of the master of the horse, followed him and his companion with a drawn sword, but was prevented from injuring them by some ecclesiastics, while many hooted after him as an impostor, who had been bribed to desert the Protestant faith. It must be confessed that the canon had acted in a manner calculated to excite the odium of the commonalty, having, among other measures, opposed the Danish version of the New Testament, executed by Michael, an exile with the late monarch at Antwerp. Meanwhile Christian Schrock bore a faithful testimony at Assens, a town on the west border of Funen, against indulgences, purgatory, merit of works, invocation of saints, and the sacrifice of the mass; the pious fervour of his sermons drawing together large congregations, who renounced the errors of their forefathers. Bishop Bellenack, enraged at his success, addressed a bitter epistle to the senate and people of Assens, in which, after using "great swelling words of vanity," and boasting of the ease with which he could scatter as with a breath these Lutheran preachers, he hinted "how much better it would be that they should all be gibbeted and crucified, than that the people should lose one sacrifice of the mass."

said that James Nar, a dependant has been effected in Germany, through the instrumentality of Dr. Martin Luther. Nor there alone, but elsewhere, the antiquated snares and impostures of the Papists have been abundantly exposed to the common people. Yea, among ourselves also, there is a general complaint that human fables, traditions, miracles and prodigies, so disgusting, so absurd, that the lower orders begin to despise them, are extolled to the utmost by your ministers, and drawn from the turbid puddles of human learning, rather than that pure and unstained word of God, which flows from the limpid springs of Israel. And although I do not deny, that I am bound to you by oath to preserve the Catholic and Roman religion in these kingdoms, yet I choose not to be so understood by you, as if I were obliged to receive, and protect by royal favour, all the errors and old-wives' fables which have crept into the Catholic church over and above the word of God. And who of you is ignorant, how many abuses and erroneous doctrines have, by lapse of time, obtruded on the platform of the church? such, indeed, as no man of sound understanding could be expected to defend. Nor do I consider that I, as king of Denmark and Norway, or you, can be held bound to maintain any doctrines, rescripts, or decrees, of the Romish church, but such as are founded on the invincible rock of the Divine Word. I have engaged myself to protect your episcopal dignity, honours, and privileges, while you labour with unyielding diligence and vigilant industry in your office. I have engaged, I say, and do engage, to preserve your dignities inviolate. And, because in these kingdoms, to say nothing of foreigners, Christian doctrine according to the Reformation of Luther hath struck such deep root that it cannot be disturbed without slaughter and blood-shed, and great detriment to the state; so it

In 1527, on the 15th of August, being the Assumption of the holy Virgin, the King thought it a prudent measure to assemble the clergy, nobles, and commons of the kingdom at Odensee; when he thus addressed the prelates in the first instance: "I admonish and exhort you, the bishops, you, I say,who have been raised to such an exalted station, to use your best endeavours, that the pure and unadulterated word of the Gospel may be preached, and cherished, and defended, in your dioceses. You cannot, I conceive, but be conscious, what a purifying of the old Romish idolatry

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ventured to prognosticate the defeat the church had pronounced, with imposition of hands, certain persons to be worthy to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments of Christ." Much time was consumed in the discussion of two preliminary questions: I. In what language the debate should be conducted, the Romanists urging the Latin, and the Evangelicals the Danish: 2. Who should be acknowledged for judge of the controversy; the Evangelicals declaring for the word of God, expressed by the monarch, senate, and all the people; and the Romanists for the pontiff, or at least a general council. That the latter should have desired to carry on the conference in Latin was to be expected, as it would furnish them with many scholastic terms, and convenient subterfuges, as well as enable their German allies to declaim at greater advantage, besides affording an opportunity of cavilling at the translation of the Danish confession into a learned language; and it was equally natural for their opponents to wish to avoid frivolous contentions, and, by pursuing the track already commenced, render it more easy for the generality to judge of the merits of the case. When it was found that they could come to no settlement on the points, the conference was abruptly terminated; the Papists calling the Lutherans, heretics, schismatics, and vile characters, whose very contact was polluting, and complaining that the military in attendance were designed to overawe them in the free expression of their sentiments; and the Protestants accusing them, in return, of tergiversation, and declaring that they had mocked them, as well as the king, nobles, and commons, by their arts in this conference. Though the Reforming clergy thus missed an occasion of publicly defending their opinions, they took an early opportunity of instructing their sovereign and fellow-subjects more fully on the grounds of their Protestantism, by

