THE RISE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH IN
OHIO*
by OPHIA D. SMITH
By 1832 there were enough Newchurchmen
scattered throughout
the West to demand a general
organization to synchronize their
efforts to spread the teachings of
Emanuel Swedenborg. Since they
were too remote from the eastern cities
to attend the annual
General Convention, they wanted a
general convention of their own
in order to manage western affairs in a
western way. This need
was met by the organization of the
"Western Convention of the
Receivers of the Doctrines of the New
Jerusalem West of the
Alleghany Mountains."
Ohio led the West in the dissemination
of the Doctrines. There
were seven New Church ministers in the
state, and Cincinnati
was the New Church center.1 Receivers
of the Doctrines were to
be found in twenty-two Ohio towns and
communities-Bainbridge,
Columbus, Colerain (near Venice),
Cincinnati, Dayton, Hamilton,
Lebanon, Mansfield, Miamisburg,
Newville, Newark, New Peters-
burg, Newtown, Oxford, Piqua,
Springboro, St. Clairsville, Spring-
field, Twenty Mile Stand, Urbana,
Wintersville, Williamsport,
and Youngstown.
The Western Convention met annually in
Cincinnati from 1832
to 1848, with the exception of the year
1835, when no convention
was held. From the beginning the
convention clearly defined three
objectives: the dissemination of New
Church doctrines, the educa-
tion of the rising generation, and the
publication of a New Church
periodical. A fourth objective was
added the second year-to supply
"institutions of learning with the
Writings of the Church." The
very next day after the rising of the
First Western Convention a
printing press committee was organized
with Luman Watson, early
*This is the second in a series of
articles on the Swedenborgians in Ohio. The
first was published in the preceding
issue.
1 The seven New Church ministers in Ohio
were: Adam Hurdus, Oliver Lovell
and Alexander Kinmont in Cincinnati;
Thomas Newport, senior, in Lebanon; Thomas
Newport, junior, in Oxford; Richard Goe
in Mansfield; Stephen Peabody in New
Petersburg. Strictly speaking, Alexander
Kinmont of Cincinnati was a "teacher,"
as he was never ordained to the
ministry.
380
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 381
Cincinnati clockmaker and organ
builder, as its zealous chairman.2
The New Jerusalem religion was
intellectual rather than emotional.
The First Western Convention was
attended by receivers from
Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton,
Springboro, Urbana, Williamsport,
Twenty Mile Stand, Newport (Kentucky),
Jeffersonville (Indiana),
and New Albany (Indiana). Some eastern
receivers from Boston
and Baltimore also attended. Daniel
Mayo of Newport, Kentucky,
was elected president of the
convention.3 The newly organized body
addressed a letter to the Fifteenth
General Convention of the New
Jerusalem Church, which met in Boston
in 1833. The western
brethren announced that they had formed
a general convention of
their own. At the same time they avowed
their warm affection for
their brothers of the East and declared
that they were not forming
a separate sect. They had no doubt,
they said, that their "individual
and sectional character" would
appear at times, but they promised
to cooperate "with that general
EFFORT" which flowed from
the common source of truth and
goodness.4
The westerners again addressed the
General Convention in 1834,
defending their right to form their own
general convention and
recommending a triennial convention
that might be attended by
delegates from both the eastern and the
western general con-
ventions. The Western Convention,
composed chiefly of Ohio
societies, argued that the General Convention
had ceased to be
general when it ruled that only
delegates from regularly organized
societies might attend it. They pointed
out that in Ohio only five
societies were entitled to send
delegates, and that only two or three
of the five eligible societies had
anything resembling an efficient
organization. Nevertheless, there were
in the West "many intelligent,
affectionate, and efficient
receivers" who were ready to help in the
dissemination of the "truths of
the New Jerusalem." On account of
2 Precursor, I (1837), 96.
3 Daniel Mayo acted as agent for Colonel
James O'Hara, contractor for supplies
for the troops at Fort Washington, from
1794 to 1796. Wayne Manuscripts, Penn-
sylvania Historical Society Library.
Mayo was a staunch Democrat, but he refused
to obey party dictation if it conflicted
with what he considered his duty. "You
CAN remove me from office," he
once told his party leaders, "but YOU SHALL NOT
control me, when the law furnishes me a
rule of conduct to guide my official pro-
ceedings." Precursor, I
(1837), 336.
4 Journal, Fifteenth General Convention of the New Jerusalem
Church, 1833.
382
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
their "social circumstances,"
however, they could not form them-
selves into societies or attend the
general meetings in the East. A
large majority of Newchurchmen in the
West was excluded from
the General Convention. The Western
Convention was trying to
bring the diffused energies of these
scattered receivers together,
and signal advantages had already been
realized. By this time re-
ceivers were reporting to the General
Convention from Maine,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, the District of Columbia,
Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and
the West Indies. Ohio re-
ceivers were reporting from
thirty-three communities.
The First New Jerusalem Society of
Cincinnati built a handsome
new temple designed by Charles Sonntag.
The Third Western
Convention (1834) found it "a very
neat and commodious temple,
seventy-seven feet long, including the
portico on the front."5 The
society invited Alexander Kinmont to
give up his school, take holy
orders, and become their pastor.
Kinmont, however, preferred to
keep his school and preach without pay.
The society then con-
sidered Richard De Charms for one
year's trial at a salary of three
hundred dollars.
Margaret Bailey, a prominent member of
the society, hoped that
De Charms could not come, for they were
as "well off" as they
could be, "and much better than
any other place in the United
States." Adam Hurdus improved all
the time, she said, and Alexander
Kinmont's discourses were superior to
any she had ever heard in
Philadelphia. People were now coming to
the temple to hear
Kinmont preach, not to hear the music
as before, Margaret wrote
to her sister Abby. De Charms agreed to
come to Cincinnati, but
Margaret Bailey, having debts to pay
and believing that she could
"get better preaching for
nothing," did not contribute to his salary.6
A certain smugness in the first society
disturbed some of its
5 The old temple had been sold and the
stone sold for seventy-five dollars. The
new building cost six thousand dollars.
The side pews rented at twelve dollars a
year, the center pews at twenty, the
remainder at twenty-five. The new temple was
dedicated in September 1834. Records,
First New Jerusalem Society of Cincinnati,
April 21, October 10, 1834.
6 Margaret Bailey to Abby James,
February 3, 10, March 31, 1833. John H. James
Manuscripts, Urbana, Ohio.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 383
members. There seemed to be no outpost
where "truth-seeking
minds" might learn the truths of
the New Jerusalem. Imbued with
a desire to begin a new society
"under the auspices of a pure and
brotherly love," a few persons met
together and resolved that
Alexander Kinmont, a licentiate, should
deliver lectures on Sabbath
mornings at his schoolroom. Kinmont was
a born orator. His mag-
nificent voice with its rich Scottish
burr, his rapid delivery, and
his fervid eloquence held audiences
spellbound. He preached to a
steadily increasing number, attracting
young men especially. Being
a teacher, not an ordained minister,
Kinmont could not administer
the sacraments of the church, but Adam
Hurdus performed those
duties quarterly. Monthly lectures were
given by members of the
association on scientific and
historical subjects. Twenty-nine men
(most of them heads of families) signed
the constitution of the
Second New Jerusalem Society of
Cincinnati. Most of them had
never been attached to any religious
society, and only six had ever
been connected with the first society.7
Adam Hurdus loved Alexander Kinmont as
a father loves his
son. Both men were loved by their
people. This created a difficult
situation for Richard De Charms, the
new pastor of the first society.
He was not supported by the entire
membership of his society.
Margaret Bailey, for one, did not like
him. Meeting him at a dull
church party at the home of Marcus
Smith, she found De Charms
"less qualified to shine in
conversation than any man of standing"
that she had ever met with.8 Margaret
and her sisters considered
their niece's husband, Alexander
Kinmont, "a second Paul."
The Fourth Western Convention (1836)
adopted a constitution
amid "flashings of conflicting
opinion" and "rumblings of dis-
cordant sentiments." Especially
bitter was the conflict over a prin-
ciple advocated by the General
Convention which sought to establish
an episcopal form of church government.
