Evans Experientialism
 Evans Experientialism
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| JOHANNES ALTHUSIUS (1557–1638) In Three Web Pages - Page Two Chapters Seven to Eight Johannes Althusius was born in Diedenshausen in Westphalia in 1557. Beyond a record of his birth, little is known about his early life. Upon receiving his doctorate in both civil and ecclesiastical law at Basle in 1586, he accepted a position on the faculty of law at the Reformed Academy at Herborn. The greatest achievement of his Herborn years was the publication of the Politica in 1603. Its success was instrumental in securing for Althusius an offer to become municipal magistrate of Emden in East Friesland, which was among the first cities in Germany to embrace the Reformed articles of faith. Althusius accepted the offer in 1604 and exercised an influence comparable to that of Calvin in Geneva; he guided the city without interruption until his death in 1638. | ||||
POLITICA (1614) AN ABRIDGED TRANSLATION OF
POLITICS METHODICALLY SET FORTH AND
ILLUSTRATED
WITH SACRED AND PROFANE EXAMPLES: PART
I
CHAPTERS I-XVIII
JOHANNES ALTHUSIUS VII-VIII
The communion of right is the process whereby
everything that nourishes and conserves
a
pious and just life among the provincial
symbiotes is procured by individuals
and
province alike for the need and use
of the
province. This is done through the
offering
and communication of functions and
goods.
…
[§ 4] The functions of the provincial symbiotes
are either holy or civil. Holy functions
concern those that are necessary for
living
and cultivating a pious life in the
provincial
association and symbiosis. [§ 5] A
pious
life requires a correct understanding
of
God and a sincere worship of him. [§
6] A
correct understanding of God is obtained
from sacred scripture and from articles
of
faith. “This is eternal life, that
they know
thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent.” 4 A correct worship
of God is derived from those rules
and examples
of the divine word that declare and
illustrate
love toward God and charity toward
men.
[§ 7] True and correct worship of God is
either private or public. Private and
internal
worship consists of the expression
of confidence,
adoration, and thankfulness, the first
precept
of the Decalogue. Private and external
worship
consists of rites and actions that
revere
God, the second precept, or of words
that
do the same, the third precept. Public
worship
of God consists of holy observance
of the
Sabbath by corporate public celebration,
the fourth precept.
[§ 8] Civil functions are those that maintain
a just life in the provincial association
and symbiosis. Whence they include
everything
that pertains to the exercise of social
life.
The symbiote is expected to perform
those
duties of love by which he renders
to each
his due, and does not do to his fellow
symbiote
what he does not wish done to himself.
5
Rather he loves him as himself, and
abstains
from evil.
[§ 9] The duties of justice to the neighbor
are either special or general. Special
duties
are those that bind superiors and inferiors
together, so that the symbiote truly
attributes
honor and eminence by word and deed
to whomever
they are due, and abstains from all
mean
opinion of such persons, the fifth
precept
of the Decalogue. [§ 10] General duties
are
those every symbiote is obligated to
perform
toward every other symbiote. They consist
of defending and preserving from all
injury
the lives of one’s neighbor and oneself,
the sixth precept; of guarding by thought,
word, and deed one’s own chastity and
that
of the fellow symbiote, without any
lewdness
or fornication, the seventh precept;
of defending
and preserving the resources and goods
of
the fellow symbiote, and of not stealing,
injuring, or reducing them, the eighth
precept;
of defending and preserving one’s own
reputation
and that of one’s neighbor, and of
not neglecting
them in any manner, the ninth precept;
and
of avoiding a concupiscent disposition
toward
those things that belong to our neighbor,
and of seeking instead satisfaction
and pleasure
in those things that are ours and tend
to
the glory of God, the tenth precept.
[§ 11] The practice of provincial political
justice is twofold. First, individual
symbiotes
manifest and communicate the duties
of love
reciprocally among themselves, according
to special means, person, place, and
other
circumstances. Second, the provincials
as
a group and as individual inhabitants
of
the province uphold and communicate
the duties
of both tables of the Decalogue for
the sake
of the welfare of the provincial association.
The former are the private and special
practice
among the provincials, and the latter
are
the public and general practice.
[§ 12] These latter general duties are performed
by the common consent of the provincial
symbiotes.
