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book_n	find_v	great_a	read_v	2,892	5	5.5522	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51114	An account of Denmark, as it was in the year 1692	Molesworth, Robert Molesworth, Viscount, 1656-1725.	1694 (1694)	Wing M2383; ESTC R2987	107,914	290

was that their Philosophers were deservedly look'd upon as Supports of the State they had their dependance wholly upon it and as they could have no Interest distinct from it they laid out themselves towards the advancing and promoting the good of it insomuch that we find the very good Fortune of their Commonwealths often lasted no longer than they did The managers of our modern Education have not been quite so publick Spirited for it has been as I have shewn for the most part in the hands of Men who have a distinct Interest from the publick therefore 't is not to be wondred at if like the rest of the World they have been byassed by it and directed their principal Designs towards the advancing their own Fortunes Good Learning as well as Travel is a great Antidote against the Plague of Tyranny The Books that are left us of the Ancients from whence as from Fountains we draw all that we are now Masters of are full of Doctrines Sentences and Examples exhorting to the Conservation or Recovery of the publick Liberty which was once valued above Life The Hero's there celebrated are for the most part such as had destroyed or expelled Tyrants and though Brutus be generally de claimed against by modern School-boys he was then esteemed the true Pattern and Model of exact Vertue Such was Cato of Utica with others of like stamp The more any person is conversant with good Books the more shall he find the practices of these Great Men in this particular founded upon Reason Justice and Truth and unanimously approv'd of by most of the succeeding Wise-men which the World has produc'd But instead of Books which inform the Judgment those are commonly read in the Schools abroad wherein an Elegancy of Latin and Greek Style is more sought after than the matter contained in them So that such as treat a little boldly of publick Liberty occur to the reading of few and those grown Men rather through Chance or their Curiosity than the recommendation of their Instructors 'T was not to learn Forreign Languages that the Graecian and Roman Youths went for so long together to the Academies and Lectures of their Philosophers 'T was not then as now with us when the Character of a Scholar is to be Skilled in Words when one who is well versed in the dark Terms and Subtilties of the Schools passes for a profound Philosopher by which we seem so far to have perverted the Notion of Learning that a Man may be reputed a most extraordinary Scholar and at the same time be the most useless Thing in the World much less was it to learn their own Mother Tongues the Greek and Latin which we hunt after so eagerly for many Years together not as being the Vehicles of good Sence but as if they had some intrinsick Virtue 'T was to learn how and when to speak pertinently how to act like a Man to subdue the Passions to be publick Spirited to despise Death Torments and Reproach Riches and the Smiles of Princes as well as their Frowns if they stood between them and their Duty This manner of Education produced Men of another stamp than appears now upon the Theatre of the World such as we are scarce worthy to mention and must never hope to imitate till the like manner of Institution grows again into Reputation which in Enslaved Countries 'tis never likely to do as long as the Ecclesiasticks who have an opposite Interest keep not only the Education of Youth but the Consciences of old Men in their Hands To serve by-ends and because Priests thought they should find their own account in it they calculated those unintelligible Doctrines of Passive Obedience and Jus Divinum that the People ought to pay an absolute Obedience to a limited Government fall down and worship the work of their own Hands as if it dropt from Heaven together with other as profitable Doctrines which no doubt many are by this time ashamed of tho' they think it below them to condescend so far as to confess themselves to have been in the wrong For this Notion of Jus Divinum of Kings and Princes was never known in these Northern Parts of the World till these latter Ages of Slavery Even in the Eastern Countries though they adore their Kings as Gods yet they never fancied they received their Right to Reign immediately from Heaven The single Example in Scripture so much insisted on viz. the Reign of Saul over the Jews and Samuel's Description of what a King would be not what he lawfully might be proves either nothing at all or the contrary to what some would have it for besides that there are many Relations of Fact in the Old Testament not condemned there which it would not be only inconvenient but sinful for us to imitate Whoever peruses the whole Story of Saul and his Successor will therein find more substantial Arguments against the Jus Divinum and Non-Resistance than for it But we shall leave this both as being too large an Argument for the compass of a Preface and as being already fully handled by more able Pens All Europe was in a manner a free Country till very lately insomuch that the Europaeans were and still are distinguish'd in the Eastern Parts of the World by the name of Franks In the beginning small Territories or Congregations of People chose valiant and wise Men to be their Captains or Judges and as often Deposed them upon Mis-management These Captains doing their Duty well and faithfully were the Originals of all our Kings and Princes which at first and for a long time were every where Elective According to their own Warlike Temper or that of the People which they govern'd they upon the Score of Revenge Ambition or being overthronged with Multitudes at home encroached upon their Neighbours till from petty Principalities their Countries waxed to mighty Kingdoms Spain alone consisting of twelve or thirteen till t'other day and one part of our Island of no less than seven Each of these was at first made through an Union of many petty Lordships Italy from several small Commonwealths was at length swallowed up by the Emperors Popes Kings of Spain Dukes of Florence and other lesser Tyrants Yet 't is to be remark'd that the ancient State of Europe is best preserved in Italy even to this day notwithstanding the Encroachments which have been there made on the Peoples Liberties of which one Reason may be that the Republicks which are more in number and quality in that Spot of Ground than in all Europe besides keep their Ecclesiasticks within their due bounds and make use of that natural Wit which Providence and a happy Climate has given them to curb those who if they had Power would curb all the World Every one ought to know how great the Rights of the People were very lately in the Elective Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark how Germany was freer than any other part of Europe till at length 't was Lorded by

