St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-17
AUGSBURG IMBROGLI0 UP.
DIVISION OF OPINION CONCERNING
SECRET SOCIETIES..
SEVERAL WARM DISCUSSIONS.

+ Lutheran conference AMlnOrs
q ity Report Read, After Some
ae' Hesitation Of the Conference
ss5 About Hearing It-Several Del
=. egates Denounce Secret Orders
The members of the annual meeting
sOf' the United church seemed to be in
no particular hurry about gathering
/ for the morning session at the Audi
1 forum yesterday. In fact. the meeting
was not opened until several minutes
after the appointed time.
.. Rev. A. l.. Hus, of DEBORAH, TO-, led
in prayer.
The roll call showed that 397 lay dele
gates had arrived.
The following gentlemen were elected
committee to prepare the reports on
the missions:
Prof.M. Q. Boeckmann, Rev. S. Strand.
Rev. T. Dreyer. Halle Stensland,
Halvor Berg.
Committee on the report of the pub
fishing house: Rev. G. j. GrOnli, Rev.
|: NJ: Dahl. Knute Thompson, o. A.
Veblen, O. Kofod.
Prof. Malvig and Rev. Fjeldstad,
after heated discussion. were engaged
to take stenographic reports of the
proceedings of the meeting.
The announcement that the question
of hearing the report of the committee
from the minority" would be taken
up. soon aroused much feeling, and
many of the speakers were deeply agi-
tated. The great stumbling block was
tho foat thot hn IN. hoA cfv,In
itself ''the committee on union"-
Foreningskomite. The peculiarly of
the committee is that its members are of
the United church and at the same time
struggle for a union with the United
church. Not that alone. but the "min-
ority'' itself Is part of the United
church, which is amply proven by the
fact that its ministers and delegates are
entitled to vote at this meeting. 1t was
this contradictory double-tacedness of
the committee that put the committee
in peculiar dilemma as to whether the
committee ought to be given hearing
or not.
After good deal of misunderstand-
ing the request of the committee was
referred to the committee on the presi-
dents report. Prof. NJ. o. Broeckmann
was the one who made motion to that
effect, and the minority was represent
ed by Prof. G. Sverdrup and Rev. Gjert-
sen.
I. The chair app ointed Rev. !. E. Word,
of Rice Lake, Wis.,; Rev. o. H. Lee. of
Milwaukee, and Hon. Obey Nelson, of
Slater. To-, to report on the application
for admission 10y the Bethlehem church
i Of Minneapolis.
:, Re1. q. Rasmussen, of Madison, Wis.
Ted in prayer in the afternoon.
-. he next began a very guarded talk
about the minority" committee, and
finally wound up by proposing to recon-
quest of said committee to the committee
on the presidents report. Prof. F. A.
Schmidt, D. D., Rev. b.. c. Holm, Rev.
Arvesen and others spoke in the same
iYein, and the resolution was not only
iFeconsidered. but Prof. q. Sverdrup, by
an overwhelming majority, was per-
nitted to mount the platform and read
the report OF the minority" This
permission. however, was granted him
as a member of the United church, not
las representative of the committee
OH union" elected by the majority
- Many of the delegates and ministers
the report, and the unusual silence
reigning proved the gravity of the ques-
ton under consideration. The report
was quite lengthy, and was drawn up in
very clear-cut language.
1t maintained that the union, so far
as the old conference is concerned, has
not yet been perfected. proof of which
was that Augsburg Seminary had not
been transferred to the United church,
and the minority desired to confer with
the United church with the view to-
speedy transfer of the property in dis
pute to the United church.
The report was Immediately taken I'D
for consideration by the committee on
the presidents report.
Several ministers reported that man
in the Red river valley wished to donate
farm worth $4,000 to the United church
under certain conditions, and Rev. l. NJ.
| Dahl said he keeps $4,000 in trust for
the Indian missions. The matter was
referred to the proper committee.
The question as TO what position the
United church ought to take in regard
to secret societies was discussed for
nearly an NOur. '-
Rev. o. Waldeland, of Blair, Wis,
thought secret societies were Gnchris-
tian in their tendencies to say the least,
and was against admitting members of
lodges into The church. 4sa.
Rev. Theodore Eggers. Of Grand
Forks, said he knew of good church
members VINO also were members OF
lodges. and for that reason he objected
to wholesale denunciatiOn of secret
societies.
Rev. Slettedahl. of Duluth, demanded
that the church commit itself on this
important question.
Rev. l. NJ. Dahl asserted that 1.-THE
god Of the lodge is not the Christian
God," and made fun of the "silly cers-
monies" performed in the lodges.
Prof. l. Lokensgaard. Of Madison,
Nina, was against secret societies Of
all kinds on the ground that they run
counter to the church and American
institutions. But if the church will
commit itself against them their sinful.
ness must be proven by the Bible, or
else the opposition of the church will
carry no weight.
Rev. q. E. Gjerstad, of Elgin, To-. had
found mapv good citizens in the lodges,
but NOT single person whom he was
sure to b true Christian. in his opin-
Iou many people are drawn INTO the
lodges by the pOmp and ceremonies with
which they surround themselves.
1.-The discussion Of this subject will be
resumed Monday.
The committee on ordination recon-
raended the following gentlemen for
ordination:
Mikael B. Eriksen, who has received
acall from Wegdahl, MIMI; j. s Kol-
stad. Benton. To-; q. A. Froiland, Wat
son. Minn.; j. 5. Strand, Hanley Falls.
Mimi; j. Ii. Stenberg, Leland, ILL.,;
Prof. l.. A. Vignes, Des Moines, 10.
ministers of the gospel at the Audi
forum this evening.
1t seems somewhat strange that three
of these men are Augsburg graduates,
while only one is a graduate from the
United Church seminary