They are (1) the executive functions
and
occupations necessary and useful to
the provincial
association; (2) the distribution of
punishments
and rewards by which discipline is
preserved
in the province; (3) the provision
for provincial
security; (4) the mutual defense of the provincials
against force and violence, the avoidance
of inconveniences, and the provision
for
support, help, and counsel; (5) the
collection
and distribution of monies for public
needs
and uses of the province; (6) the support
of commercial activity; (7) the use
of the
same language and money; and (8) the
care
of public goods of the province. …
6
VIII
[§ 2] The members of the province are its
orders and estates, as they are called,
or
larger collegia. 7 The provincials
have been
distributed in these orders and estates
according
to the class and diversity of life
they have
organized in keeping with their profession,
vocation, and activity. Therefore,
when ecclesiastical
and civil functions of the province
are under
consideration, each estate or order
can center
its attention upon the operation of
the provincial
right and business among men of its
own class,
provided it does not usurp and exercise
the
ordinary jurisdiction. In Germany they
are
called die Stende der Landschaft .
[§ 3] The reason for these estates is that
they are necessary and useful to the
province,
as Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses,
declares.
8 For no one can be sufficient and
equal
to the task of administering such various,
diverse, and extensive public business
of
a province unless in part of the burden
he
avails himself of skilled, wise, and
brave
persons from each class of men. … Indeed,
by this arrangement certain traces
of liberty
are retained by the provincials, for
each
and all see themselves admitted to
the administration
of public matters. Whence love, benevolence,
and common concern are fostered among
the
provincials when all know that a precise
care is exercised for individuals and
groups
in each class of life, and that their
requests
for the procurement of necessary and
useful
things for social life, and for the
avoidance
of inconvenience and harm, will be
heard,
and remedies will be sought, even to
the
extent of aid against those who are
more
powerful or who disturb the public
peace.
[§ 4] The provincial order or estate maybe
either sacred and ecclesiastical, or
secular
and civil. In Germany they are known
as der
Geistliche und Weltliche Stand. 9 [§
5] These
orders, together with the provincial
head,
represent the entire province. All
weightier
matters are guided by their counsel,
and
the welfare of the commonwealth is
entrusted
to them. They admonish the head of
the province
when he errs, correct the abuse of
his power,
and punish his seducers and base flatterers.
[§ 6] A collegium of pious, learned, and
most weighty men from the collegia
of provincial
clergymen, elected and commissioned
by common
consent, represents the sacred and
ecclesiastical
order. 10 Entrusted to this collegium
is
the examination and care of doctrine,
of
public reverence and divine worship,
of schools,
of ecclesiastical goods, and of the
poor.
Indeed, the care of all ecclesiastical
business
and of the holy life in the entire
province
is entrusted to it in order that all
the
saints may unite for a common ministry,
and
constitute one mystical body. …Whence
these
ecclesiastical colleagues are called
bishops,
inspectors, rectors, and leaders of
provincial
ecclesiastical matters. …
[§ 7] The care of religion and divine worship
obligates these inspectors to inquire
and
discover whether the doctrine of God
and
of our salvation is rightly and publicly
taught in the entire province and the
parts
thereof, and whether God is truly,
sincerely,
freely, and publicly worshipped according
to his Word by everyone in the entire
province.
At opportune times, they are obligated
to
remove corruptions, idolatries, superstitions,
atheisms, heresies, and seeds of schism,
that nothing in any way detrimental
to pure
religion may be undertaken, and that
the
life of the church and the functions
of religion
may be administered well.
[§ 8] Because the ecclesiastical order of
the province cannot properly discharge
and
fulfill this office entrusted to it
throughout
the province without the aid and ministry
of others, its first responsibility
is therefore
to divide the province into districts
and
to require that each district have
a well-constituted
presbytery. … [§ 9] A district is a
union
of many neighboring villages, towns,
and
cities of the same province for the
purpose
of maintaining the public expression
of divine
worship. [§ 10] It is a communion separated
from others in spiritual matters. The
presbytery
is a collegium of pious and weighty
men elected
by the district. It is entrusted by
the district
church with the care and administration
of
ecclesiastical things and functions.
It represents
the district, and presides over it
in the
communion of spiritual and temporal
things
necessary for building up and conserving
the church. It administers and provides
these
things in the Lord without usurping
lordship
for the clergy. … 11
[§ 12] The presbytery, or ecclesiastical
senate, contains two kinds of men.
The first
are pastors or ministers of the word
to whose
labors in preaching and teaching are
entrusted
the ministry of reconciliation. The
second
are presbyters and deacons to whom
is assigned
the administration of ecclesiastical
things—that
is, the administration of things other
than
the word and sacraments—for holding
the saints
together, for the work of the ministry,
and
for building up the body of Christ.
