The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

II. Contemporary Witness of the Swedish Press

1. RECOURSE TO THE PROPHECIES CONDEMNED

Discussions of the strange “preaching sickness,” afflicting some of the children of southern Sweden, permeated the Swedish press for two or three years-particularly in 1842 and 1843. Descriptions, denunciations, and defenses were intermingled. These youthful “preachers” were bitterly opposed by the state clergy, and their exact words come to us only through their enemies. Their testimony was condemned by the religious leaders for three reasons- first, because the people were not spiritually needy, then because children and women should be silent in church, and finally be cause the resultant reforms allegedly dealt with outward things. One writer, however, in a Stockholm paper, challenges the propriety of the commonly employed terms “preaching sickness,” or “preaching fanaticism,” for, he says, these terms do not fit the accepted concept of preaching, for it “presupposes education, official call, and ordination ¹⁰ PFF3 675.2

Among the arguments he then employs for declaring that “this work is not of God” are these: First, the religious “condition in Smaland ¹¹ is not in such a state that something so extraordinary is necessary. God provides for the extension of the kingdom of Christ “by ordinary means, namely through the Word, the Sacraments, and the ministry.” There are still worshipers in uprightness and truth; there is still spiritual food for those who hunger and thirst. But if a revival were due, then it would be needed more in other near-by provinces than in Smaland; second, the phenomenon is repudiated by the “spiritually enlightened teachers and other faithful”; third, it does not bear the “fruit of repentance”; and fourth, those who speak or prophesy are mostly children or unmarried girls. But, the writer insisted, God said that the woman should be quiet in the church. God is the God of order. If He has commanded that women be quiet, they must be quiet. If He has commanded, aroused, and impelled the girls in Smaland to speak, then He must take back His former word ¹² PFF3 675.3

Apart from these criticisms the chief condemnation seems to center, significantly enough, on their “interpretation, or rather misinterpretation, of the Apocalyptic” messages. The writer sarcastically describes their alleged need for something sensational: PFF3 676.1

“One must see into the future! One must confound with new discoveries! One must prophesy! On what? On the imminent end of the world. To support (heir claims, they must make use of the holy and glorious revelation of Jesus to John. O. ye self conceited, do ye really believe that ye by all your prophecies can take one single nail out of the joints of the world-building? Do ye know the interpretation of a single one of the symbols in Revelation? Have ye really found the golden cord that helps one through the labyrinth of the apocalyptic time prophecies? Do ye possess the knowledge, or in the absence of it, the grace, the enlightenment of the Spirit, necessary to a sound, pure, and clear Biblical exegesis ¹³ PFF3 676.2

He then concludes that “it is easy to recognize which spirit is working through these diviners.” This ecclesiastical writer confidently asserts that “these workings” come “from the devil.” These very charges, however, are answered by others. PFF3 676.3

Knowledge of the phenomenon spreads to Germany. Ad verse comments appear in the Berlin Evangelische Kirchen-Zeitung (Evangelical Church Journal) from Dr. C. W. Hengstenberg, professor in the University of Berlin, who criticizes it because it is not conducted by the “authorized ministry.” Reason and education, he says, as well as piety, are needed, and in all religious services who is leading is to be definitely considered ¹⁴ In support, under notes concerning Sweden, Hengstenberg quotes copiously from a hostile letter from the clergy in the Swedish Aftonbladet (Stockholm) of May 29, 1842 ¹⁵ to be cited later. PFF3 676.4

2. TELL CROWDS OF APPROACHING WORLD’S END

In December, 1841, perhaps the earliest word of the innovation was received at the parish church of Hjelmseryd. Four young peas ant girls had begun to speak strangely on the approaching end of the world. Then came word of “a large number” of “prophetesses of ten to twelve years of age” having similarly arisen in adjoining parishes. Because of this “preaching sickness,” an attempt was made to isolate those “afflicted” from the other children, lest the contagion spread. The record in the Stockhol impress, unfriendly to the phenomenon, continues: PFF3 677.1

