462 "The Land of the Midnight Sun." times even hostile. They are wanderers from necessity, as their reindeer herds subsist entirely on a hardy moss which requires seven years' growth to reach maturity, and can only be found growing wild in small patches. In The reindeer is a peculiar animal. It disdains all shelter and will not eat food given to it, but prefers to hunt the moss by burrowing deeply into the snow. Reindeer are comparatively useless in summer. fact they are in full health only during the intensely cold arctic winter. Once each year they are driven down to the sea and allowed to drink the salt water. It is said that at sight of the sea they rush forward and drink deeply, and the Lapps maintain that the salt water drives out destroying gnats which embed themselves in the reindeer's skin. The largest beds of moss can scarcely be relied on to supply a herd for more than a month at a time, so that it becomes necessary to make frequent changes QETRO A LAPP ON HIS "SKI." of base to find new pasture grounds. Thus the Lapp herdsman is kept constantly moving, and his shelter meanwhile is necessarily of the frailest character. His family occupies a hut made of poles joined together at the top around a circular opening designed to allow the smoke to escape. In winter furs are thrown over this opening to keep out the snow and the cold. The floor space, frequently not more than six feet in diameter, is the living and sleeping room for the entire family. The smoke is intolerable, filling the air to suffocation. At night young and old alike throw themselves down in their deerskin clothing and sleep soundly in a temperature that is below zero. The herdsman, however, enjoys few of even these meager comforts of home. In winter his reindeer are constantly in danger from attacks by wolves, and he is compelled to stand guard over them day and night. When herding at a distance from home he sets up a rude tent of cloth or skins, open at the top, and useful only to keep off the fierce winter winds. In this cheerless shelter he lies down and sleeps. The sports of the Laplander are snow-skating and reindeer sledging. The snow-skater moves about over the surface of the frozen snow with the greatest He descends the steepest hills at great speed, and is enabled to hunt the wild reindeer in haunts which he never could penetrate without his snowskates. ease. A ride behind a reindeer in a Lapland sledge is an experience never to be forgotten. The sledge itself is scarcely sixteen inches wide, by as many feet long or more, and the speed of the reindeer when drawing this light burden is something marvelous. A train of sledges will make seventy miles a day with ease, and continue at the same rate day after day. The traveler is fastened to his sledge with strong ropes. The road is so uneven that the sledge is constantly being overturned, but the reindeer never stop for such trifles as that; they keep straight on at breakneck speed, and the traveler rights himself as best he can. Sometimes in descending a steep hill the sledge gets ahead of the reindeer; then deer, sledge, and rider become inextricably tangled and roll in a heap to the foot of the declivity. All the time cold is intense, and in midwinter the sun is so far south that darkness reigns supreme. After the long, dark winter night there comes a summer when the sun does not set. Vegetation is so stimulated by this day and night sun that it grows rapidly and attains to a surprising profusion. But the summer is more intolerable than the winter. The constant heat, unbroken by cool air at night, makes life a burden. Added to this are the torments of myriads of monstrous mosquitoes, guats, and sand-flies, so that man and beast alike hail with joy the return of the