St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-14
.LuTHERAAS BEGIN WORK.
PRESIDENT HOYME DELIVERS ALENG-
7HY REPORT.
ROAsTs AUGSBURG FACTION.

Rev. Kildahl. Of Chicago. breaches
| Mastery Sermon ACOmmittee
on Credentials Has Not Com.
pleted the long List of Dele
gates-Will Finish This Fore
noOn-Other Reports.
Although the formal opening Of the
! exercises of the first session of the an
nual conference of the United Nor.
Wegian Lutheran Church of America
did nnt occur until 10 O'clock yesterday
| morning. the ministers AID delegates
began to surge into the. Auditorium in
large numbers at an early hour. And
in certain sense the building and
those crOwdlng intOit were in keeping
with each other. They were both cut
out for practical purposes The general
impression one gets by loa,ilink at these
men Is that iirmness. physically as we'll as
mentally and morally, is one of their
predominating characteristics. To such
an extent are they the sons of toll that
many OF them are bent and parched
from excessively hard work. But taken
as a whole. they look as though they
could brave any amount of sun and rain
and billiards; their eXteriors plainly
bptoken their Viking origin, even
though they gather in the name Of the
Prince of Peace.
Rev. P. &. OstDy opened the exsr-
cises by prayer, after which Rev. N. j.
Kildahl. of Chicago. preached the open
ing sermon on Ephesians. H.. 17-22.
The effort was excellent. The key to
the sermon were the following words:
I've are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner
stone; in whom all the building fifty
framed together grOweth unto all holy
temple in the Lord; in whom ye also
are builded together for an habitation
of God through the spirit The entire
Christian church is vast structure. the
erection of which has been going on
every day and hour from the first
pentecost to this moment. The arc!li-
tect Is the Holy Ghost, who uses sinful
men and women as building material.
He is also assisted by good Christians in
this work who thus become, not Free
Masons, but maSonS who act under
the guidance Of the Holy Ghost.
The foundation Of such a tremendous
structure as the entire Christian church
must be be firm and strong. or it would
be crushed and the structure would
tumble down, which would be beyond
comparison the most terrible disaster
that could befall the world. But there
is no danger. Christ himself being the
foundation. Many have tried to build
on other foundations, such as good
deeds, but their attempts have resulted
in disaster. There is all infinite differ
ence in the material used for the struct-
ure. There are such blocks in its walls
as Paul, st. Augustine, and Luther.
But there are also small stones. pebbles,
many Of which, however. are put in
such positions as to prevent some large
block from dropping out, for many
humble woman unknown to fame has
done great things for the kingdom of
God. The mortar of the building is the
love of Christ which united all into one
solid mass, making the structure strong
ami warm. The Gospel is the means
used by the Holy Ghost in putting up
the structure. Many people believe that
the Gospel is becoming too old and stale
for our enlightened age. But no matter
what progress has been made in other
lines. the Gospel can neither I've i'm
proved nor replaced by anything better;
it is perfection ITSELF"
The sermon was richly seasoned with
choice quotations from hymns used IN
Tue churches of different denomina-
tons.
At the roll call I39 ministers and pro-
lessons responded.
Rev. q. Hoyme, of Eau Claire, the
president of the United church, APP
pointed the following committees just
before the close of the forenoon session:
On Credentials - Rev. K. 0. Eidahl,
New Hope, Wis; Rev. NJ. Gulbrandsen,
Pigeon Falls. Wis: Rev. A. l.. Dahl,
Mount Morris, Wis: Mr.. Salveson,
Milan, Mimi, aud A. Ringsrud, Duluth,
MINI.
Tellers-Rev. o. 1. Norby, Sims. N.
| D.; Rev. NJ. P. Dommersnes. Cresco,
TO-; Rev. 81. o. Fjeldstad. Sloan, 10.
Rev. c. NJ. Larsen, Little Cobb. Mimi.
Rev. l. h. Lawrence, Berlin Mills. n
H.; Rev. N. 1. Lockrem, Norway, ILL.
Rev. M. F. Lunde. DEBORAH, To-; Rev.
E. T. Oman, Niobrara, Neb.; MIR.
Rovik; Rev. N. A. Stubkjer. Plano,
ILL.,; Rev. l. Madsen, DEVILS Lake. N.
D.; Rev. E. B. Slettedahl, Duluth,
MINI.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Rev. N. }. Ellestad. of Chicago,
opened the afternoon session by read
| ing Col. 4.
Rev. NJ. Guldbrandsen, the chairman
| of the committee Of credentials. re-
| ported that the credentials of 262 lay
delegates had been examined, and they
were made members of the conference.
| This number represented only about
half of the delegates present, and the
| committee will report the rest this
morning.
The time for the sessions was fixed at
! 9 to IL in the forenoon and to S in the
| afternoon.
President G. Hoyme read a very
| meaty report, reviewing the work of
the United church dnrlng the past year.
| 1t showed that the condition of the
| church is far better than might have
been expected. The attendance at tue
services in the congregations has been
| encouraging, the conversions have been
numerous, and in $50 congregations a
| healthy revival movement has been &c.
| ing on. In about one-half the congre-
| cations the celebration of the Lords
supper has seemed to be falling into
desuetude. which, according to the presi-
dent, shows that ''large crowds are Sleep
ng in those chur ches. There are tokens
of improvement in the work of the
schools. and the conference ought to set
| aside one session for the discussion of the
parochial school question. In this con.
nection Luther league" and young
peoples societies ought to be encour-
aged. No less than thirty-one new
| church buildings have been dedicated
during the year. Many ministers are
actually living from hand to mouth,
and the president urged upon the
churches to remedy this evil. Rev.
Harald Eriksen. of Wegdahl, Mimi,
after service of only three
| years. died February 6, 1894.