The other bishops were far from following the example of their colleague. Filled with fear by the threats of the excited people, they made haste to quit the capital in order to take their revenge in the provinces and to stifle heresy. In the name of the Diet they promulgated an edict enjoining that, on a day fixed, all the Lutheran preachers should be removed from their churches, thrown into prison or banished, and that Catholic priests should be everywhere settled in their places. In addition to this, confiscation and death were pronounced against all Danes who should continue to profess the Lutheran doctrine.[346] A general persecution immediately began. The archbishop of Lund and the bishops imprisoned or expelled all the evangelicals who fell into their hands. A great number of the faithful succeeded in concealing themselves. At Viborg, however, so numerous were the evangelicals that the archbishop was obliged to give up the thought of reducing them to submission, even by force of arms. At Copenhagen, the feeble and vacillating bishop Roennov, overwhelmed with reproaches by his colleagues, again turned about at the mercy of the wind, and undertook likewise to expel the ministers and oppress the faithful. But a brave burgess, Peter Smid, infused courage into his fellow-citizens and energetically resisted the persecution; and the bishop recollecting the disturbance of which, but for Tausen, he would have been the victim, abandoned his attempt.
It was to the honor of Scandinavia that these religious struggles were not disgraced by bloodshed, as was the case in the rest of Europe. Wormorsen likewise made an attempt at reconciliation and peace by publishing an evangelical apology addressed to the Diet and the bishops. In this tract he spoke respectfully of the archbishop of Lund, complaining at the same time of the canons who made a boast of confining themselves to expelling the pastors instead of burning them alive. The evangelical minister declared that his colleagues and himself would render obedience to the Diet and to the bishops in every thing which was not contrary to the Word of God. But this appeal remained without effect.[347]
The bishops, thinking their victory secure, at length undertook to justify their silence in the Diet of 1530, and to refute the apology which the evangelical ministers had then presented. Eliæ was entrusted with the drawing up of the plea. ‘These new preachers,’ said the prelates, ‘transform the Christian Church and give it a new shape. The predecessors of Luther are Eunomius, Manichæus, Jovinianus, Vigilantius, the Waldenses, Wycliffe, Hus, and others of the same species, all damnable heretics. Consider how many princes, nobles, kingdoms, countries and towns have loyally adhered to the true Christian faith. You are called to make your choice between these Catholic nobles and excommunicated heretics. Decide for yourselves; make use in this case of the same understanding which you apply to the things of this world.’[348]