Their numbers, therefore, will
never be accurately known until the restoration, when thousands who, from
convenience and pride, and some from apprehension, conceal their religion,
will be most eager to avow it when their nation takes rank among the
governments of the earth."

Lutherans.

The government of the Lutherans is somewhat singular. Where it is
established by law, the supreme head of the state is also supreme head of
the church. They have bishops, but no diocesan episcopacy, except in
Denmark and Sweden. These are called _superintendents_ in Germany, and
_presidents_ in the United States. There is but _one_ archbishop, and he
is the primate of Sweden.

They have in the United States about one thousand churches, four hundred
ministers, seventy thousand communing members, and about one hundred and
forty thousand which do not commune.

EDUCATION, &c.--They have a college, located at Gettysburg, Pa., and
several academies in different parts of the country; also four theological
seminaries, located at Gettysburg, Pa.; Columbus, Ohio; Lexington, S. C.;
Hartwich, N. Y., a fifth is contemplated in Indiana. Their different
education societies support about eighty beneficiaries, preparing for the
ministry, at an expense of one hundred dollars each, annually. The
_Lutheran Observer_ is published weekly, at Baltimore.

The Lutherans are one of the most numerous sects of Christians in the
world. The whole number in Europe is estimated at twenty-seven millions,
embracing seventeen reigning sovereigns. This estimate, of course,
includes the Moravians.

Protestant Methodists.

This infant church is rapidly increasing, especially in the middle States.
Its population in the United States exceeds one hundred and fifty
thousand.

This class of Christians have twenty-one annual conferences in as many
states; nearly four hundred travelling, and a large number of unstationed
ministers. They have a general conference, which meets once in four years,
consisting of two delegates from every thousand communicants, one a
minister, the other a layman: this is their legislative body. The number
of communicants is about sixty-five thousand.

PUBLICATIONS. The Protestant Methodists support four religious papers:--the
_Olive Branch_, Boston, Mass.; the _New York Luminary_, New York, the
_Methodist Protestant_, Baltimore, Md., and the _Western Recorder_,
Zanesville, Ohio.

Methodists.

The population of all