588 



MORAVIANS. 



MUSICAL TELEPHONE. 



The anniversary meeting of the Society for 

 the Propagation of the Gospel among the Hea- 

 then was held at Bethlehem, Pa., August 29th. 

 Its assets amounted to $220,423, and its total 

 receipts for the year had been $10,454. Three 

 young men from the Indian country were re- 

 ceiving education at its expense, two of whom 

 had entered the theological seminary. 



The Synod of the Northern District of the 

 American Province met at Hope, Ind., Octo- 

 ber 9th. Bishop E. de Schweinitz was chosen 

 President. It was held as preparatory to the 

 meeting of the General Synod of the Unity 

 which is to be held in 1879. A letter relating 

 to this event was read from the Unity's Elders' 

 Conference in Berthelsdorf, advising that the 

 preparatory synods of the single provinces of 

 the Unity should meet during the course of the 

 year, to discuss and prepare the subjects which 

 are to be considered at the General Synod. In- 

 troducing the more prominent topics to be con- 

 sidered, the address said : " When a General 

 Synod meets, our union and association as one 

 entire body is then made clearly apparent ; and 

 hence it is proper that the preparatory synods 

 should clearly apprehend what is the import of 

 our Brethren's Unity; in how far it still pre- 

 serves its original character, in spite of its prov- 

 inces being separated by an ocean, and in spite 

 of the manifold changes which in the course of 

 time have caused them to adopt such different 

 modes and arrangements from what they pos- 

 sessed in their first beginnings ; and whether, 

 not only on account of its outward form, but 

 also on account of its inward substance, it still 

 deserves the name of a Unitas Fratrum." The 

 Synod was invited to examine " whether the 

 doctrine of sin and grace, of Jesus as the only 

 Saviour of mankind, of that comfort which alone 

 can give peace to the soul, of that atonement in 

 the blood of the Lamb which has been made for 

 ail repentant sinners, is still proclaimed among 

 us in its purity and simplicity, without the addi- 

 tions and perversions of human wisdom." This 

 question was to be laid before the Synod in the 

 form of a proposal in regard to the chapter on 

 Doctrine in the Synodal Results of 1869, which 

 the Unity's Elders' Conference had drawn up 

 for the consideration of the General Synod. 

 Attention was further directed to the inquiry 

 whether the congregations possessed spiritual 

 life and growth; and the Synod was reminded 

 that its deputies should be furnished with re- 

 quisite powers of attorney, certified by a no- 

 inal seal, in order that they might be fully 

 authorized to do whatever pertained to the 

 business of the Synod. 



The report of the Provincial Elders' Confer- 

 ence stated that nine persons had been ordained 

 le office of presbyter, and the same number 

 >mce of deacon, since the previous meet- 

 ing of the Synod in 1876, and that at the pres- 

 ent time 66 ordained ministers were engaged in 

 the service of the province; of whom 55 were 

 pastors of congregations, 3 were professors in 

 the theological seminary, 4 were principals of 



the denominational boarding-schools, and 3 

 were engaged in the service of the boards of 

 the Church. A decision of the Synod of 1876, 

 to the effect that "in each congregation the 

 Board of Elders, charged with the care over 

 the Brotherly Agreement, should form a sepa- 

 rate body from the Committee, or Board of 

 Trustees, charged with the secular affairs of 

 the congregation," had been generally carried 

 into effect by the churches in the province. 

 With one exception, all the so-called regular 

 churches (such as are entitled to send delegates 

 to the Synod) had ceased to receive aid from 

 the sustentation fund. Five new congregations 

 had been added to he number of the home- 

 mission churches within the synodal period. 

 The number of home-mission churches within 

 the province was 38. More candidates for ser- 

 vice than usual were reported. 



The Board of Church, Extension reported that 

 $21,784 had been pledged to the permanent 

 church extension fund, and that $10,677 of the 

 amount had been paid into the hands of col- 

 lectors. The Board had determined to receive 

 the contributions to the fund on the condition 

 that no part of the income annually accruing 

 should be available until the amount of $50,000 

 should be raised. The President of the Theo- 

 logical Seminary reported that the expense of 

 the institution had been $10,416 in 1877, and 

 $8,689 in 1878, when the number of students 

 was smaller than usual. The present number 

 of students, 32, was larger than ever before. 

 The endowment fund amounted to $38,811. 



The following table of the Moravian mis- 

 sions is compiled from the report of the society 

 which was published in London in November, 

 1878, wives of missionaries being included in 

 the number of missionaries : 



In the summary given in the report, the 

 70,646 members enumerated above are called 

 "converts, of whom 23,185 are communi- 

 cants." Of the total sum of $83,305 re- 

 ceived in 1877 from all sources, $28,435 were 

 received from gifts and legacies within the 

 denomination, and $34,430 from " societies and 

 friends of other Christian denominations." 



MUSICAL TELEPHONE. An ingenious 

 method of conveying to a distance by elec- 

 tricity musical and other sounds has been 

 devised by C. L. Weyher, of Paris. The ap- 

 paratus consists of a thin sheet of iron, copper, 

 or other metal in a fratoe. This is placed at 

 some convenient point in a concert-hall, lec- 

 ture-room, or wherever else the sounds are 



