§ 1. To the prince is entrusted the care of protecting true religion; nevertheless, he has absolutely no power to institute or innovate it. The magistrate is the foster-father of the Church; he bears the sword for the vengeance of the evil and the protection of the good. By “evil” I mean thieves, the incestuous, robbers, blasphemers, and the impious. For he avenges not only his own majesty, but much more the divine majesty, which is true and immense, of which every majesty that appears great and dreadful to human eyes in purple and diadem is an ἀπόῤῥοια—a streamlet and trace. Certainly it is fitting that the Best be worshipped by the best, the divine power by the prince, and the King of all kings especially by all kings. Thus Aristotle too, in book 7, chapter 8 of the Politics, says that the first royal care is τὴν περὶ θεῶν ἐπιμέλειαν, the solicitude that concerns divine things.
Let it therefore remain certain and fixed that the prince himself ought to be religious, a keen guardian of religion, and a vigilant avenger of impiety.
§ 2. The prince will nevertheless attend diligently to this: that he himself does not innovate the ancient religion or fashion any articles under the name of reformation. For the prince is not the arbiter of religion but its disciple. Let him hold in mind, and demonstrate in practice, that piety is to be cultivated and not rendered perplexed by political edicts. Let him hear Saint Cyprian, Epistle 73: “Nor, dearest brother, do we propose this without the authority of divine Scripture: that we say that all things have been arranged by God under a certain law and proper ordinance, and that no one can usurp for himself, against bishops and priests, anything which is not within his own right and power. For Korah, Dathan, and Abiram also attempted to usurp for themselves, against Moses and Aaron the priest, the license of sacrificing; yet they did not do with impunity what they unlawfully dared.”
There are many enactments on this matter not only of the holy Fathers but also of emperors and kings. It is not within my undertaking to pursue them all; I shall admonish only concerning those which pertain to polity and government.
§ 3. The first reason is that the administration of the commonwealth is connected with religion, as I demonstrated in my book On the Peace of Germany. Therefore, when religion is changed, a disturbance or change of the commonwealth must follow. And since true religion is one, while departures from it and mutually conflicting sects are infinite, it will belong to princes to permit no departure from the truth. For since the stimulus of religion is vehement, and there are many who refuse to abandon ancient things even when death is set before them, the indignation of many and discord of all arise.
Next, when the kings of Egypt fabricate or permit new superstitions, they gave the strength of the kingdom to be torn apart by civil contentions. Nebuchadnezzar almost deprived himself of his most faithful and prudent chief men when he disturbed his subjects by the dedication of a new statue. Antiochus the Illustrious for the same reason destroyed both his kingdom and himself when he persecuted the piety of the Jews. If he had defended it and wished to have so brave a nation as a friend amid so many wars, he could easily have obtained dominion over all Asia. Thus Constantius, Valens, Justina, Justinian, Heraclius, Leo the Isaurian, and others innovated religion to the greatest harm of the commonwealth.
§ 4. The second reason is taken from the nature of magistracy and the court. For since every power is liable to flatteries, men readily creep in under an appearance of sanctity who pervert magnates by lying and flattering. Thus Constantius was led astray by Eusebius, Valens by the Eusebians, and Leo the Isaurian by a Jewish sorcerer. An impostor who was a Monothelite corrupted Justinian when he was already old. But whatever rests not upon divine institution but upon human things is wholly fluid and momentary.
No clearer example of this principle exists than the calamities of our own age display to us. Because by a certain law the princes in Germany regulate religion according to their own judgment, there is hence so great a variety and ignorance of religions that almost no religion survives. Because this is not yet wholly evident to foreign nations, it must be shown clearly and forcibly.
It is the hundredth year since Luther, led by weariness with the ancient faith, together with disgust for monastic discipline and by ambition, laid the foundations of a new heresy. Meanwhile, all things have changed, so that Germany appears to me not unlike ancient Egypt, in which the madness of all superstitions aroused daily disturbances and wars. In this one respect the condition of Germany is worse than that of Egypt: the Germans move about in perpetual change, and things which have pleased them rashly very quickly displease them, whereas the superstition of the Egyptians was more constant.
In these days a man came to me and offered a paper containing an invitation to the jubilee of the γνησίως (genuine) Lutheran churches. For ten Lutheran doctors incite all the others to jubilate because Luther made his attack upon the pontiff one hundred years ago. Behold absurdities most worthy of laughter, if the malicious blindness of these most wretched human beings did not call instead for pity and tears.
This rejoicing must therefore be treated, so that the whole world may recognize that there is no constancy in a religion which depends upon the opinion of princes. For this reason the Zwinglians two years ago prudently kept silent concerning their own jubilee, lest they furnish laughter to everyone: they are scattered into so many sects, of which none retains the Zwinglian archetype—indeed, there is none which is not compelled to condemn Zwingli. Although I have disputed copiously concerning this matter in three books—namely, The Jubilee of Jubilees, its Apology, and its Coronis—the disasters of our fatherland are not to be repeated here. From those books magistrates will see how, through the vaunting of religions, faith and piety, and finally human beings and kingdoms, perish.
