USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The New church and Chicago; a history > Part 7
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The Society is unanimously of the opinion that it is the duty of every one, who is removed above absolute want, to contribute, in proportion to his or her income,
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to the support of the Church, and to do so regularly and systematically.
The Society has contributed $25 for the expenses of the present session of the Association, which has been paid over to the assistant treasurer of the Association, and is included in his account current.
Our delegates are Rev. John Randolph Hibbard, Henry L. Fulton, and J. Young Scammon.
We desire the Association to meet in Chicago next year. In behalf of the Chicago Society,
[Signed]
J. YOUNG SCAMMON, Chairman Ex. Committee.
TWO PARAGRAPHS FROM THE REPORT OF THE ILLINOIS ASSOCIATION TO THE THIRTY-FOURTH GENERAL CONVENTION, 1852.
It is lamentable that in the New Church so little dis- position is shown to recognize the duty of contributing to the uses of the Church in proportion to the income of each receiver. There is sufficient pecuniary ability in the Church to support all our ministers, and many more, and support them well. But our isolated and other receivers, from not commencing right upon the subject, grow into careless and indifferent habits until their willingness to pay is almost in inverse proportion to their ability. It were well for the General Convention to consider whether it has not contributed to bring about this state of things by neglecting to provide a way in which isolated receivers could contribute to sustain the institutions of the Church, and at the same time receive reciprocal advantages in religious instruction. Has not the General Convention, for fear of doing something which would expose the doctrines of the Church to the danger of profanation, gone to the opposite extreme, and really done nothing worthy of the name for the spread of the doctrines through living missionaries? It is well to provide for the center, but the circumference must not be neglected.
Invitation to the General Convention for it to convene in Chicago for the first time.
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The Illinois Association, in common with our brethren of the West, generally, believe a great use would be done to the Church in the United States by holding the next session of the Convention in the West. The Illinois Association has designated Chicago as the most desirable point for this purpose, being distant only from two to three days' travel from any of the great Eastern cities, and convenient of access by railroads and steamboats from the entire West. The Chicago Society desires it to be held there ; and, on behalf of the Illinois Association, I ask that the next meeting of the Convention may be held in Chicago .*
[Signed ]
J. YOUNG SCAMMON, Corresponding Secretary.
SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING.
The sixth annual meeting was held in the church rooms Jan. 10, 1853; Mr. John Sears, Jr., acted as chairman, and Mr. Franklin Fulton as secretary.
As trustees, J. Young Scammon, Charles V. Dyer, James V. Z. Blaney, Alexander Officer, Franklin Scam- mon, John Sears, Jr., and George R. Bills were elected ; for secretary, Thomas A. Stewart; treasurer, Franklin Scammon; and auditor, Henry L. Fulton.
For this year we find record of only six meetings of the executive committee, the last of which occurred May
*NOTE .- The meeting of the General Convention for 1853, the first meeting of the Convention in Chicago, was a very important one. A new constitution was adopted; a movement for the improvement of the liturgy was inaugurated, and another, which resulted in the New Church Messenger, until then owned and published by Rev. J. P. Stuart, becoming the property of the Convention, the name being changed to the New Jerusalem Messenger.
En route to Convention, Rev. Thomas Worcester, Rev. T. B. Hayward, and Rev. S. F. Dike attended the Illinois Association at Peoria, going from there to Chicago with the Chicago delega- tion and others, visiting New Church people at different places on the way.
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15th, adjourning to meet the 25th. Following are some blank pages in the record, presumably left in which to write minutes of successive meetings; the conclusion being that it was neglected, and the minutes lost.
The meeting of January 2nd provided for the issuing of a circular asking for subscriptions toward the current expenses, and reiterated the standing rule adopted at the annual meeting, 1850, relative to the payment of part of income towards the support of the Church.