The Western Convention
7 Precursor, II (1839), 174-175. Among the first signers of the
constitution of
the Second New Jerusalem Society of
Cincinnati were J. T. Martin, Marston Allen,
Silas Smith, A. G. W. Gano, William
Kirby, R. R. Andrews, John W. King, O.
Bracket, Frederick Eckstein
(father-in-law of Alexander Kinmont), W. Hooper, and
W. Hopwood.
8 Margaret
Bailey to Abby James, November 9, 1834. James Manuscripts.
384
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
voted it down. This convention set a
precedent-it gave women
the power to vote. But neither man nor
woman could vote on
matters pertaining to money unless he
or she had paid into the
convention treasury at least three
dollars. "The general repre-
sentative of use is money,"
reported the acting committee. "Hence
when persons do not perform specific
uses in kind, they may give
money as the means of effecting
specific uses."
Peace was made after the constitution
was finally adopted. The
next day, the Lord's Day, dawned with
"unwonted delightfulness,"
as if nature came "bounding as a
joyous virgin to congratulate the
spiritual world on a new birth of the
Lord" among them. It
was a sign to the faithful that the
Western Convention had "the
divine sanction" and that it would
"prove eminently and extensively
useful."
The Fifth Western Convention (1837)
appointed Richard
De Charms to represent them at the
General Convention in Phila-
delphia. He was seated on the second
day and a communication
from the Western Convention was read to
the assembled delegates.
The communication recommended that
ordaining powers be con-
ferred on the Rev. Mr. De Charms. The
request was referred to the
committee of ordaining ministers. A
pamphlet entitled Documents
of the Second New Jerusalem Society
of Cincinnati was presented to
the convention and it was referred to
the committee of ordaining
ministers. Among the documents from the
second society was a
request that Alexander Kinmont be
ordained to the ministry by
the Western Convention. Richard De
Charms was chairman of
the committee of ordaining ministers.
De Charms' committee re-
ported that no action of the convention
was required on the
"Documents of the 2d New Jerusalem
Society of Cincinnati." On
the same day a written communication
from the second society of
Cincinnati was read to the convention;
it was referred to the
publishing committee. The convention
adopted the resolution of
the committee of ordaining ministers
that the Rev. Adam Hurdus
should be authorized to confer on the
Rev. Richard De Charms
"the power of an ordaining
minister of the New Jerusalem." The
Rev. Thomas Worcester was appointed to
attend the next meeting
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 385
of the Western Convention as a special
messenger to "feel the
pulse of the Great West and prescribe
for its diseases." De Charms,
representing the Western Convention,
warned the General Con-
vention that the West would continue to
resist its proposed episcopal
system of government. He begged them
not to "drive the West
off," but the Boston leaders then
in power replied that the West
could "come in or stay out."
De Charms returned to Cincinnati to
find that he had problems
to solve at home. While he had been in
Philadelphia defending the
Western Convention, his own people had
invited Adam Hurdus
to administer the Holy Supper, though
Hurdus had performed that
rite only two weeks earlier at the Western
Convention. De Charms
was "troubled to the core" by
that action. He resigned his ministry,
giving as one of the reasons that
"adultery had been committed
with his wife [his church] during his
absence." Charges were then
brought against him, among them the
accusation that he taught the
"Boston principle," or
"conjugial heresy." De Charms did not
preach in the New Jerusalem temple in
Cincinnati again until he
was cleared of that charge some years
afterward.9
Thomas Worcester, originator of the
Boston principle, came
out in May 1838 to attend the Western
Convention, hoping to
bring some order out of the chaotic
condition of the Cincinnati
church. Worcester had been told that
Alexander Kinmont was a
heretic. He was pleasantly surprised to
find Kinmont a most agree-
able gentleman who sincerely loved the
fundamental principles of
the New Church. Before Worcester left
town, he told Adam
Hurdus that no heresy existed as far as
Kinmont was concerned,
that "all that was wanting was a
little more charity on the part
of others."
Feeling that he must have some proof of
Kinmont's beliefs,
Worcester dispatched a note to Kinmont
requesting a written
declaration of his faith. Kinmont,
though hurt and astonished,
answered in a straightforward way that
he was unaware of any
9 Appendix, Newchurchman Extra, 1848.
The Boston principle declared that the
pastor was the husband of his church;
that in serving any society other than his own
he committed spiritual adultery; that in
being served by any minister other than their
own the society committed adultery.
386
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
peculiar views, and that he received
the Doctrines as he found
them in the writings of Emanuel
Swedenborg, whom he believed to
have been the chosen vessel of the Lord
to reveal "the genuine
doctrines of the Church known and
prophesied of in the Apocalypse."
It was his duty, he wrote, "to
inculcate the general and essential
doctrines of the New Church, rather
than to bewilder his people
with too much theology." He
thought it better for new converts
to walk "on the ground of
the letter" than to try to fly "into the
regions of spiritual sense on the
scientific wings of correspondence
and abstractions." He closed his
letter with a declaration that he
"would not enter the House"
if any individual entertained the least
doubt of his "Faithfulness."10
The Western Convention of 1838 was the
scene of much
maneuvering. Kinmont had hoped to be
ordained to the ministry
by the convention, but instead he
learned that he was suspected
of heresy. His wife attended the
convention "just to see the lengths
De C. and his party would go." She
wrote to her Aunt Lydia
Bailey that "such carryings on you
never heard of . . . in any sort
of meetings let alone a religious
body." Kinmont told "some of
the orthodox" that "if their
convention had done no other good
than bringing Mr. W. out here to
correct the wrong impressions
of him and his society he [Worcester]
had received from Mr.
De C. and Judge Young [president of the
Western Convention of
1837] . . . they had his thanks for he
had seldom seen a man
in whose society he had so perfectly
enjoyed himself."11
On the third day of the convention a
special committee read
to that body a communication from
Thomas Worcester in which
he advised that the eastern convention
continue to serve as a
general convention.
The Western Convention, however,
replied by drafting a com-
munication to the eastern convention
stating that their present or-
ganization was suited "to the
existing state of the church in the
West ... and ought not to be
changed." The sending of delegates
10 Thomas Worchester to Alexander
Kinmont, May 1838; Kinmont to Worcester,
May 1838. James Manuscripts.
11 Mary Kinmont to Lydia Bailey, May 21, 1838. James Manuscripts.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 387
"over the mountains" was
inconvenient if not impracticable, in-
curring "large expenditures of
time and money which might be
devoted to more useful purposes in the
church." The Western
Convention still desired a general
convention composed of delegates
from sectional conventions or
associations "to convene annually,
biannually, or triannually at suitable
places in the eastern, the
middle, the western, or, if need be, in
the southern, sections of our
common country." Furthermore, it
was "an acknowledged principle
that the acts of the general
convention" were not "binding on those
societies" which took no part in
its deliberations. The western
societies should be permitted to make
their own decisions about
sending delegates to the East.12
The Rev. Richard De Charms and his
friends pulled away from
the First New Jerusalem Society of
Cincinnati to worship by them-
selves. On June 24, 1838, De Charms
organized the Third Society
of the New Jerusalem of Cincinnati with
himself as its pastor.13
Maskell M. Carll, venerable
Newchurchman of Philadelphia, suc-
ceeded Richard De Charms as pastor of
the first society.
After the Western Convention met in
1838, Alexander Kinmont's
health began to fail. Disappointed and
heartbroken, he went with
his wife to spend the summer in the
quiet and comfortable home of
Colonel John H. James in Urbana. There
he completed for pub-
lication his famous lectures on the
"Natural History of Man."
Soon after his school opened in
Cincinnati in September, Alexander
Kinmont died.
The lectures he had finished in Urbana
were published and sold
for his widow's benefit. The New
York Quarterly Review spoke
of Kinmont as "one of those
strong, enthusiastic, Platonic minds"
peculiar to "Scotland's sons now
and then." The Review expressed
the hope that Kinmont's book would
introduce in the West "that
noble idea of the universe and man
which makes us workers,-not
12 Precursor, I
(1838), 214-215.
