though an holy person was then considered as one out of the Bounds of Germany and so not to be taken notice of 15. In all these things in process and length of time almost every thing was The old forms changed in after times changed After the Golden Bull the Electors took cognizance of all the Royal Cases and the Pope assumed to himself so great Power on that account that he made no scruple to excommunicate the Emperors and declare that their Subjects were free from the Obligations of their Allegiance to them and he boldly said the Emperor was his Vassal and the Empire a Fee which belonged to his See As to the Princes Suits or Cases this was ever observed from the very beginning of the French Monarchy that they were never determin'd by the Judgment of the King alone but were alwaies decided in a Convention of the Nobility upon a simple and short Process according to Equity and good Conscience And even in the first Ages of the German Empire if any of the Emperors assumed a Power singly to iudge of the Fees belonging to any of the Princes the more couragious of them alwaies protested against it Yea if all the Testimonies we have were lost the very form of the whole Empire or its Constitution do sufficiently prove that things of that consequence which these Suits are of ought not by it to be left to the single Judgment of the Emperor And therefore they are notoriously guilty of palpable Flattery who pretend that this Judgment of the Cases of the Princes of the Empire which the Germans call Das Furstenrecht is a meer Pretence But then it was long after these times that these inferiour Princes took upon them to judge arbitrarily of the Cases of their own Vassals which was done only by some Families and imitated by the Free Imperial Cities as to their Subjects The Germans call these Counts in their Language Austrega's and it is probable they began about the times of Frederick and the great Interregnum Those that trusted more to their Power or Force than to the Justice of their Cause would commit the Trial of it to the Sword It is also a late Practice which has been taken up by some of our later Emperors and Princes to referr the Cases depending to their Ministers and profess'd Lawyers rather than to give themselves the trouble of hearing them But then this became necessary when instead of a few plain Country Customs we had introduced the Intricate Papal and Civil Laws which it would have been the utmost punishment to have put the Princes to the trouble of learning 16. As to the Churchmen they innovated The Innovations brought in by the Churchmen in these particulars By degrees they drew all the Personal Cases of the Bishops to the Pope's Tribunal utterly destroying thereby all the Authority of Metropolitans and Synods and they took from the Laity all Right of judging in any Case a Clergy-man This is by the Protestants returned to the ancient method but by the Roman Catholicks still retained though Charles V and some other Princes since have to the great vexation of the Pope ordered some things pertaining to Religion and punished some Clergy-men for great Offences too In the times also of Frederick II and those that followed the Bishops and Clergy assumed to themselves the free Administration or Management of their own Church-estates and shook off their Advocates of Vicedams yet still the Ecclesiastical States are subject to the Empire by reason of their Fees and other Regalia's of which they may be deprived if they act any thing insolently against the Publick Peace and the Laws of the Empire The Monks as to their Persons were in the times of Charles the Great subject to the Jurisdiction of the Bishops from whom some ancient Monasteries were exempted and were put immediately under the Pope The new Orders which have arisen since the XIII Century are only subject to their Provincials and Generals and only acknowledge the Pope's Jurisdiction as their Supreme Ordinary The Administration of the Lands of the Abbies were at first committed to Advocates from which dependance in length of time some Houses were exempted but the greatest part have still remained in the same state they were at first and some few of them are free from all publick Taxes and Charges 17. The Secular Cases of the meaner People Secular Cases how managed were heard in the times of Charles the Great either in the Secular Courts or by the Bishop in his Consistory which later way has since been much extended beyond what it was at first These were first as to the Secular Courts to make their Complaints to the Scabins which in ancient times were appointed in all the Pagi Hundreds and Villages from him they might appeal to the Graves or Comites Earls or Sheriffs whose Jurisdiction was after usurped by many Dukes and Bishops From the Counts or Graves they had an Appeal to the Itinerary Messengers or Judges sent into the Provinces by the King and from them to the King himself who in his Court made a final Determination of all Cases But in the XV. Century when Appeals became very frequent by reason of the bringing in the tedious Forms and the Iniquity of the Rabble for the more commodious determining these it was resolved to erect a certain fixed Tribunal or Court which The Chamber of Spire erected for Appeals was at last settled at Spire the reason of this was not because the Imperial Court was too ambulatory or unsettled but because the vast quantity of these Cases might most conveniently be determined in a place set apart for that end The French in Since removed to Wetzlar the year 1688 having seized Spire the Diet in the year 1689 agreed this Court should be settled for the future at Westlar Wetzlar a City of Hassia seven German Miles from Frankford to the North and about fifteen from Cologne to the S. E. which being approved by the Emperor Commissioners are appointed to adjust all things for the opening this Court there and it is very probable it will never be returned back to Spire that City being too much exposed to the Insults of the French who when they please can seize the Records of this Court to the inestimable damage of the Empire And besides the French had before burnt and destroyed the whole Town of Spire not leaving any thing standing in it that Fire and Gunpowder could fetch down 18. The modern way of Trials now received The present form of Process in Germany is thus When any private person commenceth a Suit against another of the same quality he in the first instance goes to the Praetor Scabin of the City or Village in which he lives except the Defendant be some way priviledged above the Scabin There is in all the Principalities which I have been acquainted with some superiour Court which is common to the whole Province which they call the