to undergo and this they retain of the Romish Church as well as Crucifixes and other Ceremonies There are six Superintendants in Denmark who take it very kindly to be called Bishops and My Lord viz. one in Zealand one in Funen and four in Jutland There are also four in Norway These have no Temporalities keep no Ecclesiastical Courts have no Cathedrals with Prebends Canons Deans Subdeans c. But are only primi inter pares having the Rank above the inferiour Clergy of their Province and the inspection into their Doctrine and Manners The Revenue of the Bishop of Copenhagen is about Two thousand Rix Dollars yearly the other Bishops of Denmark have about Fifteen hundred Rix Dollars and of Norway One thousand Rix Dollars they are allowed to have two or three Parishes each their Habit is common with that of the other Ministers viz. A plaited black Gown with short Sleeves a large stiff Ruff about the Neck and a Cap with Edges like our Masters of Art except that theirs is round and the others square Most of them understand English and draw the very best of their Divinity as they confess themselves out of English Books Many of them have studied in Oxford who are more valued than the others they are very constant Preachers and never read their Sermons but pronounce them with a great deal of Action Holy-days and Fast-days are observed as solemnly as Sundays and in Copenhagen the City Gates are close shut during Sermon time so that no body can go in or out The Commonalty are great frequenters of the Churches which are kept much more decently cleanly and better adorned than with us so that they look almost as gaudy as the Popish Churches They are all great Lovers of Organs and have many very good ones with skilful Organists who entertain the Congregation with Musick during half an hour either before or after Service Denmark has formerly produced very Learned Men Such as the famous Mathematician Tycho-Brahe the Bartholines for Physick and Anatomy Borichius who died lately and bequeathed a considerable Legacy to the University of Copenhagen But at present Learning is there at a very low Ebb yet Latin is more commonly spoken by the Clergy than with us The Books that come out in Print are very few and those only some dull Treatises of Controversy against the Papists and Calvinists The Belles Lettres or Gentile Learning are very much strangers here and will hardly be introduced till a greater affluence among the Gentry makes way for them It is said that Necessity is the Mother of Invention which may be true in some degree but I am sure too much Necessity depresses the Spirits and destroys it quite neither is there any Invention here or tolerable Imitation of what is brought in to them by Strangers There is but one University which is at Copenhagen and that mean enough in all respects neither the Building nor Revenues being comparable to those of the worst of our single Colledges The Students wear black Cloaks and live scattered about the Town after the manner of those in Leyden Some of the Professors live in the House Every year on the King's Birth day they have a kind of Act the King honours them with his presence and the Rector Magnificus harangues him with a Latin Speech full of as fulsome Flattery as if Louis le Grand were the Monarch to be entertained and a fawning Jesuit the Orator At certain Periods there are a few Danish Verses sung by the ordinary singing Boys to very indifferent Musick and so the Farce ends There was in this King's Father's time an University at Sora a Town very pleasantly situated about Forty miles from the City where the Lodgings and Conveniencies for studying much exceeded those of Copenhagen But the King had occasion for the Revennes so that now it is desolate and in its stead only a small Grammar-shool erected The Provisions for the Poor are very inconsiderable formerly there was a pretty store of Hospitals scatter'd up and down the Country but at present the Revenues of most of these are diverted to other uses and those not Publick ones To conclude I never knew any Country where the Minds of the People were more of one calibre and pitch than here you shall meet with none of extraordinary Parts or Qualifications or excellent in particular Studies and Trades you see no Enthusiasts Mad-men Natural Fools or fanciful Folks but a certain equality of Understanding reigns among them every one keeps the ordinary beaten road of sense which in this Country is neitherthe fairest nor the foulest without deviating to the right or left yet I will add this one Remark to their praise that the Common People do generally write and read The CONCLUSION IT has been a great Mistake among us That the Popish Religion is the only one of all the Christian Sects proper to introduce and establish Slavery in a Nation insomuch that Popery and Slavery have been thought inseparable not to derogate from the merit of the Roman-Catholick Perswasion which has been the Darling of so many Monarchs upon that account I shall make bold to say that other Religions and particularly the Lutheran has succeeded as effectually in this Design as ever Popery did ' T is confest indeed that Popery would certainly introduce Slavery but 't is denied that the last cannot come in without the assistance of the former and whoever takes the pains to visit the Protestant Countries abroad who have lost their Liberty even since they changed their Religion for a better will be convinced that it is not Popery as such but the Doctrine of a blind Obedience in what Religion soever it be found that is the destruction of the Liberty and consequently of all the Happiness of any Nation Nay I am Perswaded that many are satisfied the late King James's Attempts to bring in Popery was the principal thing which rescued our Liberties from being entirely swallowed up there seeming in his Reign through the Interest and Dishonesty of some the Dissoluteness Laziness and Ignorance of others to have been in many mens Opinions a general tendency towards Slavery which would scarcely have been vigorously enough opposed had he left the business of Religion untouched and if once introduced it had been maintained more effectually than in the days of Popery I say more effectually because the dependance which the Romish Clergy and Monks have on the Church of Rome causes often a clashing of Interests and derogates from that intire Obedience the Subjects owe to the Prince which is preached up by that Church as often as the Sovereign acts according to their direction and down again whenever he displeases them whereof we have had frequent Examples in this Kingdom of England where there have been Bishops and Abbots in the days of Popery as zealous Assertors of the Liberties of the People as any Lay-men could be whether out of a true Principle or not I will not determine but