St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-06-12
WARM INTHEcHURcH
GREAT POSSIBILITIES ARE IN<
VOLVED IN A MEETING THAN
BEGINS TODAY g
X
OF NORWEGIAN LUTHERANS.'
OLD QUARREL OVER AUGSBURG
SEMINARY MUST NOW BE
SETTLED
OR A sCHIsM WILL REsULTt
Review of the Contest From tho
Beginning to the Present
Time.

The leading event in the Scandi-
navian-American churches this year
will be the annual meeting of the Unit
ed Norwegian Lutheran church. The
meeting will be opened today at the
First Swedish Lutheran church, cor
ner Woodward avenue and John,
street, and is to continue for the neXtA
eight days. In the first place. the
United church is the largest Scandi-
navian- American organization of anyj
and all kinds. the statistics for the
past year showing that 1,040 congrega-
tions, with an aggregate communicate
membership of 115,000, are connected
with it; and in the second place, in
dications are not lacking to the ef- I
feet that internal dissensions of fouri
years standing will come to head
at this meeting. 4
The real apple of discord is Augs-
burg seminary, of Minneapolis. The
Omitted" church receives its name
from the fact that it was formed June
13, 1890, by the union of the confer
ence, the nti-Missourian brotherhood
and the Norwegian Augustana synod
The articles of union stipulated that
Augsburg seminary, which was owned /
by the conference, should be the theo-
logical seminary of the United church.
From 1890 to 1893 the theological SEM
mary of the United church was To-
Gated at Augsburg seminary. But
the board of trustees of Augsburg
seminary, which had been created by
the conference, failed to give the
church full control of the property
This policy on the part of the board
of trustees was strongly denounced att
the annual meeting OF 1893, and ac-
cording to a series Of resolutions
passed by the same meeting, the theo<
logical seminary Of the United church
in the fall of tine same year was re-
moved from Augsburg seminary to an
other building in South Minneapolis
simultaneously, part Of the defuncE
conference rallied around Augsburg
seminary, and have ever since BEEN
running that institution in pronounced
and direct opposition to the United
church seminary. The supporters Of
this opposition are now known as the
minority" and the rest of the menu
bers Of the United church as the ma
jority."
strength of the two factions, but it is
safe to say that from 70 to $50 congre-
cations are controlled by the mi
nority," and from. 40 to IS out of a,
total of 315 ministers support this fac
ton. Both sides, of course, claim to
be right. But it cannot be denied that
the minority" suffered decided NOR
al setback little over a year ago by
a decision of the district court grant
ing the United church possession of
the Augsburg publishing house, which
the minority claimed to be owned
and controlled by the same parties as
Augsburg seminary. The =,
HEAD OF THE MINORITY" J
is Prof. Sven Oftedal, 1.-The smartese
Norwegian in America" and he is
blamed more than any other one man
for the trouble in the United church.
AS far as the upbuilding of the Unit
ed church is concerned, the work OF
the minority" is chiefly, if not who'll
ly, negative. Hence there is practice
ally a schism in the church. The
minority already has had two an
nual meetings of it's own, and active
preparations are being made for the
next one, which will be held at Will
mar, Mimi, during the last days of
this month.
In case of a formal schism, it is apt
to be brought about through two Min<
neapolis congregations. More than Il
year ago the Trinity church, which Isl
served by Rev. NJ. r. Gjertsen, decided
to support Augsburg seminary, and not
the United Church seminary. On ac<
count of this decision, a minority Of
the congregation withdrew and, with ID
number of others, organized the Beth<
lehem church. This new church ap<
piled for admission at the last annual
meeting of the United church, and thiI
meeting will have to act upon the ap<
plication. But the Trinity church nag
elected the two strongest men in ths
minority" viz, Prof. S. Oftedal and
G. Sverdrup, as delegates to this meet<
ing. Thus both of these churches SEEM
to desire to be recognized by the meet<
ing But their relation to the United
chuch is peculiar. The Trinity church,
belongs to the United church, but haS
amply proven it's hostility to it; whild
|, the Bethlehem church, which as yet haa
no rights in the United church, ha9
just as amply proven it's loyalty to it<
These two churches are really furnish-
ing a test case, the decision of which
may lead to far-reaching results res
garding the relation between the "ma-
jority" and the minority"
The United Church seminary pay4
about 81 600 a year for the use Of its
present quarters. Unless Augsburg
seminary is transferred unconditionaI-
ly to the United church which is ex>
tremely improbable, il is likely that thu
meeting will decide either to establish
new institution in the vicinity Of
the Twin Cities, or remove the semi.
nary to st. Olaf college at Northfelds
Mimi.
Among the matters of secondary in1<
portance may be mentioned the ques>
tion as to the course to be pursued by
the United church in regard TO the miss
sionary work in Southern Madagascar.
In the course of the year two of thu
missionaries Of the church In that isl.
and have resigned. the understanding
being that their work is to be sup-
ported, by the minority
The Rev. ]. Olsen, of st. Ans4or, To-,
will preach the opening sermon at "a
o'clock this forenoon. At the close Of
the preliminary services, Rev. G..
Hoyme. of Eau Claire, Wis, will call
the meeting 10 order, and appoint tell
ers and committee on credentials.
Nearly two thousand persons are en-
titled to cast vote at the meeting; but
less than one-half of that number ara
expected TO be in attendance. Most OF
the delegates win stop at some OF tha
leading hotels in the city.