Annotatio III §.IV close: Turbulence breeds political and church division and Papal opening — princes must remove the unamendable, yet not strip pastors of moderated correction; stop before §.V Sendomiriense
From such turbulence follow not only political and church distraction and ulcerated minds — disturbance and ruin of both governments — but also an opening for the Pope and his retinue to persecute our true Christian religion with iron, flame, exile, and countless other punishments, and so to fix their tyranny.
How great and miserable the resulting divisions and calamities are, even our own age shows too many examples in Electors’ and other German princes’ lands, and among neighboring peoples.
Christian princes, churches, and schools should therefore take the lesson: guard hard against these turbulent enemies of public peace; do not let them seize posts, inflame parties, or tear people apart; avoid and flee them; and if no hope of amendment appears, remove them outright — as Frederick says he and other Electors and princes have more than once agreed for these and other pious, weighty reasons.
Yet nothing in that counsel should strip godly church ministers of due daily reproof and correction of vices, or of error-refutation drawn from God’s word with Christian moderation and equity — aimed at building up, not tearing down.
Stop before §. V.
Latin
Ex qua re sanè non tantùm in Politica, & in Ecclesiastica gubernatione distractiones & exulcerationes animorum, utriusque illius gubernationis perturbatio & interitus sequitur: verùm etiam Papa & ejus satellitio praebetur occasio, veram nostram Christianamque Religionem ferro, flammâ, exiliis, aliisque innumeris suppliciis persequendi, suamque tyrannidem hoc modo stabiliendi: quae res quantas & quàm miserandas pepererit distractiones, miserias & calamitates, etiam nostrâ hac aetate nimis proh dolor multa in Electorum aliorumque Germaniae Principum provinciis, nec non apud exteras & vicinas gentes extant exempla. Ex quibus meritò omnes Christiani Principes, Ecclesiae & Scholae, exemplum sibi quod ex usu sit, capere, ideoque summoperè à turbulentis istis hominibus, & pacis ac tranquillitatis publicae inimicis sibi cavere, nec permittere, ut ab illis occupentur, & vel inter sese, vel contra alios exacerbentur, aut à se invicem divellantur, ac distrahantur, sed potiùs ejusmodi homines vitare & fugere, & si nulla in eis emendationis spes appareat, prorsus à se removere debebunt: sicuti hac de re inter me aliosque Electores & Principes non semel ex jam dictis aliisque pluribus piis & gravibus causis convenit. Sic tamen, ut hac ratione nihil piis Ecclesiarum ministris, quod attinet ad debitam eorum, quae quotidie offeruntur, vitiorum reprehensionem & correctionem, & errorum, Christiana adhibitâ moderatione & aequitate, ex verbo Dei desumtam refutationem, quae non ad destructionem, sed ad aedificationem, dirigenda & instituenda est, derogaretur.