Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	law_n	liberty_n	parliament_n	4,902	5	6.1958	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49604	A funeral oration or sermon upon the most high, most potent Lord, Francis Henry De Montmorancy ... prounc'd at Paris, in the church of the Profess'd House of the Company of Jesus, the 21 st. of April, 1695, by Father De la Rue, of the same society ; from the french original.; Oraison funèbre de très-haut et très-puissant Seigneur François Henry de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg et de Piney. English	La Rue, Charles de, 1643-1725.	1695 (1695)	Wing L455; ESTC R6889	22,402	33

which he bestows upon whom he pleases and which no Man can deserve St. Paul instructing the Faithful in their Duty toward Great Men proposes to 'em among other Motives of Respect the Authority which they have receiv'd from God to protect the Good and suppress and punish the Wicked For says he they bear not the Sword in vain And upon this establishing the Right not only of Kings but of all Persons advanc'd in Dignity he requires that those Honours and Tributes should be pay'd 'em that are their due Tribute to whom Tribute Honour to whom Honour is due But besides these Tributes settl'd by Humane Laws the Apostle in favour of Great Personages imposes upon Us another far differently Precious Tribute Entreaties Prayers and Petitions And the Reason which he gives is Because that under their Authority we live secure in Peace and Piety Now if there be any one in the Degrees inferiour to Sovereigns to whom this Tribute is due from all among us that are True Frenchmen and True Christians is it not to this Famous and Warlike Champion from whom the Kingdom and the Church have receiv'd such successful Services And to search for the Foundations of his Merit in the Deserts of his Ancestors is there any Descent among those whose Names and Renown we Honour of which it may be more justly said in the words of St. Paul They have not borne the Sword in vain And how long since my Lords The Crown has not been more ancient upon the Head of our Kings then the Nobility of the Blood of these Hero's The Faith of Jesus Christ ascended the Throne with Clovis but it enter'd into the Court with a Montmorancy Whence that singular Title of First Christian Baron which is Hereditary to 'em and which equally denotes as well their Antiquity their Nobility as their Descent Let us leave these Times of Obscurity Are Seven hunder'd Years I will not say of Distinction but of Constant Advancement enough to merit our Esteem We no sooner behold their Name issuing forth from the Darkness of Antiquity but immediately we see it cloath'd with the Lustre of the Highest Dignities and more-especially Military Employments The Name of Constable never began to appear in the World at least in our Histories till they wore it Ever since those Transcending Dignities have been as it were perpetuated to their Family Seven Constables Seven Marshals Four Admirals Great Officers of the Crown Governors of Provinces Generals of Armies almost without number and at all times Never was the Kingdom or our Religion in any Glorious or Dangerous Condition but Providence still careful of our Affairs has supply'd us out of this Noble Family most extraordinary Succours either of Wisdom or Valour Consequently how greatly is the Church and State oblig'd to pay with a zealous Fervency this Tribute of their Prayers to all those that bear this Name seeing we have prov'd that for so long a time they have not borne the Sword in vain But Oh the Depth of God's Designs and Judgments That this Grandeur so Ancient so stedfastly fix'd upon such Solid and such Just Foundations supported by so many Arms Allianc'd to all the Thrones of Christendom should be now upon the Brink of being Extinguish'd That the Principal Pillars of this so Potent Family should now be Tottering Alas and under those Fatal Strokes the sole Remembrance of which makes us Tremble That their Honours and their Merits should be so near Extinction shall I say their Glory with their Merits One only Child born in Tears an Orphan before he came into the World scarce able to make his Way into the Seats of Day-light in the Midst of the Ruins of his Family is destin'd to re advance the Fortune of his House and to recall to the Elder that Honour and Grandeur which for Two hunder'd Years together the Younger have acquir'd And this same Infant so dear to Providence is the Great General for whom we Pray Let us pass over the First Years of his Life and the First Exercises of his Valour 'T was not He alone that needed this Indulgence 't is due to the Misfortune of those