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Protestantism in Sweden and Denmark - James Aitken Wylie

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Chapter 6<br />

<strong>Protestantism</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Sweden</strong>,<br />

from Vasa (1530) to<br />

Charles IX. (1604)<br />

SINCE the middle of the reign of Gustavus<br />

Vasa, the liberties of the Reformed Church of<br />

<strong>Sweden</strong> had been on the ebb. Vasa, adopt<strong>in</strong>g the<br />

policy known as the Erastian, had assumed the<br />

supreme power <strong>in</strong> all matters ecclesiastical. His son<br />

John went a step beyond this. At his own arbitrary<br />

will <strong>and</strong> pleasure he imposed a semi-Popish liturgy<br />

upon the Swedish clergy, <strong>and</strong> strove, by sentences<br />

of imprisonment <strong>and</strong> outlawry, to compel them to<br />

make use of it <strong>in</strong> their public services. But now still<br />

greater dangers impended: <strong>in</strong> fact, a crisis had<br />

arisen. Sigismund, who made no secret of his<br />

devotion to Rome, was about to mount the throne.<br />

Before plac<strong>in</strong>g the crown on his head, the Swedes<br />

felt that it was <strong>in</strong>cumbent on them to provide<br />

effectual guarantees that the new monarch should<br />

govern <strong>in</strong> accordance with the Protestant religion.<br />

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