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294 GENERAL REMARKS
SECTION XXIII.
Of the Gods and Goddeffes which the Laplanders adored before the
Introduction of Chriftianity.
hs Cae egare the doétrines of chriftianity have been pro-
mulgated fince the time of Charlemagne in Norway, the
Laplanders cannot be faid to be chriftians of an older date than
about acentury. Before their full converfion, fays Mr. Leems, by
the miffionaries fent among{ft them by the crown of Denmark,
they were given to practices of the grofleft idolatry ; and fo I have
been credibly informed they are ftill, though they are at pains to
conceal them from the miffionaries.
There will be little difficulty in believing this, when it is con-
fidered how much more eafy and natural it is for a people like
the Laplanders, with circumfcribed conceptions, and in a ftate of
perpetual fluctuation from place to place, to believe in corporeal
and limited deities in preference to one fpiritual and omnipotent.
That train of thinking which inevitably fuits itfelf to man’s con-
dition, muft render fuch ignorant people incapable of elevating
their contemplation to the heavens, much lefs are their feeble ap-
prehenfions capable of conceiving a pure fpirit and perfect intel-
ligence: and further, when we reflect on the imperious influence
of
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