Cities were taken away From hence proceed Envy Contemt Mutual Insults Suspicious secret Contrivances against each other all which Mischiefs are yet more manifest and outragiously prosecuted between the Bishops and the Cities in which the Cathedral Churches are fixed Yea in the Diets the Princes do ever express a great Contemt of the Cities but the Emperor on the contrary doth alwaies cherish and protect them because he finds them more observant of his Orders than the other States Nor do the Princes themselves bear that mutual kindness each to other they ought especially the Secular and the Ecclesiastical Princes the Spiritual Princes have the Preheminence or Precedence of the Temporal on the account of the Sanctity of their Office and also because their great Experience in the World and Learning is supposed to make them better able than the Laymen to advise which in the barbarous times begat them a great Authority in the State But then the Temporal Princes are now very much concerned to see these Prelates which are for the most part the Sons of meaner Families than themselves in a few years time equal yea and mount above them as if they had more of the Grace of God than themselves They are yet more aggrieved because these men cannot transmit their Estates to their Posterity but their Families continue in the same estate it was before but that many of these Holy Fathers have learned from the Pope to enrich their Kindred by Ecclesiastical Benefices and large Donations out of the Revenues of the Church On the other side the Prelates have more reason to be offended with the Temporal Princes who have intercepted and cut off so many of their old Preferments of which I shall say more hereafter Besides all these that I have represented the Inequality of their Estates and Riches is another Fountain of Discontent betwixt them For first as is common the more potent contemn the weaker and are but too apt to oppress them and the weaker are as ready to complain and suspect and sometimes to boast unseasonably that they are equally free with the most powerful The very exalting the Electors above the other Princes is a great cause of Discontent whilst the other States are displeased at their Dignity and charge them with usurping some things they have no Right to and the Electors as stifly maintain what they have got as their Right and Due 9. These would not be sufficient Principles The Differences of Religion cause great Disturbances and Disquiet of Disorder if the most effectual active Ferment which can possibly affect the Minds of Men I mean the Difference of Religion were not added to all I have mentioned which at this day divides Germany and distracts it more than all the rest Nor is the diversity of Opinions and the commonly practised excluding each other out of the Kingdom of Heaven as Priests of diverse and contrary Opinions use to do the only cause of their mutual hating each other The Roman Catholicks charge the Protestants That they have deprived them of a great part of their Wealth and Riches and they good men are night and day contriving how they shall recover what they have thus lost and the other Party are as well resolved to keep what they have got Nay they think they have still too much and that the Revenues of the Church at this day are a Burthen to the State seeing the Priests and Monks depend upon another Head who is no part of the German Empire but a Foreigner and an everlasting Enemy to their Country nay to all the Laity in the World which he would fain impoverish that so his own Followers might flourish and flant it with their Spoils If he could bring this about there would then be a State within the State and an Head to each of them And this to those that love their Country more than the Church of Rome seems the greatest Mischief that can betide any State Nor is this a less Disorder than the last viz. That the Princes of Germany enter The Princes of Germany enter into Domestick and Foreign Leagues into Leagues not only one with another but with Foreign Princes too and the more securely because they have reserved to themselves a Liberty to do so in the Treaty of Westphalia which not only divides the Princes of Germany into Factions but gives those Strangers an opportunity to mould Germany to their own particular Interest and Wills and by the assistance of their Allies to insult on all the rest of the Princes especially when the Design of those Leagues is not levell'd against other Foreign Princes which might be born but against the Members of the Empire There are scarce any Footsteps or Trace of Justice neither left in the Empire for if any Controversie arise between the States themselves The want of Justice another cause of Disqâ—iet 〈◊〉 which must often happen where there is such a number of them and their Dominions lie intermixed one with another if they commence a Suit in the Chamber of Spire it is an Age before they can hope to see an end of it In that of Vienna the Palace-Court there is too much Partiality and Bribery and after all it is suspected to think more than is fit of the Place it is seated in So that in Germany men for the most part right themselves by their Swords and he that is strongest has the best Cause and feareth not to do his own business Lastly How weak must that Government needs be that has no common Stock or Treasure nor any Army to resist the Invasions of Strangers or for the acquiring some Provinces to bear the publick Charge And how much better The want of a Common Treasure were it for Germany to spend her valiant men who cannot live in Peace in her own Service than to have them as they now do run into foreign Countries and there sell their Blood at cheap rates to those who will employ them as mercenary Souldiers of Fortune 10. There are also a vast number of The Emulations and Contests between the States and Princes of Germany Emulations and Controversies between the Inferiour States and Princes which do much weaken the strength of the whole Body It will be enough for us here only to touch the principal of these Differences The House of Austria has raised a Spirit of Jealousie and Envy in all the other Princes of Germany by its long Possession of the Imperial Dignity and the vast Dominions it has by that means acquired in the Empire and elsewhere Besides the old Quarrel between the Houses of the Elector Palatine and that of Bavaria there is a new one concerning the Administration of the Publick Affairs during the Vacancy of the Empire which will hardly be determin'd the one House relying on its Power and the other on its Right In the House of Saxony there is a Contest and Heart-burning between the Lines of Ernest and Albert because the
and altered as the necessity of the times required and as they found the Chinks and starting Holes their Emperors had endeavoured to escape out at That the Electors would willingly at the request of the Diet insert whatever was necessary for the preservation of the Liberty of Germany but then it was absurd to think the Electors would not preferr their own proper Interest to that of all other men Nor could they divest themselves of the common Inclinations of Mankind Some others suspect there was another reason at this time which brought the business of the Capitulars upon the Stage The Emperor who hated the thoughts of a Diet was then necessitated to call one by a Turkish War which then threatned his Dominions and this Affair was then set on foot to the end he might by this means obtain plentiful Contributions from the States of Germany but then they offered Souldiers instead of Money and this not answering the Designs of the Emperor's Ministers they thereupon clapt up a Peace with the Turks much sooner than they otherwise intended and then were doubtful what * The Germans call the Law which they form up on the Debates of the Diet in the end of it the Recess Recess they should draw up for the Diet for the business of giving Succours against the Turks which has often been the greatest part of their former Recesses or Edicts was now wholly at an end yet after all some curious and inquisitive men must needs know to what purpose so many men were called together from all parts of Cermany and sate so many years what good came of all the Sack they drank in the Forenoon and the Rhenish and Burgundy Wine they drank after Dinner To answer this they put them upon an inextricable business that they might at their return be able if need were to swear they had not been wholly idle and that repeating all their vain useless Brangles about the Capitular and referring it over to the next Diet as a thing which could not now be determin'd they might make this Story serve for a Recess or parting Edict such as it was 3. Whatever was the true cause of that The usefulness of the German Capitular Debate it cannot be denied but that the introducing the Custom of Comprehending the Laws the Emperor was to govern them by in express Articles in Writing was a thing of great good use for this tended altogether to the Reputation and Honour of the States that seeing they would not he governed in the same manner as the Subjects of other Monarchs are their Liberties which