# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1872_S25
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— 25 —

President's Report [Präsidial-Bericht].

In keeping with the requirement of our Synod's constitution, I now
discharge the duty of reporting to the Venerable Synod on that which, in
the present sessions, if it does not require judgment and decision, at
least calls for the Synod's cognizance.

After our Synod, on the occasion of its sessions at Fort Wayne in the
year 1869, had declared itself ready to carry into effect the agreement
already then initiated with the Venerable Synod of Ohio and Other States,
as soon as that synod should be prepared to declare that it stood in full
doctrinal unity [Lehreinheit] with us, I received an official letter,
signed by that synod's corresponding secretary, Prof. E. Schmid, and
dated October 18, 1870, in which he, commissioned by his synod to do so,
informed ours that the General Synod of Ohio and Other States, at its
assembly held shortly before at Dayton, O., had unanimously given the
declaration demanded by our Synod. "Also," the secretary remarks in the
letter referred to, "the paragraph bearing on this point in our previous
minutes (see p. 33), which admittedly read ambiguously, was clarified to
mean that it was not thereby intended to express any doubt whatsoever
about the orthodoxy of the Missouri Synod, but only to reserve the
opportunity to negotiate further concerning the doctrine of the ministry
[Amt]." I enclose the letter in the original for the archive of our
Synod. Under the same date I also received the letter of a committee
appointed by the General Synod of Ohio and Other States, which informed
me that it had been appointed for the purpose of "conferring with similar
committees of other synods that hold with us the same confession in
doctrine and practice, on the feasibility of cooperating in the
maintenance of the necessary educational institutions [Lehranstalten],
and, should an understanding be reached, of laying before the various
synods taking part in such deliberation, together with their
representatives, a plan for putting such cooperation into effect." The
undersigned committee therefore addressed to me, in the letter mentioned,
the inquiry whether our Synod would be inclined to enter into such a
discussion with it and similar committees. I enclose this letter as well,
in the original. After I had thereupon communicated this matter to the
district presidents [Districtspräsides] of our Synod, and they had all
declared themselves in agreement with the proposals made, I did not
hesitate to arrange that, alongside the likewise-invited and attending
representatives of the Norwegian Lutheran Synod as well as of the Ohio
and Wisconsin Synods, representatives of our own should also take part in
a preliminary convention held for the stated purpose on January 11 to 13
of last year in Chicago. The result of these deliberations was the draft
of a "Form of Union of the Synods of Ohio, Missouri, Wis-