In other
places, however, all those serving
the church
in general are called presbyters. [§
13]
Pastors and ministers of the Word are
chiefly
concerned with those things that pertain
to bringing forth and sustaining faith
in
Christ, that is, to administering the
Word,
prayers, and sacraments in the body
of the
faithful. [§ 14] Upon the presbyters
rests
especially the care of those things
that
have been instituted for arousing repentance
in the brethren and for conserving
discipline.
Therefore, together with bishops, who
are
properly called presbyters, they preside
over the censorship of morals. Their
office
is also to observe that ministers perform
their duties, and to disclose errors,
schisms,
scandals, and public necessities to
the ministers
for the purpose of producing prayers
and
repentance. [§ 15] Deacons are superintendents
who dispense alms on behalf of the
church,
and carry out its responsibility to
the poor.
They especially handle those things
that
pertain to charity, and bear the responsibility
for ecclesiastical goods.
[§ 16] Collectively, the ministers, presbyters,
and deacons, or the entire collegium
and
presbytery, care for and manage the
things
that pertain to the communion of the
saints
throughout the entire district. These
things
are (1) the defense and promotion of
the
truth of the heavenly doctrine; (2)
the calling
of ministers of the Word; (3) the censorship
of morals; (4) schools for children
and youth;
(5) the integrity of rituals and ceremonies
in the church of God; (6) structure
and good
order; (7) the manner and time of holding
meetings; (8) the prayers, exhortations,
and sacraments of the church; (9) the
evidence
of reformation, as well as the punishment
that brings about, cultivates, and
preserves
holiness and peace; and (10) the diaconate
and the administration of alms. Concerning
these things of the church, the ministers,
presbyters and deacons come together,
deliberate,
and decide among themselves in their
own
meeting. For the exercise and discharge
of
this task, the presbytery receives
from God
the power of the keys by which the
kingdom
of heaven opens and closes. …
[§ 18] Three steps are to be considered in
the election of the minister; nomination,
approval, and confirmation. [§ 19]
The presbytery
nominates a person to be a minister
whom
orthodox pastors of the church have
examined,
both for sound and orthodox doctrine
and
for adequate erudition in the sacred
writings,
and have judged fit and qualified for
teaching
the people. Their judgment is based
on a
twofold examination that involves,
first,
questions and responses and, then,
a public
discourse by the candidate.
[§ 20] The approval of the minister belongs
to the membership of the church. Before
the
candidate is approved, it investigates
and
examines his life. “Let them first
be investigated”
according to the qualities and gifts
the
Apostle Paul recommends for such a
ministry,
“and then let them serve.” 12 [§ 21]
When
these steps have been completed, the
presbytery
presents the candidate to the appointed
magistrate.
If the magistrate rejects the candidate
for
just reasons, the presbytery proceeds
with
a new election. If he approves, a proclamation
is made at public worship on the Lord’s
Day
in which all are admonished that, if
they
know anything against the life or doctrine
of the candidate, they disclose it
within
a prescribed time to someone in the
magistracy
or presbytery. Those who remain silent
and
do not contradict this call to the
ministry
are understood to be consenting to
the things
that come to pass. If a church by a
majority
vote objects, the presbytery then proceeds
to a new election.
The confirmation of the one who has been
called, examined in doctrine and life,
and
approved for the ministry is carried
out
in the following manner. On the Lord’s
Day
the one who has been called is brought
before
the entire church after public worship.
The
church acknowledges his calling and
ministry,
and in its presence he is reminded
of the
parts of his office. Then prayers are
publicly
offered for him by the church. Confirmation
in former times was concluded by the
external
sign of the imposition of hands, and
is so
considered today in certain places.
Calvin
demonstrates that the primitive church
elected
its clerical ministers, and brought
those
who were to be confirmed to the magistrate,
who ordered the acts of the presbytery
to
be established and made firm by his
own authority.
13 In some churches the minister thus
confirmed
afterwards takes an oath to the magistrate
that he will faithfully and diligently
perform
the office laid upon him.
The church of Geneva and other reformed churches
observe this form for the calling of
a minister.