they enjoyed might not seem meer Contumacy or Usurpation but the effects of a Contract made with their Prince when they chose him to be their Emperor They consulted hereby also the Safety of their Liberties the Emperor being limited in such Bounds as he ought not in any case to pass over and being deprived of all reasonable cause of Complaint that he was not as Absolute as the rest of his Neighbour-Monarchs whose Subjects profess themselves on all occasions to be their most Dutiful and Obedient Subjects The Germans on the other side in the introduction of their Capitular say Vpon these terms the Emperor has undertaken the Government of the Empire and has yielded by way of Compact the said terms to the Electors in the behalf of themselves and the other States of Germany Now if he had disliked these Conditions he ought to have refused that Dignity or to have shewn the Electors beforehand that there was something of Injustice or Absurdity in them and they without doubt would in that case have corrected them But then when the Emperor has accepted a Limited Power it is utterly unreasonable he should endeavour to exercise a full and Regal Authority over them or at least it will appear much the more reasonable for them to oppose him in it for there are none of the more understanding Germans who do not believe the Regal Power may be included in certain Limits And I suppose the more understanding Politicians will not deny that there may be such a Competent Power assigned to the Head of a Confederate Body as shall be very different in Degree from that of a full and perfect Kingdom or Empire 4. But then when one happens â—t read The extravagant Opinions of some Writers concerning the Capitular any of the German Writers which mention the Capitular he cannot but observe their abominable Flattery or wonderful Ignorance in State-Affairs and civil Prudence Some of them have the Impudence to assert That the Capitular doth not set bounds to the Emperor's Power but only take care that the Forces of the Empire shall not be lessened by Alienations Mortgages and the like the greatest part of them do yet acknowledge that the Imperial Power is limited by it and so is not absolute but yet it is still Supreme or as some of them love to speak there is something thereby taken from the fulness of his Power but nothing from the Supremacy that is the height of it As we shall in the next Chapter examin this notion more accurately it will be sufficient for the present to say that they are deceived who think to take away the ground of this Controversie by distinguishing between those Laws which oblige as prescribed by a superiour Authority and those whose Obligation ariseth from our own Wills and are bound upon us by our Fidelity and the obligation of a Compact for all they can pretend to get by this distinction is to prove that the Emperor is not subject to the States and not that he has a Soveraign Authority over them For to invest a Prince with such an Authority it is not enough to shew that he has no Superiour but he must also shew that all the rest of his Subjects are bound without dispute to obey all his Commands and have no Right to appeal from him much less will it be sufficient to shew that he is the Highest in that State As for example In our Common-wealth of Venice as if the Duke were not the Highest and yet no man dares ascribe the Soveraign Power to him For as in all Common-wealths whether they be Aristocracies or Democracies there may be Princes properly so called who may be rightly stiled the Highest in their Commonwealths and yet still not be Kings So also in all Systems of co ordinate States which are Confederates each to other there may be some one more eminent person to whom the particular Care of the whole is committed and so he may rightly be called the Highest or the Head of that Body though he has in truth no Soveraign Authority over the Confederates nor can or ought to treat them as his Subjects But I think it were better here for the present to consider distinctly what part of the Soveraign Powers are intrusted to the Emperor for if a man doth not know them he is utterly unqualified to judge of the German Government And
former stripp'd the latter of the Electoral Dignity in the Reign of Charles V. The Elector of Brandenburg will never forgive the Swedes for their usurping from him the best part of Pomerania The Elector Palatine is hated by many of his Neighbours on the account of some disputed Rights he claims in their Territories so that very lately they were for Arming against him to recover them And I cannot believe the memory of that old Controversie is extinguished wholly which embroiled the Family of Nassaw with that of Hesse for the Territory of Marpurg Nor will there ever be a sincere Friendship between the Elector of Brandenburg and the House of Newburg which since our Author wrote has succeeded in the Electroate of the Lower Palatinate of the Rhine on the account of the Inheritance of the Dukedom of Juliers Who can number now the smaller Controversies depending between them The empty vain Contests about Precedence have kindled lasting Hatred in the Hearts of some of the Princes against each other To this vast Inundation of Diseases in this Politick Body we may add although of less consequence the tedious Proceedings in all Civil Causes by which the most manifest and apparent Right is disputed and deluded for many years And the great variety of Monies which is current in Germany which being neither of good allay or due weight brings great damage to the Commerce or Trade of Germany and sinks the value of the Estates of private men very sensibly But then we are to ascribe the Luxury of some of our Princes who being too much addicted to Hunting take little or no care of their Estates and Subjects more to the Men than to the Form of that State and we must grant other States are as liable as Germany to these kinds of Miscarriages and we see them suffer as much by it CHAP. VIII Of the German State-Interest 1. I Suppose by this time it is sufficiently The Remedies of these Diseases enquired into shewn how many and great the Diseases of Germany are to assign the Remedies is a Work of greater difficulty and which will not become a Stranger and a Traveller If the Humanity of the German Nation were not so great that she is apter to trust and admire Foreigners than her own Natives I hope too all wise men will easily pardon the innocent Freedom of a Man who has no Attachment to any of the contending Parties and who next the Prosperity of his own Country wisheth nothing more than the Prosperity and Welfare of the honest German Nation But before I discover my mind in this Affair I think it is fit to consider the Remedies proposed by Hippolithus à Lapide for the Cure of the German Calamities for though many men have admired his Prescriptions yet I have ever thought they were ill contrived and not likely to contribute to her Cure 2. In the first place he prescribes Six Laws which he calls the Interest of such The Remedies of Hyppolithus à Lapide examined a State and saith They ought carefully to be observed in a State like to that of Germany that is in an Aristocrasie where the Supreme Soveraign Power is in the States or great men and nothing left to the Emperor but the Pomps and Images of a King So said he they ought 1. To study Six Rules by him prescribed to the Princes of Germany the waies and means of Concord and to avoid Factions 2. Not to suffer the Imperial Dignity to continue long in any one Family lest by the long use of these Pomps and Images a desire of acquiring a solid and real Soveraignty should grow up in them 3. Though the Power of directing and moderating the Offices of all the Parts to the Common Good is conferr'd upon a Prince or Single Person for the greater union of the Commonwealth yet the Nobility ought alwaies to keep the Stern of the State in their own hands and the Power of directing and ordering the things of great moment to be exercised in the Diet which ought to convene frequently or at least they ought to appoint some Senate or Counsel which shall be perpetual which kind of Regiment was in use in the beginning of the last Age before this 4. That nothing but the Ensigns of Royalty be left to the Prince but that the Regal Jurisdiction and Power be reserved entire to the Commonwealth 5. That neither the Life Fortunes or Fames of any of the Princes be trusted to the single Justice or Discretion of the Emperor 6. That neither the Army Militia or Forts be under his single Jurisdiction or Government After this he takes great pains to shew in how many particulars these Laws are violated by the Emperor and some of the States themselves being very sharp in his Reflections on the House of Austria and on some also of the Electors Now though these Laws were not wholly to be despised yet seeing I have above sufficiently proved that Germany is no Aristocrasie it is a folly to think the Safety of Germany is only to be found in the observation of these Laws 3. The same Author prescribes Six Remedies Six Remedies prescribed by that Author rejected for the curing all the Diseases of Germany 1. He recommends the