13 Ibid., II (1839), 29; Carl Theophilus Odhner, Annals of the
New Church
(Bryn Athyn, Penna., 1904), 450. The
original members of the third society were
Mary De Charms, Charles F. Kellogg, John
Hunt, David Pancoast, William E.
White, Emily S. White, Jacob L. Wayne,
B. P. Hunt, Cornelia A. Hunt, Margaret D.
Coombs, and Margaret L. Coombs. Precursor,
III (1842), 189.
388
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
for happiness, but for right." No
philosopher of the day had "more
clearly seen this idea, and the theory
of man's being, . . . than
Alexander Kinmont."14 Henry
James, the theologian, praised
Kinmont as a man of genius, born out of
his time.15 Charles
Hammond, in his Cincinnati Gazette (March
30, 1839), published
a letter from "Philom," who
commended this "masterly" work as
remarkably free of trite theology, and
marked by distinctive, bold,
and original thought. It was a
transcript of Kinmont's mind, an
"epitome of many minds pure and
illustrious"; it awoke "the most
fervid and grand" impressions as
it traced "the rise and fall-
the changes and vicissitudes of men and
ages." Another critic
asserted that this was "the most
valuable work yet published west
of the Allegheny Mountains."
The book sold remarkably well. Even the
conservative theological
seminary of the Associate Reformed
Presbyterian Church at Oxford,
Ohio, ordered twenty-five copies. Mary
Kinmont was "a good deal
surprised" to receive so liberal
an order from that institution so
"intirely presbyterian."16
After Alexander Kinmont's death Adam
Hurdus became the
pastor of the Second New Jerusalem
Society of Cincinnati. Hurdus
and Maskell M. Carll tried to compose
the differences with De
Charms, begging him to unite with their
societies in a service on
Christmas Day 1838. But De Charms
declined, saying that he must
administer the sacrament to the third
society that day. New Year's
Day was then agreed upon, and Hurdus
and Carll exhorted their
people to attend that meeting for the
good of the church. De Charms,
however, after some deliberation, wrote
a letter saying that it
would be disorderly for his society to
meet with the other societies,
but that individuals were free to go if
they so desired. Many of the
third society attended the union
service. Mary Kinmont wrote to her
Aunt Abby James that such bigotry could
not stand and that De
Charms' followers were sadly misled
when they chose him for a
guide.17
14 Hesperian, III (1839), 464.
15 W. H. Venable, Beginnings
of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley (Cincinnati,
1891), 423-424.
16 Mary Kinmont to Abby James, May 1, 1839. James Manuscripts.
17 January 1, 1839. James Manuscripts.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 389
In an effort to do justice to the
memory of Alexander Kinmont,
the Western Convention of 1840
officially condemned Richard
De Charms for having interfered (at the
General Convention in
1837) with the request of the second
society of Cincinnati that
Kinmont be ordained as their
minister.18 The rebuke came too
late to mitigate the pain and
mortification suffered by Alexander
Kinmont.
A beginning was made toward the
education of "the rising
generation" even before the First
Western Convention met. Milo G.
Williams, an experienced Sunday School
teacher and one of the
outstanding educators of the West,
reestablished the New Church
Sunday School in Cincinnati in 1832.
Williams, chairman of the
committee on education, reported to the
First Western Convention
a strong desire among Newchurchmen to
establish a New Church
school that would offer scientific
instruction "united with Agri-
cultural and Mechanical pursuits,"
a "most valuable auxiliary in
disseminating New Jerusalem
truths." Nothing concrete developed,
however, until 1839, when Williams was
invited to take charge of
a New Church school in Cincinnati. The
school opened on January
6, 1840, in the basement of the temple,
with about forty pupils
enrolled. Six months later the school
was transferred to a new
schoolhouse built on the land adjoining
the temple. It flourished in
every way except financially. Williams
took it over as a private
school in 1843, opening it to New
Church and non-New Church
children alike.19
Williams had joined David Pruden in the
establishment of the
Manual Training School in Dayton in
1833. He formed a New
Church society of five male members and
conducted meetings some-
what like those of the Theosophic
Society of Cincinnati.20 Later
fifteen members-male and female-signed
the constitution of the
18 Odhner, Annals,
450.
19 Ophia D. Smith, "Adam
Hurdus and the Swedenborgians in Early Cincinnati,"
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly, LIII (1944),
131-133.
20 The Theosophic Society of
Cincinnati was probably inspired by the London
Theosophical Society, which was
organized in 1783 for the promotion of the
Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.
For a detailed description of the meetings
of the Cincinnati Theosophic Society,
see Alexander Kinmont's account of the meet-
ings, "The Cincinnati Theosophic
Society," in the New Jerusalem Magazine, New
Series, XIV (1890), 222-225.
390 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
First New Jerusalem Society of Dayton.21
About thirty persons
attended the Sunday morning services.
The members met on
Sunday afternoons for "social and
free conversations" on religious
doctrine and the duties of a religious
life. By 1836 the Dayton
society had increased its membership by
fourteen, and the congre-
gation sometimes numbered as high as
sixty.22
Williams left Dayton in 1835 to take
charge of the Spring-
field High School. A number of the high
school boys showed in-
terest in the Doctrines, and there were
enough receivers in the
town to form a pleasant circle. The
First New Jerusalem Society
of Springfield was organized in January
1837 with eleven members.23
The meetings were held in the homes of
the members.
There were a few receivers of the
Swedenborgian doctrines in
Oxford as early as 1829, but there was
no regularly organized
society. They met frequently in each
other's houses on Sunday
afternoons for reading and
conversation. Dr. Samuel Woods, dentist
and physician, kept a college boarding
house on West Street
(Campus Avenue) just across the street
from the Miami Uni-
versity campus.24 The little
circle of Swedenborgians frequently
met with Dr. Woods, and two or three
young men from the
university joined them. These
Newchurchmen of the classic village
believed that Oxford was
"favorably situated for the reception
of the truth as the majority of the
citizens [were] exemplary in
their lives, and candid and sincere in
their love of truth." Dr.
Woods reported to the Western
Convention in 1839 that one or
two discourses by a New Church minister
would "disabuse the
minds of inquirers," and that the
doctrines which had been "repre-
sented through the distorting medium of
common report as phan-
21 Among
the New Church families in Dayton were those of David Cathcart,
Charles Richards, Amos Adams Richards,
David Pruden, Amor Smith, Oliver Smith,
Martin Smith, Mrs. Chloe Smith. The
Smiths were members of the famous family of
"Sixty-foot Smiths" who
emigrated to Cincinnati in 1817 or 1818. Milo G. Williams
Manuscripts, Urbana Junior College,
Urbana, Ohio.
22 Report, First New Jerusalem Society of Dayton to the Western
Convention,
1834: Precursor, I (1836), 10.
23 John Murdoch, John Cook and wife and two adult children, H. Vinal and
wife, William Murdoch, T. O. Prescott,
Milo G. Williams, and Evan Gwynne
constituted the society. Prescott was
the leader.
24 Ophia D. Smith, Old Oxford Houses (Oxford, 1941), 81-83.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 391
tasies could be presented in their own
beauty and consistency."
He was certain that "the mind of
Oxford" was "decidedly scien-
tific and religious, and in a good
degree prepared to receive the
truth and practise it." Three
Oxford families had "a tolerable
supply of books" which they lent
whenever the books could be
useful.25 According to the Retina
of October 21, 1843, Oxford
receivers were "alive to their
duty," meeting regularly twice a
month.
A diary kept by Cyrus Brady, a student
at Miami University,
throws some light on New Church
activities in Oxford in 1845.
Brady found the sermons of T. O.
Prescott hard to understand.
Prescott said that the earth is an
emanation of the divine mind
and that it was incorrect that God
created the world from nothing.
Brady thought Prescott's "wild
vagaries" would not be "likely to
ever become popular." Prescott
preached in the Universalist church.
