261 religious encyclopedia exile of the Israelites Extreme Unction

the different tribes in the interior. The spiritual

culture of the people was neglected in these tur­

bulent times, especially since the Roman Church

was never interested in the real education of the

people. At the Synod of Soderkoping in Sweden

(1441) it was decided that the Lord's Prayer, the

Ave Maria, and the Creed should be translated into

the mother tongue. Bishop Tavast participated,

and it may be assumed that these decisions applied

also to Finland. Before 1500 there were 120

churches in Finland. In 1504 the Swedish gov­

ernment ordered the building of new churches since

the congregations were so large that some people

lived ninety miles from a church. No books for the

use of the people have been preserved from the

Middle Ages, but a Missals Aboense, published in

1483 at the instance of Bishop Bitze, for the use

of the cathedral of Abo, is known, and also a Manu­

als Aboenae (1522) for the use of the Finnish Church.

In consequence of the connection of Finland with

Sweden, the Reformation took the same course in

both countries. The first herald of the Reforma­

tion in Finland was Peter S#rkilahti, who had

studied under Luther and Melanchthon. In 1524

he returned to his native country and began to

preach the new doctrine. Owing to

s. The Ref‑ the isolated position of Finland, the

ormation. people were not prepared for it and

the Roman Church had a larger field

of usefulness than in Germany. The first Evan­

gelical bishop of Finland was Martin Skytte, a quiet

and humble man. His activity was not revolu­

tionary. The real Reformer of Finland was Michael

Agricola, son of a poor fisher of Perna, who received

his rudimentary education in the school of Abo and

studied in Wittenberg. There he adopted the

cause of the Reformation. Like the other Reform­

ers, he immediately undertook a translation of

the Bible in order to gain a firm basis for his work.

In 1543 he published a primer and soon afterward

a catechism, in 1544 a book of prayer. The trans­

lation of the New Testament, which he had begun

in Wittenberg, appeared in 1548. In the following

year he published a manual on baptism and in

1551 the continuation of his translation of the Bible,

the Psalms and part of the Prophets. Haggai,

Zechariah, and Malachi followed in 1552. Agricola

died in 1554. He is gratefully remembered and

highly esteemed by the Finnish people as the Re­

former of Finland and the father of Finnish litera­

ture. The Reformation was completed by Jacob

Finno. Agricola gave the Finns the New Testa­

ment, Finno taught them to sing the Psalms. His

psalm‑book was published in 1583 at Stockholm.

The only copy in existence is defective and is

in the library of Upsala. On the whole the Reform­

academies, gymnasia, and schools.

After the vigorous period of the Reformation theology degenerated into dead orthodoxy. One of the most zealous defenders of the Lutheran doctrine was Professor Enevald Svenonius in Abo who in his zeal for pure doctrine caused the depo­sition of Bishop Terserus, a deserving man, for alleged syncretistic views. The extreme desire for pure doctrine manifested itself also in the notorious trials for witchcraft at that time. Numerous per­sons were burned at the stake or beheaded after disgraceful trials, in Sweden as well as in Finland. Even the most intelligent men of the time labored under that delusion. The Pietistic movement has an honorable place in the annals of Finnish church history. The most noteworthy representatives of Pietism were Johannes Wegelius the Elder and Johannes Wegelius the Younger. The older Wege­liue corresponded with Spener; the younger Wege­lius published a book of homilies Se evangelium­0inen Volgems (" The Evangelical Light ") which went through three editions. The latter decades of the seventeenth century may justly be called the period of the two bishops, father and son, each named Johannes Gezelius. They were conservative in theology and made it their principal task to educate the common people (see GEZELIUs, JoHAN‑

tZs).