more fond of getting Money than preserving the Souls of those under his care or lastly to prevent being suspected to be better pleased with the price of Mens Sins paid to him than with the most Innocent and Holy Life The more indevout sort of men were not to be tempted neither by this Affair to suspect that the Priests were very like Physicians and Chirurgeons who reap too much Benefit from the Diseases and Wounds of Men to be heartily sorry for them So that if it was foolish and sacrilegious to give Sentence against the Indulgences to the damage of the Church it had been prudent to sweeten a man of too warm a temper with Presents Preferments and Promises that he might not light the Laity into the way of shaking off the Church's Yoke and when so many have by Ambition and Gifts aspired to the highest Dignities in the Church of Rome I think for my share it would have been worth the while to have wrapped this Monk in Purple to prevent his doing her so great a mischief For when Martin Luther saw he could have no Justice done him at the Pope's Tribunal he began to court the Grace and good Opinion of the Laity and soon after he positively refused to submit to the Judgment of the Pope because he had made the Quarrel his own by entring into it And that he might not want a Patron he began to teach That the Care of the Church belonged to Secular Princes and those who had the like Authority and they again reflecting That the great Revenues their Ancestors had given to pious uses were spent in Sloth and Luxury quickly embraced the opportunity of turning these lazy fat Cattel to Grass This was greedily followed by What is said of the design of enriching themselves by the Revenues of the Church is to be understood as spoken in the Person and Name of a Roman Catholick for all the Protestant Princes have ever denied they had any such design and it is not at all probable at first they could have any such many partly because what Luther said seemed true and partly because they sound they could considerably improve their Revenues There was then a Rumour also that the Italians imposed upon the old German Honesty and Simplicity and that they spent the Money they had torn from them on the account of their Sins in Gaming Luxury and filling the insatiable Avarice of the Pope's Officers and Creatures They called to mind a Saying of Pope Martin V. which in truth was very worthy of a Spiritual Pastor viz. That he could wish himself a Stork provided the Germans were turned into Frogs Hereupon they began to bemoan themselves to one another and say We who of old so valiantly repell'd the victorious Arms of the Romans are by an unwarlike sort of men under pretence of Religion reduced almost to a necessity of eating Hay with our Beasts I cannot tell how much the restoring Learning in this part of the World might contribute to this Revolution which was thereupon received with great Applause However we we may well and safely affirm That Men of Learning are not easily perswaded to believe what is or seems contrary to Reason 10. The effect of this Controversie was Many of the German Princes deserted the See of Rome that a great part of the ancient Rites and all those Doctrines which seem'd superfluous to these new Teachers were laid aside by a considerable part of the Germans and at the same time many of the Clergy were deprived of their Church-Lands Thereupon many Suits were commenc'd in the Chamber of Spire by the Clergy against those that had deprived them of their Possessions and that Court was also very willing to have restored all to the outed Clergy but then the Protestants as they are call'd refused in this matter to acknowledge the Jurisdiction of that Court For though said they the Laws in all Cases command that they which have been dispossess'd should be restored to what they once had yet in this Case that was now depending it was sit and reasonable that a lawful general Council or some other publick Convention that is a National Council of Germany should first consider and determin whether the outed Clergy did profess and teach the true Religion for if this was not first well proved as they believed it could not it was in vain and to no good purpose for them to expect the enjoyment of those Revenues which had been given by their Ancestors for the maintenance of the true Worship of God Now because they were quickly sensible that Reasons and Protestations alone would not secure them the greatest part of these Protestant States and Princes joined in a League at Smalcald to repell any Force or Violence which might be offered to any of them because they had embraced the Reformed Religion At length it came to a War which proved very unfortunate to the Protestants and the Elector of Saxony and the Landtgrave of Hess the two principal persons of their Party were both taken Prisoners and their Religion seem'd to be in a desperate and hopeless condition but then Maurice the next Duke of Saxony restored it to its former Power by his Arms and the R. Catholicks were forced to come to a Treaty at Passaw for the securing all Parties the terms of which may easily be found in any of the German Historians of that time After this in the Diet of Ausburg The Decree of Ausburg for the Liberty of Religion in the year 1555 the Protestants obtained the securing their Religion by a Law passed there in favour of it by which Law they had sufficient Security given them that they should live in Peace and that neither of the Parties should hurt or invade the other on the account of their different Religions nor compel any man by force to abjure that Religion which he professed If any Church-Lands had been seized by any of the Secular Princes which did not belong to any other immediate State or Prince of Germany it should be left to the present Possessor against whom no Suit should be commenced in the Chamber of Spire if the Clergy were not in possession of the same at the time of the Treaty of Passaw or after it That the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction should not be exercised against those who professed the Protestant Religion and that they should manage their Religious Affairs as they thought fit That no Prince should allure the Subjects of another Prince to his Religion nor undertake the Defence of them on the pretence of Religion against their own Prince But then those Subjects of either side that were not pleased with the Religion or Ceremonies of his own Prince might sell their Estates and go where they pleased And lastly if this Difference of Religion cannot be composed by fair and lawful means this Peace shall nevertheless be perpetual 11. In the mean time there was a sharp The Liberty of the Clergy more fiercely
