LUTHERANS. 



LYELL, CHAELES. 



465 



The General Council expresses its sincere grati- 

 fication at the progress of a truer Lutheran practice 

 in the difl'erent synods since its action on com- 

 munion, and interchange of pulpits with those not 

 of our Church, as well as the clear testimony in ref- 

 erence to those subjects so lately officially ex- 

 pressed by the Augustana Synod. We nevertheless 

 hereby renewedly call the attention of our pastors 

 and churches to the principles involved in that tes- 

 timony, in the earnest hope that our practice may 

 be conformed to our united and deliberate testimony 

 on this subject, viz. : The rule which accords to the 

 word of God and the confessions of the Church is, 

 Lutheran p ulpits for Lutheran ministers only / Lu- 

 theran altars for Lutheran communicants only. 



In regard to this action the President of the 

 Council made an official declaration to the 

 effect that the sole change made by it is that 

 it declares whence the rule is got, to wit : 



Out of the word of God and the confession of 

 our Church. It only makes explicit what was im- 

 plied before. And in the practical application of 

 it, all pretense that the rule is only a human rule, 

 or rule of order, is precluded. 



The Treasurer reported that the receipts on 

 account of foreign missions had been $3,385.13, 

 and the expenditures on the same account, 

 $2,971.66. From the report of the Executive 

 Committee on Foreign Missions, it appeared 

 that two missionaries had been in the field in 

 India during the year, and that failing health 

 made it probable that they might be obliged to 

 quit the mission. The mission was, however, 

 in a flourishing condition. The sum of $3,655 

 had been spent upon it. The Synod invited 

 the attention of the district synod to the need 

 of enlarging the mission. 



The subject of encouraging, organizing, and 

 sustaining young men's societies in the Church 

 was recommended to the favorable attention 

 of the district synods. A report of a Com- 

 mittee on the Constitution and By-Laws of the 

 Lutheran Mission and Church-Extension So- 

 ciety was approved. 



The Committee on the New York Immigrant 

 Mission were instructed to connect the work 

 of their missionary with the Immigrant Home. 



The Executive Committee on Home Missions 

 reported that the missions at Chicago, 111. ; 

 Columbus, Ohio ; Yandalia, 111. ; Chattanooga, 

 Tenn. ; and Atlanta, Ga., were in a flourishing 

 condition. The sum of $34,200 had been spent 

 in the support of the missions during the year. 

 Lack of funds had prevented the committee 

 from extending aid to many places which 

 sought it. Reports were made of the mission- 

 work which was carried on by several district 

 synods. The Pennsylvania Synod had sup- 

 ported 22 missions; the New York Ministe- 

 rium, 14; the Pittsburg Synod, 14; and the 

 Swedish Augustana and Ohio Synods had 

 each done much work within their respective 

 bounds. Other synods had not been heard 

 from. A change in the constitution was agreed 

 upon, to provide that the General Council shall 

 meet every three years. 



An extraordinary conference of delegates of 

 the different German church governments was 

 VOL. xv. 30 A 



held at Eisenach, in September, to consider 

 what course to pursue in reference to the new 

 marriage act, which was to take effect January 



1, 1876. It was agreed 1. That the Church 

 must recognize the validity of civil marriage, 

 and should therefore eliminate from the ritual 

 such parts of the former as involve the idea 

 that marriage is contracted in a church ; and, 



2. That the changes should be made with the 

 utmost precaution, so as not to hurt the relig- 

 ious condition of the people. 



The Conference of the Lutherans of Ger- 

 many was held at Berlin, October 7th and 

 8th. About 600 pastors and 200 laymen were 

 present. Especial attention was given to the 

 discussion of the new civil marriage act. The 

 Conference agreed that, the state having sep- 

 arated itself from the Church in this matter, 

 the Church had regained her full liberty. She 

 ought, therefore, to give her blessing to a mar- 

 riage only when it was in accordance with 

 Holy Scripture ; she ought also to exclude from 

 her ordinances all those who neglect to have 

 their marriage solemnized with a religious ser- 

 vice. The Conference discussed the struggle 

 of the state with the Roman Catholic Church. 

 On this subject it disclaimed all sympathy with 

 the Roman Catholic Church, but at the same 

 time affirmed that the tendency of the Liberal 

 party was directed against all religion, there- 

 fore equally against the Protestant Church ; 

 and that any sympathy with that side was 

 just as impossible as with its adversary. 



LYCURGUS, ALEXANDER, Archbishop of 

 Syra and Tinos, died October 29, 1875. He 

 was a native of Tarsus, Cilicia. He went to the 

 University of Halle to finish his studies, where 

 he was a pupil of the distinguished Dr. A. 

 Tholuk. Upon the occasion of his visit to Eng- 

 land in 1870, he received the honorary degrees 

 of D. D. from Oxford, and LL. D. from Cam- 

 bridge. He was Yice-President of the Sacred 

 Synod of Greece, and his archiepiscopal see 

 embraced Syra, Tinos, Melos, and Delos. At 

 the Union Conferences of the Old Catholic, 

 Eastern, and Anglican Churches, held at Bonn, 

 in 1874 and 1875, he was one of the most promi- 

 nent representatives of the Greek Church. 



LYELL, Sir CHAELES, a British geologist, 

 was born at Kinnordy, Scotland, November 14, 

 1797 ; died at London, February 23, 1875. He 

 graduated at Oxford, and, having practised law 

 for a short time, he turned his attention to 

 geology. In 1831 he was appointed a pfofessor 

 in King's College. In the following years he 

 traveled through France, Germany, and Italy. 

 His first work of importance was his "Prin- 

 ciples of Geology " (3 vols., London, 1830-'33), 

 which was followed in 1838 by the "Elements 

 of Geology." In the edition of 1851, the "Ele- 

 ments " appeared with the title of "Manual 

 of Elementary Geology," which was again 

 changed in 1870 into "Student's Manual of 

 Geology." In 1841-'42 he visited the United 

 States on a lecturing tour. During this jour- 

 ney he gathered a vast amount of information, 



