St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-11
1T MEETS TO-DAY.
Joint Conference OF Three Leading
Lutheran Organizations.

Joint conference Oh lnTee LestU11S
Lutheran Organizations.
This morning opens the most i'm
porrant and the largest meeting ever
held by Norwegian Lutherans in Am
erica. The purpose of the meeting is
the union of the three Lutheran de-
nominations popularity known as the
Augustana Synod, The Conference and
the -Missourian Fraternity. These
three denominations, which for years
have carried on a guerilla war, as it
were, against each and all others who
did not interpret the Scriptures as ''we
orthodox" do, have finally decided to
Law down their arms and under the
name of the Omitted Scandinavian
Lutheran Church of America work
for the peace and welfare of
the church. The following historical
retrospect will probably give the most
correct idea of the situation:
In the early days of the Norwegian
emigration number of young theo-
logians came over to preach the gospel
to their countrymen. In 1858 six minis
tiers and some thirty delegates met at
Koshkonong, Wis, and formed the Nor
Wegian Lutheran Synod of North Amer
lea. Notwithstanding the ineXperience
of the ministers, the poverty of the
congregations and somewhat lax COM
prehenSion of the syStematiZed theology,
the synod soon proSpered in such way
that all now look back on those times
with the same feeling as one looks back
at his early youth. What the ministers
lacked in dogmatical training and pro-
ficiency they amply repaid it by their
untiring zeal and honest kindness to
their countrymen.
Time went by. The dogmatical lax
ity OF some of the ministers became,
however, too loud. Some left the
church and the rest sought shelter and
comfort under the wings of the German
Missouri synod. If they did not join
the synod formally and literally, they
did it so much the more spiritually, and
from that time the history, development
and spirit of the Norwegian synod is
practically the same as that of the Ger
man, so much so that both are equally
characterized by their dogmatical lntol-
erance and their great talent or power
of organization. The authority of the
fathers, that worked like charm on
the loyal German, did not prove to do so
we'll among the more democratic-spirit-
ed NOrWegians, who always have had a
pronounced tendency to hold their own.
both in religion and politics.
And so it shortly happened that
there was rupture within the
Norwegian synod on account
of the slavery question, the question of
justification and the Sunday question,
and later the predestination question,
and for twenty years have the Norwe-
gian Lutherans to the glory of God and
the edification of its members kept up
this dispute in which anathemas and
denunciations of each other have played
the most conspicuous part. Of the three
denominations to be united, the Angus
tana synod perhaps represents the
most pronounced lay element. 1t has
never been known to have been in any
connection with the Norwegian synod,
but was once united with the Swedish
Augustana synod, from which it sep
arated to form the Norwegian Angus
tana. The conference was founded in
1868 by minister, who did not agree
with the Norwegian synod in regard to
the slavery question. 1t has acted as
healthy counter lrritant to the sleepy
dogmatical life of the members of the
Norwegian synod, and has, without
doubt, been a safety valve by
which many who. under the
synodical regime, would have suffered