burg Rule, by the General Council, the
distinct statement was made that all preceding action of the General
Council on pulpit- and altar-fellowship was unchanged.... Inasmuch as
the General Council has never annulled, rescinded, or reconsidered the
declarations made at Akron, 0., in the year 1872, they still remain, in
all their parts and provisions, the action and rule of the General
Council. All subsequent action of the General Council is to be
understood and interpreted according to the principles there determined
and settled.... The present position of the General Council is to be
understood and interpreted in such manner that neither the amendment and
further explanation at Galesburg nor the original action at Akron be
overlooked or ignored, both of which remain in full force and mutually
interpret and supplement one another." (219.) Exceptionally,
non-Lutherans may be admitted to Lutheran pulpits and altars--such,
then, was the final official decision of the General Council as to the
question of pulpit- and altar-fellowship. In the _Lutheran_ of May 3,
1917, Rev. J.E. Whitteker, president of the General Council Home
Mission Board, said that it was his custom not to refuse the Lord's
Supper to non-Lutherans. (_L. u. W._ 1917, 463.) Dr. J. Fry, _The
Pastor's Guide_, says: "It is not considered proper to give a general
invitation to persons belonging to other congregations to participate in
the Communion at the time when it is administered. If any public
invitation is given, it should be at the time when the Communion and
preparatory services are announced, and such persons be requested to
make personal application to the pastor, so he may know who they are,
and judge of their fitness to join in the Communion. The door should not
be opened wider to strangers than to children of the household." (54.)
In 1904 Dr. Deindoerfer of the Iowa Synod declared: "We do not see that
in the circles of the General Council, as a whole, the churchly practise
has improved and become less offensive, and that earnest proceedings are
instituted against members who are guilty of offensive practise--a state
of affairs which our Synod never can and will sanction." (_L. u. W._
1904, 516.)

INTERDENOMINATIONAL FELLOWSHIP.

124. Sound Principles.--The doctrinal basis of the General Council as
well as a number also of its later declarations and resolutions as to
church-fellowship and cooperation with non-Lutherans are sound. They
breathe th