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
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
Onolzbeck 8. Next after the Electors follow some Of the other Princes of the Empire other Princes whose Houses are still extant and because amongst these there are various Contests for the Precedence I would not have the Order I here observe give any prejudice to any of them in these their vain Pretences The Dukes of Brunswick The Dukes of Brunswick and Lunenburg and Lunenburg possess a very considerable Territory in the Lower Saxony they are divided into two Branches to the first of these belongs the Dukedom of Brunswick now enjoyed by an ancient Gentleman two Brothers have divided the Dukedom of Lunenburg between them one of which resides at Zel the other at Hannover and the third Brother is now Bishop of Osnaburg The Dukes of Mechlenburg have a Mechlenburg small Tract of Land belonging to them which lies between the Baltick Sea and the River Elbe and this Family is now divided into two Branches Swerin and â—ustrow The Duke of Wurtemburg has in Franconia Wurtemburg a great and a powerful Territory his Relations have also in the extreamest parts of Germany the Earldom of Montbelgard in Montpelgart Hassia Alsatia The Lantgrave of Hassia has also a large Country and is divided into the Branches of Castel and Darmstad The Marquesses of Baden have a long but narrow Baden Country on the Rhine and are also divided into two Lines that of Baden properly so called and that of Baden Durlach The Dukes of Holstein possess a part Holstein of the Promontory of Juitland which by reason of the Seas washing its Eastern and Western sides is very Rich That part of Holstein which belonged to the Empire is possessed by the King of Denmark and the Duke of Holstein Gothorp which last has also the Bishoprick of Lubeck The Dukedom Lubeck of Sleswick doth not belong to the Empire The Duke of Sax-Lawemburg has Sax-Lawemburg a small Estate in the Lower Saxony and almost equal to that of the Prince of Anhalt in the Upper Saxony 9. These are the ancient Princes of the Savoy and Lorrain Empire for the Dukes of Savoy and Lorrain though Fees depending on the Empire and so having Seats in the Diet yet by reason of the Situation of their Countries they are in a manner separated from the Empire and have different Interests Ferdinand II who as many believe Ferdinand II. encreased the number of the Princes designed the subduing the Power of the German Princes and to gain an Absolute Authority over them amongst other Arts by him imployed brought into the Diet many Princes which depended entirely on him he intended by their Votes to equal if not overballance the Suffrages of the ancient Princes if he should be at any time forced to call a Diet which yet he avoided as much as was possible or that he might shew at least that there was no reason why the ancient Princes should so much value their Power seeing he was able when he pleased to set as many as he pleased on the same Level with them And the Princes of the old Creation had without question been very much endangered if the Emperor could have created Lands as easily as he could give Titles Amongst those however that then gained Places in the Diet are these the Prince of Hoenzolleren The Titles of Eleven of his creation Eggenburg Nassaw-Hadmar Nassaw-Dillenburg Lobkowitz Salm Dietrichstein Aversberg and Picolomini But then this Project of Ferdinand miscarrying and the Estates of the new Princes bearing no proportion with that of the ancient Families their advancement to this Dignity has never been found as yet of any use to them and they have also been much exposed to the Reproaches of the ancient Princes as the new Nobility is ever slighted by the old and they have taken it up as a Proverb against them That they have got nothing by this Exaltation but of Rich Counts or Earls to be made Poor Princes Yet it is to be considered That the most ancient Nobility had a beginning and that these Families in time may get greater Estates though the easiest way is now foreclosed against them by restraining the Emperor from disposing of the vacant Fees as he thinks fit 10. The Next Bench in the Diet belongs The Ecclesiastick States to the Bishops of Germany and Abbots Though this Order consists of men of no very great Birth as being but Gentlemen or at best the Sons of Barons or Earls and advanced to this Dignity by the Election of their Chapters yet in the Diet and other publick Meetings for the most part they are placed above the Temporal Nobility For since the Fortunes of the Churchmen in these latter Ages has been so vastly different from what it was in the beginning of Christianity it were very absurd to expect they are now bound to observe those Laws of Modesty our Saviour at first prescribed them and perhaps those Laws too were by him designed only for the Primitive Times For in truth it would have been ridiculous for Fishermen and Weavers ambitiously to seek the Precedence of Noblemen who were to earn their Bread with the labours of their Hands or to subsist on voluntary Contributions Now the Authority and Revenues of the Churchmen is very great in all those Countries that ever were under the Papacy yet their Riches and Power are no where so great as in Germany there being few of them in the Empire Oâ—â— very rich and powerful whose Dominions and Equipage is not equal to that of the Secular Nobility and their Power and Authority over their Vassals is of the same nature and many of them are also more fond of their Helmets than their Miters and are much fitter to involve their Country in Wars and their Neighbours in Troubles than to propagate true Piety But however in these later Ages there are more than there were in former times who are not ashamed to take Orders and once or twice in a year to shew the World how expert they are in expressing the Gestures and representing the Ceremonies of the most August Sacrifice But then whereas of old their Estates Now much diminished equalled if not exceeded that of the Secular Princes the Reformation of Religion which was embraced by the greatest part of Germany and the Peace of Westphalia in the year 1648 have strangely diminished them for in the Circles of the Upper and Lower Saxony the Churchmen have very little left But then in the Upper Germany if you except the Dukedom of Wurtemburg they escaped better Now the reason of this is this The Saxons being more remote did not fear the Efforts of Charles V. so much as the other Princes who were awed by his Neighbourhood to them and oppressed by his Presence Besides in Saxony their Dominions were intermixed with Potent Secular Princes and consequently lay exposed to their Incursions but in the Upper Germany they were seated They possess the greatest part of