Study of Concord and a General Pardon and a removing all Grievances by which mutual Hatreds are kept alive and nourished in the minds of the Princes against each other and that they should not divide into Factions on the account of Religion and for that cause neglect the Publick Safety This Remedy affords a Copious Subject for a Scholastick Declamation but can never be applied to the use of Germany till all the Nobility of that Nation happen to be wise and good and to govern the Motions of their Minds by Rules of Philosophy 2. In the next place he would have the House of Austria extirpated and their Estates brought into the Common Treasury Now this is the Advice of a Hangman and not of a Physician As if every one that happeneth to be a little too rich for his Neighbour's advantage were presently to be rooted out and destroyed from off the face of the Earth But suppose we should obey the Tyrannical Law who will dare to lay the Ax to the Root of a Tree which has spread its Branches over so many Provinces so that it is not for the Interest of Europe to have all its Territories added to those of any one or two other Princes Besides a part of the Princes of Germany are heartily united in their Interest and Affections to this House a great many of the rest neither love nor hate it and the rest of the Princes when united are not able to overthrow that vast Fabrick They must then call Foreigners to their assistance and who I pray but the French and Swedes For when Hippolithus wrote this Book those Nations were zealously at work to do this and the Ignorant much applauded them because they craftily pretended to
Yet they seem more ancient than Frederick II. 5. The Priviledges of the Electors 6. The manner of the Election 7. The Electors have deposed an Emperor 8. The Electors have some other special Priviledges 9. What is done during the Interregnum 10. Of the King of the Romans CHAP. V. Of the Power of the Emperor as it now stands limited by Treaties Laws and the Customs of the Empire and the Rights of the States of the Empire p. 82. 1. Of the Limits of the Imperial Power 2. These Conditions are prescribed only by the Electors 3. The usefulness of the German Capitular 4. The extravagant Opinions of some German Writers concerning the Capitular 5. The Emperor doth not appoint or punish the Magistrates in the Empire out of his Hereditary Countries 6. Nor can he deprive any of the Princes of their Dignity or Dominions 7. He has no Revenues 8. Nor is he the Arbitrator of Peace or War nor of Leagues and Alliances 9. Nor the general Governour of Religion An account of Martin Luther 10. Many of the German Princes deserted the See of Rome The Decree of Ausburg for the Liberty of Religion 11. The Liberty of the Clergy more fiercely disputed 12. The Differences of Religion cause great Disquiet in Germany The Peace of Religion finally settled 13. The Legislative Power not in the Emperor The Canon Law first introduced The ancient German Customs The Civil Law brought into use in the Fifteenth Century That at present in use is a mixture of all these three Particular or Local Laws made by the States and the general Laws in the Diet. 14. The Form of the German Jurisdiction in several Ages 15. The old Forms changed 16. The Innovation brought in by Churchmen 17. How the Secular Cases are managed The Chamber of Spire erected for Appeals 18. The present form of Process In Civil Cases there lies no Appeal from the Emperor Electors or King of Sweden in their respective Territories nor from the rest in Criminal Cases 19. How the Controversies of the States and Princes amongst themselves are determined 20. The highest Courts in the Empire are the Chambers of Spire and Vienna 21. When this last was instituted 22. The form of executing the Judgments of these Courts 23. That the greater Cases ought to be determined by the Diet. 24. In ancient times the Diets were held every year 25. All the Members are to be summoned to the Diet. 26. The things to be debated there are proposed by the Emperor or his Commissioner 27. The Emperor has some Prerogatives above any other of the Princes 28. The Priviledges of the Princes and Free States CHAP. VI. Of the Form of the German Empire p. 135. 1. Of the Form of the German Empire 2. All the Hereditary States and some of the Elective are Monarchies The Free Cities are Commonwealths 3. The form of the whole Body is neither of these but an Irregular System 4. Yet many pretend the Empire is an Aristocrasie 5. This disproved 6. It is not a regular Monarchy 7. That it is not so much as a limited Monarchy Hippolithus à Lapide considered 8. The Arguments of those that pretend it is a Limited Monarchy answered 9. That it is an irregular System of Soveraign States CHAP. VII Of the Strength and Diseases of the German Empire p. 155. 1. The Subjects of Humane Force Men and Things Husbandmen most wanted A vast Army may be easily levied in the Empire An account of the number of the Cities Towns and Villages in Germany The Inhabitants as warlike as numerous steddy and constant in their Humour 2. In the point of strength the Country first to be considered 3. That it is well stored with what will carry on a Trade its principal Commodities yet Germany wants Money 4. The Strength of the Empire compared with the Turks to whom a fourth part is equal 5. With Italy Denmark England Holland Spain Sweden and France 6. The Strength of Germany compared with its Neighbours united against her 7. Germany weak by reason of its irregular Form or Constitution Monarchy the best and most lasting Government wherein the Strength of a System of States consists the Leagues between Kings and Commonwealths seldom lasting 8. The Diseases of Germany The Princes and the Emperor distrust each other and the States are embroiled one with another 9. The Differences of Religion cause great Disturbances The Princes of Germany enter into Foreign and Domestick Leagues The want of Justice and of a common Treasure The Emulations and Contests between the Princes and States of Germany CHAP. VIII Of the German State-Interest p. 186. 1. The Remedies of these Diseases enquired into 2. The Remedies prescribed by Hippolitus à Lapide 3. His Six Rules Six Remedies 4. The Author 's own Remedies proposed The German State nearest to a System of States The Empire cannot be transferr'd to another Family 5. The Opinions of some great men concerning the different Religions in Germany 6. Contemt and Loss exasperate men greatly 7. The Tempers of the Lutherans and Calvinists of Germany and their Differences with each other 8. The Temper of the Roman Catholicks The Reason of inventing the Jesuite's Order 9. Some Considerations on the excessive Revenues of the Church in the Popish States Our Author pretends to be a Venetian 10. The Protestant Princes are well able to justifie what they have done with relation to the Revenues of the Church The Conclusion THE PRESENT STATE OF THE German Empire CHAP. I. Of the Origine of the German Empire GERMANY of old was bounded The ancient Bounds of Germany to the East by the Danube to the West by the Rhine towards Poland it had then the same bounds it has now and all the other parts were washed by the Ocean so that then under this Name Denmark Norway and Sweden were included with all the Countries to the Botner Sea which three Kingdoms were by most of the ancient Writers call'd by the name of Scandinavia But then I think the Countries on the East of that Bay were not rightly ascribed to or included in the bounds of the ancient Germany for the present Finlanders have a Tongue so different from that spoken by the Swedes and other Germans as clearly shews that Nation to be of another extraction To this I may add that what Tacitus writes of the Manners of the most Northern Germans will not all agree with the Customs of the Finlanders but is wonderfully agreeable to those of the Laplanders who to this day live much after the same manner It is probable therefore that the Finni mentioned by the Ancients were the Estoitlanders in Livonia Nor is it any wonder that Tacitus should not write very distinctly of this People they being then the most Northern Nation that was ever heard of and known only by an obscure Fame or general Report These Northern Countries have however for many Ages been under distinct Kings of their own so that Germany has been taken to
