Gustavus appreciated the abilities and the character of Normann, and saw in him an honorable but yielding man, at whose hands he would not encounter the resistance which Olaf had offered. The bishops gave him some uneasiness, and as he did not venture to suppress them, he resolved to neutralize their influence by placing the _protégé_ of the Wittenberg reformer above all the clergy, including the bishops and even the archbishop. While allowing the episcopal order to subsist for form’s sake, he at the same time introduced a semblance of the presbyterian order. In 1540 he appointed in all the provinces conservators, counsellors of religion, and _seniors_ or elders who under the presidency of the superintendent were to administer ecclesiastical affairs and make regular visitations in the dioceses. No change might be made or even _proposed_ in the Church without the express permission of the king. The opposition of Olaf and other ministers to certain remains of popery was not, however, without effect. Gustavus abolished them. But this semi-episcopal and semi-presbyterian constitution could never be got to work perfectly; and at a later time fortunate circumstances restored to the Swedish Church a more independent standing. Gustavus continued to have at heart the serious fulfilment of the functions of supreme bishop. He made laws for the frequenting of the religious assemblies, for the observance of the rules prescribing a decorous behavior in the church, for the suppression of immorality both among the laity and among the ecclesiastics, for the improvement of teaching and for the spread of civilization and culture among the people. Desirous of seeing the extension of the kingdom of God, he sent missionaries into Lapland. In Sweden likewise he set the inspired Word above every thing. ‘Thou doest well,’ he wrote to one of his sons, ‘to read the writings of the ancients and to see how the world was then governed; but do not give these the preference over the Word of God. In this is found true instruction and reasonable morals; and from it we learn the best mode of governing.’ [Sidenote: Excuses For Severity.]