scrap of paper and its formal recognition "a solemn farce and empty
show."

The General Council

SYNODS COMPOSING THE COUNCIL.

104. Organization of New General Body.--After severing its connection
with the General Synod at its convention at Lancaster in 1866, the
Ministerium of Pennsylvania appointed a committee (Drs. Krotel, Krauth,
Mann, C.W. Schaeffer, Seiss, B.M. Schmucker, Welden, Brobst, Laird,
etc.) to issue a fraternal address to all Lutheran synods, ministers,
and congregations in the United States and Canada which confess the
Unaltered Augsburg Confession, inviting them to a conference for the
purpose of forming a general body of Lutheran synods, in the interest,
especially, of maintaining "the unity in the true faith of the Gospel
and in the uncorrupted Sacraments." Accordingly, in December of the same
year, representatives from thirteen synods met in Reading, Pa. The
synods represented were the Pennsylvania Synod, the New York
Ministerium, the Pittsburgh Synod, the Minnesota Synod, the English
Synod of Ohio, the Joint Synod of Ohio, the English District Synod of
Ohio, the Wisconsin Synod, the Michigan Synod, the Iowa Synod, the
Canada Synod, the Norwegian Synod, and the Missouri Synod. After the
Fundamental Principles of Faith and Church Polity and Articles on
Ecclesiastical Power and Church Government, prepared and submitted by
Dr. C.P. Krauth, and discussed from the 12th to the 14th of December,
had been approved, the resolution was passed that the first regular
session of the new body, "The General Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of North America," should be held, if the Fundamental
Principles had been adopted by ten synods. At the first regular meeting
in Fort Wayne, November 20, 1867, again representatives of thirteen
synods were present, the Augustana and Illinois synods taking the place
of the Missourians and Norwegians, who had withdrawn from the movement.

105. Synods Remaining with the Council.--Of the synods represented at
Fort Wayne the following retained their connection with the General
Council throughout its history: 1. The Ministerium of Pennsylvania, the
so-called "Mother Synod" of the Lutheran Church in America. It was
organized 1748 by Muhlenberg. In 1778, numbering 18 ministers, it
adopted a constitution which formally acknowledged all of the Lutheran
symbols. The new constitution of 1792 admitted lay delegates, but
eliminated the confessional basis. In 1820 it was repre