match for Lutheranism in an open war. He therefore
sought to stamp out the new teachings without allowing them to be fairly
known; and had his superiors shown equal zeal, the Reformation might
have been delayed.[100]

A few days after his earnest appeal to Magni, Brask despatched to the
Vadstena Chapter a tract in refutation of the Lutheran doctrines, and
along with it a sermon preached by Petri, "in which," so wrote the
bishop, "you will observe his blasphemy of the Holy Virgin." Brask,
despite his spiritual duties, was no ascetic, and, though suffering at
the time from illness, added a postscript begging the Chapter to let him
have a box of nuts. Apparently these delicacies came; for the bishop's
next letter, written to the pope, was in a happier vein. "I have just
had from Johannes Magni a letter on exterminating heresy which fills my
soul with joy.... I grieve, however, to tell you that the heresy which
had its birth in Germany has spread its branches across this kingdom....
I have sought to the utmost of my power to stay the pestilence, but
through lack of authority outside my diocese, could not accomplish what
I would.... Give me your orders to act outside my diocese, and I will
crush the heresy with my utmost zeal." About this time the bishop
received a letter from Johannes Magni that must have soothed his
temper. "God knows," the legate wrote, "how eagerly I burn to effect the
hoped-for freedom of the Christian Church, had not circumstances been
adverse. I have at any rate pleaded with the king, and he has promised
to maintain our rights. He says that if any of his soldiers wrong our
tenants, they do so at their peril. When I spoke to him of the burdens
that had been put upon us, he exclaimed with tears in his eyes that no
one felt it more than he, that it had been necessary and contrary to his
will, and that it was his full intention so soon as peace was restored
to refund the money we had furnished. He promised also to repress the
Lutheran heresy, though he urged me to use persuasion rather than force,
lest by conflict of opinions the whole Church be overturned." The
impression left on Magni by his monarch's tears is probably the
impression that the monarch had designed. We have no reason to suppose
Gustavus cherished any affection yet for Luther, but neither is there
reason to suppose he hated him. What he hoped for above all else was to
keep the bishops under his control, and the surest way to do so was to