of great distress and suffering for Finland. A

hundred thousand persons died of hunger. King

Charles XII. of Sweden led his people from war to

war, and extreme poverty was the natural conse­

quence. The new century also began with tumult

of war and shedding of blood. The great Northern

War sacrificed thousands of Finns. For a quarter

of a century suffering increased from year to year

in an incredible degree. The period

5. The from 1713 to 1721 is called the time

Eighteenth of great discord in the history of

and Finland. It seemed as if all life

Nineteenth ceased to pulsate. The peace of

Centuries. Nystod in 1721 put an end to the

bloody days of war, but a long

time passed before order was restored. Rus­

sia took possession of a considerable portion of

eastern Finland, and the rest of the country under­

went a new development. The cathedral chap­

ter of the East was transferred from Viborg to

Borgo where it is still. As the war had exhausted

almost all material resources, the interests of the

Church naturally suffered. The new spirit of the

nineteenth century which governed all Europe

even entered Finland. The free thought of France

pervaded the court of King Gustavus III. in Stock­

holm, and thence spread among the lower classes

of society. The Church of Finland presented the

same picture of stupor and indifference as the rest

of Protestant Christianity. A barren moralism

took the place of a vivid faith; but in this time of

need God sent a powerful awakening,‑a new Piet­

ism originated in Finland. Its author was Paavo

Ruotsalsinen, a peasant. A great numder of


younger clergymen joined the movement, while the older clergy showed more conservative senti­ments. F. G. Hedberg separated from the move­ment, taking a more Evangelical course, and found many adherents (see BORNHOrmmHB). There are to­day two main tendencies in the Finnish Church‑one keeping more strictly to the Law, whose adherents gathered later around the doctrinal system of J. T. Beck, the well‑known theologian of Tubingen (see BEcx, JOBANN TomAs), and a more Evangelical one whose acknowledged leader was Hedberg. Many Christian sects have also made propaganda­Baptists, Methodists, Adventists, and others. Free.. churchism has its workers here and there. For some decades the sect of the Laestadians, called after Provost Lars Levi Laestadius, has been active in northern and southern Finland.


In 1850, Finland was divided into three dioceses­Abo, Borgo, and Kuopio; in 1897 Nyslott was added as a fourth. Since 1817 the bishop of Abo has been archbishop and thus primate of the Fin‑

nish Church. From 1839 to 1843 a

6. Present theological periodical was published at

Conditions. Abo, the Ecklmiastikt Latteraturblad.

Bishop Schauman edited for some years (1869‑72) Sanningavittnd (" Witness of truth "). Professor Raboergh, who later became bishop, edited a valuable periodical for theology and Church. At present there are two periodicals: Theologisk tidakrift and Wartija ("Watchman"). The new church law, enacted on July 1, lg70, was of great importance. According to it, representa­tives of the laity have the right of decision in eccle­siastical questions. A general convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland meets every tenth year, or oftener, if necessary. It discusses vital questions of the Church, such as changes in church law, introduction of new church books, catechisms, Bible translations, etc. An­other event of the most vital importance was the separation of Church and school, in 1870. At present, there are 1,273 elementary schools. As Finland does not yet possess any civil lists, the church registers of the congregations are the only official documents upon which the census is based. Consequently is it the duty of pastors to keep registers of crimes, vaccination, and lists of men subject to military duty. Since the church con­vention of 1886 Finland has had a new hymn‑book, catechism, and collection of pericopes. A Bible committee is preparing a new translation of the Bible which is necessitated by the national awaken­ing of the last decades and the development of the language. After the great conflagration at Abo in 1827, the university was removed from that city toHelsingfors. The teaching force of the university has been doubled since 1640, but the theological faculty consists of only four ordinary profeeore. A candidate of theology must have been two years in service before the respective cathedral chapter admits him to the official examination which gives him the privilege of applying for a pastorate. There are consistorial and imperial pastorates. In the former case the preacher is elected by the congregation and confirmed by the cathedral chapter, in the latter case the confirmation comes

Church has had a widows' or pension fund from

which widows and orphans of preachers and teachers

receive annual pensions. On the whole, the Fin­

nish people are= to the Church. The in­

crease of merely external education among the

common people has to a certain degree loosened

their attachment, and some school teachers are

hostile to the Church. Moreover, the antieccle­

siastical press has tried to sow discord and estrange

people from the Church, but so far without success.