the Lands on the Rhine nearer one another and on the Rhine which is the most fruitful part of Germany they were possessed of the whole Country except what belongs to the Elector Palatine which as it interrupts that beautiful Chain of Church-Lands has I perswade my self been looked on by them with an evil Eye This their Neighbourhood has in the mean time contributed very much to the preserving them from the Reformation one of them assisting another to expel that dangerous Guest till the French at last by a just Judgment of God though a Catholick Nation as they call it came in to revenge their Contempt of the True Religion and has laid the far greatest part of these populous well built fruitful Countries in Ashes twice or thrice within the Memory of Man and now especially in the year now current 1689. But to return to our Author 11. Ecclesiastick States which are not The Ecclesiastick Electors come into the hands of the Protestant Princes are these The three Archbishopricks of Mentz Trier and Cologne which Mentz Trier and Cologne are three of the Electors and the Archbishopricks of Saltsburg and Besanzon in Burgundy for as for Magdeburg it is a meer Lay-Fee The inferiour Bishopricks are Bamberg Wurtzburg Worms Spires Aichstad Strasburg Constance Ausburg Hildisheim Paderborn The Bishops Freisingen Ratisbone Passaw Trent Brixen in Tirol Basil Liege Osnaburg Munster Curen in Curland The Master of the Teutonick Order has the first Seat amongst the Bishops And we must observe too that in our times there are sometimes two or more Bishopricks united in the same Person either because the Revenues of one single Diocess were not thought sufficient to maintain the Dignity and Splendor of a Prince's Court or that they might by that means be rendred more formidable to those that hated them The Bishoprick of Lubeck is very little better than a part of the Patrimony of the Duke of Holstein and all the Country has also embraced the Protestant Religion Amongst the Abbies which are called Prelates are these Fuld Mitered Abbots Kempten Elwang Murback Luders the Master of St. John Berchtelsgaden Weissenburg Pruym Stablo and Corwey the rest of the Prelates who are not Princes are divided The Prelates that are not Princes but vote in the Diet. into two Benches that of the Rhine and that of Schwaben or Suabia one of each of which has a Vote in the Diet and they are esteemed equal to the Counts or Earls of the Empire 12. The Estate of the Counts or Earls The Earls and Barons of the Empire and Barons of the Empire is also much more splendid and rich than that of men enjoying the same Dignities in other Kingdoms for they have almost the same Priviledges with the Princes and the ancient Earldoms had also large Territories belonging to them whereas in other Kingdoms a small Farm or Mannour shall dignifie its owner with that Title Yet the Division of the Estate amongst the Brothers has damnified many of the German Families and is only to be admitted in Plebeian Families for its Equity and Piety sake Some others have been equally ruined by the Carelesness and Luxury of their Ancestors and their prodigal Expences At this day the Earls have four Votes in the Diet one for Wetteraw Have 4 Votes another for Schwaben a third for Franconia and the fourth for Westphalia The Earls which are known to me are these Nassaw Oldenburg Furstemberg Hohenlohe Their Names Hanaw Sain Witgenstein Leiningen Solms Waldek Isenburg Stolberg Wied Mansfeld Reussen Ottingen Montfort Konigseck Fugger Sultz Cronberg Sintzendorf Wallenstein Papenheim Castell Lewenstein Erbach Limburg Schwartzenburg Bentheim Ostfrisland who is now made a Prince Khine and Walts Rantzow and perhaps many other whose Nobility is not to be prejudiced by my silence and as to those I have named I pretend no skill in the marshalling of them according to their proper Places There are also many Earls and Barons in the Hereditary Countries belonging to the Emperor who being of late Creation or subject to other States have no Place or Vote in the Diets of Germany and therefore are not to be mentioned here 13. There is also in Germany no small The Free Cities make a College in the Diet. number of Free Cities who are subject to no Prince or State but are immediately under the Emperor and the Empire and are therefore called Imperial Cities In the Diet they constitute a particular College which is divided into two Benches that of the Rhine and that of Schwaben The Principal of these are Norimberg Ausburg Cologne Lubeck Vlm Strasburg Frankford Ratisbone Aix la Chapelle or Aken Metz Worms Spire Colmar Memmingen Esling Hall in Schwaben Heilbron Lindaw Goslar Mulhausin North Hausin the rest have reason rather to pride themselves in their Liberty than in their Wealth In the former Ages the conjunction of two or three of these Cities together made a great Power and they were terrible to the Princes but now their Wealth is much reduced and we may probably enough conjecture they will one after another be all reduced under the Yoke of the Princes At least the Bishops threaten those very much in which their Cathedrals are There are also some potent Cities which preserve their Freedom though perhaps not very well grounded for the Dukes of Holstein pretend a Right over Hamburg which this Hamburg most wealthy City of all Germany will not submit to and it is thought the Strength of it and the Jealousie of the neighbouring Princes who envy the King of Denmark the possession of this fat Morsel will preserve it The King of Sweden has such Breme another Dispute with the City of Breme without which he can never secure that Dukedom and perhaps the Kings of Sweden have too much reason to suspect that City was admitted into the Diet in the year 1641 when they began to suspect those Princes would become Masters of this Dukedom on purpose to keep it out of their hands and deprive them of this convenience and security The City of Brunswick doth strangely weaken and disfigure Brunswick the Dukedoms of Brunswick and Lunenburg and by its Site interrupt their otherwise well compacted Territories And yet they will never suffer the Bishop of Hildisheim to take possession of that City Hildisheim The Elector of Brandenburg is not very favourable to the Cities in his Dominions and therefore it is not improbable the City of Magdeburg may suffer the loss of Magdeburg her Liberty after the death of Augustus of the House of Saxony They of Erford weary Erford of a doubtful Contest for their Liberty submitted and for their Folly and Cowardice were thought worthy to lose their Liberty Wise men wonder also that the Dukes of Saxony have not seized the Citadel of Thuring and I suppose by this time the Hollanders are made sufficiently sensible they ought to have defended the Inhabitans of Munster against
