

LUTHERANS. 



507 



lui'i boon begun among the believers in St. 

 l.onis, and t<> inquire into the expediency of 

 establishing a mission among tbo Chinese of 

 >:ui Francisco, This work was made a subject 

 of i In- missionary collections. The iininigrant 

 mi-sioiis in Now York aud Baltimore were com- 

 iiu uded anew to the congregation*. Applica- 

 tion was made by the Concordia Synod of Vir- 

 ginia to be received into the Conference. Agroe- 

 al'ly to the provisions of the constitution, the 

 application was referred, with the commenda- 

 tion of the Conference, to the synods for their 

 separate action. A communication was re- 

 ceived from the English brethren in Missouri, 

 announcing their purpose to make application 

 for admission to the Conference, although their 

 delegate could not attend the present inect- 



teg. 



The General Council of the Evangelical Lu- 

 theran Church met at Jamestown, N. Y., Oc- 

 tober 13th. Rev. Prof. C. P. Krauth, D. D., 

 LI.. !., was again elected president. Accord- 

 ing to a permanent custom of the Council, the 

 first two days of the session were devoted to 

 the discussion of Luther's " Theses on Justifica- 

 tion," which is continued from council to coun- 

 cil in the order of the theses. The particular 

 thesis discussed this year was the eighteenth. 

 The English Corresponding Secretary made a 

 report upon the replies which had been re- 

 ceived to the proposition of the previous Gen- 

 eral Council for holding a Colloquium of dele- 

 gates from all the Lutheran bodies in America 

 which receive the Augsburg Confession, at 

 which the questions of agreement and differ- 

 ence between them could be discussed. The 

 Southern General Synod had accepted the in- 

 vitation. No reply had been received from 

 the Synodical Conference, but it was known 

 thnt body had discussed the subject, and, while 

 it had declined to commit itself directly to the 

 scheme, had left it free for any of its members, 

 who chose to do so, to attend the Colloquium. 

 The Holston Synod had reported favorably. 

 The secretaries had learned, unofficially, of the 

 acceptance of the North Carolina Synod. No 

 reply had been received from the Synod of 

 Tennessee. Pastor Grabau had replied on 

 behalf of the Buffalo Synod (commonly called 

 Grabau's Synod). He decjined to attend the 

 Colloquium on the ground that it was not 

 necessary for his synod, because they had 

 brought the correct interpretation of the 

 Angsburg Confession with them from Ger- 

 many forty years before. If other synods 

 needed any discussion on this Confession, it 

 was well enough, he thought, that they should 

 meet. The Council expressed its gratification 

 at the return of those bodies which Imd re- 

 sponded favorably to its proposition. The 

 llol>ton Synod was admitted as an integral 

 part of the synod, its confessional character 

 having been examined and thoroughly com- 

 mended. A good report was received from 

 the Lutheran Immigrant Home in New York 

 t'ity. Its constitution had been amended by 



changing the twelfth article BO as to conform 

 with the request of the General Council of 

 I *~-2. The treasurer's report showed that the 

 expenses required to fit it up had nmoiintl. 

 on the 1st of April, 1874, to $01,180.88. 

 tri tuitions had been received for this purpose 

 amounting to $35,150.87, leaving a 1 lit upon 

 the Home of $16,080.01. The further MIIU of 

 $1,593.89 would be needed for fitting and 

 maintaining the institution during the ensuing 

 year, making the total estimated deficiency in 

 its funds $17,623.40. The debt had been some- 

 what reduced since October, 1878. The cele- 

 bration of the opening of the Home took place 

 on the occasion of the anniversary of the 

 Reformation, in 1878, when addresses were 

 made by the Rev. Drs. Krotel and Ruperti, 

 Pastors Dreer and Baden, and several laymen : 

 1,882 pilgrims had been accommodated in 

 eleven months, and during that time no person 

 under the protection of the Home had lost any 

 thing or had been subjected to impositions. 

 Poor persons had been taken care of, sup- 

 ported, fed, lodged, and otherwise helped. 

 More than 200 persons had obtained employ- 

 ment under the auspices of the institution, six 

 persons had been sent out as teachers, and 

 one man had been commended and sent to 

 the Lutheran Seminary at Mendota, 111. The 

 Swedish Lutheran missionary had assembled 

 the Scandinavian immigrants in the Home 

 every Sunday, and preached to them. The 

 Committee on the Immigrant Mission were 

 instructed by the Council to require the mis- 

 sionary appointed by them to cooperate cor- 

 dially with the managers of the Immigrant 

 Home, and to send all immigrants seeking 

 lodging to their Home. The Committee on 

 Home Missions had reported that they had re- 

 ceived many calls for aid, and that they had 

 found great destitution of the privileges of the 

 Church in the Western States and Territories. 

 They hoped the Council would devise measures 

 to secure an increase of contributions for the 

 work under their care. They had the charge 

 of missions at Chicago and Vandalia, 111. ; Co- 

 lumbus, Ohio ; Davenport, Iowa ; and Atlanta, 

 Ga. ; also of a German mission in Morgan and 

 the adjacent counties in Tennessee. These mis- 

 sions had been spiritually blessed. The Coun- 

 cil renewed the requests which it had pre- 

 viously made to the district synods, that they 

 pay to the Executive Committee of Home 

 Missions one-third of their contributions for 

 home-mission purposes. The Executive Com- 

 mittee were requested to make special appeals 

 to the members and the churches for means, 

 and the Vice-Presidents of the General Council 

 were requested to bring the subject before the 

 different synods. The Executive Committee 

 on Foreign Missions reported their receipts for 

 the year to have been $88,098.50, and their 

 expenditures $40,008.96, showing an excess of 

 $910.46 of expenditures above the receipts. 

 This excess had been paid out of the balance 

 on hand. The foreign mission was well estab- 



