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322 RELIGION OF THE NORTHMEN.
support the Asa-faith, now tottering to its fall ; on
the contrary it was they who left it the naost hastily
when they became acquaiated with Christianity.
It was of no avail that the zealous ^sa-worshipers
portrayed the calamities which could strike one or
another of these free-thinkers as a punishment be-
cause he did not bestow upon the Gods that worship
due unto them. Nor did it avail any more that
they disclaimed that toleration of other believers,
which otherwise appears to have been a character-
istic of the votaries of the Asa-doctrine, and sharpened
the severity of the laws against those who
showed disrespect toward the Gods. At the time
when Christianity was approaching the North, the
Asa-faith no longer satisfied the more deep-think-
ing portion of the people who were nominally its
adherents, and, therefore, it- could not long sustain a
conflict with the new faith, when that faith came to
be promulgated with zeal and energy.