Subjects from their Obedience Therefore to those that complain of the burthen of Taxes and Subsidies we must answer That God not only Commands Obedience to Princes that Govern their Subjects with Lenity and Mildness but also to those that trample upon their Necks and make an ill use of their Power To those that Pretend Reformation of State we are to affirm that Disorder is not the way to Order nor is the Cure of a distemper'd Kingdom to be wrought by such a violent and dangerous Remedy as War which is a Remedy far worse then the Distemper which they pretend to heal or then they can pretend to have suffer'd for several years together The pretence of Religion is the most predominant of all and whenever the Politic Heads of Factions pretend to cover their Ambition with that fair pretence they fail not of wonderful success Under this Veil were conceal'd the great Projects and Designs of the House of Lorrain when the Duke of Guise form'd that famous League against Henry III. And the reason it got to such a head in so short a time and therefore we find that it was the principal and continual care of the Duke of Guise and after him of the Duke of Maine to imprint in the Minds of the People by the means of the Religious Orders that Preach'd to 'em and govern'd their Consciences that Henry III. favour'd the Hugonots under-hand and reduc'd the King to such a condition that he was forc'd to League himself with the King of Navarre with whom he was no sooner agreed but happen'd the deadly Blow at St. Clou. The pretence of Religion had the power to engage a prodigious number of Persons of Quality and Worth in that pernicious League and to kindle a War both in France and Germany not only through the Industry of the Nobility who made use of it to bring about their own Designs but also through Ignorance of the principal Maxims of our Religion of which this is one of great Importance That we ought not to do an ill thing to procure a certain Good or to avoid an Evil. Now to rebel against our lawful Soveraign is visibly Evil therefore we ought not to Rebel in hopes of any Good whatever nor for fear of any Damage or Evil that may ensue And we must understand that how terrible soever those Misfortunes are intended we are like to fall into they are beneath the wounding of our Consciences This Religious submission to those whom God has set over us remarkably appear'd among the Christians of the Four first Ages who never swerv'd from their Obedience to the Pagan Emperors no not from those that furiously persecuted both them and their Religion that studied their Extirpation and put 'em to death with innumerable Torments And which was a greater wonder that several were the Emperor 's Domestick Servants several that had great Preferments at Court and so great a number that serv'd 'em in the Field that Dioclesian had no less then Thirty thousand in his Army They that were the Emperor's Servants serv'd him with Respect Affection and Fidelity and they that were Listed in their Armies fought with so much zeal for the preservation of the Empire that St. Sebastian one of the Captains of Dioclesian's Guard reproaching his Cruelty toward the Christians Thou exercisest thy Fury said he upon thy best Servants upon People that every day pray for thy Prosperity and the safety of the Empire St. Romulus Grand Master of Trojan's Houshold tax'd the Emperor in the same manner when he disbanded Eleven thousand Christians and banish'd 'em into Armenia and boldly reprov'd him for depriving himself of the stoutest and most faithful Soldiers in his Army Now in regard the Form of the Oath which the Christians took when they were enroll'd cannot be thought impertinent to our purpose I thought it not amiss to recite it here as we find it in Vegetius We oblige our selves in the Name of God of Christ the Holy Ghost and his Imperial Majesty whom it behoves us to Honour next to God to be faithful to the Emperor to obey his Commands never to desert our Colours or refuse to dye upon all occasions that call us to defend the publick Weal This Form was admitted by all the Emperors till the Reign of Maximian Hercules who alter'd it and Commanded all his Soldiers to swear upon the Altars of his false Gods that they would Fight couragiously against all that oppos'd his March That Order was no sooner brought to the Theban Lâ—gion consisting of Six thousand six hundred Christians but they left the Camp and set up their Standards about three Leagues off The Emperor understanding what had happen'd summon'd 'em to return and rejoyn the Body of the Army But St. Mauritius who Commanded that famous Legion made answer to the Messenger That he and his fellow Soldiers were ready to expose their Lives in the Emperors Service but that being Christians they acknowledg'd no other Deity then the Living God and therefore could perform no Religious Act before inanimate Idols Maximian having heard their Answer commanded the whole Legion to be Decimated and every tenth Man to be put to death which not prevailing to shake the Resolutions either of the Commanders or Soldiers he order'd a second Decimation but proving altogether as ineffectual in a fury he let loose his whole Army upon those innocent People and Massacr'd every Mothers Son Gregory of Tours writes That the Memory of these Christians and generous Warriours was Honour'd in the Ancient Church and that there was a great Concourse of Pilgrims to the Place where they suffer'd I have given this Portraicture of the Primitive Christians that the Christians of our time may therein as in a Mirror behold the just Condemnation of their own Sentiments and Behaviours that they may learn from thence That the French who made war against Henry III. because they thought him a Hugonot and afterwards opposed Henry IV. because he was really so were guilty of High Treason both Divine and Human and Lastly to convince 'em That there is no