The Baptists in Sweden. By Mrs. M.F. Anderson ...

166 THE BAPTISTS IN SWEDEN.
among the colonists from Finland who have settled
in this region. Mr. Laing speaks of this in his
Tour in Sweden. A passage from his journal while
in this northern region, presents such an interesting
picture of these poor Christians engaged in their
simple religious exercises, that we cannot refrain
from transcribing it here.
" Degenfors, July, 1838. I got up very early this
morning, and went down to the rapids or fors of the
river* to fish. I came unexpectedly upon a party
of six or eight men, women, and young people,
gathered in a snug hollow of the river bank, which
only an angler would have thought of visiting at
so early an hour. One man, with his hat off, was
reading the Bible to the others, and just concluding and shutting the book. They seemed in a
little confusion, until they saw that I was fishing
and taking no notice of them. When my landlord
came to join me with his fishing rod, and they
found that I was lodging with him, and not at the
manse-and they asked the question-they seemed
pleased. There is, I had heard, a religious enthusiasm spreading itself in the north of Sweden, especially among the colonists or new settlers in
Lapland, which the clergy attempt to put down
and extinguish. These religionists are called Lasaren-the readers-from their reading the Scriptures, and must keep themselves quiet, because,
* The Wandel, one of the main branches of the Umea.