One night, after the sermon on the
spiritual sense of the Scripture
was finished, one person said to
Prescott that he agreed with much
of the discourse. "How . . . can
the account of the Garden of Eden
be taken otherwise than
spiritually?" said the man. "Who can
conceive of the Divine Being planting a
literal garden &c ?"
One evening Prescott preached on the
Second Coming of the
Lord and the End of the World. It
created so much comment that
his congregation was more than doubled
the next night. Nearly a
hundred people, among them "a
considerable number of students,"
listened to the lecture on the
spiritual world and the resurrection.
On Sunday afternoon, March 1, a small
crowd braved a storm
of wind and rain to hear Prescott
declare that the Divine Trinity
exists in the one Divine Person, the
Lord Jesus Christ.26
25 Precursor, II
(1840), 173.
26 Some of the points of the New
Jerusalem faith that disturbed the orthodox
were:
"That Jesus Christ is God.
"That the resurrection of the material
body is an erroneous notion, neither sup-
ported by reason nor revelation; that
the resurrection spoken of in the Scriptures,
is that from the death of sin to a life
of righteousness.
"That the doctrine of the atonement
as taught at the present day [1837] is an
error.
"That predestination, and the loss
of infants who die without baptism, are false
doctrines.
392 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
The next morning Prescott left Oxford
to go to the home of
Giles Richards near Colerain, a small
cotton manufacturing village
on the Great Miami River not far from
Venice. He lectured in the
Presbyterian church in Venice that
night. The next evening he
lectured in the Colerain schoolhouse,
but "the sphere did not seem
so receptive."27
On June 22 Cyrus Brady recorded his
impressions of a New
Church sermon preached in Oxford by
Thomas Newport, junior, as
"the strangest" he had ever
heard.
His point seemed to be to prove that
the plurality of the Godhead con-
sisted in male and female, not as
generally supposed in the connection of
three persons ... He said that when God
said "let us make man in our
image," he used the plural pronoun as applying to
male and female
qualities in himself. He was miserably
deficient in everything that con-
stitutes good oratory. Mystery seems to
be the characteristic of this doctrine.
Later in the summer Brady heard the
Rev. William Elder preach
at the Universalist church. The sermon
was written in fine language
and delivered in good style, but it was
so mysterious and curious
that Brady could not remember
"three sentences of what he said."
He heard Elder again in September, but
he still found the Doctrines
incomprehensible.28
In Columbus, Ohio, the Doctrines never
secured a firm foothold.
For a long time Josiah M. Espy, a
prominent banker, and his
"That in proportion as man loves
his neighbor, the love of God is implanted
in him.
"That all those who lead a life
according to their conscience and the best light
they have, will be saved.
"That the second coming of the Lord
is not a coming in person manifest to the
external sight, but a spiritual advent.
"That the history of paradise, of
the fall of man by eating the forbidden fruit,
and of the deluge, are allegories, and
are not to be understood literally.
"That God is a being of infinite
love and mercy, and cannot be angry and re-
vengeful, and that even hell is appointed of
mercy."
The above New Church doctrines were
preached by the Quaker Elias Hicks in
Philadelphia as early as 1817. The
Swedenborgians believed that "the doctrines of
the new church were forcing themselves
out through the old church," through Hicks
and other "enlightened"
ministers of other sects. Precursor, I (1837), 199-200.
27 Mirror of Truth, I (1845), 47.
28 Cyrus Brady Diary, February 26, June
22, August 10, September 28, 1845.
Miami University Library, Oxford, Ohio.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 393
family were the only Swedenborgians in
town. Espy sadly reported
to the Western Convention that no
desire could be "excited amongst
the citizens to examine the beautiful
and heavenly doctrines."
Missionaries preached in the courthouse
from time to time, and
the sacraments of the church were
administered in Espy's house,
but the seed fell on stony ground. Espy
was an outstanding New-
churchman and wrote a number of useful
New Church tracts.
A New Jerusalem society was instituted
in Chillicothe by the
Rev. Maskell M. Carll in the house of
Dr. Benjamin O. Carpenter
in April 1838. According to Dr.
Carpenter, editor of the Scioto
Gazette, the "ribald opposition" to the church did
not prevent a
steady advance in "the affections
of the community." There was
enough opposition among the readers of
the Gazette to a series of
letters signed "Philo
Swedenborg," however, to force the editor
to discontinue them.29
John S. Williams, United States
engineer engaged in laying out
the National Road through Ohio, removed
from Cincinnati to
Chillicothe and became a strong member
of the Chillicothe society.30
Under the leadership of Joseph Jones
(bookseller), Dr. Carpenter,
Dr. Sproat, and John S. Williams, the
society built a temple that
would seat two hundred people. An
effort was made to establish
a New Church periodical that would
serve "as a medium of truth
to those out of the church." A
free library was established which
contained nearly all the English
translations of Swedenborg's
theological works as well as most of
the collateral works of the
church.31
Though Steubenville was the scene of
the first Swedenborgian
activity in the state of Ohio, the
Steubenville Newchurchmen
were never able to sustain a strong
society. David Powell, junior,
however, had the courage to send
Swedenborgian pamphlets to a
Methodist district conference for
distribution in 1838. New
Jerusalem clergymen never forgot that
John Wesley, alarmed
29 Precursor, I
(1838), 218, 223.
30 John S. Williams is best known
to historians as the editor of the American
Pioneer. As a Newchurchman he was a controversial figure on
account of his radical
views concerning the clergy and
ecclesiastical rule. He was once expelled from the
Western Convention but he was later
reinstated.
31 Precursor, II (1839), 29.
394
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
at the number of Methodists becoming
Newchurchmen, had at-
tacked Emanuel Swedenborg in scandalous
fashion. Neither did they
forget that at the time of Wesley's
attack he was nearly eighty
years old, senile, and enamored of a
young and buxom Irish girl
who possessed more physical charm than
religion. Wesley said
that "the charming Eliza" was
"one of the most perfect works of
created nature." Even Thomas Coke,
the first Methodist bishop in
America and Wesley's own appointee,
admitted to a Swedenborgian
minister that Wesley's notorious
infatuation was an embarrassing
fact.32
David Powell preached in Steubenville
in his own schoolroom.
On January 1, 1837, he and a few of the
Steubenville New-
churchmen formed a library association
and began to build a loan
library for "the well-disposed of
Steubenville, both in and out of the
church."33 Powell
reported that Franklin College at New Athens
had willingly received his donation of
New Church publications
for their library.
In Wayne County, Powell preached to
"remarkably attentive
audiences," "mostly
large"; he was convinced that Wayne County
minds were prepared best of all to
receive the New Jerusalem
doctrines. Through his efforts the
First New Jerusalem Society
of Wayne County was reorganized in
1835. The little band had
nearly all the translated works of
Swedenborg and a variety of
New Church publications to lend to
anyone who would read them.34
A faithful little group of receivers
near Wooster met nearly
every Sunday. Occasionally they heard a
sermon preached by Horatio
N. Strong, a schoolteacher and
Methodist minister turned Sweden-
borgian.
On September 1, 1839, the Rev. Maskell
M. Carll reinstituted
the First New Jerusalem Society of
Plain Township in Wayne
32 The New Church Repository and
Monthly Review, Devoted to the Exposition
of the Philosophy and Theology Taught
in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg,
II (1849), 31-32. The New Church
Repository at this time was edited by George
Bush, distinguished professor of Hebrew
and Oriental literature at the College of the
City of New York from 1831 to 1848. Bush
embraced the doctrines of Swedenborg
in 1847. He was recognized as an outstanding
writer on religious subjects.
33 Precursor, I (1838), 223.
34 Ibid., I (1836), 10-11.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 395
County, and ordained H. N. Strong to
the ministry. Strong had
preached almost constantly in Medina,
Wayne, and Richland
counties, besides paying occasional
visits in the counties of Cuyahoga,
Erie, and Portage. The Richland County
society was reorganized
on September 4, 1842, with seven
members. By 1842 the Plain
Township society had twenty members,
but they were far apart
in residence.