[§ 22] The same form is to be followed
in
calling presbyters and deacons, except
that
they are not publicly brought before
the
church, nor examined by it. 14
[§ 23] In the censorship of morals and discipline
that pertains to the presbyterial collegium,
individual presbyters inquire about
the doctrine,
morals, and character of the individual
members
of the church. All are guardians or
protectors
of the laws of Christ to others and
do everything
with a spirit of gentleness and charity
that
they judge to be proper for the correction
of individuals and the good of the
entire
church. By this means the lives of
individuals
may respond to the Christian profession,
and scandals may be prevented or removed.
Thus the name of God is not injuriously
heard
among others because of the wicked
lives
of Christians. To the contrary, upon
hearing
our pious and upright conversation
they may
praise and glorify God. [§ 24] This
ecclesiastical
censorship and discipline entrusted
to the
presbytery is called the power of the
keys.
…
The visitation of the parish and its churches
relates to this censorship. Persons
commissioned
by the magistrate from the presbytery
visit
individual churches of the province
at fixed
times and, holding an inquiry, examine
whether
the pastor of the church employs any
new
kind of teaching contrary to the orthodox
doctrine, whether he teaches in an
edifying
manner, whether he performs his office
correctly,
and whether he lives an honest life.
Upon
returning from their visitation, those
so
commissioned report to the magistrate
everything
that needs correction and demands a
remedy
from him. …
[§ 27] The ministers of the church preside
alternately over this collegium or
presbytery
for sacred prayers, good counsels,
and salutary
admonitions. 15 Those who preside propose
matters to the collegium, request,
collect,
and announce decisions of their fellow
ministers
and presbyterial colleagues, inquire
and
respond in the name of the collegium,
govern
every action by its authority, and
carry
out what is decreed by common counsel,
no
less than occurs in secular collegia.
16
Whence those who so guide are called
governors.
[§ 28] Decisions are reached in the deliberations
of the presbytery not by the judgments
of
the majority, but by those judgments
that
agree with the Word of God. Therefore,
votes
are not so much counted as weighed
and examined
with the Word of God as a touchstone
and
norm. …
[§ 31] It is evident from selected passages
of scripture that the care and administration
of ecclesiastical things and functions
belong
not to the secular magistrate, but
to the
collegium of these presbyters. … 17
[§ 32]
To this administration even the magistrate
is subject with respect to warnings,
censures,
and other things necessary for the
welfare
of the soul. 18 Therefore, the guidance
of
the ministerium, and obedience to it,
are
commended to each and every person.
Sacred
and secular duties are distinct, and
ought
not to be confused. For each demands
the
whole man.
[§ 33] Many districts of an extensive and
populous city, or of a province, together
with their presbyteries, constitute
a diocese
with its assembly of many churches.
The more
serious controversies and questions
concerning
doctrine and church matters that cannot
be
decided by a presbytery are referred
to this
assembly for decision. [§ 34] The one who presides over a diocese is
called a bishop or inspector. The other
ministers
of the same diocese hold him responsible
for the faithful performance of his
office.
The inspector of more than one diocese
is
called a co-bishop. [§ 35] Some of
these
dioceses are larger, some smaller,
depending
upon the size of the province and the
density
of population. The presiding officers
and
co-bishops of many dioceses constitute
the
collegium of the ecclesiastical order,
as
we have said, over which he who presides
is called an archbishop or general
superintendent
of the province. [§ 36] An assembly
from
all districts of the province constitutes
a provincial synod.
[§ 37] The ecclesiastical order of the province
will observe, investigate, and examine
all
dioceses therein, and all districts
of every
diocese, that they do their duty. This
will
be accomplished by means of organized
visitations
three, four, or more times each year,
or
as often as needed. [§ 38] In these
visitations
the ecclesiastical order will institute
an
inquiry and examination, first, concerning
the doctrine and life of the presbyters
and,
then, concerning anything else that
may require
correction. And it will request the
aid of
the magistrate, whose duty it will
call forth
in these matters and who will have
deputies
for this purpose, that remedies may
be sought
for those circumstances needing correction,
and that nothing may be lacking for
the true
worship of God nor remain as an impediment
thereto. …
[§ 40] The secular order of the province
is assigned, with the consent of the
provincial
members, the responsibility for the
body,
food, clothing, and other things that
pertain
to this life. It observes whether there
is
any need for remedy, aid, or amendment
in
political matters relating to the second
table of the Decalogue. It does this
in order
that advantages to the province may
be provided,
and disadvantages to the provincial
members
avoided. In Germany it is called der
Weltliche
Stand.
This secular and political order is twofold.
