In the year 1867, the conditions of the church having changed by the vast additions from be yond the sea, there was organized the ''General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church," which, after adding and again losing different synodical members, now comprises ten synods, among which are the oldest and several of (he largest of our name, three of them being Ger man, one Swedish, one mixed and five English. This general body has educational institutions at Allentown, Philadelphia, Rochester, Greenville, Pa., Chicago, Rock Island, Red Wing, Lindsborg, South Orange, N. J. and a well organized sys tem of church work 'for all the various demands of local and general interests.
In 1872 the synods, withdrawn from the .re cently organized General Council, together with others of a more European type, organized un der the lead of the German Missouri, the "Synod ical Conference," now composed of five districts and owning educational institutions at Fort Wayne, St. Louis, NIilwaukee, St. Paul, New Ulm, Springfield, Ill., Winfield, Kan., Seward, Neb., Addison, Ill., and Neperan, N. Y. This conference is numerically the strongest of our general bodies. It carries on a vast mission work among the Germans; also has missions among the negroes and in India. Its confessional stand point is of the strictest cast, insisting on non fellowship with errorists, rigid congregational discipline and parochial schools. One English district synod, with 46 congregations, cooperates with the Synodical Conference.
The eight Lutheran synods of the South, alienated from their northern associations, are organized since 1886 into the "United Synod," having in all but 400 churches, with institutions at Salem, Va., Newberry and Charleston, S. C., and Hickory, N. C. They have no negro and but small foreign membership.
Of the seventeen individual or independeht synods, the Joint Synod of Ohio, dating its ori gin back to 1818; that of Iowa and the Nor wegian United Church, have each a number of districts and are in the line of becoming "gen eral bodies ;" some of the smaller synods will be absorbed by the more vigorous ones, .and like changes are going on continually in the Lutheran Church of this country. It would not be correct to speak of them as so many divisions, for all of them, together with the general bodies, cling to the historic name and subscribe to the Augs burg Confession of 153o; they use Luther's Small Catechism in their instruction for church mem bership, whatever language they may speak, and thus constitute one Evangelical Lutheran Church.
As to their nationalities, the statistics change rapidly in favor of the new. At present there are 4,000 German, 3,800 English, 1,95o Norwe gian. 93o Swedish, 295 Danish, 45 Finnish and 25 Icelandic Lutheran churches in North Amer ica. These together report 45 colleges, 24 theo logical seminaries, 4o academies, 7,043 ministers, 11,6o5 congregations, 4,o34 parochial schools, and 1,711,000 communicants. In 183o the Lutherans had one communicant to every 234 inhabitants; in 18go it was one to every 48, demonstrating a rapid gain on the population of this country. Their baptized membership may be estimated at about eight millions, which gives them one to every ten of population.
In Europe the church is under the control of the State, which has led to 93Ille aS IO iIS historic name. Prussia ignores the dif ference between Lutheran and Reformed offi cially and calls her state church "Evangelical," yet allowing individual freedom both as to name and confession. In Austria, France and most of the southeastern countries it is known as the "Church of the Augsburg Confession." The Lutherans of Southern Germany have generally adhered to the natne "Evangelical" as originally adopted, the second part, "Lutheran," not hav ing been recognized in public documents until the Westphalian Treaty of 1648. There is a body of 922 ministers, with 1,152 congregations and 116 parochial school teachers in this country, calling itself the "German Evangelical Synod of North Atnerica." These are not counted in with the Lutheran Church, because they reject the name "Lutheran" and claim to continue the simple evangelical status of the church in most parts of Germany. They, however, adopt the Augs burg Confession and do not differ in their cult and sympathies from others who have had the same earlier training. Also the Swedish Mission Friends, who number some soo churches in the United States, deserve recognition, as originally and practically now a part of the Lutheran Church. They have 22 congregations in the city of Chicago.
3. Polity and Organization, In its govern ment the Lutheran Church in the United States is not Episcopalian, Congregational, Presbyterian or Methodist, though it has certain terms and us.ages which are akin to some existing in these ecclesiastical organizations. It is somewhat like the government of the United States.