L. H. CHRISTIAN by L. H. Christian

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · May 5, 1904

L. H. CHRISTIAN

By L. H. Christian

Sabbath-Keepers in Scandinavia Before and After the Reformation—No. 2

L. H. CHRISTIAN

In Finland and Sweden the movement in favor of the Bible Sabbath assumed very large proportions, especially after the Reformation. Many historical writers have wrestled with this religious phenomenon, which seemed so strange to them. The Sabbath-keepers in Sweden appear to have published several small books in their defense; but here in Denmark I am unable to secure a copy of any of these writings. Consequently all I can write about the Sabbath-keepers of Scandinavia must be gathered from books whose authors were more or less prejudiced against them. One well-known historian who regards the Sabbath movement as a return to Judaism, writes as follows:—

“We can find traces of these Judaizing doctrines throughout all Sweden, as it then existed from Finland, northern Sweden, Dolurne, Westmanland, and Neriko down to Westgothland and Smaaland. Even King Gustaf I (1544) wrote a special letter warning the people of Finland against the then widespread error that ‘people, because of the famine, ought to become Jews, and rest on Saturday.’ The king states in this writing that many among the common people refused to work on the Sabbath, but lived like Jews under the Old Testament law of Moses. They even claimed to have received this Sabbath doctrine through visions and revelations. The letter is in itself quite a theological argument by the old king against this erroneous teaching.”

“The next trace of Judaism [Sabbath-keeping] is seen in Westeras in 1597. The church records of the cathedral at this place contain an account of several trials in which two Jewish teachers—a rich citizen and a peasant—were examined.”

“On the sixth of April and the fourteenth of May the church dignitaries placed the wealthy citizen, Hans Jonsson, on trial because of his religious convictions. He promised to reform. On the basis of these promises a sealed agreement, a compromise, which he accepted, was made; on the seventh of November this was read and ratified in the presence of the bishop, priests, city mayor, and council. The case of Hofdesta Peter,

the peasant, was also settled in a ‘conciliatory spirit’ during the same year, and he was allowed to partake of the communion on the condition that he would continue in the true faith.”

“In the archbishopric of Upsala the peasants also decided to keep Saturday instead of Sunday. In a few places they pressed the matter so urgently that their priests even agreed to grant their request by beginning to hold public services on Saturday. During the reign of King Gustaf Adolph we find this marvelous belief in many parts of Sweden.”

“About the year 1625, when the religious revival and unrest had reached its highest point, we hear from Westgothland, Smaaland, and Neriko of revelations and visions wherein angels had spoken of the great importance of keeping Saturday and of warning against the sins that were so common. The movement in these districts became so strong that not only a large number of laymen, but even many of the Lutheran priests began to keep Saturday, which, so it is said, gave rise to no little dissension.”—Norlin’s “History of the Swedish Church,” Vol. I, page 357 f., and Vol. II, page 256.

The origin and cause of this Sabbath-keeping in Scandinavia is a much disputed point among historians. One writer thinks the doctrine was taught by and came from the Catholic Church; another, disagreeing with this unfounded supposition, claims that it was imported into Scandinavia from Russia. But that this was impossible is shown by one author who proves by the clearest evidence that Saturday-keeping existed in Scandinavia before it was found in Russia. One of the best of the Swedish church historians admits that he is unable to explain the cause of this belief in Saturday as the Sabbath, and declares that no other Protestant country has witnessed a religious phenomenon so startlingly strange as the Sabbath movement of Sweden; for, says he:—

“It does indeed seem most inexplicable that doctrines as strange as these could spread with so great rapidity among the people, and could exert such a mighty influence over the believers that many of them, as was seen in the reign of King Adolph, would rather suffer death than deny their faith in these (Sabbath) doctrines.”

The historian Anjon, a very careful writer, and for several years chief bishop of Sweden, gives quite another origin, and the truer one, of the Sabbath movement in Scandinavia. He thinks that it was a natural result of reading the Bible, which, after the Reformation, became quite a common custom in Sweden. These are his words:—

“The belief in the sacredness of a certain Sabbath day could without any connection with the religious movements of earlier times very easily raise the question if it wasn’t Saturday that ought to be kept holy. The people very naturally began to think that the Sabbath law really had no binding force unless it was applied to that particular day which the Old Testament designates. The great liberty that seemed to be connected with Sunday-keeping, the close application of the Old Testament which in those days was customary at the church services and Bible readings, and especially the common practise of following even in civil cases at law the law of God as given by Moses,—all these things led the people to study the commandment that demands the keeping of Saturday. One thing is certain: this belief in Saturday as the Sabbath did not generally stand alone; it was a part of the revival work of those days, and was taught in connection with a message of warning against common sins and vices.”—L. A. Anjon’s “History of the Swedish Church,” page 353 f.

To those who have studied the Sabbath in history this Saturday-keeping in Scandinavia does not seem a strange, unheard-of religious phenomenon. They know that a Sabbath movement similar to the one in Norway, Sweden, and Finland has been seen in nearly every country of Christendom. And they fully agree with Archbishop Anjon as to the origin of such a movement—that people began to keep the Sabbath because they began to read and follow their Bibles. True Sabbath-keeping of to-day has precisely the same origin.

(To be concluded)