“They claim to have received their revelations directly through the Holy Spirit and claim to have visited heaven and hell and seen the condition and state of the dead. They prophesy the soon-coming destruction of the world, etc., and preach repentance and conversion. A general superstition has taken hold of the people, who refute the warnings and instructions of the priests, and in multitudes ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 go to listen to those who claim to be the chosen messengers of heaven ¹⁶ PFF3 677.2

Children of six, eight, and ten years of age caught the “disease.” PFF3 677.3

3. HUNDREDS BELIEVE PREACHING Is FROM GOD

Large numbers of people came to hear these child preachers, ranging from hundreds to actual thousands. The popular belief as to the divine origin of these messages is revealed in another contemporary paper. PFF3 677.4

“From far and near hundreds of persons come daily to listen to these girls. The girl from Swenarum, daughter of a poor peasant, preached twice a day, and had always two or three hundred listeners daily. The 6th and 7th of this February, which days she declared to be the last when she would preach publicly, she was visited by about 3,000 to 4,000 people.... PFF3 677.5

“The common people either believe the girls to be God’s [messengers], as they themselves claim, or they do not know what to think. Few are they who do not see in this something marvelous, or feel this to be the voice of God to man. Almost everyone believes or trembles ¹⁷ PFF3 677.6

4. SING AND PREACH CONCERNING JUDGMENT

The specific case of Lisa Andersdotter of Hjelmseryd-a girl of sixteen, of good health and buoyant spirits-is noted. The press record states: PFF3 677.7

“On September 29 [1811], the reporter [Dr. Carlsson, provincial health officer], says she began involuntarily to sing, and this kept on day after day, so that, as she herself says, she hardly had time to eat. ‘The sound broke forth, although her lips were closed, and the melodies were usually unknown to her.... Two weeks later she was impressed to give a spiritual talk, and after an interval of a week and a half she began preaching. She never preached when she was alone.... Many people came to hear her wonderful sermons and admire her songs, which were impelled by a power entirely beyond her control. She often fell into a trance, like a magnetic [hypnotic] sleep, when she supposedly had revelations.... She preached mainly on repentance and some wonderful things, and the last judgment, for which she, however, did not fix any definite time ¹⁸ PFF3 678.1

5. THE JUDGMENT AND PROPHECIES BLENDED

In a lengthy circular letter from the Wexiö Consistory to the clergy, concerning the religious movements in Smaland, a hostile report nevertheless stresses marked characteristics in the content of their messages. The critical allusion to their exposition of prophecy will be noted, though there seems to be no record pre served of precisely what they expounded. This careful summarization of the circular discloses its spirit and content: PFF3 678.2

In addition to confused prophecies concerning the last events and the impending judgment of the world, coarse chiliastic dreams and miscellaneous figures from the book of Revelation are presented, to which a sensuous interpretation is given. The important doctrine of the work of grace particularly appears to be wrongly comprehended and applied. In common with all zealots these misguided ones believe that the Holy Spirit will communicate directly and perceptibly with man. This is particularly the case with the “sick ones.” PFF3 678.3

The principal aim in their preaching consisted in depicting the agony of hell and appealing to people to repent, and instructing them as to how this should be done; viz., by casting away certain ornaments, by abstaining from the dance and other worldly pleasures, and above all by avoiding intoxicating beverages, as pertains to both the manufacturing and the consumption of the same ¹⁹ PFF3 678.4

This, be it remembered, is the testimony of a hostile witness appearing in the daily press in Stockholm. PFF3 679.1

6. GOD-SENT WARNING CONCERNING JUDGMENT

After singing a psalm, a girl in Linhult, by the name of Carolina, began with an introductory text “after the fashion of the priests,” ac cording to another eyewitness. Then her alleged words are quoted-though there is room to question their accuracy. At least it is a contemporary press report: PFF3 679.2

“My beloved, blessed friends! I wish also to speak, a few words of admonition tonight. Oh, that I could make you repent! But are not your hearts still as obstinate as before? The sun has just set. Who knows over whose heads it will rise again? Oh, the great and terrifying day of doom! Repent, repent, my beloved friends! Oh, that you would believe your teachers! But you have never done as they have told you. Therefore God must send this message of repentance ²⁰ PFF3 679.3