Times He was envelop'd in 'em less by his own Choice then by the Condition of his Fortune What Illustrious Exploits which we dare not remember and which we cannot forget What Use did he make afterwards of that lucky Habit Shall we enumerate the Particulars of Thirty Years Labours if I may not rather call 'em Successes Nor think my Lords that I go about to degrade any one of our Hero's by Comparisons always rash and odious There are so many Ways that lead to Honour and so many different Traces of Merit and Valour that they may severally serve for Objects of Publick Admiration without defacing or resembling each other But it is enough to say in Praise of Monsieur de Luxemburgh That there have been few of our Great Generals his Contemporaries who have prov'd more Formidable to their Enemies better Belov'd of the Soldiers or more Daring and Resolute in Enterprizes The Qualities of a Perfect Soldier which Solomon paints forth in his Book of Wisdom Terrible Kings shall fear me I shall be able to lead a multitude and stout in Battel But when to the end I may display what is included in these Three Qualities I have made it manifest that there were few who were oppos'd by more Puissant Enemies and who kept himself still more then Superior few that govern'd more numerous Armies and govern'd 'em with more Ease few that sustain'd more doubtful and hazardous Enterprizes and sustain'd 'em with more Resolution and Undauntedness what Rank will you allow him among those our Generals which you most esteem Now 't is this Superiority this Facility of Genius this Resolution and Undauntedness that form the Character of Him we now lament 'T is no new thing for France to see all her Neighbours become her Enemies The Novelty is this to see all her Enemies united against her by one and the same Tye not only a Tye of Passions and Interests but a stronger Tye 't is the Ascendant of of one Captain over all the Members of the League In all other Leagues this Union being wanting till now France had always in the Union of her Chieftain and the Union of her Forces a Puissance easily superiour to the Number and Efforts of her most Potent Enemies But they have at length found out a Genius proper to re-unite all their Hatred against us To give more Force to the Instrument of their Passions they have helpt him to dethrone Vertue it self To make an Enemy sufficient to find us Work they have set up a Master over themselves And who is this my Lords The same upon whom some look'd as the Hereditary Guardian of their Liberty who was by others call'd in to defend their new Laws against the false Terrors of Arbitrary Power and whom others fear'd as the Natural Enemy of their Religion That same Holland so

jealous of the Freedom of her Trade That same England that doates so much upon the pretended Privileges of her Parlament That same Germany so accustom'd to share in Sovereign Supremacy That same Austria so intoxicated with her Notions of Universal Monarchy That same Spain so zealous for the Purity of her Faith Lastly That same Italy so passionately desirous of her Repose have rooted out of their Hearts all these so Ancient and Natural Sentiments that they might make it their Common Interest to advance one Prince whose Grandeur can never hurt us but by overwhelming 'em with their own Weight A Foreigner and Absent he is the Soul of their Counsels the Head that governs ' em One would think that those Sovereign Princes in yielding him the Title of King had pay'd him the Homage of their Crowns and that Lewis is only now become the Object of their Jealousie and their Hatred for no other Reason but because he has taken upon himself alone to defend against 'em all the Rights of Royal Majesty and he do's uphold 'em and Triumphs in despite of all his Enemies They are not become so potent by their Union as by being more sensible before him of their real Weakness Their Efforts have nothing diminish'd of the Grandeur of his Empire nor of that of his Soul More wise and prudent then ever if Heaven from time to time deprive him of the Ministers of his Designs it leaves him still his Prudence and his Fortune This Monarch imparts it to those whom he honours with his Choice and that which rears up great Captains among us is the exact observance of his Orders What Instrument more safe and tractable in his Hands to uphold against so many Enemies the Honour and Prosperity of his Arms then the Duke of Luxemburgh What an Ascendant had he over that famous Prince who got the start of so many others Accustom'd in the Dutch War to fly the Shadow only of the King he began to turn head in the presence of Luxemburgh He thought that the Cities of Zwoll Deventer