The meeting of March 6th raised the salary of the pastor to seven hundred dollars. The same meeting adopted the following resolution offered by Mr. Scam- mon : "Resolved, that this committee highly appreciates the very valuable services of the Rev. Benjamin F. Barrett, in supplying the pulpit of the Society during the absence of its pastor, the superintendent of the Illinois Association, on a missionary tour through this state and part of Wisconsin, and in delivering a course of lectures on Sunday evening during the past fall and winter ; and regrets that the Society is not able to make any other remuneration than unfeigned thanks, which are hereby tendered him; and we hope and pray that he may be rewarded by the blessing of Him whose spirit teaches us that it is more helpful to give than to receive."
The meeting of May 1st appointed as delegates to the meeting of the Illinois Association to be held in Peoria, J. Young Scammon, Charles V. Dyer, Charles G. Smith, and Thomas L. Forrest.
MR. ALEXANDER OFFICER.
SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING.
Jan. 9, 1854, occurred the seventh annual meeting of the Society.
Mr. Alexander Officer acted as chairman and Mr. Dyer N. Burnham as secretary.
The treasurer expressed himself as happy in being able to report that the Society had been able to pay all expenses for the year, and had sufficient in the treasury to pay all claims against it.
The librarian reported one hundred and ninety-four volumes belonging to the library, and that one hundred and sixty volumes had been taken out by readers during the year.
The report of the executive committee to the Society advised an increase in the salary of the pastor, and urged on the Society the consideration of establishing a New Church school in Chicago.
The election of officers resulted in trustees, J. Young Scammon, Charles V. Dyer, James V. Z. Blaney, Alex- ander Officer, Franklin Scammon, John Sears, Jr., and George R. Bills ; secretary, Dyer N. Burnham ; treasurer, Franklin Scammon; and auditor, Henry L. Fulton.
During 1854 the executive committee held nine meet- ings.
The meeting of February 5th appointed J. Y. Scammon, John Sears, Jr., and Charles V. Dyer, a committee to pur- chase the Herrick house, located on the lot belonging to the Society, if the committee deemed it expedient; also to consider the purchase of the Garden City Institute building, furniture, and lease; to ascertain the price, terms, etc., and report to the executive committee.
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The first Sunday of the month, and immediately after service, was appointed as the regular time for the meet- ing of the committee.
The customary sub-committees were appointed.
The meeting of February 11th heard a verbal report of the special committee appointed as per minutes of the 5th, relative to the purchase of the Garden City Insti- tute building, furniture, and lease, which was favorable to the purchase, the same to be used as a place of worship and for a school. Mr. Franklin Scammon, treasurer, was added to the committee, and it was instructed to complete the purchase and to raise the money, by soliciting sub- scriptions, to pay for and prepare it for a place of worship, and to move the pews from the room at Ran- dolph and Dearborn streets.
It was decided to lease the Church lot at Wabash avenue and Adams street in subdivisions for five years.
The meeting of March 5th continued the special com- mittee, as above, and instructed it to make necessary repairs and improvements in the Garden City Institute building, and to move the pews and fixtures from the church rooms, then in use, to the first story of it; and to lease the upper story and part of the furniture, all according to their judgment.
THE GARDEN CITY INSTITUTE.
There are different understandings as to the location of this building, a two-story wooden building, it being located historically as west of State street on land on which stands the Fair, and also that it was east of State street.
In his pamphlet of 1880, Doctor Small locates it on "the north side of Adams street, between Wabash avenue
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and State street," while the city directory for the period gives the street numbers to be 69 and 71 Adams street, and it is so located by some of the histories, this being land on which stands the Fair, providing the numbers in the fifties were the same as now. The building being on leased land and not having the name of the owner of the land, it is impossible to locate it by the real-estate records. The compiler of this history is of the opinion that it was on land on which stands the Fair.
The lease of the building referred to above was to Mr. H. Orville Snow, a New Churchman, who there estab- lished a school, continuing the name, "Garden City Institute," under which the preceding school had been known.
The teaching force of the "Seminary," as the school is spoken of in 1857, consisted of Mr. H. Orville Snow, Mr. O. T. Snow, Miss N. C. Lawrence, Mr. J. Emile Hamilton, Mr. C. P. Snow, and others whose names are not given.
