ndtvig's opinion about them, though
different, was scarcely higher. It provoked him to observe pastors openly
repudiating doctrines and ordinances which they had sworn to defend. To
his mind such a course was both dishonorable to themselves and unjust
toward their congregations which, whether or not they approved of these
unlawful acts, had to be served by their parish pastors. The majority, it
is true, accepted the new doctrines with indifference. Rationalism then
as now promoted apathy rather than heresy. But Grundtvig observed its
blighting effect everywhere, even upon himself.

Signs of a new awakening, nevertheless, were appearing here and there,
especially in certain rural communities. Influenced by the Haugean
movement in Norway and Grundtvig's own earlier work, scattering groups of
Evangelicals and Pietists began to evince new life and activity. Peasants
in a number of parishes in Jutland refused to accept the Evangelical
Christian hymnal and a new rationalistic colored catechism, choosing to
go to jail rather than to compromise their faith; and groups of
Evangelical laymen on the island of Fyn began to hold private assemblies
at which they nourished themselves by reading Luther's sermons and
singing Kingo's and Brorson's hymns. Most if not all of these groups
admired Grundtvig for his bold defiance of Biblical Christianity and
looked hopefully to him for encouragement. If, as his enemies charged, he
had wished to make himself the head of a party, he could easily have done
so by assuming the leadership of the private assemblies.

But Grundtvig never compromised his views for the sake of attracting a
following, and he did not approve of private assemblies. Such groups, he
wrote, had frequently disrupted the church, bred contempt for Scripture,
and fostered a perverted form of piety. Even as a release from the
present deplorable situation, they might easily produce more harm than
good.

Although Grundtvig could not approve of the assemblies he, nevertheless,
sympathized deeply with the distressed laity. A layman was then bound to
his parish, and Grundtvig clearly understood the difficulty of laymen who
had to accept the ministry, have their children baptized, instructed and
confirmed by pastors denying fundamental doctrines of their faith. With
his usual frankness he therefore threw caution to the winds and reminded
the pastors that it was their own failure to preach and defend the
Lutheran faith that was forcin