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184
Kirk-mote of
Upsala.
HISTORY OF THE SWEDES. Abrogation of John’s
liturgy.
[1592—
and will of the Pope; it would be therefore the
more necessary, as well for relifjion as liberty,
to establish such conditions as the Swedes had from
aforetime been free to propose to their kings. To
Sigisniund himself he held language no less plain,
when he acquainted him with the convocation of
the estates, and the synod convened for Upsala :
the king’s government could only make the people
hapi)y in so far as he might confirm the religion
and liberties of the realm, and those statutes l>y
which the estates thought meet to uphold them;
hereby he would take away all occasion of acting
against the law and his oath as a king ;
and at the
same time all hatreds against his person. The suc-
cession would then remain to his descendants.
This was the duke’s counsel, and if the king had
true servants, they would assent to it. With mes-
sages to this effect the secretary, Olave Swerker-
son, was sent to Poland ^.
On the 25th February, 1 593, the synod was opened
at Upsala. Deputies, as well clerical as laic, re-
paired thither from all parts of the kingdom ex-
cepting Finland, whence but a few were sent *.
There were present the duke with the council, four
bishops ’, above three hundred clergy, many of the
nobles, burgesses, and peasants. Nieolaus Bothni-
ensis, professor of theology in Upsala, although a
young man, was named Speaker. He had been im-
prisoned on account of the liturgy. The choice was
a homage to the stedfastness which the university
of Upsala had shown in the liturgical struggle ;
wherefore one of the assembly’s acts decreed, that
it should be again raised from its ruins. After
they had agreed that holy Scripture, explained
by itself, wa?. the sole ground and rule of evange-
lical doctrine, and had gone through all the articles
of the unmutilated Augsburg Confession, Peter
Jonsou, lately confirmed by the duke as bishop of
the principality^, rose up, and inquired of all pre-
sent, whether they assented to this faith and would
abide by the same, even if it pleased God that they
should suffer for it. All i-eplied,
" Therefore will
we put at stake all that we have in the world, be
it goods or life." Then the speaker exclaimed :
" Now is Sweden become one man, and all of us have
one God ’." The changes in church ceremonies and
doctrines which had been introduced under the
former I’eign were abolished. Luther’s Catechism
was again made the general ground-work of in-
struction in religion, and Lawrence Peterson’s
3 This person had found means of insinuating himself into
the favour of Charles, whom he afterwards calumniated to
Sigisniund ;
he fell at length into disgrace by his duplicity,
and sought then, although vainly, to recover the duke’s
favour. The son of this important person was hound’s
beadle (spiigubbe, one who goes about with a stick during
sermon, to wake up sleepers, and drive the dogs out of the
church,) in the Clara Kirk of Stockholm.
* Messenius says, that not a single Finlander was present ;
Werwing, on the contrary, that they attended. The bishop,
provost of the chapter, and master of the school, of Abo, are
mentioned in the records. The signatures to the Acts of the
Synod of Upsala were not all taken on the spot. They were
sent round and subscribed in the dioceses.
5 From Litkiiping, Strengness, Westeras, Abo. The vacant
chair of the archbishop was filled up during the assembly,
as well as the episcopal chairs of Wexiii, Skara, and Wiborg,
although the first two were not occupied until their then
aged possessors had dropped off by death.
* He received an episcopal writ for Strengness, January
6, 1593, and was consecrated during the sittings, although
ALanual that of divine service 8. The bishops of
the realm, who had all appeared as promoters of
the liturgy, were now the first to renounce it, and
their clergy followed their example. These all con-
cluded with a general deprecation, and requested
from the council of state the return of those writ-
ten engagements to the reception of the liturgy, by
means of which they had obtained their places.
The council promised it, but the duke preserved
the documents in the chancery. Several lords of
the council now exhorted the clergy never more to
consent to any thing against God’s word and con-
science. Hogenskild Bielke made a discourse to
the same effect; which reminded his hearers that
he had himself violently enforced the liturgy in
East-Gothland. The clergy of the duchy now cele-
brated their victory, and with them those of the
laity, with whom John’s liturgy and the offence
thereby given had done more than any thing else
to obliterate the last vestige of pajjal authority in
Sweden. " In the government of the church," as
the synod of Upsala complained,
" all things were
done with secret cabals, craft, and violence, with-
out inquiry, trial, or judgment, against all order, so
that they only who assented to the liturgy were
promoted to be bishops, without any previous ques-
tioning of the will of the clergy." That which John
would have reformed fell by his meddling into
deeper disorders. " Ministers were forced on the
congregations," it is said,
" who were not only un-
learned but often marriage-breakers, thieves, per-
jurers, hoinicides, tipplers, and leaders of vicious
lifes; those alone who would subscribe the liturgy
were constantly provided with the best benefices;
while honourable, learned, and moral preachers of
the gospel, who opposed and rejected the liturgy,
were contemned, hated, yea persecuted in welfare
and life ; proof sufficient that if the liturgy be not
abolished ere king Sigisniund come into the govern-
ment, God’s word will then be no otherwise bestead
in the land than if one should carry a light in a
violent storm ^." Those who now ruled used
their victory with moderation ; oblivion of the
past was promised ;
no one was persecuted. A
single clerjiyman, minister in Stockholm, named
Peter Paulson, was deprived ;
he was the only one
who now ventured publicly to defend the liturgy;
but he had previously showed so refractory a
spirit in his office, that king John, upon reiterated
he had been elected in 1586, and exercised the office since
that time. Duke diaries’ Reg. 1593.
’’
Relation of Nieolaus Bothniensia, concerning the Coun-
cil of Upsala; printed by Ldnbom, Historical Memorials
(Historiska Miirkviirdigheter), v. i.
^ After the liturgy had been forced on the congregations
of Sweden, it was forbidden to make use of Luther’s Cate-
chism for the instruction of youth; the more advanced, and
especially the clergy, were enjoined to read assiduously the
writings of the ancient Fathers, to which it was known that
the Jesuits principally appealed. ."Afterwards many notoriously
popish books were dispersed among the common people, as
Eccii Enchiridion, and others of that class. The Catechismus
Canisii and Consultationes Cassandri had appeared in print
in Swedish, and misled many. Werwing, i. 133. In duke
Charles’ Answer to the Points represented by the Clergy,
Feb. 29, 1595, it is directed that an exposition cf Luther’s
Catechism shall be made every Sunday after sermon. On
the 24th July he writes to the clergy that the Swedish Cate-
chism should be amended, and purged of papistical cere-
monies, and the translation of the Bible narrowly examined.
9
Werwing, i. 13C.
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