difference of Religion no Tiranny of Government no Interest no Reason no Pretence whatever that can justify Rebellion Wise Men says Tacitus patiently endure the Government of bad Princes like the Influences of evil Constellations and look upon Oppression Proscription Poysoning and those other Effects of their Cruelty as Famine Pestilence and other Misfortunes that proceed from the ill temper of the Air. We ought to implore the Gods to send us mild and just Emperors but we must be obedient to those the Gods have sent us whatever they be The justice of this obligation never to withdraw from our Obedience to our Prince is to acknowledge even by the Hugonets themselves the most zealous in their Religion such as was the deceas'd Monsieur Gombaut who blames the Rochellers for shutting their Gates against the deceas'd King and constrain'd him to lay Siege to their City They should have set open
has appointed for their Governors So that we may say That as the Sun is the Eye with which all Men See and without whose Light our Eyes would be useless to us in like manner our Soveraign Prince is the Eye of his Realm and such an Eye that continually enlightens his Subjects so that without that Light they would always be groping and wandring in the Dark This Order of Divine Wisdom it is that subjects the Multitude to one single Person which Plato considering it made him wish That as God was the sole Governor of the World that all Men were under one Prince Mankind said he will never be truly and really happy till they come under the Conduct of one sole Monarch Then all the unhappy Causes of War cease altogether No longer then shall Interest Jealousie and Ambition Arm Soveraign Princes one against another No longer then shall we hear the Moans of People that in so many places groan under the Dominion of Tyrants that oppress and despoil 'em of their Estates No longer shall the Wicked the Perfidious the Villanous find Sanctuary in Foreign Kingdoms For then so many different Nations shall be but as one Family which this same King and only Father shall love with a tender Affection and enrich with his Favours and Blessings But God not only binds Subjects to their Soveraign by that same Interest which obliges 'em to Obedience for knowing well the Blindness and Inconstancy of Men he found this Tye would not be strong enough therefore he has engag'd 'em to Submission by the obligation of Conscience and has made it a Religious Duty to be Loyal and Obedient to Soveraign Princes He has also so clearly explain'd this Duty in so many places of Scripture that it is visible he design'd to take away all pretences of its Violation having Declar'd that neither the evil Qualities nor the severe Government of Kings shall be any ground for Subjects to revolt from their Obedience And it was necessary that God should so Declare himself For that Fidelity which tyes Subjects to their lawful Princes being the only cause of the Tranquility of Kingdoms and Empires had God left 'em at their liberty to withdraw themselves from their Subjection upon all occasions he had expos'd Kingly Government to the rashness of the Judgments of every one and their Dominions to frequent Revolutions and had he not rank'd in the number of his Laws the obligation of Obedience to Princes they could hardly have assur'd themselves of the Fidelity of their Subjects for that the Dispositions of Men frequently alter and for that their Natural Inconstancy and variety of Interests are such that they cannot answer for themselves And this Fidelity thus explain'd is an Obligation which God has laid upon us not to be broken for the sake of any Interest nor to be dispenc'd withal by any Authority nor upon any pretence whatever Great Politicians demand how Subjects ought to demean themselves when Kings in their Treaties violate the Fundamental Laws of Monarchy For example What should the French have done had Francis the First been obstinate in observing the Treaty which he made at Madrid by which he was engag'd to surrender Burgundy to Charles the V. To this one of the most Learned and accomplish'd Politicians of our age makes answer That upon those occasions it ought to be the first Duty of the Subjects to divert the King from his Intention by Petitions and Remonstrances of which if the King takes no notice What can the Subject do more but only receive his Commands and his Orders but forbear to put 'em in execution Which was the Course which the French men took in reference to Francis the I. After that the same Author adds That if it should happen he should attempt to win by force what he could not gain by fair means and violently seek to constrain those that would not willingly follow him What should they do in such a strange Conjuncture Shall they submit to the violence that threatens to overwhelm 'em or shall they rise up in opposition Shall they submit or resist Shall they desert the common Good of the Publick or make War not against the Prince for that is not lawful but against the Will of the Prince Which being certain Precipices into which we must of necessity fall and the Malignity of the raigning Constellation not being byany means to be appeas'd What can they do but have recourse to their Arms and call to their assistance the first Light of Nature which is Self-Preservation This Case thus resolv'd by a Person of so solid and clear a judgment makes me think that the Christians in respect of Human Reason are no more then what the Pagans were in respect to the Oracles of their false Deities Those Oracles thought it their best course to cheat and delude the People by the Obscurity and Ambiguity of their Answers In like manner How experienc'd soever the Christians may be that the determinations of Reason are deceiful and uncertain they cannot forbear consulting it and nothing is able to make 'em sensible of their Error in confiding in it And that for which they deserve to be