Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-09-01
PREVIOUS LUTHERAN GENERAL
COUNCILS IN THE MIDDLE WEST

: sion at Rajahmundry and Samulcot
I in India
| The ninth convention, 1875, was held
/ in the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran
church. Galesburg. Ill, Rev. 5. P. a.
( Lindahl, pastor. No convention Of the
/ general council caused q greater stir
throughout the church. and was more
| spoken Of than the meeting at Gales
burg Tt made Galesburg famous in
the annals Of the Lutheran church in
I America. and the so-called Galesburg
rule. with respect 10 pulpit and altar
/ fellowship there adopted has never
been revoked. That the Augustana
synod was intensely interested in the
matter is clear from its adoption of
7 theses with respect to mixed Commu-
MON at their meeting in the spring
which theses are printed in the gen
eral council minutes under the report
/ Of synods. The action taken at Gales
burg at once attracted wide attention
and was the subject of discussion at
/ the next meeting of the different syn
/ DDS, and was Endorsed By all.
The 22d convention again marked
an epoch in the history OF the body
when in 1888 it met in St Johns Eng
/ lish Evangelical Lutheran church in
Minneapolis the Rev. G. H. Trabert,
/ pastor Hitherto Chicago had been the
western border at which the cOnyen-
lions had been held, but now it crossed
the Mississippi, meeting in the first
! of the English missions ii had founded
/ in the northwest. This proved the rec
ord convention Of the body. as q Iarg-
( er number Of accredited delegates ap-
peared than at any convention held
farther east On the evening before
the opening, a meeting was held in
the Augustana church accorded a
rousing welcome. on behalf of the Min
nesOta conference. to the general Coun-
Gil upon its first meeting in Minnesota.
. Addresses were delivered by the presi-
dent Of the Minnesota conference. Dr..
?. Sjoehlom in which he emphasized
the foreign mission of the body in In
dia as one OF the strongest bonds unit
ing the several synods. and declared
that it deserves the heartfest support
OF the Augustana synod as its own mis-
sion The governor of the state. as
well as the president Of the UniYers-
ity Of Minnesota. were present and
made appropriate addresses. Perhaps
the most important action taken by the
convention was the authorizing Of the
English home mission committee to
appoint a superintendent to supervise
the English home mission work, as
the Swedes were at the time celebrat-
ing the 350th anniversary Of the found
ing of the first Swedish colony in
America The general council was in
vited to participate in the celebration
TO be held in the Exposition building,
! which invitation was gladly accepted.
The Path convention. 1898, was again
held at Fort Wayne, Ind This was
specially noted for the clearing up
misunderstanding with the Augustana
synod with respect to the English sy-
nod OF the northwest, which had made
application to be received the previous
year. The whole matter was adjust
ed in a most satisfactory manner. and
on motion of one OF the Swedish dele
gates the synod was unanimously adj
mitted. An interesting feature of this
conventions was the eiecting for the
/ first time a member of the Augustana
synod for president, the Rev. DR.. Carl
A Swenson of Lindsberg. Kan. The
relation of the general council to the
proposed Chicago Theological semi
nary was here established by the ac-
ton, that it is not in the province Of
the body to establish theological SEM
inaries, that such work shuId be
carried on by the contiguous synods
most interested
The 9th convention. 1899. was held
in Chicago This meeting again mark
ed an epoch in the history Of the body.
Not only was the Rev. c. NJ Ranseen,
"a member of the Augustana synod
elected president, which Office he held
for three years. but the general coun-
Gil there resolved to undertake work in