It includes the nobility (ordo nobilitatis)
and the commons (ordo plebeius), the
latter
of which embraces the inhabitants both
of
cities and of country villages. Whence
there
are three secular estates: the nobility
(status
nobilitatis), the burghers (status
civitatum),
and the agrarians (status agrariorum).
In
Germany they are called der Ritterstand,
der Stättestand, und der Hausmansoder
Baurenstand.
Some provinces do not recognize the
third
order of agrarians. 19 Most Belgian
provinces—Holland,
Zeeland, West Friesland, North Brabant,
and
Groningen—have two estates or orders,
the
nobility and the burghers. Nor do they
recognize
the ecclesiastical order. But I would
consider
the diversity of affairs to require
the experience
in their duties of agrarians, so that
this
order should be recognized.
[§ 41] The order of the nobility is constituted
principally for defense, for repelling
and
driving force and violence away from
the
province. whence in Germany it is called
der Wehrstand. … [§ 45] The order of
burghers
and agrarians is constituted principally
for the adequate procurement of those
things
necessary and useful to civil life
in the
province. Whence in Germany it is called
der Nehrstand. … [§ 47] And their occupations
are of three kinds. First are merchants
and
businessmen, then farmers and herders,
and
finally craftsmen and mechanics. …
[§ 48] As the ecclesiastical order of the
province will bring forth pious, learned,
wise, and good men, so the political
and
secular order of the nobility will
be concerned
to bring forth for the province strong,
militant,
and brave men who are ready with arms
and
counsel, and are experienced in military
matters. So also the order of burghers
and
agrarians—the commons—will strive to
produce
and bring forth for the fatherland
merchants,
farmers, and workmen who are skilled,
industrious
and distinguished. By the service,
labor,
and industry of these orders, self-sufficiency
can be obtained in association and
symbiosis.
…
[§ 50] The prefect of these sacred and secular
provincial orders is the superior to
whom
is entrusted the administration of
the province
and of provincial matters. He receives
his
trust from the realm under which the
province
exists, and of which it is a member.
He may
be called a dynast, eparch, satrap,
governor,
president, rector, or moderator of
the province.
…Today in many places in Europe such
prefects
are called counts, and are designated
by
the name of the province entrusted
to them,
or of the principal fortress or metropolis
of the province. Such are the counts
of Nassau,
Friesland, Schwartzenberg, Hanover,
Mansfield,
Oldenburg, and many others. In difficult
matters involving the entire province,
namely,
of war, peace, imposition of taxes,
publication
of general law and decrees, and other
such
things, the prefect can do nothing
without
the consent and agreement of the provincial
orders. …
[§ 51] Whenever two or more provinces are
entrusted to the administration of
one person,
he is usually called a duke, prince,
marquis,
or landgrave. … Sometimes such an administration
or prefecture is entrusted to a metropolis
of the province. This is the case with
Nuremberg,
Strassburg, Antwerp, Danzig, Groningen,
Bremen,
Ulm, Augsburg, Aachen, Lübeck, Franfurt,
and many other cities. Today any city
that
has a distinct and separate rule and
territory
is said to be a province.
[§ 52] The reason for establishing this head
is necessity and utility to the province.
For the public business of the various
and
differing orders of the province cannot
be
administered and governed conveniently
and
beneficially let alone consistently
and for
any length of time, by many persons,
much
less by all, because of discord, dissension,
and difference of opinions. Therefore,
it
is necessary that some director and
governor
be established who can hold the others,
both
orders and individuals, to their duties.
“Where there is no governor the people
perishes.”
20 And the subjects are “as sheep without
a pastor.” 21 Whence the Apostle Paul
says
that the magistrate is ordained for
the good
and advantage of his subjects. … 22
[§ 53] Even though these heads, prefects,
and rectors of provinces recognize
the supreme
magistrate of the realm as their superior,
from whom their administration and
power
are conceded, nevertheless they have
rights
of sovereignty in their territory,
and stand
in the place of the supreme prince.
They
prevail as much in their territory
as does
the emperor or supreme magistrate in
the
realm, except for superiority, pre-eminence,
and certain other things specifcally
reserved
to the supreme magistrate who does
the constituting.
Such is the common judgment of jurists.
23
The head of the province therefore
has the
right of superiority and regal privileges
in his territory, but without prejudice
to
the universal jurisdiction that the
supreme
prince has. This supreme and universal
jurisdiction
is itself the form and substantial
essence
of the sovereignty of the king, which
the
king by himself cannot abdicate. [§
54] The
rights of universal superiority and
pre-eminence
are indeed to be reserved in such a
concession
to the one who grants the concession.