and Obedience to the new King than a Free Election for they rarely departed from the Order of a Lineal Succession but when there were Factions or the next Heir in the Line was wholly unfit for Government A part of Germany was before this time united by Conquest to the Crown of France and the rest of it was subdued by the victorious Arms of Charles the Great Whether any part of this Country freely and willingly submitted to him out of Reverence to his Greatness is very uncertain He also by his Arms conquered the Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy the Pope of Rome affording him a Pretence for it after which he was by the Pope and People of Rome saluted Emperor of Rome and Augustus Now what he gain'd by this Title we shall by and by inform you 8. Thus under Charles the Great Germany Germany a part of the Kingdom of France became a part of the Kingdom of France and was sufficiently subject to the Absolute Empire or Soveraignty of those Princes During this state of Affairs it was divided into divers Provinces which were governed by Counts or Earls and Marquesses who were for the most part of French extraction yet in these times the Saxons enjoy'd a greater shew of Liberty because Charles the Great had not been able to reduce them without a long and tedious War and was at last to perfect the Work and establish his Soveraignty necessitated to admit them to a participation of the Priviledges enjoy'd by the Franks and to unite them into one Nation with their Conquerors That he might further assure himself of this fierce Nation which was so impatient of Servitude he call'd in the assistance of the Priests who were ordered to teach them the Christian Faith and to inculcate into them how much they were obliged to those who had shewn them the way of obtaining Eternal Life On this account many Bishopricks and Abbies in Germany were founded by Charles the Great Germany was in the same estate under Saint Lewis the Son of Charles but that the Authority of the Prefects or Governours of the Provinces began to grow greater 9. But afterwards when the Children of The Children of St. Lewis divide their Father's Kingdom this Lewis had divided their Father's Kingdom amongst them which was the first and principal cause of the Ruin of the French Power and of the Caroline Family Germany became separated from the French Empire and was a distinct Kingdom under Lewis II. Son of St. Lewis To it was afterwards added a great part of the Belgick France or of the Low Countries as it is now called which lies towards the Rhine which for the most part was inhabited by German Nations which from Lotharius another of the Sons of St. Lewis was then called the Kingdom of Lorrain though at this day only a very small part of that Kingdom retains the old name During the destructive Wars which followed after these times between the Posterity of Charles the Great not only the German Nobility gained exorbitant Power but the very Family of Charles was at last totally extinguished or at least deprived of the Crown of France for to this day the Dukes of Lorrain and the Electors Palatine pretend to be descended of that Family and the Germans chose themselves Kings out of the Nobility of their own Nation from which times Germany became again a free State and Germany a free State had no dependance on the Crown of France Now because the German State is commonly call'd the Sacred Roman Empire I think it will be worth my pains to enquire How it first obtained this Title what it has gained by it and by what Right it now enjoys that Name for the clear understanding of which it will be necessary shortly to recapitulate the state the Roman Empire in the West was reduced to before the times of Charles the Great 10. It is very well and commonly known A short account of the Roman Empire after what manner the People of Rome after they had by the Success of their Arms subdued the noblest part of the then known World were at last by the ambition of a few over-potent Citizens engaged in Civil Wars and at length brought under the Dominion of a single person But then Augustus the Founder of the Roman Empire or Monarchy when he had by the assistance of the Army gained the Empire perswaded himself that he should easily keep it by the same way Therefore tho' from thenceforward he seemed to leave some of the Affairs of the State to the disposal of the Senate that it might still seem to have a share in the Government yet he wholly kept in his own hands the Care and Government of the Army But then it was his principal care to conceal from the Rabble of the Army That the Souldiers were the men who could set up and pull down the Emperors which Secret when it was once discovered the State of the Empire became as miserable as the Condition of the Emperors for the Empire being weakened by frequent intestine Wars found it self also often exposed to the worst of men by a covetous and turbulent Rabble which oftentimes most wickedly murdered her best Princes to her great damage and sorrow Nor could any of her Emperors after this entertain any hopes of firmly settling the Empire in their Families but was necessitated to be contented with a precarious Title amongst a parcel of mercenary Souldiers So that in truth the whole power of making the Emperors was in the Army which is the common Attendant of all Military Monarchies where a strong and perpetual Army is kept together in any one place and the Senate and People of Rome were weak and vain Names made use of to delude the simple common People as if the free and voluntary consent of the whole Body had constituted the Emperor That Kingdom thus founded on a Military Licence as it was unfit for continuance was by Constantine the Great and Theodosius hastened to its fatal period the first of these making Byzantium now called Constantinople the Seat of the Empire and withdrawing the Armies which had till then been maintained on the East of the Rhine for its preservation and the later by dividing the Empire between his two Sons Arcadius and Honorius soft lasie Princes and neither of them fit for such a Command From thence forward there were two Kingdoms for one and this Division was no way useful but only for the fitting the Western part by separating it from the Eastern to be the more easie Prey to the barbarous Nations and accordingly not long after this an end was put to the Western Empire and Rome was taken and sack'd by the Goths which before that had been deprived of all her Provinces by as good Right as she had got them and now in her turn lost her beloved Liberty and became a part of the Gothick Kingdom 11. After this the Gothick Power being Rome for
yielded it to them on that score yet after all for ought that appears to me we shall never read that any of the Line of Charles the Great call'd the Kingdom of France by that Name 13. When the Caroline Family began to The Fall of the Caroline Race the Rise of the Kingdom of Germany under Otho 1. decline and the Germans had divided themselves from the Kingdom of France and Italy was afflicted with great Commotions there sprung up other States out of the Ruins of this House and amongst them Otho the First King of Germany who having overcome Berengarius and reduced the Kingdom of Italy the Popes who could not trust to their States thought fit to put Otho in possession of the same Power that had been enjoyed by the Family of Charles the Great and consented That for the future the Protection of the See of Rome should be united to the Kingdom of Germany so that whosoever enjoyed that Kingdom should be the Protector of that See But then after many of those old German Kings had couragiously executed that Office upon the See of Rome and in the mean time the Wealth and Power not only of the See of Rome but of the Bishopricks of Germany was become very great the Popes of Rome began to grow weary of this German Protection too the Causes of this were 1. The Aversion common to all Nations against a Foreign Dominion 2. The Indignity which was offered hereby to the Italick People who having ever been celebrated for Civil Prudence were by this kept under the Tutelage of the less-politick Germans 3. Besides it was very uneasie to the Vicar of J. C. to be any longer under the Guardianship of another whose fingers itched to be giving Laws to all Princes therefore for the shaking off this Yoke they took this course viz. They found out ways by the means of the Bishops to imbroil the Affairs of these Kings sometimes in Germany and at others in Italy and the Pope seconded them with his Fulminations or Censures which in those Ages were wonderful terrible Thus by degrees the Kings of Germany grew weary of Italy and being content with their own Kingdom left the See of Rome to the sole management of the Popes which they had sought so many Ages and by such a variety of Arts to the embroiling all Europe After this the Kings of Germany a long time omitted the being crowned at Rome yet they retained the old Titles of Emperors of Rome and when they entred upon the Kingdom the Defence of the See of Rome was in the first place enjoin'd them from which care the Protestant Electors have since given the Emperor a Discharge 14. By all that has been said it will appear The Kingdom of Germany has not succeeded in the Roman Empire how childishly they are mistaken who think the Kingdom of Germany his succeeded in the Place of the old Roman Empire and that it is continued in this Kingdom when in truth that Empire which was seated at Rome was destroyed many Ages before Germany became one Kingdom and that Roman Empire which was given to Charles and Otho which was nothing but the Advousion and Protection of the See of Rome in length of time fixed its Name upon that Kingdom of Germany tho' the States of the Church in Italy never were united into one and the same Polity with the Kingdom of Germany much less did either Charles or Otho submit their proper Kingdoms to Rome as the Metropolis or Seat of the Empire In the mean