# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1905_S30
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

30 Proceedings of the 26th General or

...for it. It is, in more than one respect, an eventful and
event-filled period on which we have to direct the attention of the
Reverend Synod in our report. Manifold changes are to be observed,
various improvements have been made, and the gracious hand of
blessing of our God over our institution has been clearly visible.
Nor has the Lord passed our Seminary by without affliction, in which,
however, we were permitted to learn that we have a God who helps. Let
us briefly mention the particulars.

"Our professors have attended to their glorious office with their
accustomed faithfulness, and for the most part they have also been
graciously kept from illness and incapacity for service. Only Prof.
Wessel was afflicted again for a considerable time by his nervous
ailment, so that the board of control found it necessary to provide
him, during the 1903–1904 school year, with an assistant from the
local student body for instruction in the pro-seminary. Now, thank
God, Prof. Wessel has recovered so far that he can again fully
discharge his office. — At the beginning of the last school year, in
September 1904, Prof. J. S. Simon, already in his 73rd year, resigned
for various valid reasons. He served the Synod faithfully for 23 years
with the gifts and powers God had granted him, and the board of
control accordingly granted him a provisional monthly pension of
$50.00. It now rests with the Reverend Synod to determine Prof.
Simon's further pension. The gap left in the teaching staff by the
resignation was initially filled by a student from St. Louis until
Christmas 1904. From that time on, the remaining professors have
willingly taken on the departed professor's subjects as time and
ability allowed. We can, however, make the joyful announcement that
Rev. Theodor Schlüter of Courtland, Minn., will take up the vacant
position at the beginning of the new school year.

"The number of students at the institution was, in the school year
1902 to 1903: 183, of whom 19 entered the ministry; 1903 to 1904: 194,
of whom 30 took their examinations; 1904 to 1905: 195, of whom 15 are
now ready to take up work in the Lord's vineyard. Among the 195
students of the year now closing are 10 from the Reverend Wisconsin
Synod, 9 Slovaks, 1 Lithuanian, 1 Filipino, and 2 Black students. —
The spirit in the institution was, on the whole, satisfactory. The
students have bowed before the scepter of God's Word. — Applications
for vicars came in at 60 to 70 per year.