520 



LUTHERANS. 



pointed by the General Synod and by such dis- 

 trict synod* as may unite in its support. The 

 curator of the Lutheran Historical Society re- 

 ported that a number of valuable books and 

 papers had been received by that institution. 

 The receipts of the Board of Home Missions for 

 two years had been $27,085. It had conduct- 

 ed sixtv-tive missions in different parts of the 

 United States, in which 1,093 accessions were 

 reported, and which had contributed $82,208 

 toward tlu-ir own support and to the funds of 

 the rlmrrli. Kight of the missions had become 

 self-sustaining and two had been discontinued. 

 The synod decided that the sum of $25,000 

 should bo raised annually for home missions 

 and $15,000 for church extension. A board of 

 poven persons was appointed to represent the 

 synod in the work of the Emigrant Mission 

 at Castle Garden, New York. The Orphans' 

 Home at Loysville, Pennsylvania, had received 

 $11,397, and had fifty church orphans and sixty- 

 three soldiers' orphans in charge. The Hoard 

 of Foreign Missions reported that its receipts 

 from May 31, 1879, to March 31, 1881, had been 

 $32,014, and its expenditures $29,782. The 

 Woman's Missionary Societies had paid $1,506 

 and the Children's Foreign Missionary Socie- 

 ties $2,837 into its treasury. The board asked 

 for $20,000 a year for the next two years. The 

 missions were at Muhlenburg, West Africa, and 

 Guntoor, India. The committee on the Lit- 

 urgy reported that the book was printed and 

 ready for distribution. A committee was ap- 

 pointed to ascertain whether an agreement 

 could be made with the General Synod South 

 concerning a common hymn-book for the use 

 of the two bodies. A measure designed to se- 

 cure more complete statistical returns was 

 passed, requiring each district synod to present 

 to the General Synod for publication in the 

 minutes a biennial parochial table of its opera- 

 tions, and ordering a summary of all such ta- 

 bles to be made by the Secretary of the Gen- 

 eral Synod. A fraternal delegate from the 

 General Assembly of the Cumberland Presby- 

 terian Church, presenting the greetings of that 

 body, communicated an overture from it, pro- 

 posing the mutual appointment of committees 

 to consider the subject of a closer union be- 

 tween the two churches. The synod decided 

 to appoint a standing committee to consider 

 the subject and confer upon it with the Cum- 

 berland Presbyterian General Assembly. Re- 

 ports were presented showing that the General 

 Synod was in correspondence with nearly every 

 evangelical religious body in the United States, 

 and that fraternal delegates of those bodies had 

 reported to it either in person or by letter. 



The second biennial convention of the Wom- 

 an's Home and Foreign Missionary Society con- 

 nected with the General Synod was held at 

 Altoona, Pennsylvania, April 7th. The soci- 

 ety had received $7,069 in two years. It helped 

 support traveling missionaries in the West, sus- 

 tained a home mission at Freeport, Illinois, 

 maintained six girls' schools, a female mission- 



ary and a zenana worker in India, and was 

 building a house for its agents in that country. 



The General Council met at Rochester, New 

 York, in October. The Rev. Dr. A. Spaeth, 

 of Philadelphia, was chosen president. Reports 

 were presented on home missions, the Emi- 

 grant Mission in the port of New York, and 

 foreign missions. The Executive Committee of 

 Home Missions reported that it was indebted 

 to the amount of $2,337. One missionary and 

 an asylum for emigrants were connected with 

 the Emigrant Mission in New York. The mis- 

 sionary was accustomed to hold daily service 

 in the chapel of the house, and cared for the 

 emigrants from the time they landed till they 

 were comfortably provided for. Nine thousand 

 two hundred and twenty- seven persons had 

 thus been taken care of during the year. The 

 receipts for the Home or asylum had been $12,- 

 710 ; it was still in debt to the amount of $15,- 

 000. The receipts for the Foreign Mission had 

 been $7,670, and the expenses $6,915. The 

 mission, which was assumed by the General 

 Council in 1869, is in and about Rajahmundry, 

 along the Godavery River in India. Four mis- 

 sionaries had been sent out, and two natives 

 who had been ordained three years previously 

 had been educated so as 1 to be able to act as 

 missionaries. Five hundred and thirty-six per- 

 sons had been baptized, and the mission in- 

 cluded at present 216 communicants, 12 ver- 

 nacular schools, 1 English, and 1 Teloogoo Sun- 

 day-school. 



The subject of appointing a special day of 

 fasting and prayer, which had been considered 

 by the Council for several years, was brought 

 up again, and was disposed of by naming Ash- 

 Wednesday as the day. The condition of the 

 Home Missions was actively discussed. A prop- 

 osition was made to reconsider the action of 

 the previous year assigning the care of the sev- 

 eral missions of this class to different synods, 

 and to commit the whole work to the execu- 

 tive committee. An appeal was made by the 

 friends of the synodal system to give it a long- 

 er trial, and it was unanimously continued for 

 the ensuing year. A German committee was 

 appointed for the German mission-work, and 

 was instructed to consider whether it would be 

 better to apply to a foreign institution for men 

 qualified to labor as missionaries, or to organ- 

 ize an institution at home for the education of 

 such men. The appointment of a special Swed- 

 ish committee to look after the Swedish home 

 missions having been recommended, the Cen- 

 tral Committee of the Swedish Augustana Syn- 

 od was constituted the Committee of the Gen- 

 eral Council. The Committee on the Emigrant. 

 Mission was instructed to confer with the same 

 committee with regard to the appointment of 

 a Swedish missionary for that station. The 

 Council continued the discussion which it has 

 carried on for several years of the one hundred 

 theses on fellowship which had been prepared 

 at its request by the Rev. C. P. Krauth. These 

 theses were intended to elucidate the so-called 



