tions of each, or what the relative jurisdiction, power and authority of the three, is certainly not taught by Swedenborg in this sentence, and is to be wholly determined by the state and genius of the particular parts of the general or universal church, and by the nature, degree, or extent of the priestly offices which are to be filled or the priestly uses which are to be performed. Hence, in one form of the new-church trine, the pastor of a society may be the minister of the lowest grade; in another, the lowest minister may be the curate of a parish priest. In one, the minister of the lowest grade may be the assistant of the minister of the second grade in the same place of worship; in another, the minister of the lowest grade may stand and act on a discretely lower plane of his own. And the reason is, because there may be a trine of discrete degrees in each plane, as well as a trine of discrete planes. The most perfect order requires both. But, in the incipiency of a church, both may not yet be fully developed.

Flamines sub illis, then, is a general formula to denote a lowest grade of priests or ministers in every church. Of the precise nature of the functions of ministers of this grade it teaches nothing. Sub illis merely denotes subordination in general. It denotes, relatively to higher ministers in the ecclesiastical trine, pedal subordination. And what this is in the ministerial functions of the church, we must infer from the functional character of the other two grades. If, then, the priest of the highest grade is distinctively the minister of wisdom; and the priest of the middle grade is distinctively the minister of intelligence; then the priest of this lowest or pedal grade must be distinctively the minister of knowledge: for priestly wisdom and intelligence stand upon the knowledges of spiritual truth as upon their feet, the soles of which are those natural sciences by which spiritual truth is illustrated in the natural mind. We take this to be the true import of this much mooted authority from Swedenborg for a trine in the newchurch ministry. And we shall make it the basis of the particular order which we design to recommend for our church in this country.

We might here argue, that Swedenborg did not intend to designate the precise offices and officers of the trine in the new church by his occasionally mentioning such a trine in the course of his writings, because he does not uniformly use the same terms. Thus we havePrimus infulatus Antistites parochi

Primate

Primate

Prelates

Pastor
Minister

Inferior Canons

Summus Sacerdos, (C. L. 266,) &c.

flamines
Priest

Canonical Person
Presbyters

Is it not evident, from the bare inspection of this list, that nothing can be more inconclusive, than a deduction, from the terms used by Swedenborg in denoting a trine of the priesthood, of what should be precisely the kind of external or formal trine in the new church? In showing the futility of baptism without its uses, Swedenborg says, (U. T. 673,)" Baptism, therefore, if it be without its uses and fruits, contributes no more towards salvation than the triple cap on the pope's 'head, and the sign of the cross on his shoes, contribute towards his pontifical super-eminence; nor than a cardinal's purple robe, to his

dignity; nor than a bishop's lawn sleeves, to the discharge of his ministry." Here we have the trine-pope, cardinals, and bishops under them. And there is the trine of official badges-the triple cap, the purple robe, and the lawn sleeves. Now, because Swedenborg mentions these in connection with baptism, and for the illustration of its true order, are we to infer that he means to teach that the trine in the new-church ministry, and the badges of their discretely official functions, should be precisely these which are mentioned here? We presume that no one will say so. Yet it seems to us no more reasonable to suppose that Swedenborg any more intended to teach this by either of the verbal triads which we have given in the above list. We conclude, then, that nothing more is to be inferred from Swedenborg's language in each and all of these cases, than that there must be in the new-church ministry, to make that a perfect thing, or a full formation, a trine of priests, one under another, with interceding communication, and all together forming one coherent priesthood, as the head, body and extremities form one man. And we repeat, that, as to the precise nature of the gradation amongst these priests, or the precise relation of their distinct duties, functions, jurisdictions, authorities or powers, to one another, all this must be determined by the state of the general church, by the character of its distinct parts, and by the more or less perfect development of the external order that is truly representative of, or correspondent to, its internal principles. As an expression of such a trine in its most abstract and most generally applicable form, Swedenborg uses the formula-In Ecclesia, Primus infulatus, Antistites parochi, et flamines sub illis. And to render this properly into english, we must use the terms of a formula equally generic and abstract. In want of a better, we propose the followingIn the church, there must be a wise head officer, intelligent pastors, and subordinate teachers.