Lapland winter. The Laplanders are an extremely friendly LAPP WOMAN AND HER BABY IN The Church in Sweden. KOMSE." and hospitable people, as indeed they had need be in a country where hostility and churlishness would often mean starvation and death. In winter the nomad Lapps generally pitch their encampments near the huts of their more or less settled river and forest kinsmen, whose reindeer they have taken care of in the summer; and there in the neighboring forests the herds find their pasture till toward the beginuing of May, when the migration to higher lands and mossy tracts near the fjords begins. A strikingly picturesque spectacle is the passing of the vast antlered droves along the snowy hills under the care of the girls and men on their ski or snow-skates, while the well-trained dogs beat up the stragglers. The word ski (pronounced she) is generally translated "snowshoes," but these strips of birch, fir, or ash, from six to eight feet long and three to four inches wide, may quite as fitly be called skates. The origin of the ski has been traced to a remote Mongolian antiquity, and when it is mentioned that a downhill leap of ninety-nine feet and a journey of 136 miles in 21 hours 22 minutes have been accomplished on them it will be seen that their usefulness is as wonderful as their antiquity. 463 It would far exceed the limits of our space to attempt to delineate the life of the Laplander, from the wood-and-leather komse in which his baby form is swung from a smoky rafter or a leafy branch, to the boat-shaped sledge in which he is laid for his last sleep in the shadow of some little red or white church. All the Scandinavian Lapps are Lutherans, and they are represented, notwithstanding their wild and restless mode of life, as being fervently religious. They journey for leagues round to attend the various great festivals at the churches scattered over the country, and the celebration of the Lord's Supper at Easter is the customary preliminary to their departure for their summer pastures. Indeed, they appear to be of a temperament particularly susceptible to intense religious excitement, and during the long winter months, when the severe cold, the dreary darkness, the interminable snow, and the weird "northern lights" cannot but exercise an effect on the senses and the imagination, they are apt to give way to paroxysms of fanaticism which sometimes drive them to strange and even terrible excesses. A wild belief that the spirit of prophecy has descended on themselves, and that those who resist them have become possessed of the evil one, is the commonest form of this unhappy state of mental and spiritual aberration. The Church in Sweden. BY PROFESSOR OLAUS DAHL. THERE is at present a great religious interest in Sweden. It was said at the Bureau of Statistics in Stockholm that the people of Sweden discuss religion, the Norwegian people politics. This is not true without qualification, but it may serve to indicate what for the time being is uppermost in the minds of men. The awakening in Norway is broader than it is in Sweden, and shows its influence in the sphere of literature, politics, and religion. The common impression in our country in regard to the State Church in Sweden is that it has lost all life, but this is erroneous. Whatever the cause may be, whether the reflex influence of the work of dissenters, the increased zeal of its clergy, or the greater prominence of lay work, true it is that the Church is to all appearance doing good work. The Lutheran Church is the established Church of Sweden, and no country has produced more stanch defenders of the principles of Luther's teachings than the people of Gustav Adolph. Sweden has passed through the same experiences as most Lutheran countries