By 1839 three associations had been
formed to meet annually
at specified places. The associations
supplemented the work of
the Western Convention. The first
association meeting was held at
the home of Robert Haughey in Big
Prairie, Wayne County, in the
summer of 1839. Receivers from Lake
Township, from Rocky
River, and from Streetsboro attended.35
In the summer of 1844 David Powell went
on a missionary trip.
In northern Ohio he found a growing
disposition among the people
to listen and to read. In Meigs County
he went to Kyger, Rutland,
and Longbottom, and to houses in the
country. Though the people
were malaria-ridden, the meetings were
well attended.
Powell preached in Chillicothe and
vicinity for seven weeks.
Though political excitement was running
high, he was able to
attract forty or fifty people to the courthouse
to hear "the heavenly
doctrines." At that time there
were between twenty and thirty
receivers and friends of the Doctrines
in Chillicothe, and a few
isolated receivers in Ross County. On
Indian Creek, a few miles
out of Chillicothe, Powell encountered
a hostile person who tore
down the announcements of his lectures
and threatened to raze
the schoolhouse in which he spoke. The
adversary listened under
the schoolhouse window for a lecture or
two, and then ventured
inside. One day he attacked Powell with
the most violent and
abusive language. After that he
returned to his post under the
window. His opposition, however, only
made friends for Powell.
In Bainbridge, Powell found one
Methodist minister who had quit
his church and confessed himself a full
receiver of the Doctrines.
35 Ibid., II (1839), 46-47; II (1841), 379-380.
396 Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Another Methodist preacher was openly
preaching "the doctrine of
the Lord" and reading Swedenborg
with zeal.36
In the summer of 1845 Powell visited
Wheeling, Sunfish, Sheffield,
Pomeroy, Chillicothe, Kyger, Rutland,
and Jackson. Though the
towns and villages were small,
congregations numbered from fifty
to two hundred.37 In
Columbiana County he discovered a group
of German Swedenborgians who had never
heard a New Church
sermon but were meeting once in three
weeks for "social converse,
improvement, and worship."
In the fall of 1845 Powell gave eight
lectures in St. Clairsville.
In the winter he gave a second course
of lectures. So much interest
was aroused that he decided to lecture
and distribute tracts in
different parts of Belmont County.
William McNeely, cashier of
the Belmont Bank in St. Clairsville,
bought thirty dollars' worth
of books to lend. Another Newchurchman,
J. H. Williams, kept
books for loan and for sale. Williams
gave courses of lectures and
published 24,000 tracts. Though
prejudice and hostility were
deeply rooted, ridicule was silenced by
lectures and the printed
word. When David Powell or Sabin Hough
preached in the
courthouse at St. Clairsville, they
drew large audiences composed
chiefly of men.38 In
February 1847 Powell organized a society in
St. Clairsville with a membership of
fifty-two. He was the first New
Jerusalem minister to administer the
sacraments of baptism and
the Holy Supper in St. Clairsville.
The first receiver in the vicinity of
Cleveland was James Nicholson,
who made the first clearing in the Lake
Erie woods between
Cleveland and Rocky River in 1818. When
he came to Cuyahoga
County he found only three houses
between Rocky River and the
Cuyahoga, a distance of six miles on
the lake front. It was not
long before Mars Wagar settled a mile
or two away from
Nicholson's clearing.
Nicholson was a small man and without
formal education.
Mars Wagar, large and impressive in
appearance, was a Harvard
36 Newchurchman, II (1844), 793-796.
37 Mirror of Truth, I (1845), 143.
38 Precursor,
III (1842), 160; Medium, I (1849),
53.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 397
graduate and a classical scholar. Wagar
the infidel and Nicholson
the Swedenborgian soon clashed on
theology. When Wagar finished
his scholarly assault, little Nicholson
quietly said, "I have heard
you, will you now hear me?" The
debate continued for months.
Wagar finally surrendered
unconditionally.39 Nicholson, by living
his faith and zealously communicating
it to others, was able to
persuade a few people to read and
accept the Doctrines. On
September 1, 1841, the Rev. Maskell M.
Carll arrived at Rockport,
where Nicholson was living. The morning
that he arrived he
found people assembling for the funeral
of Mars Wagar. He
consented to preach the funeral sermon
and improved the oppor-
tunity to address an assemblage
composed of people of diverse
religious opinions. On Saturday,
September 4, at the house of
James Nicholson, the Rev. Mr. Carll
organized the First New
Jerusalem Society of Cuyahoga County.
Richard Hooper, formerly
a Methodist preacher, was appointed
leader. Elisha Hibbard
preached on Sunday evening to "a
large and attentive audience."
After twenty years of patient endeavor,
James Nicholson had the
happy privilege of seeing an organized
society in Rockport. He
became its first president. W. D. Beall
was its first secretary, and
Adam Miller Wagar was its first
treasurer. With funds left him
by an aged brother who loved the
Doctrines, James Nicholson
erected a temple in Rockport. There
Richard Hooper preached
every Sabbath to a congregation of
fifty or sixty people. There was
some curiosity about the Doctrines in
Rockport, but few converts.
The society's small library, however,
was in constant use. The First
New Church Convocation of Northern Ohio
(Cuyahoga, Medina,
Wayne, and Richland counties) met in
Rockport on August 27,
1842.40 A new temple was built in 1848,
Nicholson contributing
most of the funds and the Wagar family
donating the land on
which it was built.41
John McCaddon of Newark reported to the
Western Convention
39 Willard Gibson Day, Early
Recollections of the New Jerusalem Church in Ohio
and Maryland (Baltimore, 1919), 5-6.
40 Precursor, III (1842), 46-47; New Jerusalem Magazine, XVI
(1842), 58-60.
41 Philip B. Cabell, "A Short History of the East Rockport Society of
the New
Church," New Jerusalem Magazine,
New Series, XIV (1890), 40-42.
398
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
in 1840 that there was "nothing
cheerful or useful to write." For
fourteen years he had lent his books
without results. In Newark,
he said, there was much talk about
religion, but it was "all wind."
Newark was so torn with political
strife that there was "no room
in the inn for a spiritual truth."42
In a previous decade Johnny
Appleseed had declared that
Swedenborg's description of hell fitted
Newark exactly.
By 1834 a society of four families
existed in Newville. There
were a few new readers, but the greater
part of Newville either
ignored the Doctrines or treated them
with contempt. There were
about twenty "partial
receivers" in Richland County and about
twelve or fourteen in Wayne. A partial
receiver was one who did
not fully accept the Doctrines.
Samuel M. Lockwood of Port Clinton and
Sandusky was an
isolated receiver who let his light
shine wherever he might be.
He read Swedenborg for many years
before he fully received the
Doctrines, which his wife had so
readily accepted. They "mutually
endeavored" to fix them in the
minds of their eight sons and two
daughters, but they were not required
to attend family worship--
they could attend or absent themselves
as they chose. Lockwood
contributed to the support of all
denominations and attended their
services, but he always made it clear
that he was "of the New
Church."43 He and his
fellow-Swedenborgian, Colonel John H.
James, played important roles in the
building of the Mad River
and Lake Erie Railroad from Sandusky to
Springfield.
The Doctrines of the New Jerusalem were
introduced in Seville
by Nathaniel C. Burnham and his mother
in 1838. There were two
or three readers and one receiver a few
miles out of town. Burnham
taught in a private school and lent his
New Church books to any
one who would read them.44
Though the Turtle Creek society near
Lebanon was "inoperative,"
thirty families were borrowing books
from the New Church library,
42 Precursor, II
(1840), 71.
43 Report, Western Convention, 1834.
44 Precursor, II (1839), 30. Burnham went to Cincinnati and took
charge of the
third society for a short time, but gave
it up in order to engage in missionary work.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 399
exclusive of those who borrowed from
the private libraries of three
prominent Swedenborgians--"Mr.
Sweeney," "Mr. Hormell," and
William Frost.45
By 1840 the New Jerusalem missionary
effort was gaining
strength, but there were not enough
missionaries to meet the need.
