LUTHERANS. 



sacrifice of principles, or interference with sy nod- 

 ical identity." 



The next convention of this general body will 

 be held in Baltimore, Md., beginning June 3, 1903. 



General Council. This body composed of 

 English, German, and Swedish congregations and 



Sastors was organized in 1807. and embraces 10 

 istrict synods, 1,305 clergymen. 2.068 congrega- 

 tions, and 302,409 communicants; 478 parish 

 schools, with 017 teachers and 24,940 pupils; 1,733 

 Sunday-schools, with 10,012 officers and teachers 

 and 213,019 pupils. The benevolent offerings for 

 the year amounted to $278,409.30. Under the 

 direct control of this general body or its district 

 synods are 3 theological seminaries, 7 colleges, 2 

 academies, 7 hospitals, 14 orphanages, 4 deaconess 

 institutions, homes for aged and helpless, and 

 2 immigrant missions, involving a property value 

 of more than $4,000,000. 



The twenty-eighth convention was held at 

 Lima, Ohio, Oct. 10-15, 1901. The opening ser- 

 mon was delivered by the president, the Rev. 

 Matt is C. Ranseen, D. D., Swedish pastor in 

 Chicago. 



There were 87 clerical and 49 lay delegates pres- 

 ent at the convention. One newly organized 

 synod the Pacific was received. The Rev. Mat- 

 tis C. Ranseen, D. D., was reelected president ; the 

 Rev. Solomon E. Ochsenford, D. D., professor in 

 Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., was elected 

 English secretary; the Rev. Gottlieb C. Berke- 

 meier, D. D., of Mount Vernon, N. Y., German 

 secretary; the Rev. Frank A. Johnsson, of Chi- 

 cago, Swedish secretary; and William H. Staake, 

 Esq., of Philadelphia, Pa., treasurer. Interest in 

 the convention was increased by the presence of 

 the Right Reverend Bishop Knute Henning Geze- 

 lius von Schule, Ph. D., D. D., LL. D., Bishop of 

 Visby, Sweden, who presented the greetings of the 

 .Swedish Church and of King Oscar, in the German 

 language, and after spending a day at the con- 

 vention took his leave, giving his farewell in the 

 English and Swedish languages. Among other 

 things he said: " We do not wish to be bigoted. 

 We are willing and desirous to learn from any and 

 every portion of the Christian Church, but what- 

 ever we may learn from others, we can not, dare 

 not, will not give up the Lutheran faith." 



The principal business of the convention con- 

 sisted in considering and acting on the reports of 

 boards and committees, a brief resume of which 

 is here given: 



Foreign Missions. The report of the Board of 

 Foreign Missions was presented by the Rev. Wil- 

 liam Ashmead Schaeft'er, D. D., of Philadelphia. 

 The mission is in the Madras presidency, India, 

 with the city of Rajahmundry as its central sta- 

 tion. It has 7 principal stations, with 330 out- 

 stations, in which are laboring 5 ordained mis- 

 sionaries, 3 missionaries' wives, 5 zenana sisters, 

 2 native pastors, and 140 evangelists, catechists, 

 and teachers. Two missionaries resigned in the 

 past year and have returned to this country. On 

 account of some difficulties connected with the 

 work, the Rev. Frederick W. Weiskotten, of Phila- 

 delphia, was sent to India to inspect the Held. 

 He left in the early summer of 1900, inspected the 

 various mission stations, and set out on his home- 

 ward voyage, but died at sea, Dec. 15, 1900. The 

 work has been greatly hampered by the removal 

 of workers, and the need of the mission is a larger 

 force of missionaries. Two native pastors have 

 been ordained recently, but still the force of 

 efficient workers is not large enough to do the 

 work demanded in the vast territory occupied by 

 the mission. The work is divided into four de- 

 partments preaching the Gospel, gathering chil- 



dren into the schools, visiting zenanas, and car- 

 ing for the sick and needy. The Gospel is 

 preached in 200 villages, in which are 6,159 Chris- 

 tians, 3,500 children are taught in the schools, and 

 arrangements are in progress for the establish- 

 ment of a hospital and dispensary in Rajahmun- 

 dry. During the period covered by the report 

 1,157 persons were baptized and 225 confirmed. 