in this, that dogmatism and formalism in worship have partially hindered true spirituality. One source of the 'prosperity of the Church in Sweden is the liberal education of its clergy. With its great universities of Upsala and Lund as the institutions from which its ministers are graduated, the Church has a guarantee that noue but men of education and culture shall fill its pulpits. The character 464 The Christianity of Sweden, Norway, and Finland. of the sermons heard in the cities of Sweden does not differ materially from those heard in our own city pulpits. If there be any difference we may perhaps say they are simpler, more like homilies, and not so much like a literary essay. Dr. Frederick Fehr, of the great church in Stockholm, is the peer of any of our city preachers. He is a man of the most thorough scholarship, inspiring personality, and convincing eloquence. With such preachers we wonder that the Church is not able to hold all her children. We find, however, that there are peculiar conditions which impede her work. In the first place, the number of churches is not in due proportion to the number of inhabitants. The case is almost as bad as in some cities in Germany. The nominal members range as high as 30,000. None of the churches in the large cities can seat more than a part of the members. The case of Dr. Fehr's church can perhaps be taken as a fair sample, the membership being 12,000 and the seating capacity of the church between 3,000 and 4,000. But it is not only in respect to the seating capacity of the churches that the case is so bad. It is evident that the pastoral work among so large a number must be very limited. It is this crying need for more pastoral work that gives rise to dissenters as well as lay work within the State Church. The increase of dissenters in Sweden has been very rapid, whether we look at the tendency from the standpoint of those who place themselves outside of the State Church or of those who are nominal adherents but dissent in doctrine and practice. The latter is the course followed by Dr. Waldenstrom and his adherents. This position they occupy because of the advantages they enjoy in the use of the public schools. The number of those who have joined some denomination other than the Lutheran is about 60,000. Of these about 16,000 are Methodists, and there are over 175 native Methodist preachers in Sweden. There is one district in Sweden where dissenters are almost unknown, and that is the district of Gothenburg. Chantauanism, a kind of Old Lutheranism, holds sway and has prevented all lay work, and as a result the work of dissenters does not thrive. Another fact which hinders the work of dissenters in general is that there are no dissenting ministers. Drs. Waldenstrom and Eckmann furnish two exceptions, but they have not actually withdrawn from the State Church. One thing that should not be forgotten in giving a survey of the Church in Sweden is the beneficent effect of the kindly interest of the king and queen in all kinds of church work. No city can show a better system of charitable work or more charitable institutions in proportion to the population than Stockholm, and in all the liberal gifts and the Christian spirit of the king and queen are recognized. The Standard. The Christianity of Sweden, Norway, and Finland. BY REV. K. O. BROADY, D.D., OF STOCKHOLM. It is now about a thousand years since Christianity was first introduced in Sweden and Norway. Finland received the Christian religion later. After some resistance on the part of the people Christianity became in time, and by the aid of acts of violence, the common religion of the three countries named. The Catholic Church held sway over the minds of the people until the time of the Reformation. Since