The evangelical Christians of Denmark soon gave a new proof of the zeal which inspired them in their endeavor to substitute religion for the theocracy. Feeling the importance of holding a religious discussion, they gave way on the question of language. ‘We are ready,’ they wrote to the king, ‘to hold discussion with the prelates either in Latin or in Danish;’ and for a whole month they repeated their demand. The Catholic party had recourse to a subterfuge, and wrote to the king that they likewise were ready to confer with the preachers either in Latin or in Danish; but that they ought first to justify themselves in writing before judges with whom all the world must be satisfied.[305] These judges were the Danish bishops and Roman cardinals, that is to say, essentially the pope, who would thus be judge in his own cause. Further, they raised objections to the disputation itself. ‘The sittings,’ they said, ‘are to be held in the royal palace, and it would be dangerous to speak in a place occupied by the body-guards of a prince so devoted to the heretics.’ It was thought that this fanciful fear of the body-guards did little credit to the courage of the champions of Rome.[306] Thus the scheme of the conference broke down. Tausen, Wormorsen, Sadolin, Gjoë, Erasmus, Jansen, and their brethren were greatly grieved about it. Ought this refusal of the bishops to check them in their efforts to establish in Denmark the kingdom of Jesus Christ? They were not men of a kind to become sluggish and idle after doing ever so little, or, as another reformer says, ‘to take their eyes from their brows and place them in their backs.’[307] They thought that in the service of Christ they must be able to burst the fetters, to triumph over obstacles, and to run with outstretched arms to the goal. They appeared before the king and said to him—‘We acknowledge that these lords are men of birth and honor, competent to give good counsel in the affairs of the world; but our chief complaint against them is that they confine themselves to bearing the title of bishops, and do not in any manner discharge their duty. Not only do they not preach themselves, but instead of placing in their dioceses well-informed pastors and preachers, they appoint stupid, ignorant, and profane men, who supply the Christian people with nothing but ridiculous fables, dreams of monks, old wives’ tales, and fooleries of players, after the usual manner of papists.[308] They persecute those who preach the Gospel freely, and who condemn falsehood and hypocrisy. They give leave to bands of sellers of indulgences to run to and fro to smother the Word of God, and to prevent simple folk from receiving it. They shamefully drain the resources of the poor people, while the real poor are languishing in distressing necessities. They get a multitude of superstitious masses said in their cathedrals, for the sake of great revenues, instead of having preaching there and of offering to God true worship. They try to