Reformers in Sweden
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the Romish champions. He declared the Fathers to be below and not
above Scripture, and that their interpretations were to be received only
when in accordance with Holy Writ. He denied that the word of God is
obscure when laying down the fundamental doctrines of the faith, and
he presented the Bible’s own testimony to its simplicity and clearness.
Christ said, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me,” and Paul
declared that should he preach any other gospel than that which he had
received, he would be anathema. “How, then,” said Dr. Olaf, “shall
others presume to enact dogmas at their pleasure, and impose them
as things necessary to salvation?” He showed that the decrees of the
church are of no authority when in opposition to the commands of
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God. And maintaining the great Protestant principle, “The Bible, and
the Bible only as the rule of faith and practice,” he gained a victory
which decided the king in favor of the Protestant faith, and virtually
established the Reformation in Sweden.
“The stage on which this conference was conducted was an obscure
one compared with that of Wittemberg and Augsburg, and the parties
engaged in it were but of secondary rank compared with the great
chiefs between whom previous contests of a similar kind had been
waged; but .... it shows us the sort of men that formed the rank and
file of the army of the reformers. They were not illiterate, sectarian,
noisy controversialists; far from it. They were men who had studied
the word of God, and knew well how to wield the weapons with which
the armory of the Bible supplied them.”
There now stands in Orebro, in a little park in front of the col-
lege, a monument erected over fifty years ago to the memory of these
remarkable men, and bearing the inscription, “In memory of Olaf
and Lawrence Patersen, the first preachers of the Lutheran doctrine
in Sweden, born in Orebro.
Daniel 12:3
.” Just across the river is a
beautiful park, and to the right stands “Engelbrekt Slott,” one of the
oldest castles in Sweden. For many years this castle was also the
prison for the district, and it was here, no doubt, that those arrested for
preaching the Lord’s soon coming in 1843 were imprisoned. Some of
our friends visited the dark room in the round tower that was used as
a prison; they also visited the large prison built since, in which Bro.
Rosqvist was confined for preaching the present truth in Grythyttehed.
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