Excerpt from The Susquehanna Synod: Of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States, a History, 1867-1917 The men who in October 1867 organized the Susquehanna Synod were men of faith and vision. They were filled with missionary zeal. They believed that territorial and other reasons justified the men of the Susquehanna Conference in asking their dismissals from the East Pennsylvania Synod, in order that they might form and do the work of a Synod. They represented a distinct type and class, though, of course were one with the fathers and brethren of their mother Synod, in all essentials of Christian faith and life. The fact that the little Synod which began with 4500 communicants became a Synod with 21,000 communicants in fifty years, is ample proof of its providential mission and justification. The Fiftieth Anniversary of a Lutheran Synod in America, may well be the occasion for a careful review of the past. A history, then, should be a very fitting part of the Synods jubilee. It is hoped that the history of our Synod's fifty years may prove of enough value to justify its existence. It is needless to say that the critical reader will find many imperfections. In some cases early records, which were meager at best, have disappeared. In other cases where doubtless, though possibly scant and rare, auxiliary sources of information exist, pastors and others were not familiar with them. Further, the past year has witnessed a very unusual amount of changing in the pastorates of the Synod, and this materially increased the difficulty both in getting material and getting it promptly. Accumulated delays prevented the work from being completed as early as was expected. It was intended that every charge should be represented by a picture of its pastor and of each church in it. In addition to these, it was intended that cuts of many of the ministers who had served one or more pastorates in the Synod should appear. These intentions were not fully carried out only because the necessary photographs or cuts were not secured, even though, in some instances, repeated efforts were made by the committee to secure them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.