After the destruction of the building by fire, Sunday, Oct. 11, 1857, which is shown under that date, we find the Seminary, during 1858, located at 172 South Clark street, while for 1859 Mr. H. Orville Snow is shown to have a school at 20 Harrison street, following which there is not any record, the Seminary and school having ceased to exist.
The Seminary was coeducational and, as is shown by quotations from the records, was under control of the Chicago Society.
To establish it, certificates of indebtedness, having face value of fifty dollars, were sold at par to those interested in the success of the enterprise, some of which are yet among the papers of the Society.
There are people, prominent in affairs in Chicago, who attended the Garden City Institute under Mr. Snow.
EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING.
The eighth annual meeting of the Society was held in the library room Monday evening, Jan. 8, 1855. Rev. J. R. Hibbard acted as chairman and Hiram Brown as secretary.
The executive committee submitted revised rules of order, which were adopted (see page 100).
The meeting directed the printing of the rules in pamphlet form.
The election of officers resulted as follows: Trustees, J. Young Scammon, James V. Z. Blaney, Charles V. Dyer, Franklin Scammon, John Sears, Jr., Alexander Officer, and George R. Bills ; secretary, Hiram Brown ; treasurer, Charles G. Smith; auditor, Henry L. Fulton.
During this year there were eleven meetings of the executive committee.
The meeting of January 8th appointed the pastor pre- siding officer of the committee, except when subjects should be under discussion personal to him. It also named the library room and the last Saturday of the month at seven P. M. as place and time for meeting.
The meeting of March 25th received and accepted a report by an outstanding committee, which showed the amount of the indebtedness of the Garden City Institute* to be $742.76. It seems this amount had been appropri- ated from, and was due as follows: To the temple fund, $429.17 ; library fund, $42.52; J. Y. Scammon, $271.07; total, $742.76.
*NOTE .- A financial statement relating to the Garden City Institute, dated 1855, shows that the amount of the investment at that time was $3,600; this meant for the building and school.
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The meeting of May 26th appointed delegates to the Illinois Association which met in Peoria in June of that year-appropriated $50 to the fund of the Association- and ordered that the Society pay the expense of the pastor to the meeting of the Association and the General Convention.
THIRD SPECIAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY.
A special meeting of the Society was held Aug. 23, 1855, in the library room, which adopted the following resolutions :
Resolved, that the executive committee be empowered and instructed to provide for New Church worship on the north side of the river, and engage Mr. John H. Ragatz* to officiate and instruct; and that the committee be au- thorized to appropriate the necessary funds to carry out the above, so far as they are furnished for the purpose.
Messrs. Hibbard, Ragatz, and Thomas L. Forrest were appointed a committee to solicit funds for use under the resolution.
Resolved, that Mr. Snow be permitted to go on with the Garden City Institute the next term, and that the executive committee of the Society, at an early day, elect or cause an election of a new board of trustees of the Institute, who, after the ensuing term, shall have and exercise control and supervision over the school as such trustees.
*NOTE .- Following the above, it seems the mission under Mr. Ragatz was quite promptly started, as the directory of the next year notes as follows: "New Church German society, Rev. John Henry Ragatz, missionary, resides 153 Illinois street; ser- vice at nine A. M. and three P. M. in the basement of St. Paul's Church, Ohio street and LaSalle avenue."
THE PAMPHLET OF 1855.
The pamphlet published in accordance with the reso- lution adopted by the Society, in the annual meeting of 1855, contained the essentials of the Church as follows :
I.
God is one in Essence and in Person, in whom is a Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord God, the Saviour Jesus Christ.
II.
The Word, or Sacred Scriptures, is Divine Truth Itself. It is written according to the correspondence of natural with spiritual and celestial things, and it thus contains three distinct senses-the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural; which are adapted to all the states of angels and men; and it is thus the Divine medium by which men are associated with angels, and by which angels and men are conjoined with the Lord.
III.
The Lord alone is the source of genuine life, the pre- cepts of which are the Ten Commandments. These precepts are to be obeyed by man as of himself, with the acknowledgment that the will and the power to do them are of the Lord alone; and thus men are regener- ated and saved by the Lord, by means of a life accord- ing to His precepts.