 The receipts for this work were $51,185.08, and the 

 expenditures $43,005.86. 



In addition to the work in India, the General 

 Council began missionary operations in Porto 

 Rico in October, 1899. Two stations are occupied 

 San Juan and Catano by one missionary and 

 his wife, and one teacher. One English congre- 

 gation has been established in San Juan, having 

 30 members, and services are held at Catano. The 

 two Sunday-schools of the mission have 145 pu- 

 pils. The receipts for this work were $3,076.95, 

 and the expenditures $3,039.76. At this conven- 

 tion of the General Council the work in Porto 

 Rico was entrusted to a special board, to be prose- 

 cuted with more vigor than could be done by the 

 board, whose chief field of operation is in India. 



Home Missions. The home-mission work of 

 this body is carried on by three general boards- 

 English, German, and Swedish and by the dis- 

 trict synods in their respective territories. The 

 English board sustained 22 missions in 10 States, 

 with a membership of 2,336, who contributed 

 $1,501.41 to benevolent purposes, $22,007.44 to 

 local objects, and own church properties valued at 

 $176,750. The receipts for this work were $44,- 

 632.44 and the expenditures $44,596.56. The Ger- 

 man board sustained 74 missions, with a mem- 

 bership of 3,634, chiefly in the Northwestern Ter- 

 ritory of Canada and the States of Oregon and 

 Washington. The receipts were $8,090.40, and the 

 expenditures $8,039.37. The Swedish board re- 

 ported 308 missions, with a membership of 10,760, 

 in numerous States and Territories and in the 

 Dominion of Canada, sustained at an expendi- 

 ture of $100,000. The entire home-mission work 

 of the General Council embraces 287 missionaries, 

 615 missions English, German, Swedish, Nor- 

 wegian, Danish, and Slavonian with a member- 

 ship of 33,787 and 26,343 Sunday-school pupils, 

 the missions owning property valued at $1,520,- 

 834, and for whose support the sum of $225,000 

 was expended in the past two years. Of these 

 missions 168 are English, 136 German, 308 Swed- 

 ish, the rest Danish, Norwegian, and Slavonian. 

 They are located as follow: Alabama, 2; Alaska, 

 1; California, 5; Dominion of Canada, 84; Colo- 

 rado, 11; Connecticut, 8; Delaware, 1; District of 

 Columbia, 1: Florida, 6; Idaho, 4; Illinois, 30; 

 Indiana, 8; Iowa, 9; Kansas, 7; Kentucky, 1; 

 Maine, 4; Maryland, 1; Massachusetts, 8; Michi- 

 gan, 19; Minnesota, 55; Missouri, 6; Montana, 7 ; 

 Nebraska, 20 ; New Hampshire, 1 ; New Jersey, 

 24; New York, 37; North Dakota, 11; Ohio, 22; 

 Oregon, 21; Pennsylvania, 127; Rhode Island, 2; 

 South Dakota, 11; Texas, 11; Utah, 6; Vermont, 

 1; Washington, 11; West Virginia, 3; Wisconsin, 

 28; and Wyoming, 1; total, 615. 



Publications. The board has vigorously 

 pushed its work in the line of publishing the 

 official English organ of the council, a complete 

 series of Sunday-school literature, embracing 

 more than a dozen different publications, and the 

 Church almanac in a greatly improved form, to- 

 gether with English and German publications of 

 great value to the Church and the world. The 

 receipts of the board were $94.221.20. The board 

 has secured a permanent location in Philadelphia, 

 where a publication house has been established. 

 To this must be added the large and well-equipped 



