30 Bille—A History of the Danes in America. 
was reached, however, in this meeting, and the only result of 
all the discussion was to strengthen the suspicion and ill-feeling 
already existing; and from that time on there was not a 
semblance of harmony in the Danish church in America. 
The members of the Inner Mission society now began an ac¬ 
tive crusade against all the plans of the Grundtvigians. Doc¬ 
trinal differences were emphasized more and more, and the 
general indifference to the Grundtvigian scheme of education 
was changed to active opposition. 
Rev. P. Vig is the principal exponent of the policy of the 
Inner Mission faction, while Rev. F. L. Grundtvig, 1 son of the 
great Danish reformer, is the exponent and leader of the Grundt¬ 
vigians. The controversy was opened by P. Vig in an article 
written by him for Kirketig Samler of June 17, 1888, in which 
he sets forth his ideas on the subject of education as follows: 
“There are many whose greatest desire it is that the language 
which is their motber-tongue shall also be the mother-tongue of 
their children, but feel, nevertheless, compelled to admit that 
this desire cannot be realized. And we should indeed serve 
ourselves and our children poorly by doing all in our power to 
1 F. L. Grundtvig, the acknowledged leader of the Grundtvigians in 
America, is the youngest son of the great Danish reformer, N. F. S. 
Grundtvig. He came to America in 1881, after having taken his degree at 
the University of Copenhagen. In 1883 he accepted the pastorate of a 
small Danish congregation in Clinton, Iowa, which position he has held 
ever since. He first made himself prominent by a violent attack on secret 
societies in general and on Dansk Brodersamfund in particular; this was 
a secret society of the most innocent kind, established for social purposes 
and mutual aid, and without any political or religious aims whatever. The 
attack was based wholly on the fact that it was a secret society, and that 
in its ritual the name of God was used and prayers were offered in a man¬ 
ner which Grundtvig considered blasphemous. The outcome of this at¬ 
tack was a quarrel between the church and Brodersamfundet (the Brother¬ 
hood), in which as usual the church was the loser. From the beginning 
of his ministerial career Grundtvig has been an ardent supporter of the 
high schools and of all means for maintaining what was Danish. He was 
a prominent member of the first land committee, and one of the leaders in 
the organization of Dansk Folkesamfund, and soon became its actual leader 
and mouthpiece. He is a voluminous writer of both poetry and prose, 
but as yet he has produced nothing of any special merit. Most of his 