In concluding this topic of authorities for the trine, we have one application to make. The priesthood of the new church is a strictly representative one. It is to represent the Lord in the three degrees of his work of saving mankind. This work is all uses in the complex. The Lord's priestly offices are priestly uses. Of these uses, it is conceded that there is a trine. As priestly functions they may be indi cated by the trine in baptism-1, Introduction into the church and insertion amongst Christians in the spiritual world-2, Acknowledgment of the Lord as the Redeemer, which implies such a reformation by truth in the life of his precepts as gives the quality of that truth, and so the name of Christ-3, The being regenerated by him, which implies such an implantation of good as effects a radical change of the will, bringing it under the impulses of love to God and charity to the neighbor, instead of love to self and love to the world, and so giving the name of Jesus, in the quality of the good which that most sacred name denotes. According to the universal law, these three uses of baptism cohere in one. Thus, as there is a trine of uses in baptism, so there is a trine of uses in the ministry of the new church. For the three uses of baptism are as man's ascent by reformation and

1

regeneration in the order of the three heavens, which order of ascent
the priesthood represents. Now these three uses are first, as science
(or knowledge) and obedience; second, as intelligence and wisdom;
third, as wisdom and love. There is, then, this double trine to denote
what is essential and formal in the uses, the ministries and the
ministers of the priesthood, namely, obedience, wisdom, love, and
knowledge, intelligence, wisdom. What, then, should be the trine
of uses in our priesthood? The report of the English General Con-
ference has answered the question. The Rev. William Mason has
favored us with his views. These differ from those set forth in the
May there not be various trines of ministerial
report of Conference.
uses, and all be right? Well, what other view have you to present?
The following. We think that all priestly uses are subject to this
most general trinal demarcation—

I. The use of representing the Lord in and to the whole church.
II. The use of representing the church in worship, and of serving the
church in the administration of whatever pertains to the divine law.
III. The use of disseminating those knowledges of truth by which
alone there can be conjunction of man with God for the salvation
of souls.

If there is any conceivable use that a minister of the church can perform in the discharge of priestly functions, which is not embraced in the above trine of general uses, we shall feel happy to have it pointed out. The first embraces, we believe, all the functions of the ministry in general, but particularly those of a minister of the highest grade-in ordaining other ministers, consecrating places of holy divine worship, and in giving whatever benediction or blessing, or in performing whatever general priestly function, that pertains to the administering on earth of the things belonging to the priesthood of the Lord, that is, to the work of his love, in the highest degree. The second embraces all the functions of the pastoral office, generally in all the grades, but particularly in the second. The third embraces all the functions of the ministerial office, generally in all the grades, but particularly in the first.

The duties of a christian priest, in particular, may be seen to be three-fold, thus:

I. To teach the people, and lead them by truth to good.

JJ. In their name, and on their behalf, to present before the Lord their offerings of prayer, praise and thanksgiving, which are spiritual oblations.

III. To administer the sacraments, which are the christian purificatory and sacrificial rites, instituted instead of the jewish washings and sacrifices.

And all the authorities for the trinal order which have here been presented, are rays of light and evidence converging to this focusthere must be in the priesthood of the New Jerusalem an essential trine, as representatives of Love, Wisdom, and Use; and a formal What it may trine, as representatives of Wisdom, Intelligence and Science. This is the doctrine of the ministerial trine in the abstract. be in the concrete, we shall now proceed to show in the following and last head of this report.

IX. AS TO WHAT MAY BE A PROPER FORM OF THE TRINE IN THE NEW CHURCH AND HER MINISTRY IN THE UNITED STATES.

We confess, we have little hope that any thing which may be offered under this head will be available in practice. Not because we have any doubt of the truth of the order here advanced, or any misgiving as to its being the best to establish and extend our heavenly faith, but because we imagine it is so contrary to preconceived opinion or pre-established usage, that the church cannot be readily brought to its adoption. Still we feel it our duty to submit to the consideration, not only of our own convention, but of the church more at large, the conclusions on this subject to which our minds have come, after a long and prayerful study of what, under Divine Providence, might be the most effectual means of establishing our church, of widening her borders, of securing her integrity, and thus of advancing our holy cause on earth. And we do trust, that hints here thrown out, may prove seeds sown, to produce a harvest of use in the future.

