ble to a fine of
200 _rigs_ ($52) every time they thus met together, my informant had
once been obliged to pay it himself. Nevertheless, he said they were not
interfered with so much at present, except that they were obliged to pay
tithes, as before. "The king is a good man," he continued, "he means
well, and would do us justice if he had the power; but the clergy are
all against him, and his own authority is limited. Now they are going
to bring the question of religious freedom before the Diet, but we have
not the least hope that anything will be done." He also stated--what,
indeed, must be evident to every observing traveller--that the doctrines
of the Lasare had spread very rapidly, and that their numbers were
continually increasing.

The creation of such a powerful dissenting body is a thing that might
have been expected. The Church, in Sweden, had become a system of forms
and ceremonies. The pure spiritualism of Swedenborg, in the last
century, was a natural and gigantic rebound to the opposite extreme,
but, from its lofty intellectuality, was unfitted to be the nucleus of a
popular protest. Meanwhile, the souls of the people starved on the dry
husks which were portioned out to them. They needed genuine nourishment.
They are an earnest, reflective race, and the religious element is
deeply implanted in their nature. The present movement, so much like
Methodism in many particulars, owes its success to the same genial and
all-embracing doctrine of an impartial visitation of Divine grace,
bringing man into nearer and tenderer relations to his Maker. In a word,
it is the democratic, opposed to the aristocratic principle in religion.
It is fashionable in Sweden to sneer at the Lasare; their numbers,
character, and sincerity are very generally under-estimated. No doubt
there is much that is absurd and grotesque in their services; no doubt
they run into violent and unchristian extremes, and often merely
substitute fanaticism for spiritual apathy; but I believe they will in
the end be the instrument of bestowing religious liberty upon Sweden.

There was no end to the desire of these people for knowledge. They
overwhelmed us with questions about our country, its government, laws,
climate, productions and geographical extent. Next to America, they
seemed most interested in Palestine, and considered me as specially
favoured by Providence in having beheld Jerusalem. They all complained
of the burdens which fall upon a poor man