466 



LUTHERANS. 



dents, of whom 953 have the ministry in view ; 35 

 academies, having property valued at $482,000, 

 only two reporting endowment amounting to 

 $20,100, having 10,055 volumes in their libraries, 

 employing 140 instructors, and having 3,431 pu- 

 pils, of whom 411 have the ministry in view; 12 

 ladies' seminaries, having property valued at 

 $252,500, one reporting endowment amounting 

 to $3,500. having 9,025 volumes in their libra- 

 ries, employing 92 instructors, and having 893 

 pupils: making a total of 101 institutions of 

 learning, with property valued at $3,579,300, 

 endowment amounting to $1,220,822, volumes in 

 libraries 213,530, professors and instructors 553, 

 and 9,300 students, of whom about 1,000 are 

 women and 2,254 are preparing for the ministry. 

 Besides the institutions already mentioned, there 

 are 34 orphans' homes, having property valued 

 at $738.828, endowment amounting to $107,717, 

 and 1,591 inmates; and 38 homes for the aged, 

 homes for deaconesses, hospitals, etc., having 

 property valued at $1,220,000, 2 of which have 

 endowment funds amounting to $14,000, the rest 

 are supported by free-will offerings. There are 

 published 137 church periodicals, of which 44 

 are in English, 53 in German, 16 in Swedish, 13 

 in Norwegian, 4 in Danish, 3 in Icelandic, 3 in 

 Finnish, and 1 in French. 



The Lutheran Church in America, although 

 divided into 4 general bodies and 13 independ- 

 ent synods, has one standard confession, the 

 Augsburg Confession of 1530, which all the dis- 

 trict synods and general bodies accept, and it is 

 in so far a united church. But as the general 

 bodies carry on their affairs independently, they 

 are here treated separately. 



General Synod. This is the oldest general 

 body, having been organized in 1821, and is 

 composed almost entirely of English synods and 

 congregations. The thirty-fifth biennial con- 

 vention of the General Synod of the Evangelical 

 Lutheran Church in the United States of Amer- 

 ica was held in Zion's Church, Lebanon, Pa., 

 May 20-29. 1891. The opening sermon was de- 

 livered by the retiring president, the Rev. Henry 

 W. McKnight, D. D., President of Pennsylvania 

 College, Gettysburg, Pa. After the formal or- 

 ganization of the convention, the Rev. Jacob A. 

 Clutz, D. D., President of Midland College, 

 Atchison, Kan., was elected president. Twen- 

 ty-seven synods were represented in this conven- 

 tion, with 101 clerical and 90 lay delegates. 

 Four new synods were received into connection 

 with this general body : California Synod. Rocky 

 Mountain Synod, German Synod of Nebraska, 

 and German Synod of California. These were 

 all organized during the current year, on terri- 

 tory formerly occupied by other synods in con- 

 nection with the same general body. 



Much of the time of the convention was de- 

 voted to consideration of the reports of the vari- 

 ous boards and action on these reports. Fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the operations of this 

 body. The report of the Board of Foreign Mis- 

 sions was very encouraging. The receipts dur- 

 ing the past two years were $97,453.92. Lega- 

 cies were received 'amounting to $7,544.25; con- 

 tributions from Sunday schools, $12,145.31 ; from 

 the woman's missionary societies. $17,363,30. 

 The entire amount that passed through the treas- 

 urer's hands was x $112,645.21. The expenditures 



were $100,127.54. The work in India is making 

 encouraging progress. The Woman's Missionary 

 Society sent out 3 additional missionaries, the 

 Rev. and Mrs. John Aberly and Miss Amy L. 

 Sadtler. The Rev. Dr. Lemon L. Uhl, after a 

 few years' sojourn and study in the United States, 

 returned to India. During his stay in this coun- 

 try he collected $18,000 for the Watts Memorial 

 College at Guntur, India. The following is an 

 exhibit of the general status of the mission : 4 

 missionaries, 2 native pastors, 5 sub- pastors, 19 

 catechists, 100 sub-catechists, 48 helpers, 6 Bible 

 and tract colporteurs, 371 villages containing 

 native Christians, 2 churches, 135 prayer houses, 

 6 mission bungalows, 1 printing press and book 

 bindery, 1 free reading room and book depot, 

 13,566 baptized Christians, 7,952 communicants, 

 227 Sunday schools with 8.737 pupils, 196 ele- 

 mentary schools with 203 teachers and 3,263 

 pupils, 2 boarding schools with 125 pupils and 

 Watts Memorial College, the Rev. Luther B. 

 Wolf, president, 28 teachers and 655 students, 

 including Christians, Hindus, and Mohamme- 

 dans. There are 4 women engaged in zenana 

 work with 4 European and Eurasian assistants 

 and 10 native Bible teachers; 14 zenanas in 

 which instruction is given, with 25 pupils in 

 these; 21 schools, including high-caste Hindu, 

 Mohammedan industrial, and boarding schools, 

 with 79 teachers, 892 pupils, of whom 711 are 

 high-caste Hindus, 128 Mohammedans, and 53 

 Christians; Bible classes 4. pupils 60, Sunday 

 schools 6 with 300 pupils. The mission in Af- 

 rica met with some reverses on account of sick- 

 ness and death among the missionaries and na- 

 tive Christians. A lay missionary, George P. 

 Gall, of Philadelphia, entered upon his labors in . 

 the latter part of 1890. Miss Emily Beekin has . 

 also been sent out to Africa and is supported by 

 the Woman's Missionary Society. The force of 

 missionaries consists of the Rev. and Mrs. David 

 A. Day and the Rev. David Davidson, a native 

 ordained pastor, besides the two already men- 

 tioned, and several young men who have been 

 trained in the mission. The total membership 

 of the mission is 159, of whom 130 are communi- 

 cants. The Sunday school has 214 pupils. The 

 industrial department of this mission is a most 

 encouraging feature. The members of the mis- 

 sion are all trained to work. The cultivation of 

 coffee, eddoes, sweet potatoes, and cassava are the 

 chief industries of the native Christians. Con- 

 cerning the work in Africa, the report of the 

 board says: "One community of about 1,500 

 souls, presided over by a native Christian chief, 

 may be fairly classed as half-civilized. The pred- 

 atory excursion against these people last year 

 resulted in their organizing a local government, 

 subject to the Republic of Liberia, which will 

 greatly unify and strengthen them. Under the 

 influence of the mission, hundreds of half-civil- 

 ized people are gradually abandoning their rov- 

 ing habits, and are settling down to agricultural 

 .pursuits." The board asked for $35,000 per an- 

 num from the district synods, to carry on their 

 labors in India and Africa. The following action 

 was taken with reference to the distraction and 

 opposition which the India mission has been 

 called upon to suffer : 



WJwreas, It appears that much time and effort are 

 still required on the part of our missionaries in India 



