During the reign of Frederick IV., two Norwegians distinguished themselves by missionary work. One of them was Thomas von Westen from Throndhjem, who worked with great zeal for the cause of Christianity in Finmarken. The other was Hans Egede, a clergyman from Vaagen in Nordland, who proceeded to Greenland, where, for years, he indefatigably devoted himself to the work of promoting the spiritual and material welfare of the inhabitants. Frederick IV. died in 1730, fifty-nine years old. CHAPTER L _Christian VI. (1730-1746)_ Christian VI., who succeeded his father, Frederick IV., in 1730, commenced his reign by discharging the most of his father's experienced advisers and friends. The very able Bartholomew Deichmann, bishop at Akershus, who was most highly esteemed during the former reign, was deposed and indicted, but died shortly after his degradation, April, 1731. The king allowed himself to be controlled by his German queen, the proud and extravagant Sophie Magdalena. The language and customs of the country were banished from the court, and a proud and haughty tone introduced. The king rarely spoke with any of his subjects unless they belonged to the higher nobility or were Germans. The queen had a mania for building, and large sums were expended on costly palaces in and about Copenhagen. The Danish-Norwegian Church had also been affected by the pietistic revivalism brought about in the German Protestant Church by Spener and Francke. Christian himself was a pious man, but his religion was mournful and morbid. He was, to a great extent, controlled by his pietistic court-chaplain, Bluhme. A Sabbath ordinance was enacted (1735), by which several preposterous rules about church-going were introduced and some antiquated laws were again put in force. Neglect of attendance at church was punished in the cities by money fines, and in the country by being placed in the stocks, which, for that purpose, were erected outside of every church door. Public amusements hitherto considered harmless--dancing, games and festivities--were forbidden; weddings and social parties were not to be held on a holiday or the evening before. A general Church Inspection College was established in 1737, a kind of Court of Inquisition, whose duty it was to watch over the proper performance of church services. The result of this unwise zeal for religion was a general state of hypocrisy and intolerance. Unscrupulous people, who feigned holiness and imitated the pietists at court, were given offices, while those who were sincere and independent were left out.