Prev TOC Next
[Image]  [Hi-Res Image]

Page 99

 

go RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Stilliagaeet Stockton often, 200,000 copies sold); Lessons on the Acts of the Apostles (1872); Story of the Ful-Kien Mission of the Church Missionary Society (1877); Steps to Truth (1878, many editions, also translations into other languages); Japan and the Japan Mission of the Church Missionary Society (1880) ; Lesson Studies in Genesis (15385); History of the Church Missionary Society (3 vols., 1899); One Hundred Years of the Church Missionary Society) (1899); Short Handbook of Missions (1904); Notes on India for Missionary .Students (1905); The Story of Church Missions (1907); Talks on St. Luke's Gospel (1907); and My Recollections (1909). STOCK, SIMON. See SIMON (SIMEON) STOCK, SAINT. STOCgFLETH, stec'flet, MILS JOACHIM CHRIS TIAN VIBE: Norwegian missionary; b. at Fredriks stad Jan. 11, 1787; d. at Sandefjord (58 m. s.s.w. of Christiania) Apr. 26, 1866. By the death of his father, who was a preacher, in 1794, his mother was left in dire poverty with three children of whom Nils was the oldest. She afterward moved to Copen hagen in order to give the two oldest boys a legal education. Nils, however, had a strong inclination for theology. In 1805 the mother died; and the two boys, overcome by sickness, grief, and over work, were brought into a hospital in great destitu tion. Nils received a lieutenancy in the army dur ing the European war, and upon the conclusion of peace (1814) was honorably discharged with the rank of captain. He then returned and entered the Norwegian army. He became a tutor in the family of a rural preacher near Waldres in 1818, which led to a revival of his desire for the study of theology. He entered the University of Christiania in 1823, and was ordained a missionary to FiIImark (north ernmost Norway) in 1825; and in spite of his weak lungs and his paralyzed right arm, he, accompanied by his wife, went to Vadso on the Arctic Ocean, the same year. Finmark has an area of 18,250 square miles and a scattered Finnish population of 21,000, either engaged in the fisheries or following with their reindeer a nomadic life inland. As the only other church district was without a pastor, Stockfleth's field included this wide extent. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Finns of this prov ince were only nominally Christians, demoralized by the liquor traffic and the selfish spoliation of the Nor wegians. The Gospel had been planted by the zealous teacher Isaac Olsen (1703-16) and by Thomas von Westen (q.v.), the " Apostle to the Finns." In order to serve the six churches Stockfleth was obliged to make long and perilous journeys, some times by boat, sometimes by sled, even as far as into the Russian empire. Finding the work under taken beyond one man's strength, he determined to confine himself to the ministry of the Lapps, sharing with them their huts and fare, in order to master their speech and win their confidence. At one-fourth his former income he therefore assumed the Lebesby pastorate (18`8). His work was an incessant itinerancy; he tarried usually about eight weeks in a district and stopped only briefly with the families scattered miles apart. More and more the conviction increased upon him of the inadequacy of the literature for the Finns. With great exer tion he had translated Erik; Pontoppidan's expla nation of the catechism, the New Testament, and the book of Genesis. These he consigned with others to the flames in 1830. He was more and more im pressed with the necessity for the establishment of the Lappish literary language upon a new basis. In preparation for this work he spent the years 1831-33 in Christiania, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsingfors, holding conferences with leading scholars. Having returned to I?inmark in 1833, he invented a new phonic alphabet. In 1836 he jour neyed to Christiania to publish his writings, and prepared two students in the Lappish language. The year 1837 he spent in Finland for a more thor ough study of Finnish, and, upon his return to Christiania, published a primer ,end reader, Luther's Shorter Catechism, a translation of Matthew and Mark, and a Biblical history. This was done at the expense of the Storthing, which authorized also a complete translation of the Bible. Then he turned his attention again to the mountain Lapps (1840 1845, 1851-62), always intent upon the instruction of pastors for the people. The history of all his missionary expeditions he published in his Dagbog over mine Missionsreiser i Finsnctrken (Christiania, 1860), with an appendix giving an excerpt from the most important writings on Finnish history and language. An episode in the last period of his work was a wave of religious frenzy originating from the preaching of Lars Lewi Laestadius in a neighboring Swedish diocese. This movement threatened the public peace as well as public and private morals. Stockfleth hastened to the scene, and for six months waged battle against the morbid outbreak. Ex hausted in strength, he retired in 1853, after having been pensioned; and spent the remaining years of his life (1853-66) at the baths of Sandefjord. His " Religious Letters " (1845) show a profound relig ious life. (J. BEL8H1'yIM.)

BInLIOGRAPHY: The principal sourcs is his own Dapbop, ut sup. Sketches of his life are by J. Forechhammer, Copenhagen, 1867; and C. H. Kalkar, in F. Piper's Evaugel%sches ffalendar, 1887. Consult also H. Steffens, Ueber d%e LaPPen and Pastor Stockflcths Wirksamkeit enter diesen, Berlin, 1842.

STOCKTON, THOMAS HEVirLINGS: Methodist Protestant; b. at Mount Holly; N. J., June 4, 1808; d. in Philadelphia Oct. 9, 186S. Converted in the Methodist Episcopal Church, he joined the Methodist Protestant Church on its organization, and in 1829 was placed upon a circuit.. He was stationed. in Baltimore, 1830; was chap.Lain to the house of representatives, 1833-35 and 7.859-61, and to the senate, 1862. He preached in Philadelphia, 1838187; in Cincinnati, 1847-50; as associate pastor in Baltimore, 1850-56; as sole pastor in Philadelphia, 1856-68. He was one of the most eloquent preachers of his day, and was an anti-slavery pioneer. He compiled a hymn-book for his denomination (183?), and published Sermons for the People (Pittsburg, 1854); Poems, with Autobiographic and Other Notes (Philadelphia, 1862); and Book above All; or, the Bible the only sensible, infallible and divine Authority on Earth: Discourses (1870).

Brsitoonwrax: A. Clark, Memory's Trib2de to the Life, Character, aged Work of the Rev. T. li. Stork-ton, New York