the closing years of the sixteenth century the Lutheran has been the established Church of Sweden, Norway, and Finland. So far as these three countries are concerned the Lutheran Church is, generally speaking, characterized by an unconverted membership. This accords also with the records of history. It cannot be otherwise. The Lutheran Church in the countries named is recruited, not by persons who through the preaching of the Gospel have become converted unto God, but by the newborn children, legitimate and illegitimate, of its members. Religion, generally speaking, with the members of this Church, consists in attendance upon the public services appointed. The hope of salvation, generally speaking, with the membership of this Church, is, at the best, based upon the pardoning and redeeming mercy of God through Jesus Christ, communi. cated, as it is said, through faith by the confession of sin and the participation of the sacrament of the holy supper. The preaching of this Church is, at its best, mainly the holding forth of the religious sentiments which are to be read in the printed sermons of the clergy of the Lutheran Church of Germany; this not as a matter of plagiarism, but as the result of the theological training given the candidates for the ministry at the Lutheran theological seminaries in the countries of which I am speaking. This preaching is addressed to hearers who are supposed to belong to the spiritual kingdom of Christ, and of being the objects of redeeming grace. The morality of the membership of the Lutheran Church in the three countries named, and consequently of the people of Sweden, Norway, and Finland, is that of the nominally Christian world at large. Sin abounds. Religion is not allowed to interfere with business or with pleasure or with the gratification of the lusts and appetites of the flesh.Baptist Missionary Magazine. JANUARY 1, 1893, there were in Sweden 19 district associations with an aggregate of 539 Baptist churches. The whole membership reported was 36,585. In the Baptist Sunday schools were 37,808 children and 3,024 teachers. The number of preachers was 617. The membership of the churches is being constantly depleted by emigration to the United States, and the money expended in aid of the churches in Europe is being repaid by the excellent material received from them in the increase of our foreign membership in this country. The German, Swiss, and Scandinavian members of our churches in the United States are second to none in their spirituality, activity, and liberality. APPOINTMENTS OF NORTH GERMANY CONFERENCE. BERLIN DISTRICT, K. Schell, P. E.-Berlin: Elim, H. Burkhardt; Emanuel, D. Rohr; Salem, K. Schell, one to be supplied. Colberg and Greifenberg, O. Kohler. Coslin and Belgard, H. Gunther. Newruppin, E. Schmidt. Stettin, to be supplied. BREMEN DISTRICT, P. G. Junker, P. E.-Bielfeld, H. Eberle. Bremen, J. Neuhart. Flensburg and Apenrade, A. Hillner, one to be supplied. Hamburg and Wandsbeck, E. Pucklitsch, one to be supplied. Kiel, to be supplied. Osnabruck and Metten, E. Schutten. P. G. Junker, Editor of The Evangelist and Kinderfreund. J. Staiger, Director of Book Concern. L. Weiss, Inspector of Bethanien-Verein. OLDENBURG DISTRICT, F. Eilers, P. E.-Aurich, to be supplied. Brake, to be supplied. Bremerhaven, H. Meyer. Delmenhorst and Neerstadt, H. Mader, one to be supplied. Dornum and Essens, A. Luring, one to be supplied. Edewecht, F. Jacob. Leer and Rauderfehn, H. Willinghofer, two to be supplied. Neuschoo, I. H. Barklage. Oldenburg, Wilhelmshaven, O. F. Klusner. Vegesack, J. von Oehsen. Linder. LEIPSIC DISTRICT, G. Hempel, P. E.