev. Chauncey Giles and Rev. John Goddard were attendants; Mr. Giles remaining for some days, delivered several lectures.
1888.
In 1888 Mr. George Henry Dole became an authorized candidate for the ministry, commencing his study under Mr. Mercer, and so continuing two or more years, finally completing his course at the theological school; he was ordained and has since administered to different Societies.
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He filled the pulpit in Mr. Mercer's absence on several occasions, and otherwise served the Church in Chicago.
1890.
By the report of the executive committee for 1889 it is learned that on account of lack of interest among the members of the Society, the pastor had placed his resigna- tion in the hands of the committee, which at the time of writing had not acted on the subject. In the meantime he had been performing his duties as usual.
The report says: "The members of the Church and con- gregation who reside in Englewood have organized and meet for worship every Sunday under the leadership of Mr. George H. Owen, which seems to diminish our number at worship, and also our finances. It is very difficult to meet the growing current expenses."
There was no service being held in the Union Park temple and the North Clark street chapel remained leased to Episcopalians, as it had been for some time.
The report closes with this injunction:
In conclusion, let each one of us examine our own hearts in the light of those Divine truths which the Lord has in His mercy committed to us, and pray that He will guide us in our efforts to promote the best interests of His Holy City the New Jerusalem.
[Signed] ALEXANDER OFFICER, Chairman.
In his report for 1889 Mr. Mercer gives this summary of his work for the year: One hundred and eight formal discourses; eighty-eight classes and lectures; administra- tions of the Holy Supper seven times; eleven baptisms; ten marriages, and nine funerals. He says: "I have edited the New Church Reading Circle and Parish Register monthly throughout the year, and personally supervised its printing; have personally performed much of the cor-
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respondence and executive work of the Western New Church Union."
Mr. Mercer's report, closely written, covers twelve pages in the large record book. In it he reviews the con- dition of the whole Society, which is seen to be unsatis- factory, for which he places much of the blame on the members on account of their lack of interest; finally refer- ring to his resignation, which is in the hands of the execu- tive committee, to which he invites the frank and serious consideration of the members of the Society.
To the meeting of the executive committee of March 12th, Mr. Lawton .C. Bonney, treasurer, reported a con- tract for the sale of the Union Park temple property for twenty thousand dollars. The transaction was con- summated very soon after. The temple now, 1905, looks as it did at the time of completion in 1872.
Tuesday, March 18th, a special meeting of the execu- tive committee was held, which adopted a very appropriate memorial, prepared and offered by Rev. Lewis P. Mercer to the Hon. Jonathan Young Scammon, who had departed this life the day before, being Monday, March 17, 1890. The resolution provided for recording the memorial in the records of the Society, which was done (see page 267, record for 1890); that it be published in the Chicago papers, and a copy sent to the family of the deceased; and memorial service with commemorative discourses was pro- vided for to be held in the temple the following Sunday.
As the memorial is quite in repetition of the biographi- cal article already given of Mr. Scammon, it is unneces- sary to give here any save the closing paragraph, as follows:
The Chicago Society of the New Jerusalem therefore places upon its records this memorial of Jonathan Young Scammon; testifies its love and respect for him as a
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brother and a leader, and its faith in the unfolding of his regenerate life; and the more complete development of his powers for a life of higher usefulness in the eternal world to which he has been called.
The following resolution, previously adopted by the church committee, was unanimously adopted by the execu- tive committee May 14th:
Resolved, that the church committee unanimously recommend to the executive committee that the resigna- tion of our pastor, Rev. Lewis P. Mercer, be returned and its acceptance refused; and that while it may possibly be true that there be some individual differences of judg- ment in regard to the matter, not only in the church committee but in the executive committee also, it never- theless recommends to the executive committee the unani- mous adoption of a resolution refusing to accept the resignation, and pledging itself and every member of it to a renewed, active, and vital interest in the work of the Society and support of its pastor.
Mr. Louis Rich, son of Mr. Arthur D. Rich and Esther Dyckman Rich of the Chicago Society, was ordained in the Van Buren street temple by Rev. John Goddard, Dec. 14, 1890. Mr. Rich has not given his attention to the ministry for several years, except for an occasional service, being engaged in secular affairs.
1891.
A special meeting of the executive committee, held at noon, Jan. 25, 1891, granted the use of the auditorium and lecture room of the Van Buren street temple to the World's Congress Auxiliary for week-day morning ses- sions during the existence of the World's Columbian Exposition, and under special arrangement for afternoon and evening sessions, all without charge therefor.
The members of the Church and congregation residing
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in Englewood, referred to in the report of the executive committee for 1889, having become the Englewood Soci- ety, steps were taken by the executive committee April 6, 1891, to furnish that Society with a church building, and land situated at the northeast corner of Steward avenue and Seventieth street, to the amount of five thousand dol- lars, purchase money, and not to exceed thirteen hundred dollars for improvements and special assessments.
1892.
