514 



LUTHERANS. 



Tacoma, Seattle, Woodville, and Skaggit; in 

 Idaho, at Cordelia and Moscow; in Utah, at 

 Salt Lake, in the very citadel of Mormonisra, 

 and at Ogden ; in Maine and other New Eng- 

 land States, indeed, in all the Western and 

 Northwestern States, embracing about 150 

 congregations and stations. The amount ex- 

 pended for this work was $15 ; 000. 



The report of the immigrant mission at New 

 York showed that during the year 11,700 im- 

 migrants were entertained at the Emigrant 

 House, No. 26 State Street, 1,774 persons were 

 aided. The income was $15,052.85, and the 

 expenditures $14,831.85. 



Among other matters of importance brought 

 before the Council were reports on ministerial 

 acts and the common order of service. Of the 

 former, the orders for confirmation, confession, 

 and absolution were adopted. The order for 

 confession and absolution, preparatory to re- 

 ceiving the Lord's Supper, provides two for- 

 mulas : one for personal confession of sinful- 

 ness and penitence by the individual communi- 

 cant, when so desired, to the pastor, an order 

 adopted from the Pomeranian liturgy of 1569 ; 

 and the other order for the public confession 

 customary, at present, in all Lutheran churches. 

 Pressure of duties prevented the Council from 

 considering other orders ; the committee were, 

 therefore, authorized to prepare and publish, 

 in provisional form, the most important of the 

 orders still to be considered, so as to supply, at 

 least temporarily, the demand of the Church. 



The report of the Common Order of Service 

 (see "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1885, p. 552) 

 was again considered, and the committee urged 

 to complete their work. Along with con- 

 siderable discussion concerning some altera- 

 tions in the order of service of the Church- 

 Book, the question arose of securing a uniform 

 and standard English translation of the Augs- 

 burg Confession, and of Luther's Small Cate- 

 chism for the entire Church. The following 

 resolutions were adopted : 



1. That the suggestion of the committee be ap- 

 proved, and that the joint committee of the three 

 general bodies, which h'ave united in the preparation 

 of the Common Service Book, be requested to prepare 

 as perfect a translation as possible of the Small Cate- 

 chism of Luther and of the Augsburg Confession ; 

 and that they be urged to invite the co-operation in 

 this work of such other Lutheran bodies in this coun- 

 try as use the English language. 



2. That the Church-Book committee of the Council 

 be authorized to procure a copy of the early English 

 translation of the Augsburg Confession, and that the 

 cost be paid out of the income of the English Church- 

 Book. 



3. That the Church-Book committee be instructed 

 to revise the Church-Book, and to propose any such 

 slight alterations as they may deem desirable for the 

 consideration of the Council. 



With reference to uniformity in statistical 

 reports, the following rssolutions were adopted: 



1. That each of the synods be requested to provide 

 in their parochial reports for a column for confirmed 

 members, or those entitled to commune, and that 

 every effort be made to provide for the filling up ot 

 this column by the respective pastors. 



2. That each synod be requested to appoint a sta- 

 tistical secretary, to have in charge the collection of 

 all the material for the parochial reports, and to pre- 

 pare these reports for their minutes. 



The next convention of the General Council 

 will be in Greenville, Pa., in September, 1887. 



Sj nodical Conference. This body, organized in 

 1872, embraces the following district synods: 



The following educational and benevolent 

 institutions exist within the bounds of this 

 body : 3 theological seminaries at, St. Louis, 

 Mo., Springfield, 111., and Milwaukee, Wis., hav- 

 ing 251 students and 13 professors; 4 colleges, 

 at Fort "Wayne, Ind., Watertown, Wis., New 

 Ulm, Minn., and Gravelton, Mo., having 454 

 students and 22 professors ; 9 academies ; and 

 10 benevolent institutions. 



The Conference convened in Trinity Evan- 

 gelical Lutheran Church, Detroit, Mich., Aug. 

 11-16, 1886. The Rev. J. Bading was re-elect- 

 ed president. The subject for the doctrinal 

 discussion, to which a great deal of time was 

 devoted, was u The Divine Origin of the Bible." 

 This body is devoting most of its resources to 

 the work of home-mission and mission work 

 among the colored people of the South, par- 

 ticularly in Arkansas and Alabama. TLeir 

 missionary operations may be classified as fol- 

 lows: Immigrant missions at New York and 

 Baltimore, missions among the Jews, the col- 

 ored people of the South (for which $11,338.21 

 was contributed during the past four years), 

 the Indians, and the immigrant members of 

 the Church scattered all over the territory of 

 the United States. Of work among the immi- 

 grants, they report 74 missionaries, 44 pastors 

 doing mission work, and 525 mission station 

 besides the fields of the regular missionaries. 



The next convention will be held in Milwj 

 kee, Wis., in August, 1888. 



United Synod In the Sonth. The United Synod 

 of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the 

 South, organized in 1886, embraces the eight 

 Lutheran synods south of Maryland and the 

 Ohio river, and east of the Mississippi river, as 

 follow : 