In Rutland the New Church congregation
sometimes numbered as
high as eighty people, but the
Newchurchmen were so poor they
could not support a missionary. They
bought some books, though
hardly enough to supply the demand from
"a considerable number
of inquiring minds."46 Elisha
Hibbard, Methodist preacher turned
Swedenborgian, made a missionary trip
through northern Ohio in
1840-41.47 He traveled
nearly seven hundred miles in about two
months, preaching and baptizing on the
Muskingum River, in
St. Clairsville, Steubenville,
Wheeling, Island Creek, Streetsboro,
Rockport, Wooster, Columbus, and
intermediate country neighbor-
hoods. "They just about paid my
expenses," he reported to the
Western Convention.48
Elisha Hibbard organized the First New
Jerusalem Society of
Lucas County in 1842. Six males
constituted the membership and
five of the six were Hibbards. Elisha
and his son John preached
in the neighborhood but with little
effect.
In 1846 John R. Hibbard reported to the
Western Convention
that there were about twenty receivers
in and around Athens, many
of whom had received their first
knowledge of Swedenborg from
his lectures. Once a month he met with
a group of new receivers
in the edge of Meigs County, and once a
month he held a meeting
45 Precursor, I (1838), 222-223. Thomas Newport of the Turtle Creek
society,
as early as 1835, urged the Western
Convention to furnish all the theological libraries
in the West with the True Christian
Religion and the Apocalypse Revealed "hand-
somely but not gaudily bound."
46 Precursor, I
(1838), 226; II (1839), 16.
47 Elisha's son John Randolph Hibbard
received the Doctrines in 1836. While
traveling as a boy preacher of the
Methodist Church, he found a copy of the
True Christian Religion in a log cabin in the wilderness. As he rode horseback
from
preaching station to preaching station,
he read the book and was converted. He
openly proclaimed the New Jerusalem
doctrines and created a great sensation. His
father received the Doctrines in 1838
and openly broke with the Methodists. Both
father and son were ordained to the New
Jerusalem ministry in 1839 by the
Western Convention. Odhner, Annals, 412,
430.
48 Precursor, II
(1841), 335-336.
400
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
at "Brother Pruden's" not far
from Athens. By 1848 he was serving
a region forty miles square, lending
books and tracts to any who
would accept them. Few appreciated the
"heavenly doctrines," and
the religious folk were reluctant to
listen because they feared that
their faith might be disturbed.
The Western New Church Tract Society
was organized in Cin-
cinnati in July 1842. The object of the
society was to buy, publish,
and circulate New Church tracts. There
were few channels for
gratuitous distribution. The board,
however, sent the tracts out
with New Church ministers on missionary
trips and by laymen
traveling through the country. The
Doctrines, said the tract com-
mittee, "have no legs to walk . .
. and we must carry them; they
have no mouths to speak, and we must
speak for them." The means
of the Church were limited, the works
of Swedenborg were ex-
pensive, and the receivers were
scattered. Tracts seemed to be the
only method available for wide
dissemination of the Doctrines
in the West.49
Early in 1843, T. O. Prescott came from
England to Cincinnati,
where he was temporarily employed by
the First New Jerusalem
Society to take the place of Maskell M.
Carll. Adam Haworth,
another English Newchurchman, was
invited to assist Prescott. In
a letter to the Intellectual
Repository (London), Haworth observed
that American Newchurchmen had
generally adopted a plan of
abstaining from alcoholic drinks, and
that the homeopathic system
of medicine was much in favor with
them. As a religious denomina-
tion, Haworth said, the Swedenborgians
of America assumed a form
of greater distinctiveness than did
their British brethren; the
ministers assumed more "external
authority," and the laity were
more passive.50
Prescott lectured for some weeks in
Dayton, and formed the
scattered receivers into a society. He
went to Wheeling and
Steubenville later. The few receivers
in and around Steubenville
were far apart and unorganized. From
six and eight miles away,
through mud and over execrable roads,
they came to hear Prescott.
49 New Jerusalem Magazine, XIX (1846), 414-420.
50 Odhner, Annals, 490.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 401
"Some half dozen young men"
walked six miles in and six miles
out again after each lecture. Prescott
stayed a month in Steuben-
ville, baptizing eighteen adults and
eighteen children while there.
From Steubenville he went to Columbus,
where he preached in
the courthouse to curious crowds that
soon dwindled away. Sunday
morning services were held in Josiah
Espy's house for two New
Church families and two or three
individual receivers. From
Columbus Prescott went to Chillicothe,
Springfield, and Dayton,
where he lectured to large audiences.
From Dayton he went to Hamilton for a
week. Only three years
earlier there had been only three or
four receivers besides Joseph
Howells in Hamilton. Now the faithful
few in town were
worshiping regularly on Sunday
afternoons with a small number
of receivers from the country. Joseph
Howells furthered the cause
by selling New Church books in his
drugstore, and his brother
William C. Howells gave publicity to
the New Church in his paper,
the Hamilton Intelligencer.
The Rev. George Field, also, made a
missionary journey through
the West in 1843. His lectures in
Cincinnati created much interest,
and newspapers gave much space to what
he had to say. That
the language of ancient man had been
lost as he declined in
simplicity and purity was an especially
intriguing idea. If the
inspired Word was written in
allegorical language, then all the
apparent contradictions and
discrepancies could be explained.51
Field left Cincinnati in June for
Columbus, Springfield, and
Dayton. The Ohio State Journal (June
22, 1843) referred to Field
as "a man of thought, of
science," and a "very interesting" lecturer.
In Springfield prejudice weakened under
Field's clear and logical
lectures. Springfield was known as a
"sectarian place," whose people
could be moved from "their fixed
habits and beliefs" only with
the greatest difficulty.
Early in July Field began a course of
twelve lectures in Dayton.
Most of them were delivered in the
courthouse, because he was
not permitted to preach or lecture in
the churches. The Dayton
51 Retina, December 15, 1843.
402
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Journal and Advertiser declared that some skeptics had seen a new
light, for Field had established
"beyond the power of contradiction"
that the Bible was written in a
peculiar language which was trans-
mitted "from God to men . . . in
the language of nature itself."52
George Field was the first to proclaim
the Doctrines publicly in
Cleveland. He arrived in that town on
July 24, 1845, to give a
series of lectures. A Methodist
congregation gave him permission
to use their church for seven lectures,
but after the third lecture
they would not permit him to give any
more. After some maneuver-
ing, the lectures were continued in
another Methodist church. Two
extra lectures on the character and
mission of Swedenborg were
given in the courthouse. There were
only twelve readers and full
receivers in Cleveland and vicinity at
this time.
Field visited the Rockport society and
preached to full houses.
Wagons and buggies came from the
country loaded with people
to hear the lectures.
While on his way across the lakes from
Michigan to Cleveland,
Field had met Charles Grandison Finney,
professor of theology at
Oberlin College. They had some
conversation about Swedenborg.
Though many of Swedenborg's works were
in the college library,
Finney had never read them. Field was
amazed to find that Finney
did not know that Jean Frederic
Oberlin, for whom Oberlin College
was named, was profoundly influenced by
Swedenborg.53
The publishing center of the New
Jerusalem Church of the West
was in Cincinnati. As early as 1825 the
Rev. Nathaniel Holley began
to publish a monthly magazine called
the Herald of Truth, which
was designed "To Illustrate and
Confirm THE HEAVENLY
TRUTHS of the NEW JERUSALEM." In
1836 the Precursor was
established; sometimes it was biweekly
and sometimes it was a
motto, "The Tablet Whereon Truth's
Rays Impress the Images of
52 Ibid., March 29, 1844.
53 Oberlin
lived his remarkably useful life according to the philosophy of
Emanuel Swedenborg--that the Lord's
Kingdom is a kingdom of uses. Oberlin
taught his people to shun evil and to
believe that the truly heavenly life is to be
useful. He reduced his religious system
to two main points: that Jesus is our
Heavenly Father and that we win
salvation by loving the Lord and, from love,
keeping his divine precepts. Oberlin had
several works of Swedenborg in his private
library and regarded Heaven and Hell as
one of his richest treasures. He believed that
every word in that work was true. New
Jerusalem Magazine, XIV (1840), 67-74.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 403
monthly magazine. In 1842 it was
discontinued. The Errand Boy
was published irregularly in Cincinnati
and Chillicothe from 1838
to 1844.54
William C. Howells, editor of the Hamilton
Intelligencer, pro-
posed to the Western Convention of 1843
a plan for a periodical,
and the convention accepted it. At that
time the convention was
in an uproar over the question of
continuing a correspondence with
the Eastern and Central conventions.55
The Western Convention
wished to have coordinate powers with
the Eastern and Central
conventions and definitely opposed
subservience to any General
Conference or Grand Council. It was in
this atmosphere of conflict
that Howells established the Retina.