It contained also the constitution, which is signed by the members of the Society, commencing with 1843, page 50; the rules of order, page 100; the officers of the society for 1855, page 114; the names of the sixty-two members who had joined up to that time, six of whom were deceased, and the comprehensive articles of faith as follows :
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ARTICLES OF FAITH,
OF THE NEW CHURCH, SIGNIFIED BY THE NEW
JERUSALEM, IN THE REVELATION.
1. That Jehovah, the Creator and Preserver of heaven and earth, is love itself and wisdom itself, or good itself and truth itself: That He is One, both in Essence and in Person, in whom, nevertheless, is the Divine trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which are the Essen- tial Divinity, the Divine Humanity, and the Divine Pro- ceeding, answering to the soul, the body, and the opera- tive energy in man: And that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is that God.
2. That Jehovah, God Himself, descended from heaven as Divine truth, which is the Word, and took upon Him human nature, for the purpose of removing from man the powers of hell and restoring to order all things in the spiritual world, and all things in the Church; that He removed from man the powers of hell, by combats against and victories over them, in which consisted the great work of redemption; that by the same acts which were His temptations, the last of which was the passion of the cross, He united, in His humanity, Divine truth to Divine good, or Divine wisdom to Divine love, and so returned into His Divinity in which He was from eter- nity, together with, and in His Glorified Humanity ; whence He forever keeps the infernal powers in subjec- tion to Himself; and that all who believe in Him, with the understanding from the heart, and live accordingly, will be saved.
3. That the Sacred Scripture, or Word of God, is Divine truth itself, containing a spiritual sense hereto- fore unknown, whence it is divinely inspired and holy in every syllable; as well as a literal sense, which is the basis of its spiritual sense, and in which Divine truth is in its fulness, its sanctity, and its power; thus, that it is accommodated to the apprehension both of angels and men; that the spiritual and natural senses are united, by correspondence, like soul and body, every natural ex- pression and image answering to and including a spir- itual and Divine idea, and thus that the Word is the
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medium of communication with heaven, and of conjunc- tion with the Lord.
4. That the government of the Lord's Divine love and wisdom is the Divine Providence, which is universal, exercised according to certain fixed laws of order and ex- tending to the minutest particulars of the life of all men, both of the good and of the evil; that in all its operations it has respect to what is infinite and eternal, and makes no account of things transitory, but as they are sub- servient to eternal ends; thus, that it mainly consists, with man, in the connection of things temporal with things eternal; for that the continual aim of the Lord, by His Divine Providence, is to join man to Himself and Himself to man, that He may be able to give him the felicities of eternal life; and that the laws of permis- sion are also laws of the Divine Providence, since evil can- not be prevented without destroying the nature of man as an accountable agent; and because, also, it cannot be removed unless it be known, and cannot be known unless it appear; thus, that no evil is permitted but to prevent a greater, and all is overruled by the Lord's Divine Prov- idence for the greatest possible good.
5. That man is not life, but is only a recipient of life from the Lord, who, as He is love itself, and wisdom itself, is also life itself; which life is communicated by influx to all in the spiritual world, whether belonging to heaven or to hell, and to all in the natural world; but is received differently by every one, according to his quality and consequent state of reception.
6. That man, during his abode in the world, is, as to his spirit, in the midst between heaven and hell, acted upon by influence from both, and thus is kept in a state of spiritual equilibrium between good and evil; in con- sequence of which he enjoys free will, or freedom of choice, in spiritual things as well as in natural, and pos- sesses the capacity of either turning himself to the Lord and His kingdom, or turning himself away from the Lord and connecting himself with the kingdom of dark- ness; and that, unless man had such freedom of choice, the Word would be of no use, the Church would be a
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mere name, man would possess nothing by virtue of which he could be conjoined to the Lord, and the cause of evil would be chargeable on God Himself.
7. That man at this day is born into evil of all kinds, or with tendencies towards it; that, therefore, in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, he must be regen- erated or created anew, which great work is effected in a progressive manner, by the Lord alone, by charity and faith as mediums, during man's cooperation; that, as all men are redeemed, all are capable of being regener- ated, and consequently saved, every one according to his state ; and that the regenerate man is in communion with the angels of heaven, and the unregenerate with the spirits of hell; but that no one is condemned for hered- itary evil any further than as he makes it his own by actual life; whence, all who die in infancy are saved, special means being provided by the Lord in the other life for that purpose.