§ 5. First, those ten commissioners jubilate and exult over the worst affairs, while meanwhile the other Lutherans are so oppressed that, unless moderate men intervene, there is danger that they will be compelled to migrate to Veii or the Sacred Mount. For the condition of the γνησίως Lutheran churches was already miserable fifty-seven years ago and, in their own judgment, almost desperate; but now it is much more afflicted. Yet it is preferable to hear the whole tragedy from themselves. No one lies to his own disgrace. In its preface, the Synod of Mansfeld, an eloquent herald of its own miseries with grief and groaning, expresses the progress of political religion:
“But it is not so greatly to be wondered at,” they say, “that the opinions and sects of fanatical human beings are daily multiplied.
“First, because, since truth is unwelcome to human beings and they do not acknowledge the goodness of God, God is accustomed, in order to punish this sin, to send effective and signal errors, so that human beings believe a lie and are punished for the very reason that they do not believe the truth but delight in injustice. Second Thessalonians 2.
“Second, sects must grow because truly all princes and magistrates neglect their duty in this matter and instead strengthen the wantonness of intellects, because they permit anyone the license to fabricate according to his judgment any false opinion whatever.
“Third, those fat and powerful doctors, as the Psalm calls them, the authors of sects, unite with one another with the greatest effort; they mutually protect the same opinions and the same dispositions. They live peaceably with one another; one defends and excuses another. And although a man may by no means approve another’s sect, he nevertheless loves him, so that it happens as is commonly said: ‘Spare me, so that I may spare you; at least close your eyes if you do not wish to approve, and I shall do the same.’ Thus it often happens that some heresiarch does not attack another’s sect which he does not approve; and if for a time he does something, he nevertheless does not persevere. For this reason the prophet David complains with grief in Psalm 17 concerning the success of heretics, when he says: ‘Their fat ones are joined together.’
“Fourth, the matter has now come to such a pass that many at this time account it a place of shame and disgrace to oppose false brethren and the authors of sects by voice or writings, although this was always the greatest honor in the Church and was celebrated as a true proof of Christian virtue.
“Fifth, what prevents various heresies from arising at this time, when no human beings must endure greater insults, injuries, curses, and taunts than those very men who oppose fanatical doctors? Indeed, by way of insult they are called Stoics—that is, harsh and precipitate men, who wish to have nothing in common with others and to whom nothing belonging to others is pleasing—as though it were a great virtue to be most lightly and even willingly seized and carried about by every wind and breath of false dogmas.
“Next, they are called clamorous—that is, wranglers and brawlers, who with full lips and importunate shouting sound the trumpet-call for the sedition and tumult of human beings. They do not see that the deed they censure decrees the highest praise to us. For it is more tolerable and better to play Cato and the Stoic in these affairs and shout until hoarse than by shameful silence to throw all windows open to frauds. For the wolf is driven off not by silence but by a voice. We pass over the fact that Scripture itself commends the cries of prophets and doctors and, conversely, censures silence so greatly that it compares Silenuses and Mutiuses of this kind to mute dogs.
“Sixth, fanatical human beings have sufficient opportunities to grow at this time because, through a certain dread and fear of losing tranquillity, fortunes, favor, and praise, almost all sincere doctors also remain silent, act feebly, and with horrible rashness and unconcern commit the business to itself and its own fortune. And although some cry out, nevertheless, since they are most shamefully deserted by others, they cannot alone sustain upon their shoulders the mass of so great a business.
“Seventh, even if any sincere doctors still survive and have not yet been infected by the poison of fanatical opinions, they are nevertheless feeble, fearful, and of a spirit somewhat too abject to be willing to incur danger for truth. They therefore remain at rest and are spectators of that drama, although at first they do not wish to applaud it. But if the catastrophe is favorable to the other party—namely, to those men who shout and scribble—they wish it to be favorable to themselves also and arrogate no small part of the victory to their own courage and constancy. But if the contrary happens, as a good cause is often oppressed by violence, they withdraw their neck from the noose, professing that nothing was done by them, and therefore for the sake of external peace surrender themselves, against their conscience, to the others, whose cause is unjust. When heretics therefore observe this,
“that we do not press our purpose together and with the same fidelity, they are emboldened, maliciously and obstinately cling to the falsehoods they have instituted, and repeatedly devise other new ones.
“Eighth, sects also grow because of that new tyranny which arises in the Church. If anyone does not immediately approve another’s error, he incurs the indignation and offense of the more powerful and is often endangered in his life. The applauders of sects establish this tyranny in others; and they themselves are so far from being free of this tyranny that they cannot restrain themselves even when the most humane conferences and dealings are instituted with them. Thus they strike human beings so that they can no longer profess their own opinion freely. Accordingly, all devote themselves to this one thing: that they force errors upon others by a tyrant’s violence. Nevertheless, with God’s help, they will not do this forever. AMEN.”