In the absence of theological debates, there were disputes of another kind. The evangelicals, who had become more and more numerous in the towns, used to meet together for their worship; but the bishops opposed them, and collisions more or less frequent were the consequence. It was to be feared that the agitation would extend. Without being _barbarous_ (as Erasmus called them) the Danes had that energetic nature, sometimes terrible, of which Christian II. was the type. A prudent government was bound to attempt the prevention of violent conflicts; and for this purpose to establish some _modus vivendi_. This is what the king undertook to do; and with this end in view he convoked a diet at Odensee, for the 1st of August, 1527. The clergy heard the news with delight, and resolved to take advantage of the occasion to extirpate the Reformation. They had some ground for hoping to succeed. The nobles were to take the side of the bishops; and these two classes united were to win the victory. Two courses were open: to secure religious liberty to all the Danes, or to suppress one of the two parties. The evangelicals desired the former, the bishops [Sidenote: The King’s Speech To The Bishops.] aimed at the latter. Frederick I. did not hesitate; he opened the assembly with a Latin speech full of frankness, and especially addressed to the clergy. ‘You, bishops,’ said he, ‘who have been raised to a dignity so high, to the end that you may feed the Church of Christ by distributing to it the wholesome word of God, I exhort you to see to it with all your energy that this be done, in order that the pure and incorruptible voice of the Gospel may resound in your dioceses, and may nourish souls and keep them from evil. You know what a multitude of papal superstitions have been abolished in Germany by the intervention of Luther; you know that in other countries also the tricks and impositions of the priests have been exposed before the people, and that even among ourselves a general outcry has arisen. Complaint is made that the servants of the Church, instead of drawing the pure word of the Lord at the clear fountains of Israel, go away to the turbid and stagnant ponds of human tradition and pretended miracles, to ditches so foul that the people are beginning to turn aside from their pestilential exhalations. I have, I know, given you my promise on oath to maintain the Roman Catholic religion in this kingdom; but do not suppose that I mean to shield under my authority the worthless fables which have crept into it; neither I, as king of Denmark and of Norway, nor yourselves are bound to maintain decrees of the Roman Church which are not based on the immovable rock of the word of God. I have pledged myself to preserve your episcopal dignity so long as you devote all your energies to the fulfilment of your duties. And, seeing that the Christian doctrine as set forth in conformity with the Reformation of Luther has struck its