blam'd in an extraordinary manner is this That the Oracle of the Holy Spirit which is the only infallible Oracle curses Man that confides in himself and who puts his Strength in his Weakness that is to say Who relies upon his Reason and prefers the crooked and dangerous Turnings which that discovers before the sure straight and only Path which is taught us by the Law of God Thus we find that Politicians are always floating and divided in their Judgments never uniform in their Resolutions while the plain well-meaning Person that puts his confidence in God and guides himself according to his Promises walks with assurance For the way of the Lord is the strength of the simple saith the Scripture And now let us apply this to our purpose When Princes by their Treaties have parted with Cities of Importance or some considerable Province upon such occasions what do the People do that presume upon themselves They consume and evaporate themselves in vain Reasons they cry out That the Subjects have a right to oppose themselves against such Treaties and that they are not oblig'd to act as Subjects where the King refuses to act as a Soveraign they measure the extent of Royal Power and that of their Duty and stretch 'em out and shorten 'em according to the diversity of their Thoughts they enquire into the Rights and Prerogatives of Soveraigns and labour to set up the Priviledges that Nature has given us But what does the plain down-right Person do He walks in the way that the Law of God has mark'd out that Commands him to obey the King he Obeys while they endeavour to draw him out of the way by specious Reasons they tell him the Prince goes about to ranvers a Fundamental Law of Monarchy but he believes himself not able to give
his Judgment in so difficult a Matter only he knows that Human Reason deceives us every day but that the Law of God cannot deceive us A Man of Understanding says the Scripture trusts in the Law and the Law is faithful to him This Behaviour of a down-right Person that is of a Good Man and a Christian is not only the most safe in point of Conscience but the most Just and Rational For as it is impossible for Subjects rightly to understand the Case of Affairs it is as impossible altogether for them to judge whether it be profitable or prejudicial to cut off a Province from the Body of the Realm and as for the general Knowledge of this Matter it obliges 'em altogether to Obedience For they know that one Province may be given in exchange for another nearer and more commodious or Surrender'd either for the prevention or putting an end to some Great War They are also well instructed that they have nothing to do to descant upon the Actions of their Soveraigns and that they ought not to censure their Government without a misbeseeming Audaciousness It is not lawful for Subjects says Tacitus to condemn the Actions of Kings nor to enquire into the hidden Reasons and Mysteries of their Conduct The Gods have made 'em Arbitrers of the Affairs and Designs of Empires and have only left us the Honor to Obey Besides have the Subjects any reason to complain that their Rights are invaded by the Surrender of a Province Does the Kingdom belong to them Is it not the Patrimony of our Princes Have they not won by the Sword the greatest part of the Provinces that compose it Four of our First Kings especially Clouis did not they alone conquer the greatest part of France and is it not by Purchase by Donations and Matches that the rest of the Provinces are come to the Crown And therefore especially in Hereditary Kingdoms it is no such unjust thing for a Prince to alienate some part of his Dominions Besides that we are always to take it for Granted that they never do it but when compell'd by necessity or that they find a considerable advantage by it The opposition of the French to the Treaty which Charles the VI made with Henry the V. King of England and the War wherein they engag'd to prevent the Effects are proofs already without any appearance of Reason that Subjects sometimes may oppose by force the Will of their Soveraign For how can we say that the French upon that occasion took up Arms against Charles VI. or what Validity could they imagine to be in a Treaty made when the Prince was troubl'd in his Mind and by which his Son was depriv'd of the Crown which was his Right In a word the Ambition of Henry V. the Revenge of the Duke of Burgundy and Queen Isabel of Bavaria's hatred of the Dolphin were the true and only Causes of that Treaty So that there never was a War more just then that which the French entred into as being against the Usurper of the Kingdom and for that they took part with Charles VII who was not only Successor but in Possession and Master of the Kingdom his Father being civilly Dead and not in a Condition either to Treat or meddle with any manner of Affairs As for the resistance of the French to the execution of the Treaty of Madrid concerning Burgundy It is visible that Francis I. might easily have surmounted it but that he cherish'd it that he might have a pretence for the not observing a Treaty so disadvantageous It is visible that he left Spain with a Resolution to break it for so soon as he return'd into his Kingdom he summon'd an Assembly of the Estates to meet at Angoulesme where after he had protested in the presence of Laney the Emperors Creature That for his part he desir'd to observe the Treaty punctually he submitted to the Arguments on the other side that it was not in his Power to perform it for that by the Fundamental Laws of Monarchy Kings could not alienate any Right or Inheritance that belong'd to the Crown and that having receiv'd the Monarchy entire from his Ancestors he was oblig'd to leave it entire to his Successors And of this Men may be soon convinc'd if they consider that Charles the VI. a Prince of less Courage less Formidable and of less Authority then Francis I. laugh'd at