The New York herald., 1869-06-18

Dut again gave way 70 MI Day to present an appll-
cation from the Georgia Association Tor Admission
to the Convention, whca as referred to the Execu-
tive Committee. Mr.. Ager believed that the ds-
lects which ought not To before the Convention
He read for the Information OF the house the follow
Ing he proposed to Ofier:-
express dsspprovaI Of any action Of the local
connected with SO long they do not plainly violate the
He proceeded to speak on the resolution, but
he was Interrupted BY the Chair, and ln-
resolution was not before the house Some
conversation ensued to the proper way in
which the resolution could come before the house.
when Mr. Ager offered II rs an amendment to the
substitute, which the Chair declared out OF order,
In which ruling Prof. Theophilus Parsons agreed.
MIR. Hitchcock would appeal from the decision OF
the Chair, but the appeal was withdrawn, and Mr..
Ager proceeded to say that this question had been
be had ' upon it. They had in New York various
forms, while in New England they had the ''s0ciety"
form for organizations OF communicates. Out
side OF New England circumstances were differ
ent In these parts members are admitted VINO
were not baptized and In the West, IN some places.
not even profession OF faith Is required The ques-
tion is how far these people, not in full membership
with the Church, can be brought In and made use
full. This is great problem for the New Church..
not yet solved. They must learn great deal yet
from experience and he hoped that all local organ
izatons should be left entirely free to work out this
problem in whatever form they chose. He would
leave them entire freedom, and If vote of dlsap-
prOval be passed 1t would take away this freedom.
Another point he stated to be tnat the Church IS
Is to have cnage Of the things that pertain to itself.
II the Convention begin to dictate to or approve,
there would be no limit to such interference here
after. 1t was trespassing on dang rous grounds lie
aG nSs like es %Sd and asa
they had not adopted 1t. But ne thought
1t would be wrong to exclude delegate because he
organizations. They must have freedom, and he
would give it the most possible latitude He did not
iican form Of government. Some twenty wei T or thirty
years ago an effort was made by the General Con-
vention to compel all local organizations to assume
one form; this action was retraced as unwise aud
leading to bad results, and now 1t was attempted to
renew 1t.
said that the question is, Which Of the three prop0
siti0ns before the house Is bests After replying TO
that was republican that the smaller organizations
IN republic, but If the State OF New
Governor Hoffman liking" and the Senators 'Hords'
and "earls," and they would apply at Washington
for ratification what would be said No And New
WORDS are facts In this regard. The Professor then
entered into an explanation of the meaning of the
word s'parSp,n as being essentially the same thing
as society" Of those who for religious purposes
associate together. 'DOcese" means "prOvlnce."
When Constantine introduced Christianity, and for
more than hundred years, the diocesan Was the
provincial governor, and as the Christians were the
best supports of The imperial power the bishops
were made governors. Hence the origin of the re-
ligfous significance OF the word diocese. However,
even If these words were meaningless, 1t would DO
meaning. The real question that underlies this
thing is not "parlsh," not ''diocese;' it IS the
idea OF priesthood-a priesthood removed from
common humanity by their holiness. In the early
ages OF Christianity pure and reasonably clear from
error the idea of priest and even the Word was
utterly unknown. PreSbyter Is Greek and means an
old man, and was applied by the Romans to old
soldiers; and when early Christians spoke OF pres
byters they meant their old men Elder Is precisely
the same word nothing else. All church historians
concur that it was not TIL after the second century
that the notion from the Jewish Church was re-
vived in the Christian OF presthood-a thing un-
known to the Apostles and TO the Christian genera
tlOns before. The Hebrew priests function was 20
offer sacrifices. Not only in the Christian Church.
but all through Paganism. the priests arrogated
to themselves the power to offer sac
rhces to the Deity. Thus grew up the domination
SO 1t was Ill Rome even before Christianity, and the
Emperor took unto himself The little of PohttteI
MdriDlatS, the High Priest and the Pope now, when
addressed by his ute In Latin Is also called '0ntdeL
Mdrtnus. How was this power exerclseds He told
OF the strife OF Pope sylvester with King John With
the French kings &c
A delegate requested Prof PARSONS to state what
Swedenborg teaches ABOUT the priesthood, which
the speaker promised to do. He compare the ad-
mission TO the ministry with the admission to the
profession OF the law ana said both were analogous
traitor Of the spiritual law is higher tnan the other
as the administrator OF the civil law. SwedenbOrR
was a Lutheran and accustomed to the use OF
words In their Lutheran meaning. And what
did Lutherr There was nothing he worked
more strenuously for than to break down
hood is retained in the Episcopal Church, and be-
tween that and the Lutheran idea there is direct
antagonsm. He liked the word ''minlster" servant
and ''pastor," shepherd, but the others mentioned
he would oppose covering the idea OF priesthood
as words around which these associations cling and
cannot be separated. He proceeded to define ety.
mologlcally the words society aud association"
and declared these words good enough Those who
speak OF 'parshr and "diocese" STIR up the embers
Of a dead past. He would not have the skeleton OF
the dead brought up aud clothed with their own flesh
and blood Words are said to be but breath but they
come with power, and If they had not power, they
would not have been chosen. They would open the
gates OF the corruption OF old which made Christen-
dom a Babylon, and he hoped they would not be
adopted.
Rev. FRANK SEwALL, OF Ohio-Mr. James, OF the
same State, having obtained the floor, but yielded
SAID that the proposition before the house TO dis
approve the use OF certain terms and TO excommu-
ncate those societies that have adopted them. He
would speak OF things and not Of words merely and
he then went on to defend the use and the modern
meaning OF the words diocese" and .parish."
There prejudice or predsp0sltlon against these
names. The difference Is that q society proceeds
out OF the individual assocatng Others with him
self; the parish Is a designated limited field OF the
Church, the latter extending as whole over the
world.
two dloceses can occupy the same territory.
Mr.. SEwALL referred to experience for his answer
in the affirmative, rs parish lines In this city inter-
sect each other, and there are Methodist, Episcopa-
Ian and other parishes.
Mr.. JAMES could understand how the same dis
c parish; but there be two parishes Of the New
Jerusalem Church within the same lirnitsS
Mr.. SEwALL answered In the negative and closed
by hoping that Dr. Ayers substitute would be
adopted.
Rev. JAMES p. STUART. OF St. Louis referred to the
constitution OF the New Church Association within
the diocese Of Missouri and said that as they use
the word county" without 'count to rule over
IT, neither are they brought In contamination with
the Catholic Church by using the words "church,n
heaven,m "hell," intermediate state" &c. lie
himself had been organizing parishes and he read
from the constitutions OF some OF them. To ques-
ton by q delegate whether members OF parish are
entitled to q representation the Convention, the
speaker answered mo; only full members OF the
Church eau he so, the others are not counted IN
the apportionment OF representation"
some question arose In regard to the org ,nzatton
OF the parish OF wilmington, H., and the chair lMr.
Scammonl made statement, which Rev. MIR. Hb-
bard, OF Chicago, declared to he q mistake. The
chair made some further remarks, and he was po-
tely told by q delegate that he was out of order,
as N he wanted to speak, he should vacate the chair.
This ntermezzo led to the declaration by the chair
that the society at wilmington had members who
not communicates, which was the ''parish" sys-
TEN. Some other conversations and corrections