-Cassel, P. J. Grunewald. Chemnitz, P. Lutz. Gottingen, A. Sulzberger, Jr. Greitz and Gera, A. Praute. Langenwetzendorf, C. I. Bendixen. Leipsic, E. C. Anner. Marburg, C. Raith. Plauen and Reichenbach, K. Schaarschmidt, one to be supplied. Saalfeld, E. Zimmer. Schleitz, R. R. Neupert. Schneeburg and Eibenstock, G. A. Schilde, one to be supplied. Schwarzenburg and Annaberg, E. Wunderlich, D. Bargmann. Werdau, P. Pritzlaff. Zeitz, F. Schmidt. Zschopau and Dittersdorf, H. Bottger, one to be supplied. Zwickau, W. Schutz, H. Bank. APPOINTMENTS OF SOUTH GERMANY CONFERENCE. FRANKFORT DISTRICT, H. Mann, P. E.-Bonn and Coln, H. Schmeisser. Dillenburg, C. Schwarz, Frankfort and Darmstadt, A. Theis, one to be supplied. Friedrichsdorf, W. Kuder. Hanau, E. Schilling. Kreusnach and Kirn, W. Seiz, one to be supplied. Sommern, F. G. Notzold. Wetzlar and Giessen, to be supplied. Wiesbaden, J. Kaufman. H. Mann, Director; A. Sulzberger, Professor, in Martin Mission Institute. 466 Methodist Episcopal Church in Protestant Europe. KARLSRUHE DISTRICT, E. Gebhardt, P. E.-Altensteig, C. Soll. Bischweiler, to be supplied. Calw, W. Laudenberger. Freudenstadt, G. Surer. Heidelberg and Hockenheim, L. Mann, Kaiserslautern, C. Jeulter, one to be supplied. Karlsruhe, S. Gebhardt. Knittlingen, K. Walz. Lahr, H. Schilpp. Nagold, to be supplied. Pforzheim and Nuenberg, J. Harle, one to be supplied. Pirmasens and Zweibrucken, K. Burkhardt, one to be supplied. Speyer, Mannheim, and Ludwigshaven, J. Walz, H. Dorn. Strassburg, J. Spilli, one to be supplied. STUTTGART DISTRICT, C. Dietrich, P. E.-Ansbach, K. Konig. Bayreuth, C. Steinmetz. Beilstein, to be supplied. Bietigheim, L. Schnell. Ebinngen, E. Rhoner. Heilbronn, J. Renner, J. Diener. Heimsheim and Leonberg, H. Ricker, one to be supplied. Herrenberg, to be supplied. Ludwigsberg, A. Sharpff. Marbach, A. Kunz. Nurnberg and Wiesenberg, R. A. F. Wobith. Oeringen and Neuhutten, W. Kleinknecht, one to be supplied. Ottmarsheim, F. Brandle. Schweinfurt and Bamberg, to be supplied. Sindelfingen, J. Conzelmann. Sinsheim, A. Gommel. Stuttgart, A. G. Bruns. Vaihingen, E. Baumann. Weinsberg, W. Steinbrenner. APPOINTMENTS OF SWITZERLAND CONFERENCE. BERN DISTRICT, J. U. Wuhrmann, P. E.-Basel, H. Welti, one to be supplied. Bern, E. Deim. Biel, A. Hunziger, K. Honegger. Geneva, H. A. Gut. Herzogenbuchsee and Solothurn, F. Oppliger, one to be supplied. La Chauxde-Fonds, G. Bar. Langnau, J. Schneebeli. Lausanne, G. Sporri. Liestal, H. Huber, one to be supplied. Lyss, A. Lienhard. Neuchatel, E. Lienhard. St. Immer, R. G. Richner. SAINT GALLEN DISTRICT, J. Sporri, P. E.-Chur, J. Kleiner. Frauenfeld, A. Rodemeyer. Herisau, G. Frei. Nieder-Utzwyl, J. Wettstein. Rheineck, J. Zolliker. Schaffhausen and Stein, G. Krauss, K. Rodemeyer. Schleitheim, U. Bosch. St. Gallen, J. Sporri, E. M. Bauer. Teufen, A. Ruppanner. ZURICH DISTRICT, H. Kienast, P. E.-Aarau, J. Lohrer, Affoltern, U. B. Shroder. Bulach, F. Deppeler, one to be supplied. Horgen, J. Strassler. Lenzburg, H. G. Odinga, one to be supplied. Oerlikon, C. Knoll. Thalwill, E. Hug. Turbenthal, L. Brandle, one to be supplied. Uster, ▲. Lerche. Wetzikoa, H. Brunner. Winterthur, J. Harle, one to be supplied. Zurich: First, L. Peter, R. Marti; Third, K. Glattli. E. K. Schmidtmann, Director of the Book Concern at APPOINTMENTS OF DENMARK MISSION CONFERENCE. Aalborg, A. Christensen. Aarhus, L. C. Larsen, Copenhagen: Bethania, H. Jacobson; St. Paul's, C. V. Duckert. Esbjerg, C. Nielsen. Faaborg, J. Nielsen. Frederickshaven, H. Hansen. Holstebro, C. J. M. Thaarup. Horsens and Hornsyld, S. N. Gaarde. Kallundborg, C. Jensen. Langeland and Nakskar, R. Petersen. Lokken, L. Petersen. Odense, P. M. S. Jensen. Randus, E. Nielsen. Svenborg, N. P. Nielsen. Varde, L. Christensen. Velle and Enkeland, A. Bast. J. J. Christensen, Director of "Methodist Church Theological School;" C. J. M. Thaarup (Norway), Editor, and S. K. Johansen (Sweden), Assistant Editor, of Dansk Kristelig Talsmand, and Teacher in "Methodist Church Theological School." APPOINTMENTS OF NORWAY CONFERENCE. BERGEN DISTRICT, J. Thorkildsen, P. E.