In his pastoral report for 1891, Mr. Mercer tells of hav- ing dedicated the chapel in Englewood, September 13th; of preaching in Wilmington, Del., Convention Sunday; four times in Boston, twice in Joliet, three times in Olney, once in Flat Rock, ten times at La Porte, and eight at Englewood. He gave six lectures before the New Church Theological school on preaching, presided at the opening of the question box at the New Church assembly at La Porte eighteen times, and conducted forty-one sessions of the Bible class at the church on Wednesday evenings. He administered the Communion for the Society six times, .. there being an average attendance of one hundred, and once for the Illinois Association at La Porte.
Mr. Mercer continuing says: "The number of resident and non-resident members of the Society is two hundred and eighty-four." He made two hundred and fifty-three pastoral visits during the year, and tells of the installation of Rev. A. John Cleare as pastor for the Englewood Society, who relieved the very faithful and extremely efficient lay reader, Mr. George H. Owen.
Then he goes on and tells at length of the preparations for the World's Congress of Religions Auxiliary, for 1893, the general committee of which he was a member.
April 4, 1892, the executive committee granted to the
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Chicago Women's club, Mary Spaulding Brown vice- president, for use of the six meetings of the Federation of Women's clubs to be held in May, the use of the New Church temple for the rental of fifty dollars.
1893.
Jan. 2, 1893, there was appropriated by the executive committee eight hundred dollars for the use of the New Church Bureau of Information, which women of the Soci- ety were preparing to conduct, relative to the proposed New Church Congress during the exposition.
The executive committee in its report for 1892 congrat- ulates the members of the Society that it has no debt, and "has a comfortable balance to its credit."
Contemplating the approaching exposition, and the work planned to be done in consequence of it, the commit- tee says: "But this time of all times in our history is a period when the future is the subject of our greatest con- cern.
"Let us look to a broadening of our usefulness, but at the same time let us be careful to acknowledge, and be grateful for our past. Let no member of the Chicago Society ever forget the earnest and faithful workers of its early history and their unselfish devotion to the Lord's New Church. Let us, as long as memory lasts, acknowl- edge the services of the pioneers of the Church."
Then the report gives the plans for the things to be done, and necessary resolutions are adopted. The report is signed by Mr. Officer, being the last one signed by him, he having been a party in interest to the reports for forty- three years.
To the meeting of the committee held February 6th, a letter was submitted from Rev. Thomas A. King of Bal- timore, accepting the call which had previously been made,
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to become Coadjutor pastor, on a salary of thirty-five hundred dollars per year.
Mr. William L. Brown reported that a committee of which he was chairman had raised six hundred and eighty- nine dollars, which would be forwarded to Mrs. Hibbard as a gift for Rev. J. R. Hibbard, who, it had been learned, was in very needy circumstances.
Mr. Joseph Sears reported for a committee of which he was chairman that an offer of thirty-six hundred dollars cash had been accepted for the Ashland Avenue Church property, which had been held for use by the German Society thirty-six years.
The meeting of May 8th indorsed the proposition of the General Convention to make an exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition, and pledged support for the pur- pose, to an amount not exceeding one thousand dollars.
At a special meeting of the committee held July 14th, Mr. Rollin A. Keyes introduced a series of resolutions which were adopted, providing for the organization of parishes within the Society, quite along the lines on which the present parishes are organized, and inviting the mem- bers and friends of the New Church in Englewood to join the Society as the Englewood parish.
In accordance with this invitation at the following meeting, held September 4th, it was reported that the members of the Church in Englewood had dissolved their Society organization and had accepted. A list of thirty- two names of the members is given, all of whom were elected to membership in the Chicago Society.
Mr. King was assigned to the pastorship by the Chicago Society, it being arranged that the Englewood people should pay nine hundred dollars per year towards his sal- ary, and so the present Englewood parish was established.
A special meeting of the committee was held October
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20th to hear a report of the operations of the Bureau of Information, which had been conducted by women of the Society.
The Bureau was located in the church rooms, 17 East Van Buren street, with Miss Lilly M. Houts secretary.
Correspondence in the interest of a house called The Seville, for the entertainment of New Church people, was conducted, which produced from those who consequently engaged rooms, twenty-seven hundred dollars, which was paid to Mr. Edwin A. Munger, director of the establish- ment. A parlor was furnished and conducted also in the church rooms, by a special committee of women, at a cost of nine hundred and nineteen dollars.
The Bureau received aid from the Society, all told, to the amount of seven hundred and twenty dollars; with that exception those conducting it raised by solicitation or supplied the money used, the total amount of which the report does not give.
The correspondence amounted to seventeen hundred let- ters, which were received and answered.
The report says:
Every New Churchman and New Churchwoman in the world, whose name and address we could obtain, was communicated with by letter or circular. In this way we enlisted the interest of the whole Church. * *
[Signed] ARIANNA E. SCAMMON, Chairman.