time because it was believed the very Title of Emperor of Rome upon the account of the Greatness of that ancient Empire had something of Majesty and Grandeur in it it was frequently given to the Kings of Germany only And the consequence of this was that Germany was afterwards call'd the Roman Empire by way of Honour but the different Coronations which belong to them do not obscurely shew that there is a real difference to be made between the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Germany and the later Emperors since Maximilian I. after the Title of Roman Emperor expresly subjoin that of King of Germany The Germans also at this day do commonly call their State The Roman Empire of the Teutonick Nation which form of Speech seems to contain in it a contradiction Seeing it is very certain the present State of Germany is not one and the same with the ancient Roman Empire yet the Kings of Germany retain the Title which has been received tho' they have for a long time omitted the Reception of the Crown of Rome and use very little of the ancient Rights of an Advocate which belonged heretofore to them because Princes do more easily part with the things in dispute than with the Titles to them Now whether that Right they once had is by the lapse of time expir'd or preserved by the use of the Title only we shall hereafter when occasion is offered enquire 15. But in the mean time the Title of the The Title of Roman Emperor damageable to Germany Empire of Rome is so far from being any advantage that it is manifest it has been the cause of great Mischief and Inconvenience to Germany Priests are alwaies ready to receive but never part with any thing and whereas all other Clients dispose their Masters to favour them by their Presents if a Priest be not fed with new Presents he presently snarles and imputes his Blessing as a wonderful Obligation I should think that the ancient Princes heaped their Bounties upon the Clergy of Germany principally because they were made believe God expected they should provide plentifully for that Order of Men. And what has been spent by Germans in Journies to Rome for the Imperial Crown What Treasures and Men have been consumed in Italick Expeditions in composing the Commotions stirr'd up by the Popes and in protecting them against refractory men that have attack'd them is not to be conceived Nor has any Foreigner got much by attacking Italy the Spaniards excepted who have stuck so many years in the Bowels of * The Author tho'a German pretends to be an Italian our Country that we have never yet been able to â—epell them Lastly no Princes were oftner fulminated by that See than the German Emperors nor was any of them more exercised by the frequent Seditions of the Churchmen than they the principal cause of all which misfortunes seem to have arisen from hence That they thought these Princes who had this Title from the See of Rome in which they took such pride were obliged by it above all other Men to promote the Affairs of that See Or otherwise because that Order of Men is above all others unwilling to be subject to the Soveraignty of another and with Mother-Church is ever seeking how to shake off the hated Secular Authority yet I would have this understood with Salva reverentia sanctissimae sedis a saving the Reverence and Respect due
Princes repented they had consented to this Attempt of the Bavarian but could not then recall their Letters to him But then as is usual in such Encroachments no man was willing to join with the Oppressed and make his Quarrel his own afterwards they printed Books one against the other Now though no man could wonder that the Duke of Bavaria should venture upon this Practice who in the more flourishing state of the Count Palatin's Affairs had pretended to the Electorate and now having got part of the Palatin's Country had encreased his own Power and was otherwise well assured of the Concurrence and Favour of the House of Austria both on the account of Kindred and Religion yet the far greatest part of the indifferent Spectators thought the Count Palatine had sufficiently shewn his Right and demonstrated that this Vicarian Viceroyalty was no part of the Great Lord High Sewer's Offices but was perpetually annexed to the Palatinate of the Rhine as the Duke of Saxony has the other half of that Power in the rest of Germany not as Elector but as Palatine of Saxony But then as there were many that openly favoured the Bavarian so the rest were not willing openly to espouse the opposite side and that Prince would not confess he had done wrong and so the Controversie remains undetermin'd still 10. Sometimes there is joined to the Of the King of the Romans Emperor Extra Ordinem a King of the Romans in pretence as his General Vicar or Deputy who in his Absence or Sickness is to Govern the State and upon his Death to succeed without any new Election But then though the Good of the State has ever been pretended as is usual in such Cases yet the real Cause has ever or at least most usually been That they might with the greater ease in their own lifetimes preferr their Sons Brothers or near Kinsmen to the Empire by the Influence or Recommendation of a Regnant Emperor foreseeing that one that was chosen in a Vacancy or Interregnum would have harder terms imposed on him by the Electors Joseph King of Hungary the eldest Son of Leopald the present Emperor of Germany who was born the 25th of July 1678. was chosen King of the Romans the 24th of January 1689 90. and Crowned the 26th at Ausburg This Emperor has another Son of his own Name who was born the 12th of June 1682. who ought to have been taken notice of in the end of the former Chapter where the Males of the House of Austria are set down but it slipped my Memory till that Sheet was wrought off CHAP. V. Of the Power of the Emperor as it now stands limited by Treaties and the Laws and Customs of the Empire and the Rights of the States of Germany 1. I Have already shewn by what degrees Of the Limits set to the Imperial Power and upon what occasions the Nobility of Germany mounted themselves to that excessive height of Power and Wealth as is wholly inconsistent with the Laws of a regular Monarchy Nor is it worth our wonder that when the Election of the Emperor in aftertimes was devolved upon them they set their Hearts upon the preserving what they had gotten By this Change in the State of Affairs the Kings of Germany lost the Power of Disposing or Governing as they thought fit the Concerns of that Nation and were necessitated to consult the Princes in things of great moment and transact more of their business with the States by their Authority than by their Soveraign Power and there is no question to be made but the Princes inserted a Clause to this purpose very early into the Coronation Oath of Germany which is usually administred to all Christian Princes in a very solemn manner upon their Accession to any Crown viz. That the King should Promise and Swear to Defend all the Rights of all and singular the Inhabitants of Germany and observe and keep all the laudable Customs in that Kingdom received and used But whether in process of time any particular Laws were added to the old and comprehended in Writing is not so manifest because before the times of Charles the Fifth we have no Copies of any such Capitulations or Agreements and those that are pretended to be more ancient are of no great certainty And whereas it is said in the Golden Bull The Emperor shall presently confirm all the Rights Priviledges and Immunities of the Electoral Princes by his Patent under Seal This seems to belong only to them and therefore is a very different thing from the Agreement by which the Emperor is now obliged to engage for the Liberty or Freedom of the whole Empire Now the Reasons why the Electors desired to have Charles the Fifth bound to them in so many express and tedious Articles and Covenants was That they considering the great Power of that Prince his Youth High Spirit testified by his Motto Plus ultra and his other Advantages feared lest he should imploy his Patrimonial Estates to subdue the German Nation and took this way to make him consider That he must Govern Germany after another manner than he did his other Dominions And this Custom being once taken up has been ever since continued though there are not the same Reasons there were at first for it 2. These Conditions have been prescribed These Conditions prescribed only by the Electors to the Emperors by the Electors without consulting the other States of Germany though they have sometimes complained of it and in the last Treaty of Munster it was moved That in the next Diet there might be care taken to draw up a standing form of Articles which should be perpetual And I heard when I was at Ratisbone that it was then under serious Debate and that much Paper had been spent in that Service but the Wiser part thought the Electors had no reason to fear the event of this Consultation because it was the Emperors Interest as well as theirs that the Electors should still be in a better condition than the other Princes for they being few in number might more easily be brought to a compliance with him than the other States which were more numerous and therefore it was reasonable on the other side that he should rather indulge them of the two And those Princes of the Empire who were descended of the Electoral Families were very inclinable to it too and the Demands of the rest might be deluded without much difficulty Nor doth it agree with the Manners of Germany to deprive any man of what he has by Force and Combination however he came by it They added That though what the States asked was not unreasonable viz. That they might be equally secured in the Capitular with the Electors yet that it was not possible to pen an Instrument in such manner but that upon the change of times and things it would be necessary to change and correct it That in the former Agreements there were many things changed added
