LUTHERANS. 



427 



preaching of the Word by women, but rather for. 



it in direct words; (1 (.'or. xiv. :!4. oo ; 1 Tim- 



ii. 11. 12). This we maintain, notwithstanding the 



exceptional cases mentioned in the Old and New 



iinent of prop: ho by a direct and 



special divine call and inspiration were privK 



to sprak the \Vord. Nor is this position in conflict 



with the fact that we train and employ teaching 



rs for the instruction and education of our 



female youth. 



"VII. The deaconess, then, is one who accepts 

 and performs the ministry of charity as the calling 

 of her life, discharging her duties in the name and 

 to the honor of the Lord, as a member and helper 

 of the Church of Christ. 



" VIII. While in the ancient Church the sphere 

 of the deaconess was confined to the congregation, 

 the present organization of the female diaconate 

 has most successfully adopted the idea of the 

 mother house as a training school of deacon 

 both for the religious and the technical side of her 

 calling: as an association of those that are united 

 in the same faith and for the same life work ; and 

 as a guarantee for the protection and support of 

 the deaconess in time of infirmity and old age. 



" IX. While this idea of the association in a sis- 

 terhood of a mother house has been adopted after 

 the model of certain organizations established by 

 Vincent de Paula in the Roman Church of the 

 seventeenth century, the female diaconate of our 

 Lutheran Church preserves its truly evangelical 

 character over against Rome in the following 

 points : There is (1) no special vow in distinction 

 from the baptismal vow ; (2) no binding obligation 

 to a life of celibacy : (3) no ' religious life ' as dis- 

 tinguished from the life and calling of any other 

 Christian: (4) no special 'order' in the sense of 

 the mediaeval Church : (5) no merit or expectation 

 of special reward for a work of supererogation. 



" X. As the indispensable condition of true unity 

 and a sound development, we demand for a dea- 

 coness mother house the unity in the faith which 

 finds its expression in a clear confession and gives 

 to the institution an unmistakably churchly char- 

 acter. In every aspect the life of the mother house 

 must reflect the life of the Church whose faith it 

 professes. And as a small community, based upon 

 the voluntary union of its members, it is able to 

 unfold the life of the Church in even greater purity, 

 richness, and consistency than larger congregations. 

 To insure this churchly character of the mother 

 house, the ministry of the Word, as represented by 

 one or more pastors, must have a permanent and 

 leading position in its organization." 



The discussion of this subject was followed by a 

 discussion of theses on " The Organization of the 

 more Important Mother Houses in Germany,'' pre- 

 sented by Pastor Goedel. Papers were read and 

 discussed, among which was " The Female Diaco- 

 nate in America outside of the Lutheran Church/' 

 by the Rev. Dr. Ohl. Other matters of importance 

 were considered with reference to the successful 

 prosecution of the work in this country. The con- 

 vention closed on Thursday evening, with an ear- 

 nest appeal by President Spaeth for complete har- 

 mony in principles and methods of work among all 

 the institutions. He referred briefly to the hi- 

 of this work in the Lutheran Church of America, 

 dating from 1846. when the Rev. Dr. William A. 

 Passavant made the beginning by bringing the first 

 deaconesses to t h i s coun t ry from Fliedner's celebrated 

 institution at Kaiserswerth, which is the first insti- 

 tution of its kind in the world. In closing, he set 

 forth the principles according to which all institu- 

 tions of this kind should be established and main- 

 tained. The 7 Lutheran mother houses in the 

 United States, with 143 sisters, have property valued 



at $700.000, whose annual expenses amount to f 70,- 

 000. The sisters are employed as nurses in 

 pitals. as superintendents of orphanages and homes 

 for the aged, as teachers in Church schools and 

 attendants in benevolent institutions, and are en- 

 gaged in parish work. 



Luther League. The second national conven- 

 tion of the Luther League of America was held in 

 Chicago, 111.. Nov. 17-2u. 1^!6. The convention 

 was opened with devotional service and an address 

 of welcome by the Hon. George B. Swift. Mayor of 

 Chicago. He spoke of his interest in the league 

 and in the work it is doing, and in closing said : " I. 

 as Mayor of Chicago, the greatest city of America, 

 the wonder of all continents, representing people 

 from every civilized spot on the globe, welcome you 

 as you have a right to be welcomed. I voice the 

 sentiments of the great majority of the people of 

 Chicago, when I welcome you, because that great 

 majority believes in fostering and developing that 

 which is good for their fellow-men." Mr. E. F. 

 Eilert, of New York city. President of the National 

 League, responded to the welcome. The conven- 

 tion consisted of 232 delegates, who represented 16 

 States and a membership of 50.000. The officers 

 elected are : E. F. Eilert, New York, president : M. 

 C. Olsen, Chicago, general secretary : William C. 

 Stoever, Philadelphia, recording secretary : Miss 

 Katherine Meister. Lancaster. Pa., assistant secre- 

 tary ; and Cornelius Eckhardt, Washington, D. C., 

 treasurer. The business of the convention consisted 

 in the consideration of reports from the State and 

 central leagues, acting on matters of general interest 

 for the work of the organization, and the discussion 

 of subjects presented in addresses delivered and 

 papers read. The Committee on Literature pre- 

 sented a list of books to be read by the members in 

 pursuing the literary course of the Luther League. 

 The " Luther League Review," published in New 

 York city, the official organ of the general organiza- 

 tion, received the hearty approval and support of 

 the body. The proper observance by all local 

 leagues of the four-hundredth anniversary of the 

 birth of Philip Melanchthon. Preceptor of Germany 

 and author of the Augsbxirg Confession and of the 

 gy, was recommended to be held on Feb. 16, 

 1897. A resolution was passed proposing the hold- 

 ing of a convention at Wittenberg, Germany, in 

 1900, for the purpose of organizing a " World's 

 Luther League'' among the 50,000,000 Lutherans 

 in the world. The following papers were discussed: 

 "Literature," by the Rev. II. Frank Scheele, of 

 Staunton. Va. : "The Official Organ of the Luther 

 League." by the Rev. Gustavus A. Bierdeman, of 

 Utica. N. Y. : "Organization." by E. Augustus 

 Miller. Esq., of Philadelphia. Pa.:" "The Luther 

 League and Church Music." by Prof. F. Muench, 

 Ph. D.. of Charleston, S. C. ; and "Sociability and its 

 Position in League Work." by the Rev. John A. W. 

 Haas, of New York city. On Wednesday evening 

 three meetings were held simultaneously in three 

 of the largest Lutheran churches of Chicago Eng- 

 lish, Swedish, and Norwegian, at which addr 

 were delivered, of which only the titles can be given 

 here: "Twentieth-Century Christianity." by the 

 Rev. Luther M. Kuhns. "of Omaha, Neb.; ""The 

 Luther League as an Inner Mission Agency in 

 Large Cities." by the Rev. Frederick A. Kaehler. of 

 Buffalo. N. Y. : "" Our Young People and the Refor- 

 mation." by the Rev. H. Louis Baugher, D. D., of 

 Gettysburg] Pa.: "The Value of Trained Chris- 

 tians." by the Rev. John Telleen, of Rock Island, 

 111. : " The Relation of our Church to the Future of 

 our Country.' 7 by the Rev. Hugh M. Bannen. of 

 Rockford, 111.: "Our Church and her Mission in 

 the World." by the Rev. Prof. Samuel A. Ort. 

 D. D., LL. D., President of Wittenberg College and 



