Deduction Concerning the Free Exercise of the Augsburg Confession in Silesia

Münsterberg and the towns and villages belonging to it were occupied by force of arms original: armatâ manu. Then, the Liechtenstein Regiment A cavalry regiment under Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein, notorious for enforcing the Counter-Reformation in Silesia—which the land of Silesia and even the Evangelical Princes and Estates themselves had supported for a long time at great expense and cost, and who were afterwards commonly called "the Saviors" This was likely a sarcastic or ironic nickname given the brutality described—initiated an utterly unheard-of and abominable proceeding. They did not merely begin this process but pushed it so far that all the cities of those principalities—namely Schweidnitz, Jauer, Reichenbach, Striegau, Landeshut, Hirschberg, Bolkenhain, Löwenberg, Bunzlau, Schönau, Lähn, Münsterberg, and Frankenstein, as well as Neustadt in the Principality of Oppeln, which was the only one left in those parts—were "reformed" to Catholicism. People were forced and brought to collect confession slips term: Beicht-Zettel — certificates issued by a priest to prove a person had confessed, used by authorities to track religious compliance and to accept that religion, partly through great torture, torment, and pain, partly through fear, anxiety, and terror, and partly out of lack of understanding and ignorance (to say nothing of those who ran there out of sheer lightheadedness).

Indeed, it did not stop there. This military harassment original: vexatio militaris prevailed so far that many cities had to provide written commitments term: Reverse — formal legal declarations, in this case renouncing Protestantism under the seals of their councils, communities, guilds, and corporations. As the then-Secretary of the Cathedral Chapter at Glogau publicly wrote, God did through this "Reformation" exactly what Themistocles An ancient Athenian statesman; the quote refers to his demand for tribute from the island of Andros once threatened the people of Andros with when he said: he comes accompanied by two gods, Persuasion and Violence original: duobus diis comitatum se venire, Suada & Violentiâ. These seals were sometimes stamped onto blank paper original: charta blanca under the pretext that they were to be used for something else; afterwards, things to which the guilds and communities had never consented were written behind their backs. These documents claimed they had embraced and accepted the Roman Catholic faith and religion without compulsion, voluntarily, and with well-considered intent. Furthermore, statutes were made—and later confirmed by Imperial Authority original: Imperatoriâ Autoritate—decreeing that for all eternity, no one should be admitted to the rights of a citizen or a guild member who had not previously become Catholic. In other towns where such things did not occur, those who would not immediately agree to the Catholic religion were not only stripped of their honorable offices but also had all their trade and livelihood cut off and forbidden.

Whether this was truly a voluntary and spontaneous acceptance original: ultronea ac spontanea acceptatio and an act of free will is left to the judgment of any impartial person who is somewhat familiar with the history of such wretched "salvation."

The negative side of this has been proven by the terrible tragic cases original: casûs tragici that befell many of these terrified people. It can also be seen from the fact that after these poor people mostly recognized and confessed their "fall" A religious term for sinning or betraying one's faith, they publicly revoked those written commitments—which had been forced and practiced upon them through violence and cunning—by filing formal protests. Some of them, alongside those who remained steadfast without such pressure, have sought refuge with the Prince-Elector The Elector of Saxony according to the guidelines of the Dresden Accord A 1635 agreement (related to the Peace of Prague) that offered some limited religious protections to Silesians, which the Emperor was now being accused of violating.