It was published weekly, its
Thought." Howells wished to use
his paper like the retina of the
eye--"to impress upon it the forms
of things within the range of
the soul's vision."
Howells had been schooled in
Swedenborgian doctrines while
engaged with Dr. B. O. Carpenter on the
Scioto Gazette.56 Wherever
he might be, he worked at his religion.
He was the means of
bringing Chauncey Giles, one of the
greatest American New-
churchmen, to Swedenborg. Howells
always sought to bring together
those who confessed the Doctrines, and
always he labored to
disseminate the New Jerusalem truths.
William Dean Howells,
after the death of his father, said
that for sixty years the Doctrines
had been essentially a part of his
father's life. In 1898, in a letter
to the Ohio Association of the New
Church, he testified to his
father's faith:
He felt Swedenborg-a liberating
force-he found in him a reasonable
and satisfactory religion-I believe
that for half a century it informed and
shaped his whole conduct. He could
always meet me in the freshness of my
wonder at their supernatural reach and
significance.
54 Precursor, III (1842), 169; Odhner, Annals, 486.
55 The Central Convention was organized
in 1840 as a general body of individual
members of the New Church, coordinate
with the Eastern Convention. This move-
ment was a result of opposition to
arbitrary rules of order adopted by the General
Convention and of opposition to the
"conjugial" relation between pastors and their
societies which was then enforced by the
dominant New England element. It was
essentially a movement for
ecclesiastical freedom. Odhner, Annals, 451-452.
56 Retina, December 22, 1843.
404
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
The Retina lasted a year and a
half. In his valedictory (December
20, 1844) Howells said that he had not
escaped some pecuniary
sacrifice, that his reward was the
satisfaction of performing an
essential use. "He who expects to
render the Church this service,"
he wrote, "must make calculations
to regard use more than profit."
The Retina was succeeded by the Mirror
of Truth, edited by the
Rev. Adam Haworth. The first number
appeared in January 1845.
The magazine continued only one year.
The failure of the New
Church Book Concern in Cincinnati made
it impracticable to con-
tinue the publication of a periodical.
In 1840 Arthur Brisbane's Social
Destiny of Man appeared.
It was a clear exposition of the
essentials of Fourierism, which
started a Fourieristic movement of no
mean proportions. The
western Swedenborgians looked upon the
movement with critical
eyes. It might be all right to apply
that part of the system which
was applicable to
"association," but what they might use of Fourier's
secular system should be speedily
separated from what he taught
on morals. They had the Bible to tell
them how to live. The writings
of Swedenborg were an acknowledged
guide. Fourier's religion
was founded on philosophic observation
only; that of Swedenborg
was received by direct revelation from
the Lord. Newchurchmen,
therefore, should by no means allow the
opinion to go forth that
Fourierism and the New Church were in
entire harmony.
William C. Howells, noting that
Fourier's doctrines were
rapidly spreading among Newchurchmen,
wrote an editorial for
the Retina (October 21, 1843) on
the subject. He was disturbed
because he recognized names of
Newchurchmen in "nearly all
published proceedings of Fourier
meetings." However, he had not
met "with many who were ready to
go into all the details" that
had yet been proposed. Howells
confessed that he had not given
this subject of "association"
the attention it deserved and that he
was not prepared "to speak of it
knowingly." Nevertheless, he was
sure that "the happy state of
society contemplated by the disciples of
Fourier [would] only be found within
the influence of the New
Jerusalem," and that "if any
were prepared to investigate and test
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 405
its practicability it [would] be New
Churchmen." The Western
Convention never sanctioned Fourierism.
In the Retina of April 12, 1844,
Howells published a long letter
from Solyman Brown describing the new
phalanx at Leraysville,
Pennsylvania. Dr. Lemuel C. Belding and
nearly all the members
of his New Church society had pledged
their farms, their fortunes,
and their best efforts for the
prosecution of the plan. Solyman
Brown urged non-Swedenborgians to have
no fear of the New
Jerusalem, but to "unite with us
in the endeavor to re-organize the
social system, and cause justice and
charity to reign upon the earth."
The General Convention of 1848
repudiated Dr. Belding and
suspended him from the ministry on
account of rumors against
his character.
To prove that Charles Fourier had
scientifically demonstrated
the true organization of the New
Church, Dr. Charles Julius Hempel
wrote The True Organization of the
New Church, As Indicated in
the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg,
and Scientifically Demon-
strated by Charles Fourier. Swedenborgian scholars like George
Bush, eminent Orientalist and Biblical
expositor, were not con-
vinced. Bush was reluctant to let the
names of Swedenborg and
Fourier be linked together, thereby
desecrating Swedenborg, a
divine messenger, by making him a
sponsor of "an earth-born
scheme of social reform."57 Hempel's
book failed to convince
Swedenborgians in general that Fourier
had demonstrated the true
organization of the New Church.
It was a common opinion that
transcendentalism and Sweden-
borgianism were almost identical. But
Newchurchmen said that
transcendentalism had no guideposts, no
discipline to restrain or
humble the human mind, though some
truth might be sifted from
it. There were certain points of
similarity between the two systems.
Both proclaimed the utter degeneracy of
the Church and the world;
both declared that men needed to be
purified and lifted up; both
taught that infinite measures of truth
lie within man's reach; both
professed to teach how new
life-religious, moral, intellectual, and
57 New Church Repository, I (1848),
186-188.
406 Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
social-might be poured out to vivify
and recreate the world. The
New Church turned toward light, said
Newchurchmen, while
transcendentalism turned toward thick
darkness.58
Undisturbed by "isms" other
than Swedenborgianism, the newly
ordained James Park Stuart became the
sole missionary under
the Western New Church Missionary
Society.59 Traveling con-
stantly, he found the people more
willing to listen than their pastors.
Many of the clergy fought this
"worst of heresies."
The distinguished Lyman Beecher, though
he did not call them
by name, referred to the Swedenborgian
clergy when he declared
in 1845:
When the doctrinal, pungent and
discriminating preaching of Baxter
and Edwards gives place to moonshine
and nocturnal rainbows and mysticism,
which no human mind can comprehend,
delivered by men with rings on
their fingers, holding cambric
handkerchiefs to eyes that never weep for sin,
then farewell to true revivals of religion,
farewell to the salvation of the
souls of men.60
Joshua Lacy Wilson, eminent
Presbyterian divine of Cincinnati,
bitterly opposed the Swedenborgians. In
a sermon on witchcraft
he called Swedenborg "the prince
of necromancers" and "one of
the greatest dupes to evil
spirits." He admitted that Swedenborg
was a man of great learning, but he
declared that Swedenborg had
denied "almost every important
doctrine of the Christian religion,"
and that he had "devised a scheme
of salvation foreign from the
plan laid down in the New
Testament."61
The Rev. James P. Stuart commenced his
mission at Carthage,
near Cincinnati, on September 29, 1847,
lecturing in the Disciples
church to audiences of from fifty to
seventy people. He next
58 New Jerusalem Magazine, XIV (1841), 388.
59 Stuart was a graduate of Illinois
College at Jacksonville in 1836. He went to
Yale to become fully acquainted with the
New School form of Presbyterianism; he
was licensed to preach and ordained as
an evangelist in 1839. In 1847 he was
ordained to the New Church ministry by
the Western Convention. Mirror of Truth,
I (1845), 84; Odhner, Annals, 512,
536.
60 Mirror
of Truth, I (1845), 136.