an opposition of the same Nature and that Francis I. by the Treaty of Cambray which was an Alloy to to that of Madrid renounc'd his Pretentions to Flanders and Artois and the Right which he had to Milan and the Kingdom of Naples contrary to the Resolutions taken by the General Estates and contrary to the Fundamental Laws of Monarchy True it is that these Arguments ought to be grounded upon some lawful Reason and that King's would injure their Successors if they parted with any Province from the Body of their Dominions without being constrained But when they condescend to those Retrenchments only by compulsion or for the good of the Kingdom their Subjects have no reason to complain or if they had the greatest part of our Kings had more reason to complain of their Predecessors particularly of the Children of Henry II. who by the Treaty of Careau-Cambresis restored near Two hundred Cities or strong Holds to the other Party To this we must add that it is a difficult thing to observe that point of Grandeur alledg'd by the fore-mention'd Author that when Dominions are united it is not lawful for kings to part with any parcel thereof because it is not long since the settlement of our Monarchs that France has been enlarg'd by the Conquests of our Kings or been lessen'd by those of our Neighbours Moreover the Princes of the First and Second Race have frequently diminishâ—d its Grandeur by dividing it among their Children into several Kingdoms Lastly not to mention all the Provinces that have been disunited from the Crown it will be sufficient to remark that Burgundy was disunited by Henry the younger Son of Hugh Capet in favour of Robert his Brother that it return'd to the Crown under King John who gave it in a short time after to Philip the Bold his Fourth Son and after the death of Charles the last Duke of Burgundy Lewis the XI made himself Master of it so that it had not been re-united to the Crown above Fifty years when Francis I. was inclinable to have restor'd it back again Let us proceed to those other Pretences for dispensing with our Loyalty to our Soveraigns Religion the Reformation of the Kingdom and the grievances of Impositions are the pretences most frequently made use of to debauch the Subject into Conspiracies and Factions But a Loyal Subject ought to be careful of being deluded by specious Pretences and to have always before his Eyes the saying of Tacitus That Liberty and Ease of the People are specious Words which the Factious make use of to withdraw
to be the visible Cause of all the happy Events of Human Life 'T is our Ignorance says a certain Poet which makes us imagine that blind Chance governs all Human Affairs 'T is our mistake ô Fortune that has plac'd Thee in Heaven which has made us believe that thy capricious Decrees regulate our Actions Whâ—re Prudence Reigns no Deity From that same Breast can absent be Prudence deprives thee of thy Power and destroys thee of thy Divinity 't is she alone that has the power to make us happy and her Laws alone observ'd or violated are the causes of our Good or Evil Destiny Nothing so clearly shews us the ridiculous vanity of men as that same pleasure which they take to be undeceiv'd from popular Opinions and yet at the same time they are undeceiv'd to deceive themselves after another manner For certainly 't is a great absurdity to refer all Events to a Cause so irregular and blind as Fortune But on the other side it is as great an error to look upon Prudence as the insallible source of our Happiness and the prosperity of Families Common-wealths and Empires as we shall shew in due place To make it therefore evidenâ— That the good Opinion which Men have of Prudence is ill grounded we need no more then to examin the Nature of Men without prejudice and consider that it is always full of distrust timorousness and uncertainty which proceeds from the obscurity and inconstancy of the matter For she has to do with Men whose Hearts are impenetrable and who are continually subject to change thro the lightness of their humour thro the succession of their passions and the diversity of their interests So that as Heraclitus assur'd us that he could have no natural Knowledg because the Object of the Sciences ought to be constant but that Nature was in a perpetual motion still gliding along like a stream where we can never consider the water because it passes away before we can well look upon it so we may affirm in like manner that Prudence can assure her self of nothing seeing that Man is never in the same posture but varies in his Disposition and Affections thro an infinite number of Causes both internal and external I admire with the rest of the world the ways that Aristotle has discover'd to facilitate perswasion by rousing the pasons that are predominant in men In a word it frequently happens that Submissions will move the most inhuman and cruel to Pity and Compassion that with Menaces we force the Timorous to yeild and that with Money we obtain our desires from persons uninteressed But I cannot see how Prudence can safely make use of these no more then upon the Avarice of one in whom desire of Revenge upon his Enemy may be more powerful at the very time that I promise my self to corrupt him with the offer of a large Sum. But a Person of vast Natural parts who is of great experience and who is otherways Learned and compleatly read in History Shall not he act with security Yes if he meet with subjects and occasions altogether like to those which he has seen or observ'd in History But it is as rarely possible to meet with this Resemblance as to find out two Men of the same Complexion and Features 'T is no true Consequence in Physic that a Medicine that has been given with success to that Choleric person will cure another For Choler says Galen is not only different from all other Humours but varies also from it self And this difficulty to encounter subjects and