LUTHERANS. 



555 



ionominational organ in the Northern 

 s claims moreover to have positive infor- 

 mation that also in the churches of Virginia 

 and South Carolina there is still a strong at- 

 tachment to the Union, and they would resume 

 their connection with the church of the United 

 States as soon as the union of the States should 

 be restored. The majority of the ministers and 

 congregations of the three synods of Virginia, 

 North and South Carolina, show themselves, 

 however, determined to establish a permanent, 

 independent organization. They have in opera- 

 tion at Charleston, South Carolina, a book es- 

 tablishment, and a new weekly organ, called 

 the "Southern Lutheran," which is well pat- 

 ronized by the churches. 



The General Lutheran Synod of the United 

 States met. in 1862, at Lancaster, Penn., and 

 was opened on May 1. About two hundred 

 and fifty members of the church were present, 

 representing twenty-two synods, the synods 

 of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Texas, 

 and Western Virginia having sent no delegates. 

 The Rev. Dr. B. Kurtz, one of the oldest mem- 

 bers on the floor of the synod, and a minister 

 of the church for almost half a century, was 

 elected president, and in his opening address 

 referred briefly to some of the trials endured 

 by the synod during the 'weakness of its in- 

 fancy, about forty years ago, and the present 

 extended and honorable position to which the 

 body has since attained. Among the resolu- 

 tions passed by the General Synod were the 

 following : 



Besohed, That it is the deliberate judgment of this 

 Synod, that the rebellion against the constitutional 

 Government of this land is most wicked in its incep- 

 tion, unjustifiable in its cause, unnatural in its charac- 

 ter, inhuman in its prosecution, oppressive in its aims, 

 and destructive in its results to the highest interests 

 of morality and religion. 



Btfolnn, That we regard this rebellion as more im- 

 mediately the natural result of the continuance and 

 spread of domestic slavery in our land, and, therefore, 

 hail with unmingled joy the proposition of our chief 

 magistrate, which has received the sanction of Con- 

 gress, to extend, aid from the General Government 

 to any State, in which slavery exists, which shall 

 deem fit to initiate a system of constitutional eman- 

 cipation. 



Some of the synods which are in connec- 

 tion with the General Synod regard the lat- 

 ter as unsound in doctrine, because not adher- 

 ing with sutficient strictness to the old confes- 

 sion of faith, especially the Confession of 

 burg. This is, in particular, the case with the 

 German synods of Missouri. Buffalo, and Iowa, 

 and the two Scandinavian synods. These syn- 

 ods hold, however, no intercommunion with 

 each other, and those of Missouri and Buffalo 

 have even, on account of doctrinal differences, 

 excommunicated each other. The (German iSyn- 

 od of Iowa strictly adheres to the views of the 

 Rev. Mr. Loehe, a prominent Lutheran minister 

 of Bavaria, by whom the first congregation of 

 the synod was established, and by whom nearly 

 all of its ministers have been educated. This syn- 

 od had, in 1862, 3f ministers, 50 congregations, 



and about 5.000 communicants. It has no fellow- 

 ship with any other part of the Lutheran 

 Church of the United States, holds strict mille- 

 narian views, uses in the churches pictures and 

 crucifixes, and at communion wax candles. 

 Both the Germans and the Scandinavians receive 

 every year large accessions to their number by 

 the arrival of immigrants from Europe, and of 

 late the churches in Germany and Scandinavia 

 have begun to extend to them a more liberal 

 support in the establishment of new congrega- 

 tions. As many of the immigrants live widely 

 scattered, some of the western synods have ap- 

 pointed synodical itinerant preachers. Thus 

 the German Synod of Michigan has a mission- 

 ary, who statedly preaches at fifteen settle- 

 ments. 



There are 6 theological seminaries, 8 col- 

 leges, 14 academies, and 10 female seminaries 

 in connection with the General Synod, and 6 

 other institutions, not connected with the Gen- 

 eral Synod. One seminary (Newberry. S. C.), 

 and B colleges, Roanoke College, at Salem, Va. : 

 Newberry College, at Newberry, S. C.. and 

 North Corolina College, at Mt. Pleasant. N. C.. 

 are within the bounds of the seceded synods. 

 Of the newspapers of the Lutheran Church, 6 

 are published in the English, 12 in the German, 



1 in the Swedish, and S in the Norwegian lan- 

 guage. 



In the British possessions in North America 

 the Lutherans have one synod, the Canadian 

 Synod, with 12 preachers, 25 congregations, 

 and 1,300 communicants. From the census of 

 Canada taken in 1861, it appears that the 

 Lutheran population has increased from 12.107 

 in 1852. to 25,156 in 1861, thus more than 

 doubling in nine years. Of these 25.156 there 

 were 857 in Lower Canada, and 24,299 in Up- 

 per Canada. In Upper Canada they form nearly 



2 per cent, of the whole population. The in- 

 crease is mainly from foreign emigration, and 

 this is increasing rapidly from year to year. 



In Germany, where the Lutherans origin ot- 

 ed, the church has lost a considerable portion 

 of its members in consequence of the fusion of 

 the Lutheran and the German Reformed 

 Churches into the United Evangelical Church. 

 This new denomination has replaced the Lu- 

 theran Church in Prussia, which had in 1861 a 

 Protestant population of 11.273.730 in Baden, 

 and in a number of other states. A consider- 

 able portion of the new denomination claims. 

 however, to be still Lutheran, regarding their 

 new church only as an external confederacy of 

 the two old denominations ; but it is impossible 

 to ascertain its numerical strength. In Bavaria 

 (Protestant population, in 1861. 1.280.000), 

 Brunswick (269,000 Protestants). Hanover (1,- 

 640.000 Protestants). Mecklenburg (647.000 

 Protestants), Saxony (2.180,000 Protestants), 

 Wurtemberg (1,159,000 Protestants), and 

 eral of the minor states of Germany, the great 

 mass of the Protestant churches are still strictly 

 Lutheran, but even there a struggle is con- 

 stantly going on between the party which 



