The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-06-17
PRESIDENT HOYME'S REPORT
TOUCHES ON MANY SUBJECTS NOT
OVERLOOKING "FRIENDS OF
AUGSBURG"
ARE GONE. BUT NOT FORGOTTEN,
Statistics Showing the Condition OF
the Church at the Close of
Another Year.

Lutheran Cnufch OF America, COnSIe-
| gated around the First Swedish Luth-
! ePan church rather slowly yesterday
morning, partly on account of the
| damp, rainy weather, partly because
there We're so many dear old acquain-
| tances to attract the attention this way
/ or that way. The crowd was not very
| large. There is business in everything.
! Very little can be accomplished the
first day Of the meeting, and, accord
ingly, very many of it's members do not
care to put in an appearance until the
morning of the second day.
The opening sermon was preached
by Rev. o. Nilsen, of Scandinavia,
| Wis, who took for his text John XII, %
! 20. The burden of the sermon may be
expressed in a very few words: You
must come to Jesus just the way you
are, a poor, lost sinner.
At the close of the devotional exer-
cises President Hoyme appeared on the
platform and, in praising God for His
many blessings during the past year,
opened the eighth annual meeting Of
! the United church in the name of the
triune God.
At the roll call, 127 ministers and
professors responded to their names.
The chair appointed the following as
committee on credentials: Rev. c..
L. M. Gronlid, of Elon, To-; Rev. n. j.
Lockrem, of Norway, Ill; Rev. j. N.
! Nord, of Rice Lake, Wis; T. H. Ler-
dal, of Madison, Wis, and j. Aase, Of
! Minneapolis, Mimi
The following were appointed tenn
! oil q
Northwood, To-; Rev. Martin Finstad,
Rindal, Mimi; Rev. H. o. Fosnes,
Hudson, Wis, and Rev. Hammer.
The committee on credentials sub
mitted a partial report at the opening
of the afternoon session and 240 lay
delegates were declared members Of
the meeting.
| President G. HOyme next read
| lengthy and meaty report. He began
! by calling attention to the fact that the
| United church was established as a
voluntary association of churches, and
that it is maintained by voluntary CO.
/ operation. For this reason there is no
occasion for Sinking the duties which
/ are incumbent upon the churches. Re
! Vival movements had been very pro-
/ nounced in many churches, and many
souls were saved in such. But the pres
walton had been going on effect
/ lively even in churches where the noise
! had. been less, and he yentured to state
! that iflsau those who had been saved 10y
I means of the United church in the
course of the past year could have been
! present, the church would have been
! found too small by far Some OF those
who had left the United church-the
! friends Of Augsburg called the
! United church dead but the presi-
+ dent characterized that charge as high
! ly untrue and unjust. The relation Of
most Of the cCngre cations to the United
! church was Of the pl5 asantest kind. One
/ church in Iowa and another in IShQe-
mirg, Mich. had ropCsed the es ablish-
nlent Of an insurance company in the
/ church, and the proposition will be
/ presented to the meeting. Twenty
! seven new church buildings had been
/ dedicated in the course of the year. Four
pastors had died, namely, Rev. A. c..
! Anderson, Of Chicago; Rev. Anon
! Johnson, of Sioux Rapids, Iowa; Rev.
! c. Sangstad, Of Bella Coda, British
| Columbia, and Rev. N. Heiermann. Of
i Atwater, MINI. The Revs. Skaro, Bar
ikmo and Julsrud had resigned their
! charges on account Of i'll health. Ten
| young men had been ordained ministers
in the course of the year, and a large
religious convention had been held at
! Stoughton Wis. Thirteen new candi-
| dates were ready for Ordina ton. The
| normal school at Madison, Mimi, ST.
! Olaf college, Mortified, Mimi. and the
academies at Canton, S. D., at st.
Ansgor, Iowa, at Jewell, Iowa, and at
| Scandinavia and Mount Horeb, Wis.
are all doing nicely, and some Of them
| had experienced q marked growth. The
| Orphans asylum at Wittenberg, Wis,
) and the Children's homes at Beloit
To-, Pauls County, Wash, and Lake
Park Mimi, were doing good service
! The president had asked those min
listers who took upon themselves to
ordain Messrs. Odland and Berntzen
| without any authority, to make
amends; but he had not been success
! full in that respect. 1t was proposed to
! revise the list of the names of the min
! listers which are supposed to belong to
the United church, and the rules sug-
! gested for this revision by the presi-
dent were so strict that the list may
! be materially shortened before tire next
annual meeting.
The president was sorry to say that
the ''so-called friends of Augsburg
persisted in keeping property which
/ did not belong to him. He held that
J tically ended, however, and felt sure
that the courts would decide the case
the right and just way. Twelve con-
gregations were lost to the United
/ church by expulsion Jan. l, 1897, and Il
score of others had followed them;
but the detection was surprisingly
small in proportion TO the agitation Of
the enemies Of the United church. The
friends of Augsburg" or the Free
church." came in for some extra at
tention at the close Of the report. Ac-
cording to the rules which they
| adopted last week, the president said
the congregations Will have to furnish
! the money, but they will have no safe
! way of controlling the use of such
money, and the leaders were charged
with "oligarchy," "papacy," tyranny"
etc, until the audience began to stir
This fact, perhaps, would not have re-
! ceived so much attention if it had not
been the settled policy of the Free
| church to try to crawl into and split
up other Lutheran churches where
! there is the least chance. The audience
was visibly delighted when the preSi j..
dent made slight allusion to Henrik
/ Ibsenis, master builder" Thus" tn .
president said, they have gone to the
! extreme; thus they have placed the
! wreath upon the pinnacle of the tow
/ err
The secretary, Rev. J. C. Jensson, OF
Clinton, Wis, read a far better report
/ than he used to have. According to
the statistics collected by him, ther.
/ are 1852 ministers and 722 congregations
in the United church. But there are
| also 304 churches which are served by
| other pastors connected with the assoc
| citation, making the whole number of
churches connected with the United
church 1,026. having a total member
! ship, including the children. of 22e OO0
Some forty-four churches had left in
the course of the year, and still there
WAS an increase of 10pr,laYNchi1 20,