The directory for the public worship of God in the Norwegian Church is to be found in the Kirke-IHtiial of 1685, with its appendix, the .-1 Uerbnrj of 1G.S8. The rules there given are based upon the book of liturgv {Prdimmts), which was compiled by a royal commit- tee in the year 1537, and revised by Luther himself. Though it has not, in its present shape, the same ful- ness and completeness it had originally, still tlie chief materials and the frame and order of the Norwegian VIL— N
liturgy very much resemble those of the Dcidscha Messe of 1520, that hand-book of liturgy in which Luther, not satisfied with his own former directions in the Formula Missd of 1523, laid down the principles of an evangel- ical service for the guidance of such congregations as acknowledged him as their leader into the truth of the Holy Scriptures. The sermon keeps its place as the central part of public worship, and constitutes, together with the lessons from Scripture, hymns and prayers, the chief part of it, while the communion is the highest. The liturgy arranges the service in three parts. In the first, the opening part of it, the congregation turn to God in prayers and songs, confessing themselves to be sinners, but expressing at the same time their penitent hope that God, for Christ's sake, will visit them, and satisfy their spiritual hunger. In the second part, the main body of the service, the worshippers receive the gifts of the Holy Sitirit through the \\'ord of God and the sacraments. To this part belong the lessons of " the epistle" and " the gospel," the sermon, and the ministration of the sacraments, when there are persons to be baptized or communicants — all interwoven with hymns and short prayers. In the concluding part, the congregation give thanks through prayers and praise to the Most High for his blessings, implore his grace, that the}' may retain what he has bestowed upon them, and show it forth in fruits of grace, and finally they re- ceive the benediction. The Church of Norway admin- isters the Lord's Supper as often as it is asked for. The form largely resembles that of the Romish Church, and, though in both kinds, the wafer is still used instead of bread. But as an ecclesiastical body, it has repudiated the popish doctrine of transubstantiation, with its con- sequences— adoration of the elements, and the idea of an atoning sacrifice, prepared and offered up in the Lord's Supper. To be sure, it has been said that it is difficult for any but a hair-splitter to perceive the dif- ference between the Lutheran and the Roman Catholic doctrine of " the real presence ;" but the reason for this difficulty might be found, not so much in the matter itself, as in the want of investigation on the side of the observer. Jlany appear to think that the right name for the Lutheran doctrine of " the real presence" would be consubstantiation, as if it taught a commixture of the substances. The truth is, that the Lutheran Church has never tried to explain the mysterious union, in Avhich it believes, between Christ's body and blood and the visible elements of the holy supper. It confines itself to repudiating consubstantiation (see Schmid, Dog- matik d. Er. Luth. Kirche [1853], p. 439, 445, 591) as well as transubstantiation, and all other such palpable devia- tions from the truth, involving more or less the idea of a phj-sical, local, and circumscriptive manner of presence of the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist, as futile endeavors to define the incomprehensible. The Church of Norway, nevertheless, unlike other Protestant bodies, combines with the holj' ordinance of the Lord's Supper the practice of confession, and consequently absolution. This must not be understood, however, to bear any com- parison to the " auricular confession" of the Church of Rome, in which an enumeration of sins is enjoined as necessarj-, and which is a corollary of priestly usurpation of power as judge of the conscience; and thus the Nor- wegian ministry repudiates, of course, every thought of such confession before the minister being the ordinary, not to speak of the only way of obtaining from God the remission of sins. The confession in this greatly puri- fied— though it must be confessed still objectionable, because misleading — form was retained in the Lutheran Church, originally as a secret and individual but volun- tary confession for the aid of troubled and oppressed con- sciences. Afterwards it was enjoined upon all as a necessary condition for being admitted to the Lord's Supper, in order that the minister might ascertain if the person applying for admittance to the communion really was in a state of penitence, and had sufficient knowledge of the elements of saving truth for a blessed
NORWAY
194
NORWAY
partaking of it. The power to absolve is not consider- ed, moreover, to beloiij^ to tlie clergynnan as an indi- vidual, but to be vested in the Church, in whose name the forgiveness of sin is pronounced. Absolution, then, according to this view, is not a power given to the clergy, but to the Church or body of believers which is rejiresented by the clergy. Before the act of absolution a sermon is preached, the object of which is to prevent any other than true penitents from applying for absolu- tion. The rite itself is thus performed. The penitents kneel before the altar, and the clergyman, laying his hands on their heads, utters these words, "I promise you the precious forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost." Having received the absolution, the penitents retire to their seats, and a h3'mn is sung, at the close of which the clergyman chants the words of the institution of the Holy Supper, the congregation again kneeling before the altar, and then the elements are distributed.