the Groll and Coewerden which this General had taken at the head of the Troops of Munster had render'd him Illustrious enough to make him his chief Rival He would therefore measure himself with him but his Chief Master-piece was a Defeat Nor was he more happy at Bodengrave where the frozen Morasses could not protect his Army from the impetuous Ardour of the French These two unfortunate Essays from that time forward fill'd the Prince with such an Idea of his Vanquisher that he durst no more contend with him but only by calling to his Succour Treachery and Surprize This made him so bold at the Battle of St. Denis at what time the two Camps ought to have been calm and secure upon the News of the sign'd Peace However in that as well as in all other Places he found by the slaughter of his Men that Stratagem as little avail'd as Open Force against the Courage of a General always present with himself in Combat In short 't is one of the Wonders of Providence that whatever Precautions his noble Adversary made use of he never engag'd in any Battel wherein he did not find Luxemburgh an Obstacle to his compleat Victory He met with him in the Right Wing at the famous Battle of Seneff and rendring to the Prince of Conde the Fruit of his Glorious Lessons which he had receiv'd from him in his Youth He met him commanding the Right Wing at Gasal where France acknowledg'd in the Brother of her King that the Princes of the Blood had no need of any Master to teach 'em the Art of giving or winning Battels Instructed by so long and so fatal an Experience Durst that same daring Prince sustain the sight of him before Charleroy though surrounded with an Army of Fifty thousand Men Durst he attempt the so much vaunted Sieges of Maubege and Dinant in view of him for a whole Campaign together Durst he sit down before any one Fortress And shall we believe his own Testimony For we surpriz'd his Letters wherein imparting in writing the Condition of his Affairs to a famous General of the Emperor's Forces he acknowledges That the Duke who had always the good Luck to match him had worsted him again at Nerwinde But could he make a more solemn Confession to all Europe in respect of his Genius to that of Luxemburgh's then by the course which he took upon the Banks of the Mehaign The main Business was to succour Namur He found himself oblig'd thereto by the importance of the Place which the Confederates look'd upon as their common Bulwark and which he seem'd to have made choice of for the centre of his new Dominion in the Spanish Low-Countries by the addition of new Works to those that render'd it almost impregnable before and by honouring those Works with his own Name That Name which in the opinion of the Confederates was enough to have secur'd Namur from all Attempts serv'd only as a Bait for the Zeal of Lewis the Great to go and revenge the Injury done Religion by the false Politicks of the Spaniards in trusting the Walls and Citadels of their Cities to the Enemies of their Altars At the very Name of the King who was present in Person at that Siege and to whom the Difficulty of the Enterprize was a Pledge of the Success upon the Approach of Luxemburgh whom the King had order'd to advance toward the Mehaign the Prince was soon sensible of the pressing danger of the Place and of his own Reputation A Victory had sav'd the Town Nay instead of a Victory of which the past Events were but bad Prognosticks a withdrawn Battel had been sufficient to have sav'd his Honour He appear'd in Battel Array on the other side of the River he cover'd it with Bridges he thought the King would have disputed the Passage with him and that after some Efforts the Honour of which would have been divided between both Armies he should have carry'd off at least the Reputation of the Fight The King being inform'd of all these Motions by the Duke of Luxemburgh read all the Enemies Designs in the Recesses of his Soul and to ranverse 'em What Resolution think ye did he take He gave him all the Liberty to pass over and left him Ground sufficient to embattel his Army that he might reduce him by that means either to expose himself to the Hazard of a decisive Battel or renounce the Honour of the Passage which he feign'd himself so desirous to attempt Then was it the first time that Luxembourgh was seen to recoil with his Arms in his Hands before the Prince of Orange but to the Vexation of the Prince himself who seem'd to wait for that Signal only to surrender up Namur to her Destiny or rather to that of the Conqueror What will Posterity say of this magnanimous Confidence I find in sacred Antiquity an innumerable Army of Infidels defended and secur'd by a