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
is not worth the mentioning and for the most part belongs to the Officers of the Chancery who reap the greatest profit of all others from the renewing the Fees or Estates in the Empire See Artic. 17. Capit. Leopold He can lay no new Impoâ—â—â—ions on any Merchandise imported or exâ—orted within the Dominions of any of the States and it was never heard in Germany that the Emperor should lay any Tax upon any that lives out of his Hereditary Countries Neither are the States obliged to any standing Charge towards the Necessities of the Government except what is agreed for the upholding the Chamber of Spire and even that very small Charge is very ill paid by many of them In ancient times when the Emperor went to Rome to demand the Imperial Crown the States of Germany were bound to arm and maintain Four thousand Horse and Twenty Thousand Foot to attend upon him during his Journey But as these Expeditions have a long time been omitted so the proportions that were then fixed serve now only for the approportioning the Rates of the several Princes in all extraordinary Charges granted in the Diet Yet there are many Complaints made against this old Proportion because the Estates of some are in length of time sunk in their value and others are as much raised above what they were A Turkish War is ever a vast charge to Germany and they never more willingly part with their Money than on that occasion and yet even here the Emperor doth not proceed upon his own Authority all is granted and transacted in the Diet by the Princes or their Deputies and the more easily commonly because the Princes are great Gainers by it for they rarely pay to the Emperor's Treasury all they levy 8. The Arbitriment of Peace and War Nor is he the Arbitrator of Peace and War is now also included in very narrow Bounds whilst Money the Sinew of War is thus put out of the Emperor's Power It is true the Austrian Dominions will maintain a potent Army but then if they alone bear the charge of it they will apparently be very much exhausted It is to be considered An Addition our Author wrote before the recovery of Hungary Sclavonia Servia and Bosnia out of the hands of the Turks which are much larger than all the old Hereditary Provinces and upon a Peace of Twenty years will be able to raise and maintain a much greater Army than the Hereditary Provinces could when they lay exposed to the Ravage and Incursions of the Turks as now they will not so that the Emperor is now three times more considerable than he was before the last War in the extent of his Dominions the security of his Subjects and the acquiring new Countries to bear the Charges of defending themselves and the old too Except therefore the States consent to the War and promise their Assistance towards the Charges of it the Emperor cannot promise himself any thing of help from them As it is not their manner to be wanting to the Emperor whenever he is invaded by another so it is certain if he should begin a War upon any of his Neighbours none of them would concurr with him in it except a few of them whose Interest unites them to the House of Austria for it is of the two rather their Interest to hinder him from warring upon others and that not only because all Germany may thereby be involved in Troubles but also because the very Victories of the Emperor are no welcome News to the States as raising his Power which perhaps is already too great to the endangering of their Liberty Vide Art 13 14 16 Capit. Leopold The Tenth of these Nor of Leagues and Alliances Articles shews how the Emperor's Power is bounded as to Leagues and Alliances A man here will not be able to forbear wondring why the Emperor is not permitted to begin a War against any Neighbour upon any pretence whatsoever or to enter into any Alliance with a Foreigner without at least the Consent of the Electors And yet we are lately told many of the Electoral Princes had had a meeting and drawing over to them a parcel of Thievish Souldiers have made an Inroad upon the Elector Palatine's Dominions under pretence of forcing from him some Rights which they are not well pleased he should any longer enjoy And when they entred upon this action they thought it was sufficient for them to give the Emperor a very superficial and insolent account of what they intended to do There was another Bishop of that Nation not far from the Hollanders Munster took up Arms and invaded that State which War may involve a great part of Germany And all these bold Attempts of the Princes were entred upon whilst the Diet was sitting and yet it took not the least notice of them for it is now become a Custom for some of the Princes to League with the Swedes or French both which Nations have for many years been the Enemies of the House of Austria 9. Let us see next what Power the Emperor Nor is he the Governour of the Religion of Germany has in the Affairs of Religion Because the new Politicians will needs have Temporal Princes according to their new Divinity intrusted in things of this nature whereas the Roman Catholicks constantly believe and profess That it would be very prejudicial to the Grandeur and Wealth of the Church to have any but the Clergy intermeddle with the disposing of the Church-Preferments and therefore would very wisely have the Laity content themselves with the Glory of enriching and defending the Church When therefore there were no other Rites received in Germany but those of the Church of Rome the few Disciples of John Huss in Bohemia excepted and the Jews who are every where tolerated Martin Luther beyond all mens expectations An account of Martin Luther and the Reformation sorely weakened the Papal Authority in that Nation and taking the advantage of a small Brangle of no great moment at first drew off a considerable part of the Empire from their Obedience to the See of Rome If I may be allowed to speak the truth this inconsiderable Spark was blown up to this dreadful Fire by the folly of them who at first opposed Luther and the inconsiderate rashness and haste of Leo X. for some contemptible Monks contending one with another one Party of which was very zealous for Religion and the other Party no less concern'd for their Profit and at first both of them had the Papal Power in great esteem as Sacred Now it was certainly here the part of a prudent Judge to shew himself equal and indifferent to both the contending Parties or presently to have silenced both of them lest his Commodities his Indulgences should become cheap and suspected by the People At least he ought not so manifestly to have espoused the Quarrel of his Factors for fear this highest Priest might be suspected to be