disputed Contest Whether the Catholick Clergy should have liberty to embrace the Protestant Religion and also possess notwithstanding their Dignities and Church Revenues which was urged with the greatest vehemence by the Protestants who said That the contrary Practice was a reproach to their Religion if they should consent that those that entred into it should be deprived of their Honours and Estates That the way that leads to the Purer Religion was by this shut against many That they had no intention to turn the Church-Preferments to Secular uses or to take away the Freedom of Elections from the Chapters But then because it was apparent that this exposed the Roman Catholick Religion in Germany to the utmost danger the Catholick States opposed it with equal obstinacy and Ferdinand the Emperor favouring that Party they got this Clause added to the Law If any Clergyman becomes a Protestant he shall forfeit his Church Preferments but without any loss or diminution of his Honour And although at that time and after especially in the Case of the Archbishop of Cologne who became a Protestant the Protestants complained very much of this Clause and protested against it yet they could not get it repealed 12. But this Peace was not able to take The Differences in Religion cause great disquiet in Germany away all the Seeds of Discord which sprung from this Diversity of Religion for they that embraced the Protestant Religion divided it into Parties and Factions because the greatest part of them stook simply to the Words of the first Augustane Confession whilst some others thought some Doctrines ought to be more nicely exprest And although wise men thought this was not a Controversie that was worth the entring into a Civil War for yet their minds on both sides were very much exasperated by the Intemperance of the Preachers and the Frauds of the Roman Catholicks who expected to make great use of these Dissentions amongst their Enemies as a means to overcome them in the end And whereas all those that profess'd neither the Roman Catholick nor the Augustane Confession were excluded from the benefit of the aforesaid Peace the Roman Catholicks hereupon craftily endeavoured to perswade those who simply stuck to the Augustane Confession to disown all those that had refined upon it as not at all belonging to their Party though the strict Protestants often declared publickly that they would not disown those that differed from them in some points that were of less moment but that they also ought to enjoy the Benefit of the Peace yet the over-great Zeal of the Priests divided them so far that they began to separate each from the other and not to consult so frequently together as they had done before Nay after this when one of the Parties was oppressed by the Popish Party the other would unconcernedly look on whilst they perished or lend Assistance to their Enemies Afterwards other occasions of Discontent arose and last of all a Fire was kindled in Bohemia which in a short time involved all Germany in a War Here Fortune at first smiled upon the Emperor and prospered his Affairs beyond his hopes so that in a short time his Armies subdued and brought under the greatest part of Germany and in the year 1629. he presumed to publish an Edict That all the Clergy should be put in possession of all the Church-Revenues which had been taken from them by the Laity since the Treaty of Passaw The secret Design of this Edict was to bespeak the Assistance of the Clergy and Catholick States and to perswade them that all his Designs tended to the resettling that Religion and not to the oppressing the Liberties and Rights of the German States and Princes But then if they had either sate still or helped him to subdue the Protestants nay if they had not hindered the reduction of them it would have been very easie for the Emperor thus flush'd with Victory and arm'd with Power to have model'd them at his pleasure How this Project came to fail is too well known to be represented here And at last in the Treaty of Osnaburg or Osnabruck in Westphalia in the year 1648 The Peace of Religion resettled in Germ. by the V. Article there was a large Provision made for the Security and Peace of Religion the Treaty of Passaw and the Recess of Ausburg being both confirmed and an express Declaration inserted that it extended equally to the Lutherans and to the Calvinists as they call them now It was added also That all Changes that had been made since the First of January 1624 in the State under pretence of favouring the Church should be put in the same state they were then and that all those Revenues which were then possess'd by Roman Catholicks but were since taken from them by the Protestants should be restored back again to them and the like should be done by the Roman Catholicks to the Protestants that all the immediate States which the Protestants possess'd at that time should be their own for ever The Right of changing Religion which before seem'd to be left free to all the States was for the future so restrained that the Subjects of the Catholick Princes who were of the Augustane Confession and in the year 1624. had the Free Exercise of their Religion were still to retain it And they that had been in the mean time disturbed were to be restored those who had not enjoyed their Liberty in the said year should have Liberty of Conscience but should only exercise their Religion in their own private Families or the Neighbour places But if their Lords should command them to be gone they should have liberty to sell their Estates or manage them by their Deputies And the Emperor himself in some things indulged his own Protestant Subjects for the sakes of the Princes It was also agreed that if any Prince should hereafter think fit to change his Religion it should be no prejudice to him and that he might have Priests in his Court of his own Opinion but then that he should not force his Subjects to his Religion but should leave that he found in possession but so that it might be lawful for his Subjects if they would take up the Religion professed by their Prince It is also to be noted here that this Liberty of Religion was settled by way of Compact or Agreement made between Equals and the Emperor himself is one of the Parties so that neither he nor any other of the Catholick States though they should happen to be the more numerous Party ought to alter any thing of it And it is also manifest that the Condition of the Protestant Princes is better than that of the Roman Catholicks because the latter are subject to the Pope whereas the former govern their Affairs of Religion in their own Right and as they think fit Now if any share of the Government of Religion belongs by the Laws of Christian Religion to the Civil Magistrate It
command and govern as he pleased He that observes this one Mistake will be able by it to unravel and disbowel all his weak Arguments And yet besides this he mingles many other silly Fallacies of which I shall mention some few to expose his Folly To prove that the Soveraign Majesty is alwaies in the Princes he alledgeth That it is in them when the Imperial Throne is vacant But who knows not that In all other Kingdoms during the Interregnum the Soveraign Power returns into the hands of the People or of their Representatives the States which yet they can retain no longer than till they have made a new King Nor doth a man presently make every one his Master to whom he willingly gives an account of his Actions It is one thing to give an account to a Superiour who can punish me if I have not performed my Duty to his satisfaction and quite another thing to do it to one who expects it according to an Agreement to that purpose made between us and it is yet less when I do it to preserve my own Reputation and without any other Motive or Reason Thus Kings when they begin a War endeavour to satisfie all the World in the Justice of their Cause Thus one Companion or Partner gives the other and a Guardian gives the Pupil when he comes to Age an account of his Administration Nor is he anothers Master and Superiour who can remove him from his Office for that a man may by Compact and Agreement be preferred to the management of their common Concerns so that neither of these may have any direct and true Authority or Soveraignty over the other and so when he doth