18 Bille—A History of the Danes in America. 
acquisition of congregations previously in charge of Norwegian 
ministers. And in most congregations there was an active mi¬ 
nority opposed to the new order of things; while even among 
the ministers themselves considerable difference of opinion ex¬ 
isted on the points of doctrine, and church policy. The Grundt- 
vigians, however, were decidedly in the majority, and wholly 
determined the church policy, which was directed chiefly towards 
the maintenance of Danish language and sentiment, and the pecu¬ 
liar religious ideas of Grundtvig. The first step in this direc¬ 
tion was to make the church in America a part of the Danish 
national church. At the annual church meeting of 1873 the fol¬ 
lowing resolution was unanimously adopted: “We, the Danish 
ministers and congregations, hereby declare ourselves to be a 
branch of the Danish National Church, a missionary department 
established by that church in America. ” That this union was 
also considered seriously in Denmark, is shown from the fact 
that two graduates from the theological department of the Uni¬ 
versity of Copenhagen, I. A. Heiberg and H. Rosenstand, on re¬ 
ceiving calls from congregations in this country, w r ere ordained 
by one of the bishops of the Danish church, and appointed by 
the king as regular ministers in that church. 1 There were, how¬ 
ever, but few men qualified for holding the ministerial office in 
the church in Denmark, who could be persuaded to go to Amer¬ 
ica ; the small salary, the uncertainty of tenure of office, and the 
minister’s lack of social prestige, all acted as checks in this 
direction. In order to supply ministers for this new field, a de¬ 
partment was established at the Askov High School, a school of 
the Grundtvigian type, located in the south part of Jutland, for 
the preparation of ministers to American congregations. It was 
thought a great advantage to have the ministers trained in Den¬ 
mark, as they would then be in the closest possible touch with 
the mother church and all that was Danish, and thus be better 
prepared to preach the doctrines of that church, and re-enforce 
1 This union was further recognized by the Danish government, by an 
annual appropriation of $840, made for the first time in 1884, for the train¬ 
ing of ministers for the American branch of the Danish church. This 
money was at first expended in Denmark, but since 1887 it has been sent to 
this country, and expended here in aid of poor theological students. 
