48 Minn. 494 | Minn. | 1892
In many of its features this case is like Trustees of East Norway Lake N. E. L. Church v. Halvorson, 42 Minn.
The referee found as facts “that, prior to the time of the commencement of this action, the said Julius Poepke, Ernst Beutler, and Ernst Eahrenholtz, together with other members of said society, abandoned and repudiated the doctrines and practices of said society, and separated therefrom, and at and prior to the time of the commencement of this action were- using, and attempting to use, the property of said society, described in the complaint herein, in the teaching and promoting the doctrines of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, so called.” Necessarily based on that is his conclusion of fact that the defendants are lawfully in possession.
There is no evidence to sustain the above-quoted findings.* September 21, 1883, the congregation adopted a constitution, which its members are required to sign. On the same day it organized as a corporation. Article three (3) of the constitution sets forth the rule of doctrine required of members as follows: “Art. 3. We acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the word of God, and as the only and infallible guide to faith and life, and adhere to the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures as laid-down in the symbolical books of the Lutheran and Beformed Churches, which are the Augsburg Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and Luther’s Catechism, as far as the same may agree. Wherever the same may differ, we confine ourselves on all disputed points solely to the Holy Scriptures, and reserve unto ourselves that freedom of conscientious views ever recognized by the Evangelical Church.” In no other part of the constitution is any qualification for membership, as regards belief in or adherence to religious doctrine, stated. That article furnishes the test, so far as doctrine is concerned, of right to remain a member of the congregation. That test is acceptance of the Holy Scriptures as the word of God and only infallible guide to faith and life, and adherence to the interpretation thereof laid down in the three symbolical books mentioned, so far as they agree. And, where those books disagree on an interpretation, each member is at liberty to adopt the interpretation in
Order reversed.
(Opinion published 51 N. W. Rep. 477.)