Christiania, Norway

The last of the northern countries to be visited before it got too late in the season was Norway. It was Friday morning, October 30, when they reached Christiania (Oslo), and were taken to the home of A. B. Oyen, the minister sent from Battle Creek to Norway to engage in the translation of the Ellen G. White books. It was a bit of a relief to Ellen White to be residing in the home of English-speaking friends. Lest she be misunderstood, she hastened to record in her diary that “although we were welcomed and treated with every attention by our Danish and Swedish brethren and sisters, we felt all the time crippled because we could not converse together, and it was thus made impossible to do them all the good we much desired to do.”—Manuscript 27, 1885. She described the activities on the Sabbath:3BIO 322.9

Sabbath was a pleasant day. I spoke to the people in the hall where the church met to worship, from 1 Peter 1:13-17. I had freedom in presenting to the people the importance of practical godliness. All listened with great attention. The hall was full. In the afternoon the ordinances were administered, and the washing of feet. In the evening a discourse was given by Elder Matteson.—Ibid.3BIO 323.1

The church had a membership of 120; two hundred attended the Sabbath morning service, and one hundred were present for the ordinances Sabbath afternoon (Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, 207).3BIO 323.2

Two full weeks, extending over three Sabbaths, were spent in Norway. Except for meeting a speaking appointment in Drammen, the entire time was devoted to the interests in Christiania, the principal city. Here a new publishing house was under construction, a sizable building that, as in Switzerland, would provide not only space for the publishing interests but a good meeting hall and living quarters for some of the workers as well. They were in a transition period; part of the building that had been occupied for the past six years had been demolished to make room for the new, depriving them of a meeting place. The Good Templars gave to the church the free use of their hall, seating three hundred, and the meetings were held here during Ellen White's visit. Printing work continued in that part of the old building still standing.3BIO 323.3