The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-04
NATIONAL In SCOPE
AUGUSTANA SWEDISH LUTHERAN
SYNOD WHICH MEETS IN THIS
CITY THURSDAY
COUNCIL ALREADY AT WORK

1t Is Preparing the Work for the
synod Preliminary to the big
Meeting Which VIII BE Held in
First Church, Woodward Avenue
and John Street-PrOceedIngs of
Interest to Churchmen.
Elaborate preparations are being made
by the Swedish Lutherans for the enter
tainment of the Augustana Swedish Luz
theran synod of America, which will meet
in this city in annual conference Thurs
day and continue in session until It's bust
ness has been disposed of The Angus
tana synod is the most representative or
ganization among the Swedish people in
America, as it is also the largest en-
bracing nearly 100000 souls within it's
membership.
This meeting, Its forty-frst,. is partic-
ularly notable from the fact that 1t marks
the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning
of religious work among the few Swedish
immigrants found here in the forties. The
pioneer of this work was the late Rev.
J.. P. Esbjorn, the patriarch of the Swed-
),
of course, excepting the Delaware colo
nists of the Seventeenth century. An
Esbjorn memorial celebration will be held
next Thursday evening, and on the pro-
gramme will be found the most eloquent
men in the church. 1t will be the prin-
cipal event of the meeting
On account of the change in the system
of representation, the coming synodical
meeting will not be as large as in former
years. In the past from 500 to 1000 dele
gates presented themselves and brought
with them as many friends and relatives
Such body was too unwieldy and vast
ed time so that it was absolutely neces-
sary to reduce the number of delegates.
This was done by establishing the repre-
sentatiOn at the rate of one ministerial
and one lay delegate for every 1,5OO COM
municant members in the various confer
ences. On this basis there should be about
200 authorized delegates at the coming
meeting.
While these will not arrive for several
days, the work of the conference has real
ly begun already. The synodical council,
consisting of the president, vice president
of the national organization and the pres
tdents and one lay delegate for each of
the eight conferences, began its sessions
at st. Paul yesterday. In its meetings
are considered petitions reports and mat
tiers of greater or less moment, and these
are put in order and prepared for the
greater body.
All the meetings will be held in the
First Swedish Lutheran church, Wood
ward avenue and John street. First will
come the ministerial concalve, which
opens next Wednesday morning and will
be IN session two days. The duty Of this
body will be to examine the candidates
Tor ordination, of whom there are twenty,
all graduates from the Augustana Theo-
logical seminary at Rock Island. On
Friday the synod proper will be called to
order by the venerable president, DR.. P.
). Sward, who, directly after the close of
the synod, will turn his face to Sweden,
there to end his declining days
There are several matters to be con-
sidered by the main body which are like
ly to stir up a lively interest. In the
first place, the Minnesota conference is
not at all satisfied with the division of
the tax for educational institutions. Ev-
cry communicate member Is assessed %
cents annually for the schools In Min
nesota, 10 cents goes to the Augustana
college at Rock Island and the remainder
to Gustavus Adolphus college at st. Pc
ter The MinResOtans object to such a
levy for the college department at Rock
Island when they have such an excellent
institution as the Gustavus Adolphus col
kege. Five cents a head should be enough
IN their opinion.
The proposition to revise the ritual
MIL create clash between two elements
one of which favors the extension of
the use of the English language in the
ritual, contending that the continued use
of the Swedish service will impair the
growth nth
coming generations of Sweedes will use
English only.
Probably the most interesting event of
the meeting will be the election of a
successor to President Sward There are
nVe leading candidates: Rev. M c. Ran
ceen, of Chicago, now vice president: DR.
Z. e. Lfndberg, who occupies the chair
or dogmatics at the theological semin-
airy; President C. A Swenson, of Beth
any college, Lindsborg, KAN Rev. M.
Frykman, Sycamore, ILL.,, a former pres
tdent of the Illinois conference, and DR..
3. Z. A Lindalh, editor of Augustana,
and former president of the synod.
The synod extends from Maine to CAL
nornia, but is confined almost wholly to
the Northern states. The eight confer
ences are known respectively as the Min
nesota, Illinois, Iowa, New York. Ne
braska, Kansas, California and Column
oia In addition, the mission district of
Utah is entitled to representation The
synod is made up of 1872 congregations
and has 437 clergymen and 7O4 church
buildings. 1t maintains several colleges
and academies, as well as exercising
some control over hospitals and orphan
asylums. There are Ill, ASS COMMUNICATE
members, according to the last census
and the total membership is close to
2h00o0. The Sunday school enrolment is
1857 and the teachers over 5000 in num-
her.
Besides the president and vice presi-
dent the members of the synodical COM
mittee are:
Illinois conference, Rev. R. L. Abra-
hanson, Prof. c. w. Foss Minnesota.
conference, Rev. j. Fremling, Prof. Isaac
M. Anderson; Iowa conference, Rev. M
p. Oden, c. o. Nelson; Kansas confer
ence, Rev. c. w. Walleen, J. o. Lund-
strom; Nebraska conference, Rev. P. 7.
Brodine, Prof. S. M. Hill; Columbia con-
ference, Rev. A. G. Anderson, ]. A.
Levin; California conference, Rev. G. 7
E. Hedterius.
The delegates of the New York confer
ence have not yet arrived.
Yesterday was devoted to examination
OF the nineteen graduates from the theo-
logical department of Augustana semin-
airy at Rock Island who have applied for
ordination.