Thus
the duke or head of a province differs
in
power and authority from his constituter.
24 [§ 55] For the constituter is greater
than the one constituted, and has general
power in all provinces and in the whole
realm.
The one constituted, on the other hand,
is
less than the constituter, and has
special
power limited by the constituter to
the province.
He holds his position in the place
of and
by the favor of his constituter, and
if he
becomes consumed by his own power,
he can
be deprived of his position by his
constituter.
…
[§ 56] The duty of the provincial head is,
first, to exercise diligent watch and
care
over sacred and secular provincial
affairs,
and to provide that they be lifted
up and
directed to the glory of God and to
the welfare
of the entire province and the members
thereof.
… [§ 61] His duty, secondly, is rightly
to
administer justice to individual persons,
with the power and the right of inflicting
penalties of life, body, goods, and
reputation,
and of rewarding those who do good.
… [§
63] His duty, thirdly, is to inquire
concerning
those things that need correction or
support,
to understand the state of his province,
and to hear the complaints of orders
and
individual subjects. [§ 64] When these
things
are known to him, he announces a provincial
convocation to the orders of the province,
and proposes to this convocation matters
to be deliberated and reflected upon
that
he considers to be of concern to the
province.
Especially does he do this when assessments
or taxes are to be imposed on subjects.
[§
65] After these matters have been decided,
either unanimously or by majority vote
of
the orders, he confirms the decisions,
gives
authority and the force of binding
law to
them, commands their execution, and
then
dismisses the convocation. …
[§ 66] Each order of the province has one
vote, although very frequently there
may
be many delegates representing each
order
and serving as agents thereof according
to
the mandate and commission of their
principals,
to whom they must render an account
of the
things they have done upon returning
home.
Therefore, each order constitutes a
member
order of the provincial collegium in
which
questions proposed by the head are
examined
and decided. 25 In deliberations each
order
examines a proposed question separately
in
its own chamber, and its deputies agree
among
themselves concerning their decision.
When
the allotted time has expired and all
orders
of the province are assembled together
in
a common chamber, they communicate
with each
other the decision they have made.
[§ 67]
The head of the province, and his accompanying
officials and advisers in the provincial
convocation, should not impede or impinge
upon free decisions. They are not above
the
orders, and do not dominate them in
the convocation.
After requesting and hearing the decisions
of all orders, the head adds his own
also,
and brings any dissenting orders into
harmony
with the others, if this can be done.
26
[§ 68] The power of deciding those things
that have been proposed by the head
of the
province is not in the control of any
particular
order, or of orders individually, but
of
all orders together. This power belongs
to
all orders collectively, not to individual
orders, and in a collegium that meets
together
as a whole, not in separate collegia
of individual
orders. For this reason, one order
without
another cannot decide upon those things
that
pertain to all as a whole, as we have
already
said concerning decisions and decrees
of
colleagues and senators27 and as we
will
later discuss more fully. 28 [§ 69]
But if
one order does not come to the announced
convocation, it loses the right of
deliberating
and deciding upon the proposed questions;
and the things that are decided by
those
present, and confirmed by the head
of the
province, are directed to be carried
out
with reference to it, no less than
if it
were present and consented to them.
29 [§
70] When, however, there are differing
votes,
opinions, and judgments of the colleagues
or orders present, the decision may
be made
according to the judgments of the more
numerous
or larger part in the things that concern
all orders together, but not in those
that
concern them separately. … 30
[§ 88] Today heads of provinces in German
policy are of two kinds. Some are subject
to the emperor or caesar immediately,
others
mediately. … [§ 91] The first kind
of head
is required to render an account of
his administration
directly to the emperor or supreme
magistrate
of the empire. If under the appearance
of
duty, he is cruelly misusing his power
over
subjects, or is practicing tyranny,
the emperor
can remove him and deprive him of his
conceded
jurisdiction. 31 The second kind of
head
is required to render an account of
his administration
to his prince, by whom he is judged
and punished
if he is treating his provincial subjects
tyrannically or cruelly. [§ 92] Wherefore,
if the head of such a province does
not protect
his subjects in time of need, or refuses
to support them, they can submit themselves
to another. 32
| ||||
 BACK TO TOP OF PAGE |
POLITICA (1614)