496 



LUTHERANS. 



North Carolina College, Mount Pleasant, N. C., 

 founded 1872, two instructors, 5 students. Of 

 the Conference of the Norwegian-Danish Evan- 

 gelical Lutheran Church: Augsburg Seminary, 

 Minneapolis, Minn., four instructors. 



The Church Almanac and Kurtz's Almanac 

 each gives lists of eighteen Lutheran colleges ; 

 Brobst's Kalender gives nineteen ; the Church 

 Almanac gives fourteen classical schools; 

 Brobst's Kalender gives sixteen, and Kurtz's 

 Almanac twenty-five academies; Brobst's 

 Kalender gives eleven high-schools for girls. 

 The principal teachers' seminary of the Lu- 

 therans is at Addison, 111. 



The General Council has an Executive Com- 

 mittee of Home Missions, located at Pitts- 

 burg, Pa. ; an Executive Committee of For- 

 eign Missions at Beading, Pa. ; and a Board 

 of Church Extension at Philadelphia, Pa. 

 The General Synod has a Board of Home 

 Missions at York, Pa. ; a German Board of 

 Home Missions at Baltimore, Md. ; a Board of 

 Foreign Missions in New York City ; and a 

 Board of Church Extension at York, Pa. 



Kurtz's Almanac gives lists of seventeen 

 Orphans' Homes, or schools under synodical 

 control, or otherwise connected with the 

 Church; one Home for the Infirm (Scandina- 

 vian), at San Francisco; one Asylum for Aged 

 Persons, at Burlington, Iowa; two Infirmaries, 

 and a Lutheran Hospital, at St. Louis; six Im- 

 migrant Missions (of the General Council, Gen- 

 eral Synod and Missouri Synod, German and 

 Scandinavian Missions), at New York City, and 

 one similar mission in Baltimore, Md. The list 

 of Lutheran periodicals includes, according to 

 Kurtz's Almanac, twenty -two in the Eng- 

 lish, thirty in the German, seven in the Nor- 

 wegian, five in the Swedish, and one in the 

 Danish languages. Of these, eleven are week- 

 ly, nine semi-monthly, thirty-five monthly, 

 three quarterly, and five yearly publications. 



The General Council of the Evangelical 

 Lutheran Church met at Bethlehem, Pa., Oc- 

 tober llth. The Ministerium of Pennsylva- 

 nia, the Ministerium of New York, the Pitts- 

 burg Synod, the District Synod of Ohio, the 

 Synod of Michigan and other States, the Swed- 

 ish Augustana Synod, the Synod of Canada, 

 the Indiana Synod, and the Holston Synod, 

 were represented by forty-three clerical and 

 thirty-three lay delegates ; and the Iowa Syn- 

 od, having the privilege of debate but not of 

 a vote, was represented by Rev. S. Fritschel. 

 The Synod of Texas and the Norwegian-Danish 

 Augustana Synod were not represented. The 

 Rev. 0. P. Krauth, D. D., LL. D., was chosen 

 President of the Synod. The attention of the 

 body was directed chiefly to the discussion of 

 the meaning and intent of the regulation on 

 pulpit fellowship and communion which had 

 been adopted at previous sessions of the Gen- 

 eral Conncil, and which was known to the 

 church as " The Galesburg Rule." The Gen- 

 eral Council, at its session held at Akron, Ohio, 

 in 1872, had adopted the following rule : 



1. The rule is: Lutheran pulpits are for Luther- 

 an ministers only ; Lutheran altars are for Lutheran 

 communicants only. 



2. The exceptions to the rule belong to the 

 sphere of privilege, not of right. 



3. The determination of these exceptions is to 

 be made in consonance with these principles by the 

 conscientious j udgment of pastors as the cases arise. 



At a subsequent session of the General Coun- 

 cil, which was held at Galesburg, 111., in 1875, 

 the first clause of this rule was amended by 

 the insertion of the words, " Which accords 

 with the Word of God and the confessions of 

 our church," so as to read : " The rule, which 

 accords with the Word of God and the confes- 

 sions of our church, is," etc. (as above). At 

 the same time a statement was made by the 

 President of the Council, and accepted by that 

 body, by consent, that the rule, as amended, 

 simply made explicit what was implied before, 

 and declared whence it was got, and that no 

 change was made by the amendment in the 

 meaning of the action of the Council at Akron 

 in regard to the exceptions. A division of 

 opinion afterward arose in the district synods 

 adhering to the Council concerning the full 

 scope and bearing of the new rule. The Swed- 

 ish Augustana Synod, the New York Minis- 

 terium, the Synod of Michigan, the Iowa and 

 the Danish Augustana Synods, favored an ex- 

 clusive interpretation, desiring that the rule 

 should be held obligatory. The Ministerium 

 of Pennsylvania, the Pittsburg Synod, the 

 Holston Synod, the District Synod of Ohio, 

 and the Synod of Indiana, favored an " oecu- 

 menical " interpretation, holding that the rule 

 should be considered advisory, and that the 

 clauses referring to exceptions should have 

 equal force with the rest. No special expres- 

 sions were received from the synods of Canada 

 and Texas. The action of the synods was re- 

 ferred to a special committee, upon the report 

 of whom the Council, after a full debate, adopt- 

 ed a resolution declaring that " the true pur- 

 port and effect of the action at Galesburg was 

 to add to the declaration at Akron a statement 

 of the source of the rule, and that in all other re- 

 spects that declaration, in all its parts, remains 

 untouched." Afterward, the President of the 

 General Council (the Rev. Dr. Krauth) was re- 

 quested to prepare a series of theses on the sub- 

 ject of " Pulpit and Altar Fellowship," as pre- 

 sented in the Galesburg Declaration, which, it 

 was further provided, should be published in 

 the several languages of the Council not less 

 than three months prior to its next conven- 

 tion; "it being understood," the resolution 

 reads, " that the discussion of the theses was 

 to be in the way of study and enlightenment 

 on the subject, and not for further legisla- 

 tion." 



A constitution for congregations was dis- 

 cussed, and adopted in part. The definition 

 of doctrinal position prescribed for the con- 

 gregation forming the first section of the first 

 article of this paper was adopted in 1872, and 

 is as follows : 



