Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI. From the Upsala-möte to the death of Charles XII. The Great Kings and the Great Bishops (1592—1718 A.D.)
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
s- CHARLES IX., OLAUS, FORBES, P. KENICIUS. 269
declined it. He was content to hold a Swedish dukedom,
of which the principal part was East Gothland (Baaz : v.
1
8). Charles was crowned in 1607, and the crown entailed
upon his heirs, being Protestants. He published King
Christopher s land s-law in 1608, and died in 1611.
Charles IX. was a man of restless energy, much of which
he spent in theological controversy, and in plans for the
revision of the catechism and the service book. He was n
moderate, not an extreme Calvinist, and he himself pub
lished a catechism based on the famous conciliation
catechism of Heidelberg, which had been drawn up in the
Palatinate in 1563 by representatives of the school of
Melanchthon and Calvin. Melanchthon himself, though
he was strongly opposed to Calvin s doctrine of predestina
tion, had strongly deprecated the dogmatism of the high
Lutherans on the mysterious subject of the ubiquity of our
Lord s human nature and on the nature of our Lord s pre
sence in the sacrament. The Heidelberg Catechism (as
Hardwick says)
"
steered away as far as possible from all
(such) speculative topics."
17
Charles may have been drawn to this formula by his
German connections,
18
and perhaps by the hope that the
spirit of Melanchthon, who was so much honoured in
Swr
eden, might help him to carry through his more liberal
projects.
He was, like his brother Eric, a hymn writer, and a
writer of prayers, though he did not venture, like King
John, to compose a liturgy. He was also anxious to revise
the translation of the Bible. But he was still more a con
troversialist. He felt the Lutheran orthodox doctrine to
be a heavy burden, especially its Eucharistic doctrine.
The teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism on this point
17
It may be found in the Sylloge Confessionum, pp. 327-361,
Oxford, 1804. On its character see more in Hardwick : Re
formation, new edition, pp. 160 foil., 1880.
18
His second wife, Christina, was granddaughter of Philip
the Magnanimous, Landgrave of Hesse.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
