State regulation and control of Christian ecclesiastical practices have a long tradition in the Nordic countries. Current research holds that in Denmark-Norway, this control reached a peak with the State Pietism of the 1730s, and then gradually lost its significance through the century. This research has largely been based on studies of legal codes, regulations, and court practice. The relation between control through law and administrative practices have been devoted less attention.  As a result, central elements of the Danish-Norwegian absolute monarchies and the early Norwegian constitutional state’s governance - that is, police regulations and the police activities - have yet to be discussed in full. Studies of these regulations and practices change the picture of governmental control of ecclesiastical practices, and especially the common notion that state control with public ecclesiastical practices more or less changed in form or became less important towards 1800. Police regulations on i.e. the sabbath continued to stay in force throughout the 1700s and the first half of the 1800s, and police in the largest Norwegian cities continued to enforce these regulations throughout the period.