occasions altogether alike is the reason that Prudence and Physic are much indebted to Hazard and that Prudent Men and wise and wary Physitians proceed with so much caution and take so much care before they determine How did uncertainties fill the Soul of Alexander with restless trouble and inquietude the Night before the Battel of Arbela So that we cannot imagine a greater confusion at Sea between contending Surges and mountainous Billows when agitated by tempestuous Winds then in the Breast and Soul of Alexander where so many various thoughts and passions at that time strugled together It is clear then that Human Prudence is erroneous and uncertain and that there is no secure reliance upon it for any true success or prosperity But it is not enough to have shewn that it is unprositable we must also prove it to be hurtful Which is a Truth we may be easily convinc'd of after we have freed our selves of all manner of prejudice if then we do but examine whether Prudence does not frequently do much mischief with her circumspection her scruples and her cautions How many has she not perplex'd How many grand Affairs has she not caus'd to miscarry How many Families has she not undone How many great Fortunes have been made how many Treaties have been advantageously concluded how many Victories won contrary to the Rules of Prudence The Battel which Alexander won not far from the Banks of Granicus which made way for all his succeeding Renown was it not lookt upon by the Romans as a piece of Rashness that deserv'd to be severely punish'd And that River which as I may so say was the Cradle of his Glory might it not as well have prov'd his Tomb It is impossible for us to have other perswasions then these when we remember that the Enterprize of Lucullus against Tigranes attended with Victory and the Defeat of an hundred thousand men was nevertheless both censur'd and blam'd at Rome when we remember I say that the Equity of that grave and judicious People did not think it a thing fit to applaud the daring Temerity of the General of an Army because it had prosper'd nor to approve a Success that had advanc'd the Glory of the Empire since it was from a Cause that might have been its Ruin If you would see an Example of a Battel lost thro the Councels of Military Prudence and after all the care imaginable taken to secure the Victory cast but an eye upon the Battel of Poitiers and there behold King John inexorable and haughtily refusing to the Prince of Wales the Peace which he sought with so much earnestness and upon Conditions so advantageous Doubtless the Assurances which the King then had of Victory were both probable and rational For he found himself at the Head of four and fifty thousand Men accompanied with his four Sons the Duke of Orleans his Brother two Marshals of France five and twenty Dukes Counts and Great Lords and all the Nobility of France yet notwithstanding all this Force he was defeated and taken Prisoner by the Prince so weak at that time that he had scarce Ten thousand fighting men in the Field and those so ill provided with Victuals that they had but for one day a scant remainder left and so far advanced into the heart of the Kingdom that to all outward appearance it was impossible for him to retreat The Battels thus gain'd and lost
far from being a Vertue that it is in him the extinction of all Royal Vertues as being a quality so mischievous to his Dominions that it is the most general cause of their Ruin It is an ignorance of the use and necessity of Justice Without which says St. Austin Commonwealths and Empires are but numerous Societies of Robbers 'T is a false and ill-extended Goodness a cruel Lenity and a vitious Indifference in reference to public Order and Repose Such was the Clemency which Titus affected after he obtained the Empire nor can we forbear notwithstanding his being call'd The Delight of Mankind to censure the Oath which he swore Never to put any man to Death which was an Oath by which he was engaged in the sight of Heaven to be the Protector of Robbers and Homicides to authorize all sorts of Attempts and Conspiracies and to ranverse and destroy the Empire As for that Oath which Nerva took at his first reception into the Senate that he would never suffer any Senator to be condemn'd to Death for any Crime whatsoever it was only a sneaking Compliment which he put upon the Senators disapprov'd by themselves and which gave occasion to the Roman Consul to utter this generous Expression 'T is a great Misfortune to Live under a Prince that oppresses his Subjects and commands them as his Slaves But it is a much greater Misery to Live under a Prince that gives them their full swinge and prostitutes all things to their Licentious Pleasure If therefore we desire to know the real cause of the Clemency of these two Emperors we shall find it to be only a secret Fear of being destroy'd by the Factions of the Great Men or massacr'd by the People as almost all their Predecessors had been For Vitellius Otho Nero and Caligula who all preceded Titus had every one suffer'd untimely Deaths by that means and Nerva ascending the Throne found it besmear'd with the Blood of Domitian And this we shall find to be true especially in respect of Titus when we consider that Mildness was by no means his Natural temper for his Consulship was so cruel that it was publickly said That if he succeeded in the Empire he would prove a second Nero. But notwithstanding that there are several false kinds of Clemency it does not hinder but that there may be a real sort of Clemency and that this real and vertuous Clemency may be a great Ornament to a Soveraign Prince The true Characters whereof are as follow Now we know that altho the proper function of Clemency is either absolutely to remit those punishments which Offenders have deserv'd or to remit something of their rigour and so all that are in Authority and have power to punish may in some measure be said to be Merciful Nevertheless in regard that Fathers and Tutors have no other Punishment at their disposal then only such as are call'd Chastisements since they who have the power of Life and Death as the Judges are not able to hinder the effects of their Sentences and therefore that only Soveraign Princes have only power to save those whom the Law has condemn'd to Dye all the World must grant That Clemency is the Vertue of Kings Fortune said Cicero to Caesar could do nothing greater for Thee then to make Thee Master of the Lives of Men. And the Goodness of thy Natural temper can inspire Thee with nothing more generous then with a Will to make use of thy Power to the ease of the Distressed So that Clemency may well be call'd the last Refuge of Man For in regard the Laws are deaf severe and inexorable the condition of Man says Livy would be extreamly unhappy if being so frail as it is there were no way to escape their Rigour but by Innocency This weakness and frailty of Man is the first foundation of the Royal Clemency For upon many occasions that touch him to the quick and surprize him as for example when a Man sees his Brother slain before his eyes such a sight so strongly moves his natural Affection that he pursues the Murâ—herers like a Madman even to the exposing of his own Life This is therefore that which a Clement Prince considers for as he is always disposed graciously toâ—â—lend an Ear to all that may excuse a suppliant Criminal he willingly admits such an allegation that the Oftender kill'd the Man only to revenge his Brothers Death that he had not time to consult his reason upon so short a warning and 〈◊〉 he was transported by his Natural Affections Crimes also committed by accident and misfortune are a second ground of Royal Clemency For if Crimes voluntarily committed may be thought to deserve Pardon because the force of Natural Affection has constrain'd the Will into Action with much more reason ought those Crimes to be pardon'd which a man commits contrary to his Intention as the French Gentleman who shooting at a Wild Boar kill'd his near Kinsman and one of his dearest Friends Justice also is a third ground of Royal Clemency For they justly exercise it in favour of those Offenders whose Crimes are less than the Services which they have done the Public and some regard may be also had to the Deserts of their Ancestors For Punishments as Plato has observ'd were not ordain'd to prevent the Criminal Acts since all the severity of Law and all the power of Soveraignty cannot prevent their being committed nor does Justice in the Sentences of Death propose the Amendment of those that are executed Therefore the Legislators had no other aim in ordering the Punishments of Crimes than to procure the public Good that is to terrifie the Wicked and prevent Honest people from being debauch'd by their bad example So that as the Public Interest excuses the Cruelty of the Law and all Men approve the Executing of Robbers and notorious Villains The same Public Good justifies the Clemency of Princes in saving from an ignominious Death such as have signaliz'd themselves in Defence of their King and Country by which means their good Service has been more beneficial to the Kingdom than the Fact which they committed or the bad Example given was ever prejudicial There was something of particular rarity in the Clemency of Theodosius For he punish'd his Anger by his Clemency and never fail'd to make use of it towards those that had incens'd him even to transportment So that they were sure to be pardon'd the Offences which they committed against him who had but the Address to provoke him to Rage As for the Character of true Clemency by which we may know and distinguish it from that which is false Cicero tells us That real Clemency agrees with Justice A Wise Prince said the Stoics ought not to have that effeminate Pity which cannot endure the Punishment of Offenders rather he ought to preser the wholesom Rigour of the Law before the Dictates of a tendâ—â— Disposition But because the Moral Vertues are only imperfect Vertues and for
Plate adorn'd with precious Stones in which Lucullus was continually serv'd Yet these excesses were so generally blam'd in Rome that his nearest Relations and his Friends among the rest Caron and Cicero were highly offended at his Extravagance besides that they were for a long time the Subjects of the publick Satyrs and Railery of the Town as we find in Horace Therefore we must not attribute the War which the Cynni declare against Luxury to their Malice and fantastical Humor For this War is so far from being particular since it is no more than what the Wise Men of all Ages have done who ever look'd upon the Pomp of Buildings and the Curiosity of Furniture and Habit as meer Vanity and Childishness We are true Children said Aristotle the Marble Pillars and Statues delight us as painted Shells and Baubles please them so that there is no other difference between them and us but that our Pleasure and divertisements are much more costly and our Childhood continues all our Lives And thus from what has been said it is evident how hard a thing it is to condescend to the Opinion of Aristotle who so openly defends Luxury with the solidity of so Great a Philosopher Aristotle says St. Thomas exempts from him those that are superfluous in their Expences and I condemn as evil whatever is contrary to the Rules of Justice and Reason If then Holy Reason condemns all those that Lodge that Furnish that Apparel themselves Magnificently and of Gold Marble and other Precious things bewail their had Fortune that Man makes use of 'em to support his Vanity the same Reason shews us That there is nothing he can do more worthy commendation than to â—â—leeâ— 'em from that Servitude by consecrating 'em to God for the Ornament of his publick Temples For that then it is that he is not