-Arendal, C. Torjusen. Bergen: First Church, B. Jorgensen; Second Church, J. Wiel. Egersund, J. Howen. Fiekkeford, E. H. Aas. Hagesund, C. P. Rund. Kragers, H. Walle. Kristiansand, S. Haave. Lister, O. M. Lokke. Sandnes, to be supplied. Stavanger, M. Olsen. Voss, J. Korsmoe. CHRISTIANIA DISTRICT, T. B. Barratt, P. E.-Christiania: First Church, A. C. Odegaard; Second Church, H. Ristvedt; Third Church, B. G. Rognerud; Fourth Church, A. Olsen ; Fifth Church, to be supplied. Eidsberg, to be supplied. Fredrikshald, G. Smedstad. Fredrikstad, J. Petersen. Hamar and Furness, B. Svensen. Honefos, O. Krogsrud. Kongsberg, N. Johanassen, Moss, S. Hanson. Odalen, C. Andersen, Sarpsborg, G. Gullikson. Sauggrenden, J. Johannessen. A. Olsen, editor of Kristelig Tidende and Bornevennen. J. Sanaker, Principal of Theological School. TROMSO DISTRICT, J. P. Lie, P. E.-Bodo, to be supplied. TRONDHJEM DISTRICT, A. Halversen, P. E.-Aalesund and Nolde, C. Fredriksen. Kristiansund. E. Halversen. Levanger, S. J. Sovensen. Trondhjem, A. Halversen. H. Hansen, C. J. M. Thaarup, L. Christensen, P. M. S. Jensen, N. P. Nielsen, A. Christensen, L. C. Larson, H. Jacobson, C. V. M. Dackert, E. Nielsen, C. Nielsen, L. Petersen, S. N. Gaade, C. Jensen, R. Petersen, A. Bast, Missionaries in Denmark. APPOINTMENTS OF SWEDEN CONFERENCE. ESKILSTUNA DISTRICT, K. A. Jansson, P. E.-Arboga, A. Rockberg. Eskilstuna, J. Roth. Kungsor, J. P. Larsson. Koping and Odensvi, J. A. T. Jenson. Morko, K. A. G. Fridholm. Nykoping, L. Petersen., Stenhamra, to be supplied. K. A. Jansson, Editor of Svenska Sandebudet and Sondagsskolklockan. J. Pedersen, Book Agent. GEFLE DISTRICT, K. Lundgren, P. E.-Avesta, I. G, Finerus. Borlange, J. E. Henricksson. Fagesta, to be supplied. Falun, N. Lindstrom. Forsbacka and Walbo, to be supplied. Gefle, C. P. Carlsson. Karlholm, G. Petersen. Korsnas, K. H. Aven. Linde, C. J. Johansson. Mora, to be supplied. Norberg and Hogfors, K. E. Lundell. Oregrund, E. Runfeldt. Ostersund, H. Stromberg. Sandviken, N. Lellkey. Skutskar, F. G. Holmgren. Sund, A. Lofgren. Sundsvall, G. A. Gustafson. GOTEBERG DISTRICT, C. Ljunggren, P. E.-Alingsaas, P. Jeppson. Aamal and Bengtsfors, E. Nilsson. Aatorp, N. J. Backstrom. Bofors, C. Carlson. Degerfors, P. Adelholm. Falkoping, to be supplied. Filipstad, L. G. Berglund. Goteberg: Ephraim, K. J. Tornblom: Emanuel, C. Hultgren; St. Jacob, A. Schon. Grums and Nor, A. G. Edlund. Halmstad, O. Uppling. Halsberg and Lerback, to be supplied. Hillingsberg and Karlando, to be supplied. Karlstad, J. A. Janzon. Kristenham, A. Sigurdson. Laxa and Kumla, N. Lundback. Lekhyttan, B. G. Bergdahl. Lidkoping, C. O. P. Lindstrom. Munkfors, L. O. Ring. Orebro, W. Anderson. Seffle, W. F. Hahne. Stromstad, to be supplied. Trollhattan, I. Z. Wickman. Walda and Slap, O. Mag nusson. GOTLAND DISTRICT, K. A. Wik, P. E.-Burgsvik and Burs, A. Anderson. Buttle and Ostergarn, to be supplied. Follingbo and Trakumla, J. A. Enander. Kappelsham, to be supplied. Klintchan and Tofta, K. O. Thorsell, Slite, K. A. Wik. Wisby, K. M. Lindh. MALMO DISTRICT, J. M. Erikson, P. E.—Bjuf and Raa, P. F. Envall. Boxholm, O. R. Richter. Eksjo, T. Magner. Helsingborg, F. Aagren. Jowkoping, J. Magnusson. Kalmar, A. Uppling. Karlshamn, A. J. Liljenberg. Kariskrona, J. A. Rudstrom. Kristianstad, K. L. Lundqvist. Landskrona, G. Lindstrom. Linkoping, A. F. Svensson. Ljuder, E. E. Landin. Loftahammer, to be supplied. Lotorp, A. Eklund. Lund, E. Schildt. Malmo, to be supplied. Monsteraas, P. A. Larsson. Motala, R. A. Wahlbey. |