The first thoughts that come up to the mind in contemplating the subject before us, are the questions, What is primarily and chiefly to be done in effecting the Lord's end in establishing the church on earth? What is that end? What are the means of effecting it? What is to be done, and how are we to do it, so far as the priesthood, or ministry, as the Lord's instrument, is concerned? All will agree that these are most momentous questions, which deserve the profoundest attention and the wisest answers that we can give them or get for them, We shall, of course, look for light where alone we have any reason to expect we can find it clearly true and rightly guiding. We purpose merely to throw out hints, founded on the following teachings of Swedenborg, and on the conclusions to which we have come in this report.

uses.

1. It is conceded on all hands that there is a trine of ministerial We believe that there should be a trine of ministers to perform them. We also believe that the trine of ministers should correspond to, and be determined by, the uses they are to perform. We know "the use of every thing is pre-existent"; but we also know that it "ought to be foreseen and provided for." (Spirit. Diary, 3574.) "By uses are meant goods; and hence, by doing uses, is meant to do goods; and by doing uses or goods, is meant to serve others and to minister to them." (D. P. 215.) "There are two things which constitute a church-good of life and truth of doctrine; the marriage of these is the church." (U. T. 510.) Consequently, the church has two chief ministries, the ministry of good, and the ministry of truth: the former laical, the latter clerical-the one, insinuation of good into another, the other, insinuation of truth-the one, the province of every man in the community, the other, the especial province of teaching ministers." (A. C. 6822.) "The good of charity from the Lord, and the truth of faith with man as from him, when conjoined, make the church." (C. L. 126.) "Charity is an affection of being serviceable to others without having respect to any recom

66

pense"; and "the neighbor, towards whom charity is to be exercised, is all in the universe, but still each with discrimination." (A. C. 2417.) "The church is more a neighbor than a man's country; for he, who provides for the church, provides for the souls and eternal life of the men who inhabit the country; and the church is provided for when man is led to good. Good may be insinuated into another by every one in the country, but not truth, except by those who are teaching ministers; if others insinuate truth, it gives birth to heresies, and the church is disturbed and rent asunder. . Every one ought first to acquire truth to himself from the doctrine of the church, and afterwards from the Word of the Lord, and this truth must be the object of his faith." (A. C. 6822.) The Lord's end in creating mankind is a heaven of human beings. (D. P. 323.) The church on earth is established as a means of attaining this end, by consociating mankind with heaven, and conjoining them, through heaven, with the Lord. (A. C. 637.) "The Lord's kingdom is nothing but a kingdom of uses." (A. C. 5395.) "The kingdom of the Lord is the same with the church, only with this difference; that the kingdom of the Lord on earth is called the church." (A. C. 8900.) So that "the church is the Lord's kingdom in the earths." (Ap. Ex. 630.) The way to attain the Lord's end in the creation of mankind is, therefore, to establish and extend the church, which, being charity in form, does the Lord's work by her works of charity; "for the divine principle, when it descends to the natural principle appertaining to man, fixes its descent in such things as works of charity, with discrimination as to genera and species." (A. C. 2417.) Consequently, as to attain the Lord's end is to do his work, the only way to attain his end is to establish his church, and extend her works of charity. Now the church, consisting in charity, or "in performing uses," (A. C. 8253,) is established and extended by the ministry of truth; for "a life of charity is a life of use" and "the life of charity is in continual birth, and growth, and receiving of increase, and this by means of truth. Therefore, the more truth is inseminated, so much the more the life of charity is perfected. Consequently, the state of charity in man, is according to the quality and quantity of truth." (A. C. 2189.) Of course, a chief means of effecting the Lord's end, as above set forth, is a true and orderly "teaching ministry" for this is the only proper means of insinuating truth, by which the life of charity, that constitutes the church, has birth and growth; and this ministry must be true and orderly, because on this depends the quality and quantity of truth insinuated, according to which the state of charity is in man. Hence, as the first ingredient in "the common good that exists from the goods of use performed by individuals," is "what is divine among the people," therefore the first among the "ministries, functions, offices and various employments, or the goods which individuals perform, and from which the community exists," are "priestly offices, and the duties annexed to them;" for "they who belong to the ministry, provide for the existence of things divine." (Doct. of Char. VI. 62-70.) Hence "the priesthood is the first order of the church," (Ap. Ex. 229;)

: