At all events, from this time dates the exercise of territorial sovereignty, and the establishment
of separate State churches in Germany. And as that country is divided into a number of sovereign
States, there are there as many Protestant church organizations as Protestant States, according to
the maxim that the ruler of the territory is the ruler of religion within its bounds (cujus regio, ejus
religio).
Every Protestant sovereign hereafter claimed and exercised the so-called jus reformandi
religionem, and decided the church question according to his own faith and that of the majority of
his subjects. Saxony, Hesse, Prussia, Anhalt, Lüneburg, East-Friesland, Schleswig-Holstein, Silesia,
and the cities of Nürnberg, Augsburg, Frankfurt, Ulm, Strassburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck,
adopted the Reformation. The princes of the territories and the magistrates of the cities consulted
the theologians and preachers; but the congregations had no voice, not even in the choice of their
pastor, and submitted in passive obedience. The powerful house of Austria, with the Emperor, and
the Dukes of Bavaria, adhered to the old faith, and hotly contested the principle of independent
state action on the church question, as being contrary to all the traditions of the Empire and of the
Roman Church, which is constitutionally exclusive and intolerant.
The Protestant princes and theologians were likewise intolerant, though in a less degree,
and prohibited the mass and the Roman religion wherever they had the power. Each party was bent
upon victory, and granted toleration only from necessity or prudence when the dissenting minority
was strong enough to assert its rights. Toleration was the fruit of a bitter contest, and was at last
forced upon both parties as a modus vivendi. Protestantism had to conquer the right to exist, by
terrible sacrifices. The right was conceded by the Augsburg treaty of peace, 1555, and finally
established by the Westphalian treaty, 1648, which first uses the term toleration in connection with
religion, and remains valid to this day, in spite of the protest of the Pope. The same policy of
toleration was adopted in England after the downfall of the Stuart dynasty in 1688, and included
all orthodox Protestants, but excluded the Roman Catholics, who were not emancipated till 1829.
In Germany, toleration was first confined to three confessions,—the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran,
and the German Reformed,—but was gradually extended to other religious communions which are
independent of state support and state control.
NOTES.
toleration and freedom.
Toleration is far from religious liberty, but a step towards it. Toleration is a concession of
the government on the ground of necessity or expediency, and may be withdrawn or extended.
Even despotic Russia and Turkey are tolerant, the one towards Mohammedans, the other towards
Christians, because they cannot help it. To kill or to exile all dissenters would be suicidal folly. But
they allow no departure from the religion of the State, and no propagandism against its interests.
Religious liberty is an inviolable and inalienable right which belongs to all men, within the
limits of public morals and safety. God alone is the Lord of conscience, and no power on earth has
a right to interfere with it. The full enjoyment and public exercise of religious liberty require a
peaceful separation of church and state, which makes each independent, self-governing, and
self-supporting in its own sphere, and secures to the church the legal protection of the state, and to
the state the moral support of the church. This is the American theory of religious freedom, as
Reich und Aufrührischen beklagen möcht alle die, so mich einen Ketzer schelten. Hat das Gebotzu Worms gegolten, da ich verdampt
ward ohn Bewilligung der besten und höhesten Stände des Reichs: warumb sollt mir denn das Gebot zu Speir nicht auch gelten, welchs
einträchtlich durch alle Stände des Reichs beschlossen und angenommen ist." Erl. ed., vol. VIII. p. 14.