In giving this sketch of the life of Gustavus Adolphus, no attempt has been made to present a complete life of the great king. It is a history difficult for young people to understand, and for that reason only the leading events of a most eventful life have been presented. It was first written for a lecture and entertainment, after the manner of my other entertainments on Church epochs, to be illustrated by stereopticon views, with three dramatic interludes—the first representing the joy of the

Gustavus Adolphus, the hero general of the Reformation, was born at the royal palace at Stockholm, Sweden, December 9th, 1594, a little more than one hundred years after the birth of Luther, nearly fifty years after his death, and five years before the birth of Cromwell. Washington and Lincoln, as to date of birth, were only seventy-seven years apart; had Washington lived but nine years more, they would have been contemporary. Washington may, in a sense, be said to have made this country, and Li

During the stormy scenes described in the preceding chapter, Gustavus Adolphus was born. He was baptized on the 1st of January, 1595. The child was brought up in an atmosphere of war. His father told him the story of Sweden's wars and of his own campaigns, to which the boy listened with enrapt attention. In 1595 the Diet had closed the throne to every Catholic candidate. Charles IX., as the king was now called, was generous enough to assure the Estates that if any son of Sigismund should become

Gustavus, the Grand Duke of Finland and Duke of Estland, as he was now called, did not at once assume the throne. The kingdom was for two months without a ruler. The Diet was convened at Nyköping by the queen and by Duke John, who, with six lords of the Council, had administered the affairs of the government. On December 17th, 1611, the queen and Duke John, who was five years the elder, renounced before each of the assembled Estates all right and title to the throne of Sweden, and, although the

We have now these two young men, Gustavus Adolphus and Axel Oxenstiern, his chancellor, sitting down to play the game of war against all the powers of northern Europe. The stake was the national existence of Sweden. Buckle thinks that, given the time, the man may be predicated. But the times did not produce Jesus Christ. Nero was the natural product of that period. Gustavus Adolphus, like Luther, was a special soul sent of God to be the incarnation of spiritual force against the evil and awful i

Under the stress of war, trial and great exposure of his life, the piety of Gustavus Adolphus became more marked. On his long campaigns he read and studied the Bible. He said: "I seek to fortify myself by meditations upon the Holy Scriptures." No one ever studied God's word, that is able to make us wise unto salvation, without also gaining worldly wisdom, and perceptibly increasing in moral beauty of character. He regarded his high position as a great trust, given to him by his God. He was not a

From the time of the abdication of Charles V. of Germany the country had, for about sixty years, enjoyed comparative peace. Luther's translation of the complete Bible had appeared in 1634. Nearly one hundred years had been given the plain people to study the word of God, to see what Christ said and what Paul preached, and to compare them with the doctrines of the Church as set forth by the priests of Rome. The work of Luther was destructive as well as constructive. He tore down what was false in

This war is usually divided into five periods: 1. War in Bohemia; 2. War in the Palatinate; 3. Danish war; 4. Swedish war; 5. Franco-Swedish war. After their king had been made Emperor of Germany, the Bohemians, in an effort to make sure of their deliverance from the rule of Ferdinand, chose for their king Frederick V., Elector Palatine, who being the head of the Evangelical Union, was considered the chief of the Reformation party in Germany. He was elected August 26th, 1619. He was not fortunat

When Gustavus was only twenty-six years of age, in the midst of wars and struggles, he was laying the foundations for a greater Sweden. In 1620 he inquired of the bishops how knowledge could be disseminated among the people. He claimed that he had a greater want than that of money, namely, competent persons for civil and military positions. He inquired what schools for the common people, what seminaries, what colleges were necessary to educate the people. He inquired where good teachers could be

A continued southwest wind kept the fleet from making progress, and the ships were obliged to return to port. Their provisions ran out and had to be renewed from seaport towns. On account of contrary winds, it took five weeks to make that short distance. The landing took place on June 24th, 1630, the one hundredth anniversary of the day on which the Augsburg Confession had been presented to Charles V., Emperor of Germany, in the presence of the leading ecclesiastics and ruling princes and dukes

The battle of Breitenfield marks an important epoch in history. Ferdinand had a dream of annexing all northern Europe to the Holy Roman Empire. When he failed at Stralsund he saw the limit of his northern stretch; at Breitenfield he knew the limitations of his army. This battle really restored to freedom and to Protestantism all northern Europe. It marks an era in military affairs. Gustavus had practiced his army in great flexibility, or mobility, and this quality had triumphed over weight and n

Gustavus seemed to have had all Catholic Europe to fight. While on the Rhine he wrote home: "We have unexpectedly fallen into collision with the arms of the Spaniards," who were in the pay of Maximilian of Bavaria and not that of Spain. He wonders if he shall be obliged to declare war against Spain. He fervently hoped not, as he has just heard that Richelieu is sending a large force of soldiers to help Austria, but he urges them at home to look to the sea coast, particularly Gottenburg. At the C

Wallenstein's letters would not do to use as historic authority, yet his report of the Nuremberg affair to his emperor probably was a fair statement from his point of view. He said: "The king lay fourteen days at Furth, and now having lost nearly one-third of his army from hunger and discomfort, has to-day departed, whither I cannot learn. For military reasons I should imagine that he would betake himself to the Main. I mean, at all events, to follow him and again fix my camp close to him. I hea

After the death of Gustavus the Great, Chancellor Oxenstiern became commander-in-chief; he was also chosen chief of the League of the Protestant Princes against Austria. Oxenstiern was as earnest as Gustavus, but the great genius and experience of the Christian soldier, the large wisdom and sincere honesty of the great king were all missing, and made the remainder of the war only a bloody record, with little of the heroic, except the heroism of a steadfast standing to an unpleasant delegated dut