66 Wasa. In 1593 he called a meeting in Uppsala in order to create the unity in religion which was fundamental for peace and calm in the Kingdom. All who signed the Uppsala Agreement obligated themselves thus to guarantee that its decisions wereobeyed, a promisewhich implied political action. When the Diet in Stockholmformally gave King Sigismund notice that they no longer owed himtheir allegiance, it was emphasized that this was not a revolutionary act. The country still adhered to the house of Gustav Wasa, but this house was obligated to restrict itself to the evangelical religion, which Sigismund had not done. During the Riksdag in Linköping in 1600 it was established »that no one shall after this day assume the royal crownand rule whois not inagreement withus in the pure Christian evangelical doctrine.» The period which followed was characterized by a number of regulations, assurances, and decrees on religion in the country. Thus before Gustav Adolph ascended to the throne in 1611, he was required to give an assurance which included the obligation to restrict himself to the Augsburg Confession and the decisions of the meetinginUppsala. TheÖrebrostatuteof 1617is oneof the first in a line of regulations which established the inseparability of the Protestant faith and loyalty to the Fatherland. With the Form of Government of 1634 one can say that the demand for religious unity, a unity which was evangelical, was elevated to the position of a fundamental law. Such lines of thought survived during the period of natural law. Religion was also emphasized then as the strongest bond within the state. Without the fear of God and religion, the state could scarcely survive, maintained, for example, Pufendorf. During the end of the seventeenth century responsibility for unity of religion was transferred more and more fromhaving been under educational officials to become the task of other higher authorities. In that way the confession received a legal character. It was only a Christian authority, however, who could carry out this task, and one could still not consider the possibility that the authority could not be such. Thus there arose a great deal of discussion and sometimes great conflicts between the spiritual and worldly authorities who bore responsibility in questions of religion. With the adoption of theChurchLawof 1686, theBook of Concordia became the Symbolic Book, and deviations in matters of faith were forbidden. Control over religion was sharpened, and the reason was the prosperity of the state. The goal was »the common good», and that could be attained only when all embraced the same evangelical faith. Thus its § 1 reads: »In our kingdomand its subject lands shall all profess only and solely the Christian doctrine and faith, which is based upon the Holy word of God.. . ».
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