

LUTHERANS. 



457 



States. Its meetings are held biennially. The 

 thirty-first convention was held at Springfield, 

 Ohio, May 16, 1883. For the report of this con- 

 vention see "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1883. 

 The thirty-second biennial convention will be 

 held at Harrisburg, Pa., beginning June 4,1885. 

 II. The General Synod (Sonth). The General 

 Synod South was organized in 1863, and held 

 its fourteenth convention in Charleston, S. 0., 

 April 16-21, 1884. The Rev. W. S. Boneman, 

 D. D., of Savannah, Ga., presided. Delegates 

 were present from the North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, Virginia, Southwest Virginia, and 

 Georgia Synods, the Mississippi Synod sending 

 no delegates. The total number of delegates 

 was twenty - nine, seventeen ministers and 

 twelve laymen. Matters pertaining to mis- 

 sions and church extension, work among the 

 freedmen, the establishment of an orphans' 

 home, and a union of synods, claimed the at- 

 tention of this convention. The work of home 

 and foreign missions is under the supervision 

 of a Board of Missions and Church Extension, 

 consisting of three ministers and two laymen. 

 Foreign mission work is carried on in connec- 

 tion with the General Synod (North). Rev. 

 W. P. Swartz is under appointment to labor in 

 the Guntoor station, in India. Contributions 

 for this work, during 1882 and 1883, amounted 

 to $1,053.73. Much of the territory embraced 

 by the General Synod (South) is missionary 

 territory. The contributions for home mis- 

 sions are at present chiefly devoted to the can- 

 celing of the indebtedness of the Richmond 

 mission ; while the district synods are sever- 

 ally prosecuting missionary work in their own 

 extensive territories. The contributions for 

 the Richmond mission, during 1882 and 1883, 

 amounted to $5,629.88. To the work of home 

 missions may be added the work among the 

 freedmen of the South. This work is fraught 

 with many difficulties, and is, therefore, very 

 slow. The committee report five young men 

 preparing for the ministry, one of whom has 

 now finished his course and has taken charge 

 of a congregation in Washington, D. 0. The 

 theological seminary heretofore existing at Sa- 

 lem, Va., was discontinued for want of proper 

 support. The institution was removed to New- 

 berry, S. 0., and is temporarily under the care 

 of Rev. Prof. G. W. Holland. Considerable 

 time was devoted to the matter of a more gen- 

 eral union of the synods south of the Potomac. 

 In order to effect such a union, a diet was 

 called to meet Nov. 10, 1884. On this date, 

 delegates from the synods of North Carolina, 

 Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, South- 

 west Virginia, Georgia, and Holston met at 

 Salisbury, N. 0. Rev. A. J. Bronen, D. D., ot 

 the Holston Synod, was the presiding officer. 

 A basis of union, on purely confessional prin- 

 ciples, was unanimously adopted, and a consti- 

 tution was prepared, to be submitted for ap- 

 proval to the various synods represented in 

 the diet, with a view to bring them all into 

 connection with the reorganized general body. 



III. The General Council. The General Coun- 

 cil was organized in 1867, and held its seven- 

 teenth convention at Monroe, Mich., Oct. 16- 

 21, 1884. According to the usual custom, the 

 morning was devoted to divine service, on 

 which occasion the opening sermon was de- 

 livered by the Rev. Dr. A. Spaeth, of Phila- 

 delphia. In the afternoon the convention was 

 regularly opened with the customary liturgical 

 forms. Dr. Spaeth was re-elected president. 

 All the synods were represented, except the 

 Holston. Home, foreign, and immigrant mis- 

 sions occupied much of the time of this con- 

 vention. Three years ago the work of home 

 missions was reorganized and intrusted to Ger- 

 man, English, and Swedish committees. The 

 German committee aided missions in Canada, 

 Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, New York, and 

 Pennsylvania. In order to carry on these ex- 

 tensive operations, an appeal was made to the 

 Church in the Fatherland for laborers, which 

 awakened a wide -spread interest. Already 

 forty-three young men are preparing in the 

 mission - house, at Kropf, Holstein, for this 

 work. Several from other institutions have 

 already come to America, and are engaged in 

 mission - work. More than fifteen men are 

 at present engaged, at more than double this 

 number of mission-stations. Contributions dur- 

 ing the year amounted to $5,442.96 ; expendi- 

 tures, $5,389.93. The English committee have 

 been aiding missions in Ohio, Illinois, and Min- 

 nesota, and a traveling missionary in Dakota. 

 There are now six missionaries under appoint- 

 ment, an increase of four since the reorganiza- 

 tion of the missionary operations. Encourag- 

 ing success has everywhere attended the efforts 

 of the missionaries in gathering and organiz- 

 ing congregations, securing lots, and building 

 houses of worship. Besides opening up new 

 mission-fields, the several mission congrega- 

 tions have secured properties aggregating $38,- 

 000. Contributions during the year amounted 

 to $3,315.01. The Swedish committee have 

 extensive missionary operations in Illinois, 

 Minnesota, Kansas, Utah, California, Oregon, 

 Nebraska, Idaho, and Washington Territory, 

 and in some of the Middle and Eastern States. 

 Besides this, a great deal of missionary work 

 is done by the pastors, who devote from one 

 to three months to the service, and by the stu- 

 dents of their theological seminary. The work 

 of foreign missions is under the supervision of 

 the executive committee. They report four 

 missionaries and two native pastors in the Ra- 

 jahmundry mission, together with sixty-three 

 teachers, colporteurs, and evangelists, and 845 

 pupils in the various schools. The baptized 

 membership, including children, is 1,376. The 

 contributions for this work, during the year, 

 amounted to $10,379.18. The mission met 

 with a heavy loss in the death of Rev. H. G. B. 

 Artman, who died September 18, at the age of 

 twenty-seven years. The immigrant mission 

 in New York presents a favorable report. The 

 receipts were $18,291.22, and the expenditures 