not please the other Party and for that cause is deposed or turn'd out of his Administration it has no other effect or cause than the breaking off the Bargain made with him because he has not performed his part of the Contract and satisfied the Conditions of the Covenant And yet perhaps a man might doubt whether all that was done in the Cases of Henry IV. and Adolph of Nassaw were legally and regularly done but that it is notorious the Reverend Bishops of those Ages were the principal Agents in those Affairs What he so largely argues from the Power of the Diet are true as to the matter of Fact but nothing to his purpose for which he alledgeth them for though the Emperor can in truth do nothing against the Consent of the States yet I think it is as true that no man ever heard the States pretended to do any thing without the Consent of the Emperor The Electors in their Capitular do prescribe to the Emperor what he shall and what he shall not do not by force of any Authority they have or pretend to have over him but by way of Contract So that if the Emperor should pretend to enjoin any thing contrary to his Covenants with them they may safely and lawfully not obey him in those Instances But then this springs from the nature of all Contracts and not from any Authority the Electors have over the Emperor That is more probable yet that he alledgeth from Ancient Custom and the Golden Bull viz. That if the Emperor should happen to be complained of in certain particulars he shall be bound to answer the Complaint before the Count Palatine of the Rhine And it is well known that the Three Spiritual Electors cited Albert I. Emperor before Rudolph Count Palatine to plead his Cause and defend himself but then when they had so great a Criminal to contest with they relied more on their Swords and Armies than on their Counsel or Judge But then since the Date of the Golden Bull there is not one Example to be found of any such Suit commenc'd against the Emperor that I have read of The Rise of that Authority which the Count Palatine has did without doubt spring from his Office which in ancient time as Mayor of the Palace he exercised in the King's Court For as he exercised a real Jurisdiction over the other Courtiers so if any thing was demanded of the King which was doubted of it was wont to be referr'd to the Examination of the Count Palatine to whose Sentence the King stood not because he owned the Count who was his Servant and Subject for his Superior but because when he once knew the Petitioner had Right to what he asked it was beneath a King to do him wrong As we have known many Princes in Germany and elsewhere who when they doubted of any Debt demanded of them have answered the Claim in their own Courts And yet it is not to be supposed that these Courts have any Authority over their Princes or could force them to pay those Debts if the Reverence they bear to Justice the Publick and their own Private Conscience and the desire they naturally have to preserve a good Reputation in the World did not much more powerfully move them to pay them than the Authority of these Courts which are managed by their Subjects and Servants And I believe the States of Germany think they are happy enough in this Priviledge That the Emperor can exact nothing of them against their wills and that the Wisest of them would disclaim the Invidious Liberty of commanding their own Emperor 8. Doubtless the Emperor would with The Arguments of those that pretend it is a Limited Monarchy answered great facility compound the Dispute with our Hippolitus and obtain his Leave to continue a Prince still and not be reduced by him to the mean condition of a Subject But they are not so easily baffled who allow the Emperor to be a Soveraign but Limited King and ascribe unto the States great Liberties but tempered too by Laws and so place Germany in the List of Limited Monarchies for as for those who prate of mixed forms of Government they can never disintangle themselves from the Objections brought against them for that not only all kinds of mixture can produce nothing at last but a monstrous deformed Government but it is also certain none of the Notions of that kind will at all fit Germany in which the whole Supreme Power is not undividedly in the hands of many nor are the Parts of it divided between divers Persons or Colleges here But to return to our former Monarchists They pretend that the Capitulars made with the Emperors when they are chosen are not at all inconsistent with the nature of a Limited Monarchy as for instance That he is bound to administer the Government according to the Fundamental Laws and to require the Consent of the States in their Diet for those things that are of the greatest moment That he cannot enact new Laws without their Consent nor change any thing in the matters of Religion nor make War or Peace or enter Leagues without the Approbation of his Subjects That he must determine their Controversies in certain known Courts and by Stated Laws and Methods And whereas the Princes
expences and dispatch business the more quickly there ought to be a new and more certain form of Proceedings thought of But then it doth not seem very probable that the Family of Austria will suffer such a Council to be introduced because they will ever labour to keep their Power above controul Nor will the The Empire cannot be transferred to another Family Present State of Germany permit the transferring the Imperial Dignity into another House as long as there is any Male in that of Austria therefore their Modesty is to be wrought on to perswade them to be content with their present Grandeur and not to labour to establish a Soveraign Authority over the rest of the States and Princes and it will become the Princes manfully and with united Hands and Hearts to oppose and resist all such Encroachments which tend to their prejudice and in the first place to take care that none may league with one another or with the Princes of the Empire against any of the Members of it and if they do so to render all such Combinations ineffectual and if any Princes have any Controversie with each other to take all the Care is possible that Germany may not be by that means involved in a War But in the first place Care ought to be taken that Foreigners may not intermeddle with the Affairs of Germany nor possess themselves of the least Particle of it to that end all waies that are possible are to be considered that they that border on Germany may not have the opportunity of enlarging their Kingdoms which they so passionately desire by ravishing its Provinces from it one after another till their Conquests like a Gangreen creep into the very Bowels of the Empire If any thing of this nature happen to be attempted let Germany presently take the Alarm provide her Defences and seek the Alliance and Assistance of those whose Interest it is to keep any one Kingdom from mounting to too great and exorbitant a Power and then as long as Germany is contented with the defending what is her own she will have no need to maintain any very numerous Armies yet she ought in due time to concert the Numbers that every one shall send in case of necessity And Germany may from her Neighbour the Swedes learn the methods of maintaining an Army in the times of Peace with small Expence which yet shall be ready when occasion serves at short warning to draw into the Field for her defence 5. Now it were very easie for wise and The Opinions of some great men concerning the different Religions in Germany good men to find out all I have said and all besides which can be necessary for the Safety of Germany if they pleased calmly to apply their minds to it who have the chief hand in the Government But then seeing the greatest part of the World think the Differences of Religion the principal Causes of the Distraction and Division of the Empire it will well become the Liberty I have taken in this piece to shew what wise men have said of this thing in my company for I am not so well acquainted with Church-affairs as to interpose my own Judgment and therefore I think it will be less liable to Exception to represent the Thoughts of others than my own which I submit c. When I was once at Cologne with the most Reverend and Illustrious Nancio of the Holy See to pay him my respects I happened to say That I could not understand the true reason of the great Dissentions in Germany on the Subject of Religion whereas in Holland where I had lately been there was no such thing and yet there men had the utmost liberty to think and believe as they themselves pleased for there every man was intent upon his own Trade and Business and not at all concern'd of what Religion his Neighbour was Upon this an Illustrious Person who had spent a great part of his Life in the Courts of several Princes but was now retired to live a very private life begged the Nuncīo's Leave to speak his own mind freely which being granted Since said he that travelling Gentleman has mentioned a thing I have very long and seriously thought on I will now discover what I take to be the most probable cause of this thing we being now at good leisure and I am well resolved not