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
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
Freedom For whilst every Sect of them believes it has God on their side if any man differeth from them in any thing besides the affront offered to their Authority they are for accusing him forthwith of Impiety Contempt of the Heavenly Truth Obstinacy and Unwillingness to be brought over by another from a manifest Error And yet in the mean time it is a wonder that they which pretend to teach others the utmost Clemency and Goodness of the Christian Religion should not observe what horrid Passions they carry about them Or let them shew me some other sort of men more ambitious covetous envious angry stubborn and selfish than they if this is possible who so soon as ever they meet a man that differeth a little from them presently damn him to the Pit of Hell and will not suffer God himself to reverse their outragious Sentence But then for men to be a little more than ordinarily warm when they find their beloved Wealth like to be diminished that though not often mentioned for good Causes is not altogether so irrational 7. But for the more accurate knowledg The Tempers of the Three Religions in Germ. of the Causes of our Dissentions it is necessary here to make a close reflection on the Tempers of the three Religions which are now allowed a publick Liberty in Germany I shall not trouble my self with a curious Enquiry how well each of them can prove their respective Doctrins by the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures because we are only allowed the use of them for the Improvement of our private Piety and so are not allowed to suppose we can understand them and are besides bound to think our Church loves us too well to destroy us by false Doctrine yet we may be allowed to see and consider how far the way they teach us of going to Heaven will agree with our other Temporal Interests for I cannot think the Deity ever intended his Worship should embroil and disquiet the World That therefore I may The Temper of the Lutherans considered begin regularly I will consider the Lutherans in the first place because they first deserted our Holy Roman Catholick Church And I say I could never yet find any thing in their Doctrine which was contrary to the Principles of Civil Prudence and Government The Power they ascribe to Princes for the governing Religion is indeed not so favourable to the excessive Grandeur of the Priests so where it has prevail'd their Wealth is little but the Commonwealth has the benefit of that Abatement The People are taught by them to reverence their Magistrates and Princes as the Ministers of God and that all the good works expected from them is to do the Duties of Good men Nor am I displeased that they have retained so much of the Ceremonial Part and the Pomp of Religion which serves to divert the minds of the People who have not sence enough to contemplate the Beauty of simple undress'd Piety So that though their Religious Mysteries are not adorned to the frightful height of Superstition yet they are in a decent and grave Dress and adapted to teach Mankind that the Divine Wisdom and Power is able to effect that which we are not able throughly to comprehend the very Rusticity and Simplicity that appears in the Professors of that Religion and which is so much blamed by some is to me a sign and a testimony of their Sincerity and Uprightness So that as it is not possible to imagine a Religion that can be more serviceable and useful to the Princes of Germany than that of the Lutherans we may from hence conclude that this is the best for a Monarchy of any in the World And if Charles V. had not been diverted by the consideration of his other States and Kingdoms he must as Emperor of Germany have been thought blind and impolitick in not taking the opportunity the Reformation offered him to enrich the Patrimony of the Empire when so many of the Princes and Free Cities had before shewed him the way and would very gladly have permitted him to have shared in the Prey and the People were generally so taken with their new Preachers that he needed not to have feared them As to the Calvinists or Presbyterians it differeth very The Temper of the Calvinists little from the Lutheran but only in their great Zeal for sweeping out all the Roman Catholick Rites and Ceremonies with the Dust of their Churches and in a design to new polish the Lutheran Doctrine and to make it more subtile neither of which Intentions are accommodated or suited to the Minds of the meaner People for they are apt to fall asleep when the whole Service of God in publick is reduced to a Psalm and a Sermon and when it is once made a fashionable thing to have the meanest of men exercise their Curiosity upon the most Sacred Parts of Religion the most perverse and ignorant will soon catch the Itch of Innovating and Inventing and when they have once started a new Opinion they will persist in and defend it with invincible stubbornness yea some of them have faln into lamentable Follies and with them it was a great Sin to have a comely Head of Hair And it has long since been observed by wisemen That the Genius of this Religion is purely Democratick ☞ and adapted to Popular Liberty and a Commonwealth For when the People once are admitted to a share in the Government and Discipline of the Church it will presently seem very unreasonable to them that one Prince should without them govern the great Affairs of the State These two Religions having spread themselves The extent of these two Religions over a great part of Germany by their mutual Enmity each to other gave Opportunities to the Roman Catholicks to destroy them both Now what Reason can any man assign for this but the Perverseness of their Ministers who were on both sides more concern'd to maintain their Reputations than their Doctrine and they thought that they should certainly much sink in the esteem of Men if they should tamely submit their Judgments to such as explained things better than they could or taught them more Humility and Modesty than they had occasion for For The Differences destructive as for these two Parties there is no Contest between them which is attended with any Gain or Loss it being equally mischievous to both of them to be forced again to submit to the Church of Rome And therefore seeing the Ministers could never be perswaded to sacrifice their Obstinacy to the Peace of the Publick it had been the Duty of the Princes by degrees to have laid these Controversies asleep not by violent methods which commonly exasperate Dissenters but by oblique ways and Artifice For if Princes in chusing their Ministers would for the future not regard the Names of Mens Parties but the Abilities and Endowments of their Minds and if the Subjects were inured to bear an equal