The amount of the pledge of one thousand dollars, which the executive committee made towards the exhibit in the exposition, that was required and paid, was six hundred and three dollars. The furniture that was used in the exhibit, by donation became the property of the Western New Church Union. The exhibit was conducted with much efficiency by the Rev. Willis L. Gladish.
The report of the two pastors for 1893 covers seven
HUMBOLDT PARK CHURCH, California Avenue and Le Moyne Street, Humboldt Park.
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pages of the large record, detailing at length the vast amount of work they did, special mention being made of the parlor meetings, especially those held throughout the summer at the New Church apartment house, The Seville. The summary is as follows:
Morning services in the temple, fifty-eight; evening . services in the temple, thirty-three; morning services in Englewood, twenty; evening services in Englewood, nine; services in Kenilworth and other places, twenty-seven; - parlor meetings, forty-three; class meetings, sixty-four; Thursday evening lectures, twelve; baptisms, thirty-five; confirmations, thirty-seven; administrations of the Holy Supper, nine times; funerals, twenty-three; marriages, fifteen.
The report of the Sunday-school at Van Buren street, Miss Scammon superintendent, shows it to have had an average attendance of fifty, and to have had a successful year.
The Englewood Sunday-school, Mr. Owen superinten- dent, was also successful.
THE NEW CHURCH IN THE WORLD'S PAR- LIAMENT OF RELIGIONS.
There was not before, and there has not been since, a World's Parliament of Religions, therefore it is unnec- essary to give location or date.
In his article entitled, "The Genesis of the World's Congress Auxiliary," Hon. Charles Carroll Bonney, pres- ident, says, of his coming into the New Church: "I became satisfied that the New Church does indeed teach the 'True Christian Religion'-the religion of 'Common Sense'-and avowed myself a receiver of the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem. I had become con- vinced that this Church would finally prove the reconcil- iation and the crown of all the religions of the world. Acting 'in freedom and according to wisdom,' I had accepted its matchless creed of 'The Divinity of the Lord, the Holiness of the Word, and the life that is called Char- ity.' Here I was taught the fundamental truths which made a World's Parliament of Religions possible."
Then Mr. Bonney goes on, and at considerable lengtlı gives those truths, for instance :
"There is a universal influx from God into the souls of men, teaching them that there is a God, and that He is one." (T. C. R. 8.)
"It is of the Divine Providence that every man is capable of being saved, and that those are saved who acknowledge God and lead a good life." (D. P. 325.)
"Every one in the churches where faith alone is re- ceived is taught that evils are to be shunned as sins." (D. P. 258.)
Quoting several more paragraphs from the writings,
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which carry with them the common sense mentioned, Mr. Bonney further says: "Turning to the Holy Word and the Apostolic Writings, I found abundant con- firmation of these teachings of the Church."
Then he devotes a page of small type to selections from the old and new Word, in confirmation of the writings, and builds a platform on which all religions could as- semble.
Next he tells of further preparation by his association with ministers of many different denominations, and by making public addresses on "Law and Order" and "Moral and Social Reforms" in many different churches, saying: "Thus I came to know the distinguishing char- acteristics of various religious organizations ; to respect their sincerity and zeal; to understand the reasons for their peculiar views. Thus I came into a state of charity, not only towards the various denominations of Christendom, but also in regard to the different relig- ions of the world."
He tells of his teaching a Bible class in a Baptist church, and in an Episcopal church, when on the estab- lishing of a New Church congregation in his neighbor- hood, he became active with it. He says: "Before these classes I discussed in a familiar manner the whole range of the religious themes which I had made subject of study. In similar ways it pleased Divine Prov- idence to provide for dealing with the other great departments of human progress, which were em- braced in the World's Congress scheme."
Mr. Bonney says: "While thinking about the nature and proper characteristics of this great undertaking (the World's Fair), there came to my mind the idea of a comprehensive and well-organized intellectual and moral exposition of the progress of mankind, to be held in con- nection with the proposed display of material forms."
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Then he tells of the invitation of his friend, Mr. Thomas Mills, then editor of the Statesman Magazine, to write his scheme, which he did, it appearing in that periodical October, 1889. The proposal met with uni- versal public favor, and immediately followed the ap- pointment of a general committee of organization, with Mr. Bonney as chairman.
Mr. Bonney quotes what Mr. Mercer says in his review of the World's Religious Congresses, relative to the relationship of Messrs. Bonney and Mercer to each other: "That in the spiritual intimacy of years, the desirability and feasibility of a universal conference of religions was often dwelt upon on the ground of our common faith as follows :
"A universal medium of salvation has been provided by the Lord, with every nation that has a religion, and to bring into friendly conference the representatives of all great historic faiths and of the denominations of Christendom, would develop the fact that to acknowledge the Divine and live well is the supreme and universal condition of religion, and would lead to the recognition of a universal bond of brotherhood in faithfulness to what one understands to be from the Divine, and to lead to the Divine."
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