Assembly Of Upsala.

Charles convoked at Upsala a general assembly for the purpose of regulating the state of the Church. On the 25th of February, 1593, he was there present himself with his council, four bishops, more than three hundred pastors, deputies from all parts of the kingdom, many nobles, townsmen, and peasants. There was a young professor of theology from Upsala, Nicolaus Bothniensis, who had distinguished himself by his resistance to Romish institutions, and had even been thrown into prison. The assembly, desirous of doing honor to his fidelity, now named him its president. With one accord the assembly declared that Holy Scripture interpreted by itself was the only basis and the only source of evangelical doctrine. After this all the articles of the Confession of Augsburg were read; and Peter Jona, who had just been named bishop of Strengnaes, rose and said, ‘Let us all hold fast this doctrine; and will you remain faithful to it even if it should please God that you must suffer for so doing?’ All answered, ‘We are prepared to sacrifice for its sake all that we possess in the world, our property and our lives.’ Peter Jona then resuming his speech said, ‘Sweden is now become one man, and we all have one and the same God.’[[521]]

All the changes in doctrine and in ritual which had been introduced in the reign of John III. were abolished. The teaching of evangelical doctrine was universally established. The assembly of Upsala was an event the results of which were felt far and wide, beyond the limits of Sweden. This was manifest when, at a later period, by the services of Gustavus Adolphus, the Reformation was consolidated in Europe.

BOOK XIII.
HUNGARY, POLAND, BOHEMIA, THE NETHERLANDS.

CHAPTER I.
THE FIRST REFORMERS AND THE FIRST PERSECUTORS IN HUNGARY.
(1518-1526.)

Few countries had so much need of the Reformation as Hungary. When, in the year 1000, she abandoned paganism under King Stephen, she attached herself to Rome, and Rome brought on her two evils. She sent into the country large numbers of monks, priests, prelates, primates, and legates; and these men led her—this was the first evil—to a mere outward profession of Christianity, and oppressed the various tribes who peopled the land—this was the second evil. Further, the people, rather more than half a century later, assembled at Alba-Royal, rose in revolt against the clergy. The former were defeated, many were put to death, and the pope, boasting of the victory, wrote to the king, bidding him remember that henceforth the pope of Rome was his suzerain. Shortly before the Reformation, in 1512, the Hungarian passion for independence led them to revolt again. But at this time they were destitute of true Christian principles, and the only result of the movement was to cover their country with devastation, and deluge it with the blood of sixty thousand of its sons. This heroic nation was once more thrown into bondage. The light and the power of the Gospel were needed to effect its regeneration, and to infuse strength into it for resisting its two enemies, the Grand Turk and the pope.

The Magyars.

If the tribes of Hungary were without a true and living faith, they were nevertheless, the Magyars especially, among the races best fitted to embrace the Reformation. They were characterized by a noble independence of spirit and a nature endowed with higher cravings. When some Christian men proclaimed among them the grace of Jesus Christ, they joyfully embraced the spiritual truths which Geneva was then diffusing in Europe; and the liveliness of their faith, the morality of their conduct, their love of freedom, and the prudence of their character, soon rendered a glorious testimony to the Reformation. But the cleverness and the violent persecuting spirit of the Hungarian prelates and of the courts of Rome and Vienna contended vigorously against the religious renovation of this people, drew them back in part to the bosom of the Church, and prevented the spread of evangelical doctrine into other districts of the country. The mighty forces of the flesh engaged in a conflict with the mighty forces of the spirit. The dominion of prejudice gained the ascendency over that of truth. Faith, wisdom, virtue, originative energy, freedom—all were crushed. God, however, by his power, kept for himself a people in these lands; and a considerable part of the Hungarian nation remained Protestant, but were constantly subject to the inspection of priests and to oppression by the powerful.

Hungary, in common with the other countries of eastern Europe, had received, before the Reformation of the sixteenth century and while it was still in subjection to Rome, some rays of light which here and there illumined it. Some of the Vaudois had sought refuge there; the doctrine of John Hus had been spread in the land; some of the brethren banished from Bohemia had built churches there, and had acquired great influence.

In 1521 two young people, children almost, the hope of Hungary, were united before the altar. The husband was Louis II., a son of King Ladislaus, who had ascended the throne in 1510, at the age of ten. The young prince, who was amiable, but easy tempered, weak, and addicted to pleasure, was not capable of preventing the prevalence of disorder in the kingdom at the time the Turks were threatening it with their terrible invasions. He had little courage, a quality which was common enough among his fellow-countrymen; he was obstinate, and yet allowed his courtiers and his bishops to rule over him: