LUTHERANS. 



507 



forbidden in Lev. xviii. and xx. should still 

 refrain from it ; because whatever is done in 

 doubt, and thus is not of faith, is sin, accord- 

 ing to Kom. xiv. 23 " ; and that "the question 

 whether all alliances formed contrary to Lev. 

 xviii. and xx. must necessarily be dissolved, 

 pertains to the practical application of the doc- 

 trine, and is thus a casuistical question which 

 most of our orthodox teachers have affirmed, 

 but which some of equal repute have answered 

 in the negative, and which therefore requires 

 the most conscientious consideration." 



The report concerning the mission which 

 had been undertaken among the freedmen dur- 

 ing the year was encouraging in every respect 

 except the financial one. The Conference re- 

 solved to carry on the work with vigor, and 

 decided to establish two monthly periodicals, 

 one of which should be in the German and the 

 other in the English language, to further its 

 interests. A committee was appointed to pre- 

 pare a new edition of the small catechism in 

 English, with the object of providing a uni- 

 form English text throughout the jurisdiction 

 of the Conference. The Committee on Eng- 

 lish Readers reported progress, and arrange- 

 ments were made to have a first and second 

 reader ready for publication before the next 

 meeting of the Conference. One of the synods 

 having decided adversely to the project for es- 

 tablishing a general theological seminary, the 

 further consideration of the subject was left to 

 the synods which favored the proposition. The 

 committees of these synods held meetings dur- 

 ing the session of the Conference, which re- 

 sulted in the appointment of a sub-committee 

 to draw up a plan of a seminary to be laid be- 

 fore the various synods. 



The Evangelical Lutheran General Synod 

 South met in its eleventh convention at New- 

 berry, S. 0., May 2d. Four of the five dis- 

 trict synods were represented. The Rev. D. 

 M. Gilbert, of Winchester, Va., was chosen 

 President. The Synod had recently estab- 

 lished fraternal relations with the General 

 Council, and for the first time received an 

 official visiting delegate from that body. Fra- 

 ternal relations had not yet been established 

 with the General Synod North, the movements 

 to that end having been impeded by discussions 

 relating to the attitude of the two bodies to 

 each other during the civil war. The General 

 Synod North had proposed an exchange of 

 delegates, but the General Synod South had 

 asked the Northern body as a prerequisite to 

 such a step to rescind certain resolutions which 

 it had passed during the war, which were re- 

 garded as condemnatory of the Southern syn- 

 ods and ministers. This had not been done, 

 although the Northern Synod had continued 

 to express a desire for friendly intercourse. 

 Resolutions were adopted declaring that, while 

 it reciprocated the fraternal expressions and 

 spirit of the General Synod, the Synod did not 

 regard its action touching the resolutions as 



satisfactory, but would nevertheless accept the 

 overture of fraternity, and send a delegate to 

 the next meeting of the General Synod North. 

 The attention of the churches was called to 

 the subject of preaching the gospel to the col- 

 ored people, and a committee was appointed 

 to look after the religious interests of the col- 

 ored race in the South, with especial reference 

 to the establishment of Lutheran churches and 

 educational and charitable institutions among 

 them. 



The mission of the General Synod in India 

 had at the end of 1877 stations at Goontoor and 

 Palnad, with 3 ordained foreign missionaries, 

 2 ordained native pastors and 37 other assis- 

 tants, 1,300 communicants, 3,540 members in- 

 cluding children, 3 Sunday schools with 155 

 pupils, and 26 schools, including one Anglo- 

 vernacular high school and 3 caste girls' schools, 

 with 32 teachers and 468 pupils. 



A second Lutheran Free Diet (the first having 

 been held in December, 1877) was held in 

 Philadelphia, Pa., in November. The object 

 of these assemblages is to afford opportunity 

 for the free discussion by prominent members 

 of the different Lutheran bodies of the ques- 

 tions which divide the bodies, as well as of 

 those subjects in which all Lutherans have an 

 interest in common. The idea of holding them 

 was conceived after other measures such as 

 the proposition of the General Synod for an 

 exchange of fraternal delegates, and that of 

 the General Council for a colloquium had 

 failed. It was then proposed to have an in- 

 formal meeting held, at which the questions 

 under concern should be considered in papers 

 prepared by persons duly invited beforehand 

 to do so, and selected as men whose views 

 would command attention, and who possessed 

 the confidence of their several branches of the 

 Church, but who, engaging in the discussion, 

 should commit no one but themselves. The 

 diet of 1877 attracted the general attention 

 of the Church, was approved by the mass of 

 members and ministers, and in its character 

 and results gave nearly universal satisfaction. 

 The Rev. Dr. E. Greenwald, of Lancaster, Pa., 

 who presided over the second diet, remarked 

 in his opening address that the Lutherans were 

 not so far apart as was supposed, and expressed 

 the opinion that such meetings would result 

 in the rectification of erroneous impressions, 

 the removal of prejudices, and the clearing up 

 of difficulties. The first paper was by the Rev. 

 W. S. Harkey, of Illinois, on the difficulties 

 the Church had to contend with and its ground 

 of hope. Other papers were on "The Con- 

 servatism of the Lutheran Church," by Pro- 

 fessor S. A. Repass, of Virginia ; " What is 

 embraced in a true and reasonable subscrip- 

 tion to the Confessions ? " by Professor Mar- 

 tin ; " The Losses of the Lutheran Church in 

 the United States," by the Rev. Dr. B. Sadtler ; 

 and on other subjects of a narrower denomi- 

 national interest. 



