PROSPERITY OF

GERMANY

FIFTH PART,

TO THE BENEVOLENT READER.

Just as the serious command of God enjoins every child to follow their parents with due love, and to subject themselves to them with due obedience in all lawful matters consistent with equity, and to show them the fidelity that is owed; so too does it demand of every subject who owes due obedience to their Magistrates that they should, with the most faithful obedience, obey them as Fathers of the Fatherland—to whom they are bound by every law of fidelity—in all matters that do not transgress the bounds of equity, and that they contribute as much as they are able to the common good, whatever is required for their protection and defense, and for the repulsion and driving away of enemies.

The rationale of this duty, which binds every subject to their Magistrate, moved me four years ago, when I saw that grave and sudden fire which destroyed almost the entire kingdom of Poland, and therefore fearing lest, by spreading further, it should also affect our Fatherland with detriment, to take care that a booklet be published, inscribed with the title of the First Part of the Prosperity of Germany.