regard to both the Religions if the Ministers were forbidden all Disputes in their Sermons and especially to anger the opposite side by sharp Reflections and none were suffered to teach in the Schools but moderate and prudent men I doubt not but in a few years all these Debates would end of themselves But I believe at the same time he would deserve very ill of the Church of Rome who should give this Advice to her Enemies And I believe An Addition this Advice would certainly end in the ruin of the Reformation in Germany for by that time any Parish had been Lutheran and Calvinist in their Worship by turns two or three times backward and forward as the Ministers changed they would care for neither of them but divide and hate each other mortally some would persist in one way and others in the other and the major part would think this fickle unconstancy in Religion an Argument of the uncertainty of it and without ever enquiring which were the best reject both and sit down in Atheisin Were the difference only in point of Doctrin and Speculation like that of Predestination amongst us both Parties might be tolerated but different waies of Worship can never be allowed in the same Congregations without Heart-burning Envy Hatred and Detraction which would break them into Factions at first and at last destroy all Religion the Modes of Worship being visible and extreamly loved or disgusted 8. But now the Temper of our Roman The Temper of the Roman Catholicks Catholick Religion is extreamly different from these new Religions for their Clergy own themselves the Servants Ministers of the Magistrates and People that their Souls being by their Care and Pains endowed with good holy Principles and Manners they may after Death be fitted to be translated into Eternal Life In the mean time the great Care of the Roman Catholick Priests is spent in enlarging their own Wealth Power and Authority and not in forming the Minds of the People committed to their Care to Piety and Honesty And in truth I have a great while admired the Folly of our Priests in pretending to decide the Controversies depending between them and the Protestants by the Sacred Scriptures when they might have taken another course that for certainty and plainness would have been equal to a Mathematical Proposition For if according to the Use and Custom of the Church of Rome the great design and principal end of all Religion be to promote the Riches and Authority of the Priests our Adversaries are mad if ever they write one word more in a Controversie that has spent such innumerable number of Tuns of Paper to no purpose For example sake let us propose a few Instances It is pretended the Sacred Scriptures are very obscure and all Laymen are forbidden to read them on that pretence that so the Priests may have the sole Power of interpreting them and that the Lay-men may not from thence pick out any thing that shall be contrary to the Priests Interest Traditions are added to the Sacred Scriptures that if any thing has happened to be omitted in the Scriptures which is necessary to the former great Design it may from thence be conveniently supplied Nay that whole Religion is adorned with so many gaudy Ceremonies that the Splendor and Pomp of them as well as the excessive number may amuse the Minds of the common People that like men in an amazement and wonder they may never so much as think on solid Piety To leave the remission and forgiveness of Sin only to God were a thing that would yield no profit to the Priest and therefore the Priests challenge that and know wondrously well how to improve it to the best advantage for they will not dispense so profitable and gainful an Office upon a general Confession to a whole Congregation at once and then be contented with some mean Present or Salary as the Parties concerned shall freely give No they have taken order there shall be an exact Enumeration of Sins and the Taxing them is then left to the Discretion of the Priest and now if the Party confessing is rich Paradise will go at a good price though the Sins be freely remitted as they pretend for Who can be so hard-hearted as not to give liberally to so good a Father And if the Party is poor then the Priest will exercise his Ghostly Authority with the greater severity And in the mean time what a vast Advantage it is to the Church and Clergy to know all mens Secrets And who would not revere the Master of his Soul and Heart And in short the Wit of Man can never invent a thing that shall turn more to the Gain and Authority of the Priests than the Mass for Who can deny the man that performs this saving Office a good Reward And who can forbear worshipping him that can by a secret whisper produce so venerable a Victim or Sacrifice It is fit to deny the Laity the use of the Cup to the utmost extremity that they may think the Church never did or can err The number of the Sacraments was not encreased for nothing but to the intent men might the oftner need the assistance of their Priests Who can tell what profit the Ecclesiastical Courts have drawn from Matrimonial Cases all which have been brought under their cognizance only on the pretence Marriage was a Sacrament Yet one would think married men should understand all these Cases full as well as they The vast Force they ascribe to the Merit of Good Works as it excites like a Spur the ambitious and vain-glorious Piety of Men so on the other hand they have craftily taken care to give us such a Catalogue of Good Works as for the most part tends to the enriching of the Clergy and doth most incomparably well agree with the rest of their Theological System Not can I think the Fire of Purgatory was kindled for any other purpose but only to lay on that pretence a Tax upon those who by Death had escaped all other Jurisdictions and to make the separate Souls a Merchandable Commodity which was never dreamt on before The Invocation of Saints encreaseth very much the Gaity of their Religion and the Authority of their Clergy who by their Vote advance whom they please to be Nobles in the Court of Heaven To add more to those who so well know them were troublesome and needless and in truth whoever tries the whole by this Rule will see this was the only thing that all is levell'd at The Hierarchy or Ecclesiastick Commonwealth or Government as they have ordered it is a wonderful artificial Contrivance so compacted so knit closed and fixed together that I think I may truly say since the Creation of the World there never was any Politick Body so well formed and disposed and which had such strong Foundations as this has for it is form'd into a most exact Monarchy and the King of the Priests has an