Magnificent for his own Name but for the Honor of God And therefore it was that there was nothing more beautiful nor so full of Grandeur as that Fabrick rear'd by the wisest of Kings and Consecrated to the Veneration of the Almighty and therefore it is that we see so many Glorious Temples erected to the Honour of Christ which remain as so many Monuments of the Piety and Magnificence of Christian Princes The Examples of Judith and Queen Esther make it appear that they made a good use of their Vertue of Magnificence For Judith who in her Widowhood cloathed her self suitably to her Condition laid aside her Mourning Habit and put on costly and magnificent Apparel to appear in all her Lustre before Holofernes that she might have the fairer opportunity to give the stroak which God had reserved for her Arm. And Queen Esther who call'd the Crown that she wore The Sign of her High Estate that she abhorr'd yet put it upon her Head and presented her Self to Ahashuerus apparell'd and dress'd to preserve her Nation We have also learnt from the Conduct of the most Pious and Modest of Princes That it is most proper for Soveraign Kings to make Presents proper to the Grandeur of their Dominions to the Ambassadors of Princes their Allies to make splendid and sumptuous Banquets to render their Treaties more solemn and Magnificently to entertain those Kings that came to visit 'em or that had occasion to pass through their Territories And thus it was that St. Lewis received the Emperor Frederick at Campergne where he order'd the Nobility of his Court to be pompously attir'd and made himself a most Magnificent Entry This Holy and Devout Prince says Mezerai was modest and an Enemy to Luxury in his own Person and Pompous and Superb in his publick Ceremonies Charlemain tho for the most part went like the meanest of his ordinary Subjects was most sumptuously apparell'd when he gave Audience to Ambassadors and gave a Crown glittering with Precious Stones Lewis the Debonnaire observed the same Method And the end which those Religious Princes propos'd to themselves upon all occasions where they appear'd with so much splendor was to give an Idea of the Strength and Riches of their Kingdoms that other Kings might be afraid to invade their Territories and by that means to secure the Repose of the People that God had committed to their Charge These are the Lawful employments of Magnificence besides which there are none that can be serviceable to us without perverting the Use of it and beyond which all the rest is but vain Glory and Ostentation For tho Aristotle affirm that a sumptuous Palace is an Ornament to the Founder Certain it is that tho all the Palaces of Kings belonged to Him he would neither be the Greater nor the more Magnificent That his Glory and Magnificence as the Holy Scripture teaches us ought to be within himself and that it consists in the Use of these Vertues with which his Soul ought to be adorn'd so that as they who excell in Arts and Sciences are Famous without employments and preferments So Men that excel in Vertues not to be found in other Men are Magnificent without Houses without Retinues or costly Equipages and we reverence 'em for their own sakes much more than they that we behold attended with numerous and gawdy Trains of Servants He alone said Epicurus is truly Magnificent who has no need of Magnificenee CHAP. XVII JVSTICE THE Poets could never tire themselves with heaping Aggravations on the daring Boldness of those that first attempted to cross the Seas and trusting to a few weak and easily broken Planks which they fix'd together between them and Death forc'd their way through those vast Abysses of Water But for my part I find those to be far more bold who first design'd living in Society together And I am certain that whoever does admire the daring Boldness of such an Enterprize never consider'd or never understood the Nature of Man so far from being endu'd with Qualities proper for Union that they make it their sole Business to persecute tear in pieces and destroy one another In a word A Great Assembly of Men is a dangerous Sea more treacherous and more tempestuous than the wild Ocean it self And let the Winds be never so impetuous and so innumerable the Passions of Men surmount 'em in Number in Contrariety and Violence Let us make good our Assertion and affirm That Men through their viciousness being become the same that the most wild and savage Beasts by Nature are it was not an Enterprize so difficult to tame and civilize Bears Tygers and Lyons as to Assemble Men together There is also this difference That the Cruelty of Brutes passes away with their Impetuosity that they fall upon Men through the Motives of a Blind Instinct and that they do not understand the Art of Mischief Whereas Men keep their Resentments a long time that they weave and contrive Assassinations and Murthers to execute 'em with more security and that they are ingenious to lay snares one for another The same Considerations perhaps made the Poets first imagine
