6 
Bills—A History of the Danes in America. 
slight influence which the Danish ministers in this country have 
on their countrymen. In fact, the whole beautiful religious 
machinery devised by the state has been put out of gear by this 
agitation; and the established Lutheran church, or the church of 
the people, as it is called, though it claims the allegiance of 
more than ninety-nine per cent, of the Danes, after all is only 
a name which three different factions are each trying to appro¬ 
priate to itself. These are the old-fashioned strict doctrinari¬ 
ans, the Grundtvigians, and the Inner Mission society. The 
first of these three want things to go on in the old, formal way, 
with religion confined within the church walls and consisting 
mostly of a strict interpretation of dry theological points by 
the regularly ordained minister. The G-rundtvigians and the 
Inner Mission people agree in making religion a part of every¬ 
day life and every man’s concern. But the Grundtvigians are 
thorough-going optimists. They call themselves the happy 
Christians, take part in all the pleasures and activities of life 
with the greatest zest, and concern themselves but little about 
doctrinal points. The Inner Mission people are thorough-going 
pietists; they call themselves the holy ones, and profess to 
despise all worldly pleasures. They insist on absolute belief of 
total depravity, and literal belief in the Bible. 1 And in spite 
1 The Inner Mission society was established in 1834. It was the out¬ 
growth of the Grundtvigian agitation, and the early leaders, who were all 
laymen, were adherents of Grun'dtvig’s, but with pietistic tendencies. In 
1861 Vilhelm Beck, a minister of the established church, was elected presi¬ 
dent of the society, which, at that time, had but little influence and no 
regular working force. But under his leadership it has become the most 
powerful agency in the country for stimulating and maintaining religious 
interest. According to the report of the society for 1895 it owned eighty- 
seven missicn-houses, insured at $101,500. Its income for the year was 
$27,395, nearly all gifts. It employed ninety-six regular missionaries, and 
counted as its supporters about two hundred of the ministers of the estab¬ 
lished church and a large number of the teachers of the public schools; 
16,000 public religious meetings had been held during the year. It must 
be remembered that all this is carried on aside from the regular work of 
the established church, to which all the Inner Mission people profess to be¬ 
long. The missionaries are working somewhat according to old apostolic 
methods. They are sent out t vo by two, and go from house to house ex¬ 
horting, preaching, and selling religious tracts. When a community has 
