NORWAY
192
NORWAY
He called for no change of opinion or of established faith, but for better lives and more Christian practice among both clergy and laity. And he taught onlij tlie doctrines of the Church, casting out the fables and wicked imaginings of men — lifting up his voice against the coldness, the selfishness, the worldliness, and the scepticism of the clergy — for even into Norway neol- ogy had made its way, though it has never had such a hold upon the whole Church as in the sister country, Denmark. His followers called themselves Vakte — '• awakened ;'' and esteemed themselves members of the congregation of saints. But they never called them- selves nor were esteemed dissenters ; they professed the doctrines of the Church — from the sinful slumbers and negligence of which they had come out and separated themselves. They met, it is true, to hear their favorite preacher, and occasionally by themselves for religious purposes in the open air or in private dwellings, but they did not on that account withdraw themselves from the communion of the Church. They were, and are, in fact, a kind of Methodists, such as the Methodists were before they constituted themselves a separate body, with separate places of worship. At the same time it is probable that, had circumstances been favor- able, they might have become a regular dissenting body. Had the laws and circumstances of Norway been such as those of England and Scotland when Wes- ley and Erskine laid the foundation of the two leading sects in those countries, the Ilaugeanere — for b}' this name they are generally distinguished in Norway — had probably long ago separated from the Church. But the law forbade the establishment of conventicles, and, if it had not, the Norwegians are too poor to sup- port any dissenting clergy. So long as they simply made profession of spiritual quickening, they were tol- erated and even kindly considered bj' the Scandinavian governments. But the more uneducated and the less refined of the Haugeans became after a time disturbers of the public peace. Thus among their more extraor- dinary proceedings were the methods they adopted for driving out the devil, the results of which were occasionally maiming and death. Such outrages, of course, could not be permitted ; the conservation of the public peace and of the lives of the people called for government interference. Inquiries were instituted, and Hauge was arrested in October, 1804. The affair was delegated to an especial commission in Christiania. The reformer could not be accused of being directly ac- cessory to the outrages of his followers; but the preju- dice was strong against him, and he was arraigned upon tw^o charges : first, for holding assemblies for divine worship without lawful appointment; and, second, for teaching error, and contempt of the established instruc- tors. Nine years had elapsed since he began his career, during which he had suffered much, and undergone much persecution. The matter was now taken into court, and, after a trial prolonged for ten years, he was first condemned to hard labor in the fortresses for two years, and to pay all the expenses; but the sentence was afterwards commuted in the supreme court to a fine of one thousand dollars, the expenses of the trial. In 181G, finally, this sentence also was commuted, and with this decision ended the public life of Hauge. All persecution ceased, and his mind became calmer ; his continual anxiety, his itinerancies, and his preachings ceased. He lived peaceably, was pious, and respected by all — a man of blameless life and unimpeachable in- tegrity. Though he no longer went about preaching, he still kept up a close communication with his follow- ers; and he probably did as much real good during his retirement as during the years of his more active life. He conlirmed liy advice and example the lessons he had formerly taught ; and the great moral infiuence wliich his strenuous preaching exercised upon the cler- gy did not cease even with his death. He lived nearly twenty years after the period of his trial, and died as late as March 29, 1824. Tlie effect of his labors as a Chris-
tian reformer is still felt in Norway. The Haugeanere are found in every part of the country, and form a body of men held in high esteem for their peaceable disposi- tions and their pious lives. Remaining still in commu- nion with the Church, the influence of their example is extensively felt, and the effect upon the religious char- acter of the people at large is everywhere acknowledged to be of a most beneficial description.
The political connection which, ever since the union of Calmar, had subsisted between Norway and Denmark, was brought to a close in 1814, Bernadotte, king of Sweden, having received Norway in compensation for the loss of Finland. Norway was united with Sweden on the understanding that it should retain the ne^vly promulgated constitution, and enjoy full liberty and in- dependence ivithin its own boundaries. These con- ditions were agreed to and strictly maintained ; a few unimportant alterations in the constitution, necessitated by the altered conditions of the new union, being the only changes introduced in the machinery of govern- ment. Charles XHI was declared joint king of Sweden and Norway in 1818. Since the union, Norway has firmly resisted every attempt on the part of the Swed- ish monarchs to infringe upon the constitutional pre- rogativ-es of the nation ; and during the reign of the first of the Bernadotte dynasty, the relations between him and his Norwegian subjects were marked by jeal- ousy and distrust on both sides. Since the accession of Bernadotte's son, Oscar I, in 1844, perfect harmony and good-will have existed, and Norway has continued to make rapid progress towards a state of political se- curity and material prosperity far greater than it ever enjoyed under the Danish dominion. The Norwegians have in this union with Sweden regained the free con- stitution of which Denmark had deprived them.