German composition

Section 13 Religious Toleration⁠1

When⁠2 certain persons attempted⁠3 to persuade Stephen⁠4, King of Poland, to constrain⁠5 some of his subjects, who⁠6 were of a different religion, to embrace⁠7 his, he said⁠8 to them: “I⁠9 am king of men, and not of⁠10 consciences⁠11. The⁠12 dominion of conscience belongs exclusively to God.”—Rev. R. K. Arvine.

Notes

1 Religionsduldung, f.

2 ‘When’, here?

3 attempted to = would, impf. of wollen.

4 Say ‘the king Stephen of Poland’. König Stephan von Bathori regierte von 1576-1586.

5 zwingen. Place the verb after the relative clause, since the relative pronoun should follow its antecedent as closely as possible.

6 ‘who — religion’, say ‘who belonged to another religion’.

7 to embrace = to accept.

8 ‘to say’, here ‘to reply’, entgegnen.

9 I — men = I rule (herrschen) over men.

10 of = over.

11 This noun is not used in the plural in German. See S. 3, N. 2.

12 ‘The — God’, say ‘God alone rules over consciences (sing.)’.