to approve my own former Thoughts on this Affair if your Eminence should happen to dislike them After this beginning at a distance from our present times he shewed how many Heresies had from the beginning afflicted and distracted the Church of Christ the greatest part of which in process of time vanished of their own accord but then there had hardly happened any Schism that had spread so far and ruin'd so many private Families and whole Kingdoms as this which in the last Century arose here in Germany and was occasion'd by some few Doctors of that Nation There were great Wits on both sides and they contended against each other with the most furious Passions and to this day there is not the least hope of putting an end to this Quarrel It is to no purpose to enquire into the secret causes of this Affait as far as Fate or Providence are concern'd but it will not misbecome my Profession to discourse of the Nature and Temper of Mankind 6. It is saith he apparent that two Contempt and Loss exasperates men greatly things above all others exasperate and enrage the Minds of Men Contempt and Loss As to the first of these I would not be understood here to speak of that Contempt by which the Reputation and Good Name of a Man is directly oppressed and trodden under foot but of that which every ordinary man thinks is thrown upon him when another shall but presume to differ from him in any thing for the Minds of Men are generally infected with this foolish and unreasonable Distemper And it is hateful to them to find another disposed not only to contradict but even to disagree with them in any thing for he that doth not presently consent to what another saith doth tacitely accuse him of being as to that particular in an Error and he that differeth in many things from any man seems to insinuate that he is a Fool. This Disease haunts the sedentary part of Mankind above all others who are educated in the Schools and wholly taken up with solitary Speculations and consequently not overwell acquainted with the World He that shall not reverence all this melancholy man has embraced as an Oracle is presently his deadly Enemy Nor was the War between the Romans and Carthaginians for the Empire of the World managed with greater heat than that which we have seen between some of the Learned World about some few Syllables or small Distinctions An equal nay a greater Fury has taken possession of the Church-men the Nuncio having in the beginning of his Discourse promised him the utmost
celebration of the Holy Offices of Religion who ought to have no other Employment and yet should be competently maintained That it was also fit that Churches should be built on the publick charge whose external beauty and magnificence might create in the Minds of Men an awful regard to Religion for the kindling the Devotion of the Common People But then I think no wise man will deny that those men who are no way necessary to the Service of God nor employed in his Worship ought not to be called or thought Churchmen or of the Clergy and that what was employed in the maintaining such men has nothing of Sanctity in it But in Germany the Clergy were so vastly enriched by the liberality of the old Emperors the Princes and the Common People that one half if not more of the Lands of that Nation was in their hands which was never heard of in any other and an innumerable shole of lazy useless men made it their business to live upon and devour this vast Wealth which was neither agreeable to the Rules of the Christian Religion nor of sound Policy The Holy Scriptures do indeed command as to provide decently and liberally for the Clergy and that we should not muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn but then they never give that name to those who have no share in the Ministry of the Church Nor do they any where exempt the Persons of the Clergy or their Revenues from the Jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate or disable them to attemperate the same in such manner as may be consistent with the Publick Good And your * The Author pretends to be a Venetian Venetian Republick understands none better that the Revenues and Riches of the Church are not to be excessively encreased to the damage of the State and she has accordingly wisely put a stop to that leak the Pope and Court of Rome opposing her in this Design in vain and without any success In truth she saw her self wasted by this means and as it were brought into a Consumption whilst her Riches and Lands were engrossed by a sort of men who acknowledge no Authority but that of an Head without their State and pretended at the same time they were exempted by the Divine Laws from contributing to the publick Burthens As to the number of Bishops Germany has no reason to complain except that considering the extent of the Nation they are too few to discharge their Office as they ought if they were otherwise well disposed to do it But to what purpose serves the vast Revenues belonging to these few Sees You will perhaps say they are Princes of the Empire as well as Bishops and take their share in the Care of the State with the other Princes Why then let them abstain from the Sacred Title of Bishops because that holy Office is inconsistent with the vast burthen of secular business which is necessarily attending on the Office of a Secular Prince let them lay by the first and stick wholly to the last Title for I think the Christian Religion would suffer no detriment if they did not celebrate one or two Masses in a year attended with a vast number of their Guards and Retinue in rich Garbs and with great pomp as if they designed nothing by it but to reproach the Poverty and mean Circumstances of the first settlers of the Christian Religion So let the Bishop of Mentz if he will possess his great Revenues to enable him to sustain the Dignity and Charge of his Office of Chancellor of Germany but then there is no apparent cause can be given why he should have a Bishop's See assigned to him when the other Princes of the Empire who have as great zeal for the welfare of their Country as he have been contented to take none but Temporal Titles Now what shall I say of the Canons of the Cathedral Churches which are the Blocks they hew into Bishops They perform none of the Sacred Offices and this they are not ashamed to own to all the World by calling themselves Irregular Canous and they too to spare their own precious Lungs fill their Churches with Noises made by their mercenary Curates and such of them as are not employed in Secular Affairs are meer useless Burthens of the Earth serving their Bellies and their Lusts Now as to those that are wholly employed in Worldly Concerns why are they called Holy men Why are they maintained by the Revenues of the Church And what shall I say of the excessive Riches of the Monasteries and of the wonderful swarms of shaven Crowns that hover about them It is certainly necessary that there should be Colleges for the sitting your Youth for the Service of the Church and State and I should be well pleased to suffer some few men to spend all their daies in them too in profound Contemplation for which only Nature has fitted them and besides if they were brought on the stage the world would lose the benefit of those advantages it might reap from their Studies so that as to these men the State would have no great reason to complain because at one time or other they would recompence the Charges of maintaining them with good Interest yet then both these sorts of men are most happy when they have sober and competent Provisions made for them over-great ones load them with fat which stifles and obstructs both their Vigour and Industry But then there doth not seem to be any good Reason that can possibly be given by the Wit of Man why the Publick should be at the charge of fatting up a vast number of lubbarly lazy fellows who have betaken themselves to their ugly Cowles out of pure desperation and are good for nothing but to fill the Church with sensless noises or Prayers repeated with such cold and unconcerned affections that they are fain to keep the account of them by their Beads The only pretence worth the regarding that is made for the excessive Riches of the Church is That the illustrious and noble Families of Germany have a means to provide for their younger Children who being promoted to Ecclesiastical Benefices are kept from being a Burthen to their own Families by which means Estates are kept from being crumbled into small Particles by dividing and subdividing them in every Descent and the Riches and Splendor of Families is upholden nay sometimes encreased the younger Brother who must otherwise have struggled with Want and Penury at home being advanced to considerable and rich Dignities in the Church And I confess it was a good Fetch and a crafty Policy in the Church of Rome thus to chain the noblest Families to her Interest and purchase their Favour But then though it is worth our care to consider how we may preserve the Families of our Nobility and Gentry yet in all probability they that first gave these Lands to the Church never dreamt of any such thing and it is most certain this