The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-01 00:00:00

NORWEGIAN. CHURCHMA.NSHIP

We spent a Sunday at Odde, and were fortunate enougri
to witness a service. It takes place once in three weeks.
The rector is the brother of the Minister of War, and has
several other churches to look after. This arrangement is
in accordance with the principle adopted at the Reforma-
tion, by which several parishes were amalgamated into one
district, s() as to provide a good income for one clergyman.
This was thought better than maintaining each parish a
separate cure as before, and having a poor clergy. The
result of this arrangement is that the Church privileges
of the laity are greatly restricted, but the clergy are the
wealthiest class of the community. On the Norwegian
Fjords the boat takes the place of the carriage in England.
A whole fleet of small craft lay drawn up on the beacn.
Sometimes a large boat called the church-boat is used to
convey a numerous party. The women handle the oar as
well as the men, and will often pull five or six miles with-
out stopping. In Norway, as in most other countries, the
women have contrived to monopolise costume. The men
are hardly distinguishable from English peasants, but
the married women are a gorgeous spectacle. Upon
their heads they wear a large expanse of plaited
white muslin, in shape like the bell of the calceolaria
Over their bosoms they display a bodice of
.0 most elaborate beadwork. The maidens do not don
e cap or the Leaded bodice. The younger girls wear
the hair in two long pigtails, others more advanced in
years twist the hair with a scarlet snood. The latter mode
is very becoming., and with the dark skirts, the scarlet and
white bodices and snow coloured aprons and collars, make
-ap a most charming costume. Inside the quaint and
rudely decorated church the men sat upon the right side,
the married women upon the left, and the girls stood or
knelt in the aisle. Not a few of the sterner sex remained
outside the church and took no part in the service,
for the Norwegians are by no means a religious race.
The priest wore a closeditting black robe and a white
ruff. There was no Communion, and so his surplice was
laid upon the alt.tr. Very long psalms were sung to
plaintive chants much out of tune. The priest stood ail
the while before the altar with his back to the people, the
precentor leading the singing. At the close of it the priest
mounted the pulpit, made an extempore prayer, followed
by the Lord's Prayer, and then began Lis sermon. The
celebration of Holy Communion is attended by a good
deal of ritual. Non-communicants remain and
group themselves around the communicants as the
elements are administered. Great care is taken that no
one communicates who has not previously made his
Conintunion's-,1-rift. This is the only form of confession
required in the Norwegian Church. The utmost
importance is attached to confirmation. The candi-
dates are prepared most carefully for six months by
the parochial clergy, and each clergyman administers the
rite to his own parishioners. A fatherly relationship is
thus established between the two, such as can never exist
between the candidates and the Bishop, whom they have
never seen before and may never see again. Confirmation
as a necessary qualification for all public offices and for
11108 t private engagements, implies not only a religious,
but a secular, education, and the inference would be in the
case of a young man or woman passing the usual age for
confirmation without being confirmed, that they were in-
tellectually deficient or morally unsound, and therefore
were not capable of undertaking any duties.—From
"Fjeld, Fjord, and Foss," in the Churchman's 'Shining
Magazine for July.

Wel%

Sacramento papers give a long account of
the funeral of John C. Heenan, the " Benecia Boy."
It is said that the American gentleman whom
the Reform Club blackballed, notwithstanding the recom•
mendation of Messrs. Bright and Forster, is Mr. Smalley,
of the New York Tribune.

CRIME nr TRELAND.—The assize for the county
of Leitrim has been opened at Carrick-on-Shannon. The
Lord Chief Justice, in charging the grand jury, congratu-
lated them on the state of the county. The cases for trial
only amounted to one-half of the number at the last
assizes. His lordship remarked that the constabulary
returns shewed that serious assaults were the offences
most frequently committed in that county. Intoxication
was the stimulating cause in most of these cases, and he
expressed a hope that the gentry and clergy would exert
themselves to put down this disgraceful vice—`• the
parent of crime."

How THE COM➢fONS RE'ECTED A BILL. Th.s
Speaker was examined at the last sitting of the Com
rnittee on House of Commons' Witnesses, and gave evi-
dence in favour of a statutory power to examine witnesses
at the bar. The right hon. gentleman, referring to the
traditional jealousy of the two Houses, said that in 1772
Mr. Burke complained bitterly that he had been kept
three hours waiting at the door of the Lords with
a bill sent up from the Commons, and that the
latter were so indignant that shortly afterwards, when a
bill was brought down from the Lords to impose a bounty
on corn, the House rejected it by a unanimous vote. The
peaker then tossed it across the table on the floor, and a
number of members rushed forward and kicked it out of
the House. Communications are now made through the
officials of both Houses.-00.

THE MEMBERS FOR SOTJTHWARK AND THE
TEETOTALLERS. —ln reference to the remarks made by Mr.
Locke, M.P., in the House of Commons, reflecting on e
certain class of temperance advocates alleged to be in-
fluenced by mercenary motives, and the promise of Mr.
Layard to establish a restaurant in Victoria Park, a
meeting of about 303 people (chiefly teetotallers) was held
in the Boroug,h.road Congregze.ional Church on Wednes-
day night, to protest against the conduct of their parlia-
mentary representatives, and to form a committee to take
action in favour of securing members in future who would
support the closing of public-houses. The meeting was
addressed by the Rev. G. M. Murphy (chairman), Mr.
Jabez West, and Mr. Otway. In addition to the avowed
object of the meeting the advocates took an opportunity
of pushing their favourite doctrine, in support of which
they quoted numerous statistics. Mr. Layard and Mr.
Locke, who had been invited to attend the meeting, sent
letters—Mr. Layard, apologising for unavoidable absence,
and Mr. Locke declaring that he had no explanation to
give, nor did lie know that his recent remarks differed
from his previous declarations. This last statement was
received with hisses. 'the protest and motion for forming
19101Ctitn committee were panigumsly aPPTHed.