ON THIS ROCK Translations from the Ministry of The Reverend President Herman Amberg Preus (June 16, 1825–July 2, 1894) After the publication of Truth Unchanged, Unchanging by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in 1979, which offered a sampling of the work of Ulrik Vilhelm Koren in English, work which I had headed up by invitation of former Bethany Lutheran College president B.W. Teigen, I began to work on material from the ministry of The Reverend President Herman Amberg Preus. He was first elected president at the 1862 Convention, succeeding Adolph Carl (A.C.) Preus [no relation]. He had been president of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America from 1862 until his death in 1894, thirty-two years, one-half the life time of that church body. From the materials available to me the following has resulted. Eighteen Presidential Addresses: One of the synod president’s responsibilities has always been the delivery of a President’s Address at the opening of its conventions. The addresses speak in general to the theological positions to which the synod adheres and the addresses speak to specific issues of the time. Having all of Preus’s addresses together here gives the reader-student a good view of the man he was, of the spirit which motivated him, and of the work he was given grace by his Lord to do during the years of his pilgrimage to heaven’s eternal home. These addresses also define the synod of which Preus was president. There is no address to the 1867 convention because Preus was in Norway for reasons of health and also to deliver “Seven Lectures on the Religious Situation Among Norwegians in America,” which in 1990 were offered in English translation by the Norwegian-American Historical Association under the title “Vivacious Daughter.” In separate files are Twenty-five Sermons and Addresses. In other separate files is the translated text of Wisconsinism, including a Glossary and Endnotes. These three works are all the Preus material I have translated. If one can envision a single apt title for it all, it might well be ON THIS ROCK. As I worked through the material I was conscious always that it is ON THIS ROCK that Christ promises in Matthew 16:18 to build His Church. And I was conscious too that Preus was a pastor, not a professional theologian, not only a church administrator, who dealt with theology in abstract terms. He is thinking always of the people in the pews. When possible quotes from Martin Luther are from the American Edition of Luther’s Works. When Preus gives no hint of the source of his quotes, and where I see nothing I recognize, I try to translate Luther. Whatever emphases are in the texts are those of President Preus. Many of the footnotes are in the original texts. Where it has seemed helpful, I have added footnotes, and I freely concede that I may not have included all the footnotes a reader might wish were there. But I am assuming that readers of these translations are already quite familiar with the history of the church and do not need to be introduced to every name, date, place, etc. which are mentioned. Because he didn’t, I have not given chapter and verse for every scripture reference President Preus makes. The translations were made from the annual synod reports. The hard, painstaking, and pleasurable, work of turning some of Preus’s, and other men’s, work into English was done in my study as part of my preparation to preach, to teach and to do the work of an evangelist. For several years Pastor [now emeritus] M.E. Tweit assisted by reading several of the pieces critically and offering suggestions. They have not been made public due to the press of parish work. Since retiring I have returned to these pages, now stored in computer files, in order to refine the translations. I suspect this is the largest body of Preus in English available in any form; if that is not the case, I, and others, would love to see more. In whatever form some of Preus’s work is available it will provide source 1 material for anyone interested in his work—and in the church-scene of his times. They provide the context from which quotes can be drawn. During the years that I was privileged to be pastor in two congregations President Preus helped to organize in 1851, St. Paul’s in Lewiston Township, Columbia County, Wisconsin, just outside Portage, and Newport in Newport Township in the same county, just outside Wisconsin Dells, I visited Preus’s grave behind the Spring Prairie church, a short distance north of Madison. Earlier in my ministry I had “succeeded” U.V. Koren as pastor in Winneshiek County, Iowa, and sometimes visited his grave at the Washington Prairie church. During his years of service in the West Koshkonong church in Dane County, Wisconsin, Jakob Aal Ottesen had been my family’s pastor, baptizing among so many others, my maternal grandfather. Prior to Ottesen A.C. Preus, whose wife was God-mother to one of my great, great grandmothers, served the congregation. A great, great grandfather, Guldbrand Gulbrandson Holtan, was one of four deacons chosen to assist the Reverend J.W.C. Dietrichson back in 1844. And in Norway, in the 1840s another great, great-grandfather, Herbrand Knutson, was a leader in his community, taking the conservative, more-scriptural side of Hans Nielsen Hauge against the liberal side represented then by the State Church. I mention none of this in a spirit of boasting but simply to show that my life and my family roots—as is of course the case with so many persons—touch some of the pioneer pastors today’s Evangelical Lutheran Synod numbers among its fathers. This might explain some of my interest, and my willingness to stick to it, so that words such as these might be yours to read now. I was anxious to learn how these pastors handled the Bible, what they said when they preached and wrote, praying that our Lord might make me at least an echo of them. I feel a debt to my brothers and sisters in Christ to share these fruits of my labors of love in His vineyard. May they edify and inspire. I believe no one can gain an accurate picture of the “old” Norwegian Synod, acquire a true “taste” of it, only by listing its Doctrinal Statements and engaging in apologetic and polemical exercises. We have to get into the pews and listen to the preaching, and sit in Synod Meetings year after year and listen to its presidents address it, and we have to read in their wholeness some of the articles which appeared in their publications. Ære være Gud i det høieste! Glory to God in the highest! J. Herbert Larson, pastor-emeritus, Evangelical Lutheran Synod Fischer, Texas 2003 2 Table of Contents 6th Regular Synod Meeting ....................................................................................................................... 5 Rock River Church, Wisconsin June 10–17, 1863 Second Special Synod Meeting .............................................................................................................. 10 Perry Church, Dane County, Wisconsin June 8–16, 1864 7th Regular Convention ........................................................................................................................... 18 Highland Prairie Lutheran Church, Fillmore County, Minnesota June 14–22, 1865 Third Special Synod Meeting ................................................................................................................. 27 Gjerpen Church, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin June 20–28, 1866 10th Regular Synod Meeting ................................................................................................................... 34 Spring Grove Lutheran Church, Houston County, Minnesota June 19–27, 1869 11th Regular Synod Meeting ................................................................................................................... 42 South Prairie Lutheran Church, Lisbon Congregation, Kendall County, Illinois July 2–10, 1870 12th Regular Convention ......................................................................................................................... 48 East Painted Creek Lutheran Church, Allamakee County, Iowa June 22–29, 1871 13th Regular Convention ......................................................................................................................... 50 Scandinavia Lutheran Church, Waupaca County, Wisconsin June 26–July 4, 1872 14th Regular Convention ......................................................................................................................... 51 La Crosse, Wisconsin June 21–29, 1873 15th Regular Convention ......................................................................................................................... 52 Holden Lutheran Church, Goodhue County, Minnesota, June 13–21, 1874 16th Regular Convention ......................................................................................................................... 53 Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota June 12–20, 1875 17th Regular Convention ......................................................................................................................... 54 The Norwegian Lutheran Church, Decorah, Iowa June 17–25, 1876 18th Regular Synod Meeting ................................................................................................................... 57 West Koshkonong Lutheran Church, Dane County, Cottage Grove, Wisconsin May 30–June 5, 1878 19th Regular Synod Meeting ................................................................................................................... 60 Spring Grove