Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/238

 CHAPTER XXIX THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR I. The Opening of the Thirty Years' War The suspicions entertained by the Protestants in regard to the Jesuits at the time of the organization of the Protestant Union are brought out in a letter written by the elector of Saxony, a Lutheran, to his representa- tive at the diet in 1608. 292. Activity How violently the restless Jesuits and their followers are of the Jesuits exerting themselves to undo, by their absurd interpretations in Germany. . . • . . . . before the an d preposterous attacks, the precious and solemnly rati- Thirty Years' fled Religious Peace [of Augsburg] which was drawn up War * long years ago for many weighty reasons by his Roman Imperial Majesty and all the estates of the empire, is but too clear. Nay, they would completely abolish it and then do away altogether with our true Christian religion, in which we were born and brought up and in which we would live and die. All this is sufficiently proved by the innu- merable, violent, and poisonous books which they issue throughout the Roman Empire, directed against the said Religious Peace and its clear provisions, declaring it to be no more than ad interim, — a temporary concession of toleration, designed to last only until the conclusion of the Council of Trent ; even going so far as to imply that his Imperial Majesty of happy memory had no authority to arrange the peace among the estates of the empire without the consent of the pope. Moreover they stir up harsh persecutions hitherto unheard of in the Holy Roman Empire, all with a view to accomplishing their end, — namely, to promote discord among the estates of the Holy 200