61 Ibid., I (1845), 188-189.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 407
lectured in Finney Town. In and around
the two villages he found
enough receivers to form a small
society. Encouraged, he invaded
nearby Yankee Town, a community settled
by natives of Maine.
Stuart lectured twice to the Yankees
but made little impression
upon them.
As he toured the country he found
within the bounds of the
Western Convention no less than a
hundred good meeting houses of
various denominations standing empty on
most of the Sabbaths.
Here in these empty churches, Stuart
concluded, was his platform,
for crowds turned out to hear him
wherever he went.
He established his home in Twenty Mile
Stand, where there
were two other New Church families and
several readers of Sweden-
borg. He preached in his own house or
in the house of David Espy.
The neighbors accepted the tracts he
offered but remained cold
to the Doctrines. In Harveysburg there
were several readers of
Swedenborg. A crowd of one hundred and
fifty gathered in the
United Brethren church in that village
to hear Stuart's lecture on
the Trinity and the Immortality of the
Soul. Occasionally Stuart
lectured in the Liberty Chapel near
Twenty Mile Stand.
At the Harrison schoolhouse near
Lebanon, Stuart lectured twenty-
six times in a year, his audiences
numbering from twenty to two
hundred. So many young people were
reading Swedenborg that
a Methodist preacher bitterly
complained that the New Church
influence made it impossible for him to
hold revivals and convert
the young. Stuart went from house to
house to engage in religious
conversation; he interested the young
men by giving scientific
lectures. In Lebanon he lectured to
audiences ranging from one
hundred to four hundred people. By the
time he finished the
lectures he was able to form, on
December 26, 1847, a new society,
which numbered twenty within a year.
The indefatigable Stuart lectured and
preached at Red Lion,
Utica, Fox's Meeting House, Mason,
Springboro, Rochester, Zoar,
Montgomery, Oakland, Cortsville,
Mechanicsburg, Richmond (In-
diana), Milford, Springfield, Columbus,
Dayton, Cincinnati, and
408 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Urbana, besides many private houses in
the country.62 Stuart believed
that thousands were ready to receive
the "new doctrines," especially
in "this vast western
country," where there was a "more free and
unfettered element of thought"
than could be found in the East.63
In May 1848 the Western Convention
changed its official name
to the Ohio Association of the New
Church. Under the influence of
the Rev. Benjamin F. Barrett, pastor of
the First New Jerusalem
Society of Cincinnati, the Ohio
Association applied for admission
to the General Convention on the
condition that it "be left in
perfect freedom to adopt such rules and
regulations in regard to
its Ministry, and such a form of
ecclesiastical government as may
seem consistent with the Doctrines of
the New Church, and best
adapted to our wants." The Ohio
Association was received "agree-
ably to their request, it being
understood that they shall have no
vote in the Convention in the
regulation of its Ministry, or in the
form of its ecclesiastical
government."64
It had been the considered opinion of
the General Convention
of 1840 that it would "conduce to
the order and peace of the church,
if the West should manage its own
affairs and remain aloof from
other sections of the country."65
Now a truce had been signed.
The old Western Convention went out
with banners flying, de-
claring that the Lord was
"breaking forth on our right hand and
on our left."
The "most intelligent of the
clergy of the old denominations"
were now pondering the Word "from
the light of understanding
without reference to their formulas and
creeds." While they did
not reject their old formulas, they
held them "somewhat more in
subjection to enlightened views of
divine truth." Their congre-
gations were pleased to be "led
into these new fields of spiritual
62 The Rev. Mr. Stuart was the first to preach the Doctrines in Oakland.
The
people, somewhat tinged with
spiritualism, were more pleased with the New
Jerusalem teachings than with other
forms of Christian faith. He found Cortsville
"in a very receptive state."
Stuart sold books and distributed tracts
by the thousands. He estimated his income
for the year at $410, including
"the luxuries and necessities of life" provided by
David Espy and the Sweeney family. New
Church Repository, I (1848), 762-769.
63 Ibid., 256.
64 Odhner, Annals, 545.
65 New Jerusalem Magazine, XIV (1841), 433-434.
The New Jerusalem Church in Ohio 409
discovery." Though a part of the
Old Church was becoming in-
creasingly bitter against the new
truths, they manifested a wholesome
fear of the replies of their
Swedenborgian rivals. There was "a
very great and growing respect
manifested towards the writings
and character of Emanuel
Swedenborg." The increase in readers and
receivers had gone beyond anything the
Newchurchmen "could have
conceived possible." In fact, they
sometimes feared that the re-
ception of the new truths was going on
too fast. Receivers were
reporting from sixty-two cities,
villages, and country neighborhoods,
almost three times the number reporting
at the time of the or-
ganization of the Western Convention in
1832.66 The West had
shown the East that they could manage
their own affairs.
66 New Jerusalem Magazine, XX (1847), 489-491. From Ohio alone receivers
were reporting from Athens, Avon, Bainbridge, Bethel,
Big Prairie, Blue Rock,
Bourneville, Bridgeport, Centreville,
Chester, Chillicothe, Cincinnati, Cleveland,
Clinton, Columbus, Congress, Dayton,
Elland (Dunlap P.O. near Venice), Fairfield,
Guilford, Hamilton, Harden, Harveysburg,
Hastings, Kyger, Lebanon, Longbottom,
Lower Sandusky, McConnelsville,
Martinsville, Marietta, Mifflin, Milford, Mt. Healthy,
Newark, New Petersburg, New Salem, Norwalk, Nyesville,
Olivesburgh, Oxford,
Plain (near Wooster), Pomeroy P. O.,
Port Clinton, Reading, Rockbury, Rockport,
Rutland, Sandusky City, Springfield, Springdale, St.
Clairsville, Streetsboro, Steuben-
ville, Toledo, Twenty Mile Stand, Urbana, Washington
C.H., Wilkesville, Windsor,
Xenia, and Youngstown. Numbers were never tabulated in
the New Church reports;
only the places and the name of a
correspondent from each were listed.
THE RISE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH IN
OHIO*
by OPHIA D. SMITH
By 1832 there were enough Newchurchmen
scattered throughout
the West to demand a general
organization to synchronize their
efforts to spread the teachings of
Emanuel Swedenborg. Since they
were too remote from the eastern cities
to attend the annual
General Convention, they wanted a
general convention of their own
in order to manage western affairs in a
western way. This need
was met by the organization of the
"Western Convention of the
Receivers of the Doctrines of the New
Jerusalem West of the
Alleghany Mountains."
Ohio led the West in the dissemination
of the Doctrines. There
were seven New Church ministers in the
state, and Cincinnati
was the New Church center.1 Receivers
of the Doctrines were to
be found in twenty-two Ohio towns and
communities-Bainbridge,
Columbus, Colerain (near Venice),
Cincinnati, Dayton, Hamilton,
Lebanon, Mansfield, Miamisburg,
Newville, Newark, New Peters-
burg, Newtown, Oxford, Piqua,
Springboro, St. Clairsville, Spring-
field, Twenty Mile Stand, Urbana,
Wintersville, Williamsport,
and Youngstown.
The Western Convention met annually in
Cincinnati from 1832
to 1848, with the exception of the year
1835, when no convention
was held. From the beginning the
convention clearly defined three
objectives: the dissemination of New
Church doctrines, the educa-
tion of the rising generation, and the
publication of a New Church
periodical. A fourth objective was
added the second year-to supply
"institutions of learning with the
Writings of the Church." The
very next day after the rising of the
First Western Convention a
printing press committee was organized
with Luman Watson, early
*This is the second in a series of
articles on the Swedenborgians in Ohio. The
first was published in the preceding
issue.
1 The seven New Church ministers in Ohio
were: Adam Hurdus, Oliver Lovell
and Alexander Kinmont in Cincinnati;
Thomas Newport, senior, in Lebanon; Thomas
Newport, junior, in Oxford; Richard Goe
in Mansfield; Stephen Peabody in New
Petersburg. Strictly speaking, Alexander
Kinmont of Cincinnati was a "teacher,"
as he was never ordained to the
ministry.
380