LUTHERAN'S. 



515 



The following educational institutions exist 

 within the bounds of this body : 1 theological 

 seminary at Newberry, S. C., having 4 stu- 

 dents and 3 professors ; 5 colleges, at Salem, 

 Va., New berry, S. C., Mount Pleasant and 

 Dallas, N. 0., and Mosheim, Tenn., having 580 

 students and 33 professors ; 5 academies ; and 

 6 female colleges. 



The new " United Synod " takes the place 

 among the other general bodies of that former- 

 ly occupied by the General Synod (South), or- 

 ganized in 1862, with the addition of the old 

 Tennessee Synod, for many years an independ- 

 ent body, and the Holston Synod, since 1874 

 a member of the General Council. The old 

 body, merged into this new organization, had 

 served its day. It was provisional in its very 

 character from the beginning, being mainly 

 educational, and far in advance of the old order 

 of things that prevailed for a long time in the 

 Lutheran Church in the South ; but it failed to 

 unite the various synods that existed within 

 the same territory, because its doctrinal basis 

 did not give universal satisfaction. The new 

 body, however, has adopted a basis of union 

 (see "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1885) which has 

 placed it in the front rank of confessional 

 Lutheran synods in America. The union of 

 the Lutheran Church in the South was con- 

 summated on Friday, June 25, which was the 

 three hundred and fifty-sixth anniversary of the 

 presentation of the Augsburg Confession, in 

 the presence of the Emperor Charles V and 

 the representatives and dignitaries of his em- 

 pire certainly a most happy coincidence. 

 The following resolution, unanimously adopt- 

 ed, authorized the new organization to take up 

 the work where the old Synod laid it down, to 

 wit: 



Resolved, That this General Synod, having been 

 officially notified that an organization of the body 

 contemplated by the action ot the Diet, has been ef- 

 fected under the name of the United Synod of the 

 Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South, this Gen- 

 eral Synod having completed such part of its busi- 

 ness as is deemed proper under its separate existence, 

 and having provided for the transmission of its unfin- 

 ished business and the conduct of its church work to 

 the care and action of said United Synod, does now 

 and hereby merge the Evangelical Lutheran General 

 Synod South into the said United Synod of the Evan- 

 gelical Lutheran Church in the South. 



The work contemplated in this resolution 

 consists of the home and foreign mission work 

 at the time in the hands of the Board of Mis- 

 sions, the copyrights of the Book of Worship 

 and the Common Service-Book, and the care 

 of the Theological Seminary. 



The work of this Convention was necessarily 

 preliminary. The Rev. D. M. Gilbert, D. D., 

 of Winchester, Va., was elected the first presi- 

 dent. The basis of union adopted by the Diet 

 at Salisbury, N. C., in November, 1884, was 

 adopted with an enthusiastic unanimity. The 

 constitution recommended by the same Diet 

 was properly amended and adopted. The 

 work of the committee on the Common Service- 

 Book was approved, and the book ordered to be 



published as soon as it is completed. The com- 

 mittee on missions presented a gratifying report, 

 and the Synod pledged its continuance of the 

 support of the Guntur mission in India. The 

 Synod also adopted a resolution looking toward 

 the establishment of a home for disabled minis- 

 ters and widows. A committee was appointed 

 to report at the next convention concerning 

 the establishment of a central theological semi- 

 nary. The next convention will be held in 

 Savannah, Ga., in November, 1887. 



The following synods carry on their mission- 

 ary, educational, and benevolent operations 

 independent of the various general bodies, 

 standing aloof from all intercourse with any 

 other synod : 



RECAPITULATION. 



Common Order of Service. The Common Order 

 of Service for all English-speaking Lutherans 

 in America, begun a few years ago, has been 

 approved and adopted by the General Council, 

 General Synod (North), and the United Synod 

 in the South, and the joint committee of the 

 three bodies has been authorized to complete 

 their work and publish it as soon as possible. 



This, when completed, will remove the 

 present diversity of forms of worship, and 

 give a uniformity to the entire church. The 

 hope is very generally entertained that this 

 work will prove to be the beginning of an 

 organic union of a divided church ; since a 

 common service involves unanimity in the dis- 

 tinctive doctrines of the Lutheran Church. 

 This work also promises to result in a stand- 

 ard English translation of the Augsburg Con- 

 fession and of Luther's Small Cathechism two 

 of the confessional writings of the Lutheran 

 Church, which are generally adopted and on 

 which many would be ready to unite. 



