Two men who were equally necessary to Sweden, Gustavus the liberator of the nation and Olaf the reformer of the Church, were now present together at Strengnaes. During the sittings of the Diet, Olaf with much energy proclaimed evangelical truth. The members of the Assembly came to hear him, and his discourses produced a deep impression on his hearers. He saw clearly that the bishops and the priests were the chief obstacle to the Reformation. While therefore he lovingly announced the Son of God, he directed his most vigorous attacks against the domineering spirit of the clergy, their love of money, and their idleness and uselessness. He reminded his hearers that the Apostles and the first Christians were simple, sober, and filled with brotherly love, and that by their goodness they won all hearts, while now the priests exasperated the laity by devising a thousand indirect methods of getting their money from them. He inveighed especially against the Roman Church and its unjust decrees.[404] The bishops, consequently, exclaimed in alarm—‘He wants to bring us back to mendicity and the state of the primitive Church.’[405] [Sidenote: Gustavus Proclaimed King.] The Swedish throne was now vacant, and the assembly offered it to Gustavus. At first he hesitated to accept it, and this not without reason. Most of the fortresses were still in the hands of the Danes, the army and the fleet were in a lamentable condition, and the treasury was almost empty. But as the Swedes were determined to break completely with Denmark, Gustavus came to a decision, and on the 7th of June, 1523, he was solemnly proclaimed king at Strengnaes. Thus was dissolved the union of the three kingdoms, which had lasted one hundred and twenty-six years. The legate of the pope, Magnus, a native of Linkoping, at this time only thirty-five years of age, had been the representative of the Government of Sweden at the court of Rome. Pope Adrian had sent him back to Sweden as his minister, to oppose the progress of Lutheranism. Magnus, seeing that Gustavus was evidently the man chosen of God to be set at the head of affairs in Sweden, thought that the best way to accomplish his mission was to flatter him and induce him to accept the crown. But it was no easy matter to check the progress of reform. ‘Verily,’ said Olaf’s hearers, ‘there is more truth in the discourses of the evangelical preacher than in all the fables of the monks.’ A goodly number of souls were won. Young people ardently embraced the Christian truth; professors and students became its apostles. It made its way into families, and women sat at the Saviour’s feet. While some still defended Catholicism as the religion of their forefathers, others assailed it on account of the abuses of the clergy. ‘Heresy,’ said Bishop Brask, ‘is beginning to multiply.’[406] The bishops, ever more and more alarmed, betook themselves to the king and launched forth in complaints against Olaf and his friends.