Teacher in the Christian Church?With its trembling emotion, the very title
itself resounds with typical Lindbergian indignation.
“It is a shame that we, who are in agreement with Lindberg with respect
to the substance of the matter, are unable to extend a fraternal hand to him
because of the manner in which he fights for the truth,” said Bishop Myn-
ster, who was himself critical of the rationalists, their utilitarian morality,
and their shallow eudaemonistic philosophy. What offended and worried
Mynster, however, was something more than themannerin which Lindberg
battled for the truth. As a declared antirationalist, Lindberg wanted to break
with the State Church, and he therefore held religious meetings at his resi-
dence, “Little Serenity,” which lay just outside of Copenhagen near the
Østerbro lime kiln. Despite the name of the place, the scene out at Little
Serenity was anything but serene. After attending a sermon the day after
Christmas in 1831, the two Rudelbach sisters, quivering with virtuous in-
dignation, took up their pen: “The day after Christmas, Lindberg preached
on the text from the Gospel, and since it is the only required text of the
entire Church year that deals with the martyrs, he seized the opportunity
and preached an extraordinarily stern and blunt sermon in which he loudly
and publicly proclaimed that at present there is not a single pastor in the
entireDanishState Church,not a single one, who, like Saint Stephen, would
step forth and do battle for his Lord and Saviornow, when it is most needed.
He was extremely emotional, and the entire assembly, including himself,
was very moved.”
As time went by it appeared that Lindberg wanted to incite underground
Copenhagen to rebellion, and he became one the most derided figures in
the middle-class daily press. Almost every newspaper published slanderous
ditties or smear articles in which Lindberg was depicted as underhanded,
poisonous, demagogic, fanatic, sophistic, and similar lovely things.Kjøben-
havnspostenactually had a regular column titled “Contributions to Knowl-
edge about Magister Lindberg,” which carried the piquant intelligence that
Lindberg and his assembly resembled “an old wound on a frail body, from
which oozed so much poisonous and stinking venom that it infects the
air.” The newspapers were also kind enough to inform the public that his
“religious assemblies were frequented by prostitutes.” Lindberg could
hardly show himself on the street without being met with jeers or with
depictions of himself in the form of the Devil, and out at the Deer Park
amusement park there was a peep show in which the Prince of Dark-
ness was exhibited under the name “Magister Lindberg.” There were
also rumors that he was to be incarcerated on Christiansø, a notorious
prison island. “None of the enemies of Christianity have awakened so
{1813–1834} 33