their Gates saies he to their Prince and only have employ'd their weapons of Faith against his Force The Theology of the Pagans agrees in this point with that of the Christians and places the violation of Loyalty to Soveraign Princes among the Crimes which are punish'd by the Gods in Hell God says Plato has in himself the Beginning the Middle and the End of Things and Condemns by his just Decrees all those that refuse to live humbly and peaceably in Obedience but believing themselves capable to conduct themselves shake off their Obedience to their Soveraigns But God having establish'd the Thrones of Kings for the benefit of the Publick and to uphold Order among Men has not only forbid their Subjects to Rebel against em but has also declar'd the Persons of Soveraign Princes to be Sacred and that it is utterly unlawful to make the least attempt upon their Lives how unjust how violent and cruel soever they be Touch not says the Scripture those that are Consecrated to God by their being Anointed and consequently ought to be rever'd as Holy And to the end we may not fail in our Duty to Kings tells us he is so chary of their Honor that he will not have it wounded so much as in Thought Curse not the King no not in thy Thought says Ecclesiastes We need not wonder then if the Church instructed by the Holy Spirit has such a particular care of Kings and that it appeare by the great number of Decrees which she has made in their favour that she employs all her Authority to preserve both their Lives and their Reputation The Fathers in a Council of Constance thunder'd out their Anathema's against the execrable Thesis of John Petit who subjects the Government of Kings to the censure of their Subjects and exposes their Persons to Sacrilegious Attempts That Doctrine which the same Divine corrupted by the Duke of Burgundy adventur'd to maintain and to colour the Assassination of the Duke of Orleance the only Brother of Charles VI. was so detested by all the World that maugre the Power of the Duke of Burgundy then Regent of the Kingdom it was condemned by the University of Paris and the Writing it self publickly burnt before the Church of Nostre Dame A certain Council in Spain Excommunicated all those that exclaim'd against the Government of Kings and tore their Reputation with defamatory Libels But it would be too long to recite what we meet with in Holy Writ in Councils and in the Writings of the Fathers upon this Subject There is no question therefore but the Obedience which we owe to God and his Church obliges us to a high veneration for Soveraign Princes inviolably to preserve our Loyalty and Religiously to perform their Commands In the mean while where are those Christians that Honor God in the persons of their Soveraigns who are Loyal in discharge of their Consciences and who obey their Commands with so much exactness as if they had receiv'd 'em from God himself Do we not see that there is little or no Fidelity in those that are so sedulous in their attendance upon Princes only the desire and hope of their Favours redoubles their Zeal for the Service of their King when they receive Rewards That it grows remiss and weary when they find themselves slighted that it is utterly extinguish'd when they see no likelyhood of bettering their Fortune And therefore it is that in all the motions of the Court there are so many People that throw themselves into Parties and endeavour to put themselves into a condition as to be able to wrest by private Compact and underhand Agreements those Gratifications and Employments which are refus'd 'em and which they believe to be due to their Merit What is this Loyalty in others but the fear of those Penalties and Punishments inflicted upon those that violate their Allegiance by Cabals and Factions prejudicial to their Prince and by Conspiracies against their Persons Which is apparent from hence that some Princes that loath the severity of spilling Human Blood spare not sometimes the most considerable persons in the Realm to restrain others within the bounds of their Duty by the examples of their Justice The Loyalty of Men of Judgment and Solidity does it not proceed from their Knowledge that there is nothing so great as the Power of Kings and that the very thought of their destruction is not only Impious but void of Sense or Reason They know that their very Guards which are a Body sufficient and ready upon all occasions will give no leisure to Rebellion or Sedition to grow to a head They know moreover that Kings are the dispensers of all those Favours those Honors Dignities and Employments which Men so ardently seek after So that they have always in their power the infallible means to reduce those that are revolted from their Obedience Lastly they know that the greatest part of those Subjects who have forgot their Duty to their Soveraigns have brought themselves to unfortunate Conclusions have waxed old in Prison or spent the remainder of their days exil'd in Foreign Countreys with their Families Is it not also easie to be perceivd that the Loyalty of wealthy Persons who are contented with their Estates and have no other Ambition them to taste the sweets of Life is meerly out of Interest For in regard that War is chiefly a scourge to them which others desire in hopes to gain Honour or to enrich themselves they stand fast to their Prince as being the Person that continually watches over the Kingdom to prevent the calamities of Invasion or Rebellion and they look upon him as the Tutelar Angel of their Tranquility and Happiness Deus nobis hac otia fecit Such leisure our Terrestrial God On us bestowed Can we have a better opinion of those who being the Kings Domestick Servants and advanc'd to the highest preferments in the Houshold can never prove disloyal without loosing their Reputation and ruining their Fortunes and must we therefore believe their Loyalty to be unspotted and truly virtuous What Idea can we form of the Loyalty of those accomplish'd Politicians who at the first breaking out of a Civil War retire into the Countrey there to observe which way the scales will turn and to take the winning side and so cunningly behave themselves as to be fear'd and consequently courted from the Court lest they should joyn with the adverse Party In a word the Loyalty of People is only a natural desire to live at ease and quiet but as there are many with whom it is all one whither they live in Peace or no we may be sure that all such People are equally dispos'd either to Obedience or Sedition so that their Loyalty depends purely upon Seasons and Conjunctions Let us acknowledge then that the Loy alty of those who have given and every day give notable Proofs of their Allegiance is built upon a slender and sandy Foundation as depending solely upon the dispositions