# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_September 1858_S264
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

264 The Church of Norway.

lay preaching exercised within the proper limits, and the "Norwegian Kirchenzeitung" is not disinclined either.

It could not fail that the 14th article of the Augsburg Confession was more often cited and discussed. The result was that a distinction was drawn between public, churchly divine service connected with the administration of the sacraments, and private assemblies — a distinction that the latter class of clergy did not acknowledge. In many places, besides the churches, there are found specially built prayer-houses or rented premises in which the "edification meetings" are held, or schoolrooms are used for the purpose. Those precautionary measures are indeed also carried out, and no address is granted to wholly unknown persons, and strangers, even those not wholly unknown, hold edifying addresses only upon a request that has been made. Of this I had occasion to convince myself. — Now, if one cannot make of such addresses the same demands as of the preaching of a theologically educated clergyman, then even a simple, if imperfect, proclamation of saving truth can, especially among the plain people, be of great benefit. The sermons are, to be sure, on the whole kept simple, simpler than is often the case in Germany; but it cannot be denied that men from the common people can often address the common people better. And people are, here and there, in a certain measure strict in their demands on lay preachers, so that they are altogether unwilling to tolerate any confused and confusing speech. The lay assembly at Tönset determined explicitly: whoever wishes to speak must examine himself closely as to what drives him to it, since the heart is a deceitful thing, and mere impulse is not always a genuine motive. He must have sufficient knowledge of God's Word so that he can rightly divide it, not confusing Law and Gospel, but knowing how to distinguish sharply between justification and sanctification, faith and good works. Only the father of a household in his own house, and he whom the father of the household calls upon to speak, are to be regarded as called, etc. I was an eyewitness, both by sight and hearing, of how a lay sermon, in which nothing objectionable could be shown apart from a somewhat monotonous length and breadth, was subjected to sharp criticism. Whether, indeed, the dangers and risks that lie so close at hand are everywhere avoided is a question difficult to answer. It does still happen here and there that some run about on their own impulse and believe themselves called to great deeds, or that the people listen to all sorts of spirits; but that would also be the case if the church-minded, sound-in-the-faith laity kept silent. It is precisely these who can still form a counterweight against sectarian spirits. It is, at any rate, to be wished that, where lay activity has once become a power, at least the tension may vanish that still stems from earlier times, when the open unbelief prevailing among the clergy called forth lay preaching, and that the sober spirit which has shown itself among the laity in dealing with this question