of the Reformers. Conscious, however, that they were not able to cope with their antagonists by their own powers of argument, they sent Lampsing, precentor of Aarhuus, to Cologne, to bring from that university some able disputants to assist them on this trying occasion. The principal of the Germans who accepted the invitation was Dr. Stagefyr, while their chief native champion was Paul Helie. Taussan ppeared in behalf of the Lutherans, upported by nineteen others from various parts of the kingdom. The proceedings commenced by the presentation to Frederick of a "Confession of Faith," exhibiting forty-three articles, drawn up under the superintendence of Taussan, as head of the Lutheran consistory; which was followed by a document on the part of the Romanists, not of counter-articles of faith, of which they held no laymen as judges, but declaratory of the "Errors of the Evangelicals;" demanding, at the same time, that the Reformed should be required to prove or renounce them; that they should not be suffered to quit the city till the conference was ended; and that, when vanquished in argument, they should engage to come over to the side of the victors; professing themselves ready to be bound by similar obligations.

The King caused this document to be transmitted to the Lutherans, requiring them to give in their answer. As there is nothing in the confession itself, or the answer to the alleged errors, materially differing from the declarations of the German reformers, their transcription would be superfluous. The twenty-sixth error, indeed, may be noticed, as somewhat personal in its character, charging John Taussan with the assumption of the power of ordination: to which he replied, that he had formed no ministers, for that belonged to God alone, but hat he had declared, and before all

issuing twelve propositions, which may be termed an Apology for the Danish Reformation.

As, however, it was plain that the Roman Catholics had shunned fair and open controversy, and had withdrawn from the contest, the King decreed, "that the Evangelical divines should preach the word publicly, until a general council should terminate all disputes, and that he would protect both parties by his royal authority." From this time the cause of true religion continued to flourish; the monasteries were deserted, and their revenues employed in the foundation of schools and hospitals; images removed from the churches, and some sanctuaries demolished, not without popular .commotion. Frederick, fearing the secret machinations of the prelates, deemed it expedient to strengthen the Protestant interest by joining the League of Smalkalde; while Taussan was employed in publishing a reply to Paul Helie, who sent out a treatise on the Mass misrepresenting the proceedings at the late conference, and openly challenging him to confute his assertions.

The Danish Protestants were not permitted to enjoy a long interval of tranquillity, for the decease of Frederick in 1533 inspired the Papists with fresh hopes of preventing further innovation in ecclesiastical concerns. An interregnum of two years, in which political animosity was mingled with religious difference, distracted the kingdom; one party desiring the younger son of Frederick, prince John, for his successor; a second, the elder son, prince Christian, suspected of Lutheranism; and a third, the exiled monarch. The prelates obtained a decree of the States, that the election should be deferred for a year that the churches and monasteries should remain as they were that prince John, yet a child, should be educated in the Romish faith, with a view to the succession-and that John Taussan should be brought to

trial for his proceedings in the late
reign. He was charged with tra-
ducing the ecclesiastical orders;
with calling bishops by opprobrious
names; and with teaching heretical
doctrine concerning the mass. Ron-
now, ordinary of Roeskilde, com-
plained, that, unauthorised by him,
he had intruded into the church of
St. Nicholas, and that, when cen-
sured, he had aggravated his fault
by impudent contumely. The ac-
cused briefly replied, "that in all
which he had done he had been
simply actuated by a desire of the
glory of God and the good of man :
that he had wished to offend no
ecclesiastic, and that if, through in-
advertence, he had given umbrage
to Ronnow, he was ready to beg
his pardon: that he was not con-
scious of holding erroneous senti-
ments concerning the Lord's Supper,
and if any appeared in his writings
they must be merely typographical:
he had maintained, that under the
form of bread and wine the body
and blood were not included, nor
were they shut up in the pyx on
the altar." The judges declared
that Ronnow should be restored to
all which he had been deprived of
in the late reign, and should ordain
priests for the mass: they would
have passed some severe sentence
on Taussan, had they not been re-
strained by the senators and magis-
trates, who urged the expediency
of relaxation of punishment, through
fear of popular insurrection; they
were therefore content with order-
ing him to perform no ministerial
function in Copenhagen, and to
teach no children, but to leave
Zealand within one month, and be
equally disqualified in Funen and
Jutland. While the trial was going
on, the populace surrounded the
senate-house with arms in their
hands, demanding that their fa-
vourite preacher should not be in-
jured, and vowing vengeance against
the clergy, if he were not liberated.
Some of the senators went out to
pacify them with an assurance of
his safety, and a declaration that