8. That repentance is the first beginning of the Church in man; and that it consists in a man's examining him- self, both in regard to his deeds and his intentions, in knowing and acknowledging his sins, confessing them before the Lord, supplicating him for aid, and beginning a new life ; that to this end all evils, whether of affection, of thought, or of life, are to be abhorred and shunned as sins against God, and because they proceed from infernal spirits, who, in the aggregate, are called the Devil and Satan ; and that good affections, good thoughts, and good actions are to be cherished and performed, because they are of God and from God; that these things are to be done by man as of himself, nevertheless under the acknowledgment and belief that it is from the Lord, operating in him and by him; that so far as man shuns evils as sins, so far they are removed, remitted, or forgiven; so far, also, he does good, not from him- self, but from the Lord; and in the same degree he loves truth, has faith, and is a spiritual man; and that the Decalogue teaches what evils are sins.
9. That charity, faith, and good works are unitedly necessary to man's salvation, since charity without faith
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is not spiritual, but natural; and faith without charity is not living, but dead; and both charity and faith, without good works, are merely mental and perishable things, because without use or fixedness. And that nothing of faith, of charity, or of good works, is of man, but that all is of the Lord, and all merit is His alone.
10. That baptism and the Holy Supper are sacraments of Divine institution, and are to be permanently ob- served; baptism being an external medium of introduc- tion into the Church, and a sign representative of a man's purification and regeneration ; and the Holy Sup- per being an external medium to those who receive it worthily, of introduction, as to spirit, into heaven, and of conjunction with the Lord; of which, also, it is a sign and seal.
11. That immediately after death, which is only a put- ting off of the material body, never to be resumed, man rises again in a spiritual or substantial body, in which he continues to live to eternity ; in heaven, if his ruling affections, and thence his life, have been good; and in hell, if his ruling affections, and thence his life, have been evil.
12. That now is the time of the Second Advent of the Lord, which is a coming, not in person, but in the power and glory of His Holy Word; that it is attended, like His first coming, with the restoration to order of all things in the spiritual world, where the wonderful divine operation, commonly expected under the name of the Last Judgment, has, in consequence, been performed ; and with the preparing of the way for a New Church on the earth, the first Christian Church having spiritually come to its end or consummation,* through evils of life
*NOTE .- Error should be avoided in considering the con- summation of the age of the Christian Church, which is clearly shown to have taken place T. C. R., commencing 753, by inter- pretation of the Word through correspondence, not to attribute that which is not intended, namely, that the name and external organization were to pass away, save as that might result from correct interpretation of the Word and life under it.
Of the New Church, severe criticism is frequently made, arising from declarations that ministers and writers make rela- tive to this subject.
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and errors of doctrine, as foretold by the Lord in the gospels ; and that this New and Second Christian Church, which will be the crown of all Churches, and will stand forever, is what was representatively seen by John, when he beheld the Holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
NINTH ANNUAL MEETING.
The annual meeting of the Society for 1856 was held January 14th in the place of worship.
Rev. J. R. Hibbard presided, and Hiram Brown acted as secretary.
Officers for the year were elected as follows: Trustees, J. Young Scammon, James V. Z. Blaney, Charles V. Dyer, Alexander Officer, Franklin Scammon, John Sears, Jr., and Robert E. Moss; secretary, Hiram Brown; treas- urer, Charles G. Smith; auditor, Henry L. Fulton.
There were fifteen meetings of the executive committee during the year.
The meeting of January 7th instructed the treasurer to
New Churchmen know that the Lord makes use in some form of everything in the world, whether it be spiritual principle, subjects occupying the human mind, strife between brethren, strife on the field of battle, life in charity and love, or material substances for converting members of the human family into angels; hence the Christian Church, filling, as it does, a great place in the human mind, is recognized by the New Church as one of His first great agents.
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