Both were admirably
calculated for the office intended them, on this occasion. Each
possessed the confidence of his own party, and was esteemed by the
other; each was profoundly versed in the matters in dispute; each
possessed good sense, moderation, and conciliating manners; and each had
the success of the business at heart, with a fixed purpose, that
nothing, but a real difference on some essential article of doctrine,
should frustrate the project.
The effect of the first conferences was so promising, that the Emperor
and the two Princes resolved, that they should be conducted in a manner
more regular, and more likely to bring the object of them to a
conclusion. With this view, the business was formally entrusted by both
the princes to Molanus alone, and the Emperor published a rescript,
dated the 20th March, 1691, by which he gave the Bishop of Neustadt full
authority to treat, on all matters of religion, with the states,
communities, and individuals of the empire, reserving to the
ecclesiastical and imperial powers, their right to confirm the acts of
the Bishop, as they should judge adviseable.
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