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
has nothing of Religion in it And as to these younger Children if they are men of spirit and courage they have other means enough to raise their Fortunes and improve their Estates and Reputations at home or abroad in times of Peace or War But then if they are useful to no body in neither of these it were fit to make them understand they cannot reasonably expect their Sloth should be rewarded with an Entertainment at the Charge of the Publick in the same manner the Athenians did their most deserving Citizens If they will still insist that at least by this means the over-great number of the Nobility is kept from becoming contemptible by their poverty I reply That if they are men of truly noble Endowments their multitude can bring no dishonour or disesteem to their Order or to the State because Virtue can never want a Station and a suitable Reward But then if they fear they should fill the World with a degenerate Posterity worse than themselves I think this is true and they ought to be kept from Marriage that they may not stock the World with useless Drones But then others that are not in Holy Orders abstain from the use of Women But if they will not do that I think the good old men who gave these Lands to the Church out of a belief that whilst they lessened the Inheritances of their Children they promoted the Glory of God and the Salvation of their Souls are now miserably abused in their Graves to have them now consigned only to the maintenance of a parcel of publick Stallions 10. This being however the truth of The Protestant Princes fairly vindicated the case I for my part think the Protestant Princes will be able to give a very good and rational account to God and all wise men why they have taken that care they have to employ the Revenues of the Church which lay within their Dominions and so was properly under their Jurisdictions to the education of Youth in Piety and good Arts and to the maintenance of such Ministers as were truly and in good earnest employed in the Service of God and what was overplus to the Service of the State whereas before the whole was spent in Luxury and Sloth And if the Emperor and the rest of the Catholick Princes had taken the same care in their States they had disburthened Germany of a number of ill Humours which now oppress it Nor could the Pope have resented it without shewing himself openly more a Friend to the Vices of the Times than is consistent with his Honour Nor was there any necessity that they should have ever the more changed their Faith in other particulars though they had retrenched the number of their Clergy and reduced their Revenues to a narrower Scantling for the publick good of their States for their Christian Ancestors finding Poverty and Piety united in their days long before the Priviledges of the See of Rome were thought of agreed with the Church of Rome in matters of Faith The greatest difficulty as some thought lay in the Bishopricks which are still extant because it was not for the Interest of Germany that those large Dominions should be added to the Emperor or any of the other Princes But then this is owing only to the ill constitution of the German State which is subject to very great Commotions on the least change Let then those Bishopricks continue and enjoy their large Revenues and Territories only in the mean time let these Bishops remember that they are German Princes and that they owe their Dominions to the Liberality of the Germans and therefore ought to love their Country more than the Pope And let them put an end to their longing desires after those Bishopricks they have lost and never more think of regaining them for fear in the attempt they should also lose what is left them and however it becomes them not to embroil their native Country in any more destructive Wars and Quarrels In truth in the last Age it would not have been so difficult to have brought the Bishopricks of Germany into a better state than how they are if either the Archbishop of Cologne had not miscarried in his design or if more of the German Bishops had conspired with him in the same intention For after the Reverence of the See of Rome was sunk to so low an ebb it would not have been difficult to have turned the Bishopricks into Hereditary Principalities and to have assigned the other Revenues to the Chapters or Prebends or if this had not pleased them these Principalities might have still passed from one to another by Election Nor are the Protestants of such small and contemptible Parts or Understandings as that they could not have employed these Revenues to the same uses the Roman Catholicks do if they had thought fit to have so continued them It had been more also for the Peace of Germany to have had the whole Nation embraced the Protestant Religion than it was to have a part continue in the old to distract the People by a diversity in their Faith And could any man drive out of the Empire those lazy Drones the Monks and the cunning Companions of the Society of the Jesuites Germany would thereby be delivered from a Sett of dangerous Spies and the Revenues they wastefully devour would be sufficient to maintain an Army that would defend Germany against both the Eastern and WesternTurk When I had heard this Discourse out I was in an horrible fright for the Roman Catholick Religion in Germany but that I considered it was understood in vain by private men who could indeed please themselves with specious Counsels and assume great Courages under the Covert of their private Walls But then as long as those that were born to command and govern others were for the most part beholden to their Destinies for giving them more Wealth than Wisdom I thought again their Ignorance of what was their true Interest and for their good would still secure it This Sir is what I have in my Travels observed concerning the Empire of Germany and having thought fit to set it down in writing I perswade my self that if I miss of Praise and Applause yet at least the Candor and Sincerity of my Relations will deserve pardon FINIS