See SWEDEN. (J. A. CEDERBERG.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The literature, mostly in Finnish and Swedish, is given in Hauck‑Herzog, RE, vi. 68. Sources are: M. P. Juusten, Chronieon evisco~orum Pinlanden­sium, ed. H. G. Porthan, Abo, 1784‑1800; H. G. Port­han, Opera selects, 5 vols., Helsingfors, 1859‑73; Regw trum ecclesio: Aboensis, ib. 1890. Consult, M. J. Alopsrus, Borga gymnasia historia, Borga, 1804; Finnland and die eoangeliach‑lutheriache %irehe, Berlin, 1888; Fin­land in Ode Nineteenth Century, Helsingfors. 1894; J. R. Fisher, Finland and the Tsars, 1809‑99, London, 1899; Dwight, Tupper and Bliss, Encyclopedia of Missions, pp. 230‑237, New York, 1904.

FINLEY, SAMUEL: American Presbyterian, fifth president of the College of New Jersey (Princeton); b. in County Armagh, Ireland, 1715; d. in Phila­delphia, Pa., July 17,1766. Having received a good education from his parents, who were of Scottish descent, he came to Philadelphia in 1734, and stud­ied for the ministry. He was ordained by the New Brunswick presbytery in 1742 and sent to Milford, Conn., in 1843, but for preaching to the Second Society at New Haven, in violation of the statute forbidding itinerant ministers to preach in any parish without the consent of the pastor, he was expelled from the colony as a vagrant a few months later. In 1744 he accepted a call to Nottingham, Md., where he established an academy which acquired considerable fame. He remained at Nottingham till 1761, when he succeeded Samuel Davies as president of the College of New Jersey. Though he never published anything but occasional sermons he enjoyed a great reputation as a scholar, and in 1763 received the degree of D.D. from the University of Glasgow. Among his sermons may be mentioned, Christ Triumphing and Satan Raging (1741), The Curse of Meroz (1757), and On the Death o/ President Datries (1761).

His conversion in 1821 was remarkable for its

and Ac‑ (1822), and licensed to preach (1824). five Life. He at once turned his attention to revival labors, which were continued, with few interruptions until 1860, when he was forged to give up the work of an itinerant evangelist on account of age. These labors, beginning in western and central New York, were extended to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and other cities of the East, and reached to England in 1849 and 1858. In 1832 he accepted a call to the pastorate of the Second Free Church of New York City, and in 1834 another to the recently organised Congre­gational Church in the same city, known as the Broadway Tabernacle. In 1835 he went to Oberlin as professor of theology, and he continued to labor till the time of his death as instructor, pastor, and college president (1852). During his residence at Oberlin he continued, as before, to hold revival meetings.

As preacher Finney had rare gifts. Wherever he went extensive revivals prevailed. His manner was dramatic, direct, and personal. He used simple language and illustrations. His presentation was clear and strictly logical. He directed his appeals to the conscience, rather than to the emotions, and made it tremble and quake by his searching analysis of the motives of action. As Revival‑ He chose for themes passages which ist, Preach‑ delineate the sinner's condition as

er, and one of conscious alienation from God, Teacher. and sinning against him. He dwelt upon the enmity of the carnal mind, the want of holiness, and the certain destruction of the impenitent. He called upon his hearers to come to an immediate decision and submit to God. " Instead of telling sinners," he says, " to use the means of grace, and pray for a new heart, I called on them to make themselves a new heart and spirit, and pressed the duty of immediate surrender to God " (Autobiography, p. 189). These meetings were often accompanied by violent bodily manifestations; and Finney was in the habit of calling upon the audiences to go forward to the anxious‑bench, or to rise in attes­tation of new resolutions. These methods, his directness and calls to repentance, his departure from the ‑doctrine of imputation and other features of the Calvinist theology early evoked criticism and strong opposition from religious associations and such church leaders as Asahel Nettleton and Ly­man Beecher (qq.v.). In 1827 a convention was held at New Lebanon attended by Dr. Hawes of Hart­ford, Justin Edwards of Andover, Lyman Beecher of Boston, Dr. Beman of Troy, and others, to consider the matter. In course of time the op­position decreased (Autobiography, pp. 210‑226).