Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/150

 compelled us to accept it. Therefore we took upon us the yoke of the supreme dignity, not from lust of power, nor for the purpose of enriching our relatives, but with the intention of obeying God's will, of reforming the deformed Church, His bride, of succoring the oppressed, of promoting and honoring learned and virtuous men who have for a long time been n^Iected, and of doing everything else that a good Pope and legitimate successor of St. Peter ought to do. No one should be surprised, however, if he sees that we do not immediately correct all the wrongs and abuses. The dis- ease is too deep-seated; it is not simple but has many com- plications; its cure must proceed slowly and the most serious and dangerous symptoms must be combated first, lest in our desire to reform everything at once we turn everything upside down. Sudden changes are dangerous in a state, says Aris- totle, and he who blows his nose too hard draws blood.

As r^;ards the complaints that the princes have made to you that the Holy See has disregarded the concordats,^ of which you write in your last letter, you may say that we cannot and ought not be blamed for things that were done before our time, and that we were always opposed to actions of this kind, even when we were in minor orders. Moreover it is our fixed intention to abstain entirely from these things dur- ing the whole time of our pontificate, even though they had not demanded it, partly in order that everyone may have his rights, partly because justice and humanity require that we shall not only not offend the nation from which we have sprung, but even bestow peculiar favors on it.

As regards the suits which they ask to have recalled from the Rota * and sent back to the local courts, you may say that we wish to favor them in this matter so far as we can honor- ably do so, but because our judges are absent from the city on account of the plague, we cannot at present inform our- selves of the nature and state of these suits. We hope, how-


 * Tbe Gravamina, or Complaints of the German Nation, have a prominent place

in the proceedings of the Diets iCf, Walch*. 452ffM for the Diet of Augslrarg;

RTA ii« for the Diet of Worms; ihid, iii, 645^.* for the Diet of Nuremberg).

Tbey deal chiefly with alleged violations of the Concordat of Vienna of 1448.

'Tke papal court of appeals. It is a continual complaint against the curia that

■re taken to Rome for decision which ought to be decided in the local courts,

or secular.

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