Then the eyewitness reporter adds: PFF3 679.4

“The whole meeting was a good example of proper worship of God, and the whole atmosphere was so quiet and peaceful, that if someone else besides the girl ‘crier’ had had anything to say from the Word of God, the little congregation would just as surely have listened thereto ²¹ PFF3 679.5

7. REFORMATIONS SPRING FROM “REPENTANCE CRIERS.”-

Another eyewitness reports a group of “Repentance Criers,” as they were often called, in Rada Parish, Varmland. After stating that “nearly the whole parish believed in the criers and their preaching as a great miracle from God,” the writer tells of reformations of life wrought, stating- PFF3 679.6

“That the manner of life and state of mind during the six weeks that the calls to repentance lasted, changed perceptibly; that dancing, card playing, drunkenness, pomp and vanity, the flagrant desecration of Sun day, etc., have peculiarly decreased; that Sunday is now spent in attending meetings or in the reading and singing of God’s word at home; that all women have removed combs and purled sleeves; that because the criers have not mentioned the matter of taking God’s name in vain this has not ceased, but the use of the Devil’s name and the words bra and vars, which the criers have mentioned as gross sins, has ceased; that none among the peasantry scoff at the preaching mania [or malady]; that the use of medicine for physical ills is regarded as sin; that the word of Scripture, ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,’ is considered to have met its fulfilment in this phenomenon ²² PFF3 679.7

8. PLAYING CARDS THROWN AWAY AS RESULT

Another writer, asserting that no adults and no married women had been “subject to this malady,” tells of the effect of the preaching upon the populace: “Decks of cards are either thrown in the lake or burned. In the whole Parish of Rada, as well as in near-by vplaces or adjoining parishes, it is doubtful that a single deck of cards could be found among the peasants ²³ PFF3 680.1

9. Joel 2:28 QUOTED AS AUTHORIZATION

Again and again in the contemporary press, Joel 2:28 is cited as the authorization claimed for their violations of the custom of silence for children in all religious services. Incidentally, this report appears in The Pietist, many in Smaland being Pietists: PFF3 680.2

“The editor has received a letter written by a man among the peasants of Smaland, regarding the rare phenomenon of some girls who began holding public meetings of a spiritual nature. They quoted Joel 2:28 as the reason for their public meetings, and gave powerful testimonies, ad monishing the people to repentance. They also teach, that if the people do not believe their words, the children in the cradle shall begin to speak: they also believe that the Spirit tells them just when to speak ²⁴ PFF3 680.3

10. EYES OPEN; UNCONSCIOUS OF SURROUNDINGS

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the entire record of the child-preaching phenomenon was the declaration that, in the province of Skaraborg, some preached with eyes closed and were unconscious of surrounding circumstances, according to a witness who had “seen and heard them.” Thus: PFF3 680.4

“In the Province of Elfsborg I heard it told that they preached with the eyes open and standing. Here (in the Province of Skaraborg) I have seen and heard them preach, lying down, with closed eyes, and, as far as I could ascertain, entirely insensible and unconscious ²⁵ PFF3 680.5

An antagonistic pastor in the Broddetorps parish, near Skövde, in the Province of Vestergötland, reports that there those “affected by the epidemic” are boys. He adds: PFF3 680.6

“Especially in Hornborga village has the epidemic furiously broken out, and six boys aged from 8 to 18years are possessed with a dominant desire to preach, joined with fainting spells, when they seem to lie unconscious and with some strong shakings in the arms and the whole body ²⁶ PFF3 681.1

11. GOVERNOR THREATENS PENALTIES FOR VIOLATORS

Be cause the “preaching sickness” has not disappeared from his district, Governor Carl Morner, of Växjö (Wexiö), complains that the peasants had not obeyed the decrees, warnings, and admonitions to keep away from those children afflicted with the “preaching sickness.” He repeats the threat of fines for any “who open their houses to such meetings and the preaching of the sick one,” and warns that violators will be prosecuted ²⁷ PFF3 681.2