When Gustavus Adolphus ascended the Swedish throne, in 1611, being then in his eighteenth year, he found an exhausted treasury, an alienated nobility, and not undisputed succession, and, with all this, no less than three wars upon his hands,—one with Denmark then raging,—also the seeds of two other wars, with Russia and with Poland, which soon after burst forth. The first fifteen years of his reign were occupied in bringing these wars to a conclusion; and in these struggles he won an experience which afterwards proved of great service in making him illustrious upon a more conspicuous battle-field. We have not space to describe at length the wars between Sweden and Denmark, nor her conflicts with Russia and Poland, but must pass on to the more important period of the history of Gustavus Adolphus, which gives him a place in the foremost ranks of leadership, and places his name with Napoleon I., Alexander the Great, Julius Cæsar, and Charlemagne. It was not so much what he himself personally accomplished,—though that was much, for death met him long before the glorious end was reached,—but it was on account of the vast and momentous train of circumstances he set in motion, because he stood forth, the only man capable of taking the helm of the great ship of the Reformation, which, but for him, aided by the almighty ruling of an Omniscient Providence, seemed to the finite vision of mankind doomed to destruction. It was not as a conqueror of vast empires, like Alexander, Julius Cæsar, and Napoleon, that Gustavus Adolphus is illustrious; but it is because, through the providence of God, he was made the instrument in helping to achieve the more important conquest of gaining spiritual liberty of soul from the bondage of bigotry and superstition. As the champion of the Reformation, the name of Gustavus Adolphus must be placed amongst the foremost of the famous rulers of the world. [Illustration: GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, FROM A PICTURE BY VAN DYCK.] Gustavus was now thirty-four years of age. He had prosecuted wars with Denmark, Russia, and Poland, and secured advantageous terms of peace with these nations. Before he had reached his twentieth year, he had driven back the invaders of his country, and gained independence for Sweden. In four years more, his victories over his eastern enemies enabled him to declare, “Russia cannot now, without our consent, launch a single boat on the Baltic.”