MORAVIANS. 



MORTON, OLIVER P. 



633 



representation, and 12 home missions ; in 1876, 

 the number of the former had increased to 27, 

 and the latter numbered 36. At the Synod of 

 1855, 26 ministers were present, and 18 

 churches represented, while 8 or 9 mission- 

 aries were laboring in the home field ; in 1861 

 40 ministers were serving the Church in pas- 

 torates or otherwise. 



According to the general statistics of the 

 whole Church, published in the spring of 1877, 

 the German Province consisted of 25 churches 

 in Saxony, the kingdom of Prussia, Switzer- 

 land, Holland, Russia, etc., with one church 

 in Australia, with a total membership of 7,791, 

 of which about 5,700 were communicants ; the 

 British Province of 40 churches, with a mem- 

 bership of 5,712, of which 3,322 were com- 

 municants. The four churches in Bohemia 

 were under the superintendence of the Unity's 

 Elders' Conference, and supported by the entire 

 Unity, and contained 201 members. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the total number of 

 persons connected with the Church : 



German Province 7,791 



In the Baltic Provinces, etc 60 



Director and teachers in the Moravian school in 



Switzerland 12 



Diaspora missionaries and their families 100 



7.968 



The churches in Bohemia 201 



British Province 6,712 



American Province lfi,080 



Missionaries in 16 Mission Provinces, together with 



their families 400 



Total. 



30,856 



The work of the Diaspora missions on the 

 Continent of Europe is prosecuted, not with the 

 object of founding new churches, or to extend 

 the borders of the Moravian Church, but to 

 minister to the spiritual wants of the numerous 

 people who, although nominally members of 

 some church, are yet negligent of its privileges, 

 and at the same time neglected by those who 

 should exercise pastoral care over them. 



The Provincial Synod of the Southern Dis- 

 trict of the American Province met at Salern, 

 N. 0., May 1st. Bishop E. A. de Schweinitz, 

 President of the Provincial Elders' Conference, 

 presided. The report of the Provincial Elders' 

 Conference stated that, no bishop of the Church 

 having been resident ia the province since the 

 death of Bishop G. F. Bahnson, in 1869, the 

 Rev. Emil A. de Schweinitz had been nomi- 

 nated to that office, and had been consecrated 

 at Salem, N. 0., on the llth of October, 1877, 

 three of the bishops of the Northern Province 

 officiating. 



A charter had been obtained for the confer- 

 ence from the General Assembly of North 

 Carolina. Eight congregations were entitled 

 to representation at the Provincial Synod, all 

 but one of which had received annual assist- 

 ance from the Snstentation Fund during the last 

 six years, while some had contributed hardly 

 anything toward this purpose. 



The annual meeting of the Society for the 

 Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen 

 (Northern District) was held at Bethlehem, 



Pa., September 29th. The receipts for the 

 General Mission Fund for the year had been 

 $12,000, a larger sura than had ever before 

 been given in a single year. The total assets 

 of the society amounted to $223,283.03. Two 

 Indian lads were receiving instruction at Naza- 

 reth Hall, at Bethlehem, one of whom would 

 enter the Theological Seminary in the next 

 year. A report was presented by the Board 

 of Directors regarding the Indian missions in 

 Canada and Kansas. The Board were in- 

 structed to take immediate steps toward com- 

 mencing new missions among the Indians of 

 the United States. 



The annual report of the Mission Depart- 

 ment of the Unity's Elders' Conference, for the 

 year ending in July, 1877, shows that the 

 total receipts from all sources during the year 

 were about $80,000. The largest part of this 

 amount was contributed by the churches of the 

 German and British Provinces, and friends 

 of the cause in Great Britain. About $13,000 

 were contributed from the American Province, 

 of which $11,500 were given by the Society for 

 the Propagation of the Gospel among the 

 Heathen. The total expenses of the mission 

 department had been about $106,000, leaving 

 a large deficit in the treasury. The entire field 

 in which the missionaries are engaged is di- 

 vided into sixteen provinces, viz., Greenland, 

 Labrador, the Indians of North America, the 

 Islands of St. Thomas and St. Jan, St. Croix, 

 Jamaica, Antigua, St. Kitts, Barbadoes, and 

 Tobago in the West Indies, the Mosquito Coast, 

 Surinam, the eastern and western provinces in 

 South Africa, Australia, and West Himalaya. 

 The number of stations at the time of making 

 the report was 95, one more than in the previ- 

 ous year, and the number of preaching-places, 

 other than the regular stations, was 16. One 

 hundred and seventy-seven men and 158 

 women were employed as missionaries, to- 

 gether with a large number of native assistants. 

 The number of communicants was 22,647, 

 showing an increase of 596 during the year, and 

 the number of persons under the spiritual care 

 of the missionaries was 68,476. During the 

 year 1876, 888 adults and 2,471 children had 

 been baptized, and 1,272 persons confirmed. 

 The largest number of adult baptisms was in 

 Surinam, 265. The total increase in the num- 

 ber of persons connected with the missions was 

 1,068. The number of Sunday-school scholars 

 was 10,749, of whom nearly one-half were 

 adults, and the number of children in the day- 

 schools was 15,068. A theological seminary 

 established in Jamaica several yean ago, wit 

 in successful operation, although the number 

 of students or candidates for the ministry was 

 still very small. 



MORTON, OLIVF.R PKBBT, an American 

 statesman, died in Indianapolis, Ind., Novem- 

 ber 1, 1877. He was born in Wayne County, 

 Ind., August 4, 1828. The original family 

 name was Throckmorton, the first syllable hav- 

 ing been dropped by the Senator's father. He- 



