460 



LUTHERANS. 



God. All that is set forth in the Confession 

 of Augsburg as truth is accepted by the Coun- 

 cil as being in full accord with the canonical 

 books of the Old and New Testament ; all that 

 is rejected by the Confession is rejected by the 

 Council, and all that is left undefined in the 

 Confession shall, in the opinion of the Council, 

 remain undefined in the Church. The other 

 symbolical books of the Evangelical Lutheran 

 Church, in particular the Apology of the Con- 

 fession of Augsburg, the two Catechisms of 

 Luther, the Articles of Sinalcald, and the Book 

 of Concord, contain, in the opinion of the Gen- 

 eral Council, the same doctrinal system and 

 the same articles of faith, and therefore must 

 be true and scriptural. 



2. General Synod. This body, which was 

 organized in 1820, comprises the Synods of 

 Maryland, West Pennsylvania, Hartwick, East 

 Ohio, Frankean, Alleghany, East Pennsylvania, 

 Miami, Wittenberg, Olive, Northern Illinois, 

 Southern Illinois, Central Pennsylvania, Eng- 

 lish Synod of Iowa, Northern Indiana, New 

 Jersey, Central Illinois, New York, Susque- 

 hanna, Pittsburg, and Kansas. The General 

 Synod also recognizes the Confession of Augs- 

 burg, but allows considerable difference of 

 opinion among its members. 



3. General Synod in North America (Gen- 

 eral Synod South) was organized during the 

 late war. It embraced, in 1870, the Synods 

 of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, 

 Southwest Virginia, Mississippi, Holston, and 

 Georgia. This body also recognizes the Con- 

 fession of Augsburg, and nearly agrees in this 

 respect with the General Council. 



4. The Synods of Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, 

 and the Norwegian Synod, recognize each 

 other as orthodox Lutheran Church bodies, 

 exchange pulpits, and mutually admit their 

 members to the Lord's Supper, send delegates 

 to their Synods and pastoral conferences, and 

 receive pastors and congregations from one 

 synod into another upon a certificate of hon- 

 orable dismissal. The Synods of Illinois and 

 Minnesota, which still belong to the General 

 Council, also exchange pulpits with the above 

 synods, and mutually admit their members to 

 the Lord's Supper. A permanent organiza- 

 tion has not yet been effected. All these 

 synods recognize all the symbolical books of 

 the Lutheran Church, and agree on the whole 

 with the General Council, except in four 

 points, namely, the prohibition of an exchange 

 of pulpits, and of admission to the Lord's 

 Supper with the members of any other reli- 

 gious denomination, the condemnation of Mille- 

 narianism, and the excommunication of the 

 members of secret societies, which points the 

 synods belonging to this group desire, and the 

 General Council refuses, to make a test of 

 membership. 



5. Two other synods, the Buffalo Synod 

 (Grabau's), and the German Synod, of New 

 York, recognize each other as orthodox, and 

 agree in nearly, all points with the synods of 



the preceding group. The chief point of dif- 

 ference is the doctrine concerning the Chris- 

 tian ministry. 



6. The following synods are thus far wholly 

 independent: Tennessee, the Buffalo Synod 

 (von Eohr's), the Concordia Synod, the Scan- 

 dinavian, or Eielson's Synod, and the Nor- 

 wegian-Danish Conference. All of them, it is 

 believed, will, ere long, join one of the larger 

 organizations. 



The following table, dating from 1823, gives 

 a synopsis of synods, congregations, and com- 

 municants : 



From the above figures it appears that the 

 Lutherans in America, counting in all parties, 

 have gained, within the past quarter of a cen- 

 tury, 30 synods, 1,548 ministers, 2,237 congrega- 

 tions, and 290,577 communicants. In the past 

 twenty-five years the number of ministers has 

 multiplied almost fourfold ; the number of 

 synods has more than doubled, and the num- 

 ber of communicants has multiplied more than 

 threefold. Since 1860 the Lutheran denominci- 

 tion has increased to the extent of 16 synods, 

 893 ministers, 1,265 congregations, and 192,777 

 communicants. 



Thirty-two Lutheran papers were published 

 in 1870, namely, eight English, sixteen Ger- 

 man, two Swedish, and six Norwegian and 

 Danish. 



The General Council began its fourth general 

 meeting in Lancaster, Ohio, on November 3d. 

 The Rev. C. P. Krauth, D. D., of Philadelphia, 

 was elected president ; and, as not only Eng- 

 lish speaking, but also German, Swedish, and 

 Norwegian synods are connected with this or- 

 ganization, the Council chose English, German, 

 Swedish, and Norwegian secretaries. The 

 Council spent most of its time in the discussion 

 of the theses on justification, and the report of 

 the committee on the questions put by the 

 Minnesota Synod, which was at last passed with 

 but one dissenting voice. The General Coun- 

 cil having declared at its second meeting, held 

 at Pittsburg, November, 1868, that heretics 

 and fundamental errorists cannot be admitted 

 to its altars as communicants, nor iuto its 

 pulpits as teachers of our congregations, the 

 Minnesota Synod inquired whether, by " fun- 

 damental errorists," those are to be under- 

 stood who, with regard to the distinctive doc- 



