separate English branch of the Ohio Synod, united with the General Synod in 1841. The East Pennsylvania Synod, founded 1842 by nine ministers withdrawing from the Pennsylvania Ministerium, who advocated the use of the English language, revivals, and greater liberty in the form of worship, was received by the General Synod in 1842. The Allegheny Synod, organized 1842 by ministers and congregations of Western Pennsylvania, united in 1843. The Southwest Virginia Synod was also admitted in 1843. The Miami Synod was organized 1844 in Ohio and joined the General Synod in 1845. The Illinois Synod, a descendant of the Synod of the West, was organized 1846 and joined the General Synod in 1848. When, in 1867, this Synod was dissolved, the greater part amalgamated with the Illinois District of the Missouri Synod. The Wittenburg Synod, organized 1847 in Ohio, was admitted 1848. This body was led by Ezra Keller and S. Sprecher, professors of Wittenberg College, Springfield, O. The Olive Branch Synod of Indiana and adjacent parts was organized in 1848 and received into the General Synod in 1850. In 1894 the Middle Tennessee Synod united with the Olive Branch Synod. Its device is an olive branch upon an open Bible; its motto: "In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas." The Pennsylvania Synod reunited with the General Synod in 1853. The Texas Synod, organized 1851 by Rev. Braun (sent by Dr. Passavant) and eight ministers from St. Chrischona, joined the General Synod in 1853, the General Council in 1868, and in 1895 the Iowa Synod as its Texas District. The Synod of Northern Illinois, organized 1851 by English, German, Norwegian, and Swedish ministers in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, was also admitted in 1853. The Pittsburgh Synod, the so-called "Mission Synod," whose policy was largely shaped by W. A. Passavant, was organized in 1845 and admitted by the General Synod in 1853. In 1867 it joined the General Council. The Kentucky Synod and the Central Pennsylvania Synod, which was organized in the year 1855, joined the General Synod in 1855. The Synod of Northern Indiana, organized 1855, the Synod of Iowa, organized 1852, and the Synod of Southern Illinois, organized 1856, were received in 1857. In 1897 the Synod of Southern Illinois united with the Synod of Central Illinois as Synod of Central and Southern Illinois. The Melanchthon Synod was admitted in 1859; the Franckean Synod, organized 1837, and the Synod of Minnesota, organized 1860, in 1864. The Minnesota Synod joined the General Council in 1867 and in 1872 the Synodical Conference.

14. Secessions and Accessions.—The title "General Synod" was for the greater part of her history descriptive of, not what the General Synod was, but what she desired to become. In a letter to Solomon Henkel, dated January 23, 1826, Henry Muhlenberg remarks: "Of the seven Lutheran synods only three belong to the General Synod, and yet its representatives assume the name 'The General Synod of the Lutheran Church in the United States'!" In 1829 there were 74 ministers in the synods connected, and 123 in the synods not connected, with the General Synod. In 1834, of 60,971 Lutheran communicants the General Synod had 20,249 and the Ministerium of Pennsylvania 26,882. In 1860 the Lutherans in America numbered 245,000 communicants, about two-thirds of whom belonged to the General Synod, then embracing 26 district synods with 1,313 pastors and 164,000 communicants. The following decade, however, marked a heavy decrease. Owing to unguarded resolutions with respect to the Civil War, the Southern Synods withdrew, and in 1863 organized the General Synod South. In 1866 the oldest and strongest synods seceded and immediately formed the General Council. The consequent numerical loss was more than 200 pastors and 76,000 communicants. After these reverses a number of smaller synods acceded to the General Synod. In 1867 the Susquehanna Conference, formed in 1845 and belonging to the East Pennsylvania Synod, organized as Susquehanna Synod and resolved to unite with the General Synod. Susquehanna University, at Selinsgrove, is located in her bounds. The Synod of Kansas, organized in 1868 by ministers and laymen in Kansas and Missouri, was received 1869. Midland College and the Western Theological Seminary are upon its territory. The German Wartburg Synod united 1877. It had been organized 1875 by the German Conference of the Synod of Central Illinois formed at the dissolution of the Illinois Synod in 1866 by ministers who remained loyal to the General Synod, among them Severinghaus, the editor of the Lutherischer Kirchenfreund. The Kirchenfreund was succeeded by the Lutherischer Zionsbote, established in 1896 as a joint organ of the German Wartburg and Nebraska Synods, representing at the same time the German interests of the entire General Synod. The German Nebraska Synod was organized in 1890 and admitted by the General Synod in 1891. Its congregations are located in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, and the Dakotas. The Wartburg and Nebraska Synods received a part of their ministers from Breklum and Chrischona. As to pulpit- and altar-fellowship and lodge-membership, the Wartburg and Nebraska Synods have not been as liberal as the English Districts of the General Synod. The Rocky Mountain Synod, embracing the territory of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, was organized in 1891; the California Synod in 1892. The New York Synod was admitted in 1908. In 1859 seven English pastors, withdrawing from the New York Ministerium, formed the Synod of New Jersey. Again in 1866, on account of the withdrawal of the Ministerium of New York from the General Synod, fifteen ministers separated and organized the Synod of New York. In 1872 both united as Synod of New York and New Jersey. This body, in 1908, merged with the Hartwick, Franckean, and Melanchthon Synods, thus forming the present Synod of New York. Prior to the Merger in 1918, when the whole Lutheran Church in America embraced 2,450,000 confirmed and 3,780,000 baptized members, the General Synod ranked third in size among the general bodies. It reported 474,740 baptized members, 364,000 communicants, 1,857 congregations, with 1,426 pastors. Apart from a number of benevolent institutions and colleges, the General Synod maintained theological seminaries in Hartwick, N.Y.; in Gettysburg, Pa.; in Springfield, O.; in Selinsgrove, Pa.; in Atchison, Kans.; in Lincoln, Nebr.; in Breklum, Germany. In 1825 S. S. Schmucker was elected professor of Gettysburg Seminary. He served till 1864. The school was opened in September, 1826, with ten students. In 1830 E. L. Hazelius entered as second professor. In 1833 he was succeeded by Charles Philip Krauth, who served till 1867. Among the succeeding professors were H. I. Schmidt, 1839-43, Hay, Brown, C. F. Schaeffer, C. A. Stork, Valentine, Richard, Singmaster. The General Synod supported foreign missions in Liberia and India. "Father" Heyer, a scholar of Helmuth, was the pioneer American Lutheran missionary in India. The chief periodicals are The Lutheran Quarterly (now Vol. 42) and the Lutheran Church Work and Observer. The Lutheran Observer, which merged into the last named organ in 1916, was established in 1831 by Morris and edited by B. Kurtz from 1833 till 1861.

CHARACTER.

15. Object Not Unity, But Union.—In the Lutheran Observer, January 2, 1863, H. Harkey wrote: "Some say that unity must precede union. But the Bible demands that we unite. Hence those who magnify these differences [among Lutherans] and endeavor to keep us separate are the greatest sinners in the Church." This has always been the view of the General Synod: union, irrespective of doctrinal differences. But, while striving after true unity in the Spirit is always and everywhere of divine obligation, external organic union is not an end per se divine. And while efforts at organic union, even at their best, always remain a matter, not of Christian duty, but of Christian wisdom and liberty, all endeavors at union which