259 her’s little catechismwas mentioned for the first time in an official state document. According to the thought of the Lutheran estates the termGod’s law, the Decalogue, and the catechism belonged together. Themain development of Swedish ecclesiastical legislation must be seen from the Church Order of 1571 {Kyrkoordning) to the new Church Lawof 1686. It was not possible to create an entirely new church law. Thus the local diocesan legislation (constitutiones) attempted tointerpret the old Church Order of 1571. Oneof themajor intentsof a juridical naturewas tocontinue thedevelopment of the content and spirit of the Swedish Lutheran confession (Confessio fidei) adopted by the Uppsala Council in 1593. Such development continued through the consequent education of the clergy and the well-developed system of catechismamong the ordinary people. Religion was the strongest foundation of the national state. It is also clear that juridical experts strengthened that line of thought theoretically. Hereshould be mentionedtheprofessors David Pareus in Heidelberg, Jonas Magni in Uppsala, and Michael Wexionius Gyldenstolpe in Turku. According to the new Church Law of 1686, the Church and the State (bracchium saeculare) worked closely together. The purpose of the development was to create a uniform society and state with a high degree of spirituality. The Church Register in each parish was to be used for this purpose. According to the new Church Law of 1686 the entire Swedish Population was registered so that it was thus possible to control the popular knowledge of Luther’s catechism andtopunish those whoneglected the field of catechetical knowledge. The fulfillment of this task was not possible without exercising force. Thus the entire societas quasi frenis continentur et exercetur seemed to be the goal of ecclesiastical legislation in Sweden during the seventeenth century.
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