Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	king_n	people_n	see_v	2,763	5	3.6476	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07765	A letter written by a French Catholike gentleman, to the maisters at Sorbonne. Concerning the late victories obtained by the king of Nauarre, aswell against the Duke of Ioyeuse at Coutras vpon Tuesday the twentieth of October, 1587. as els where	Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.	1588 (1588)	STC 18144; ESTC S107518	29,846	82

great preparatiues for war against him did make me stedfastly to belieue that hee could haue no means to kéep himselfe from vs wherevpon my selfe as well as many other did according to my duetie bring in whatsoeuer I was able togither with my own person and notwithstanding all our delaies and the lingering of our purposes yet did I not neuertheles dispaire of good successe but now am I forced to pluck my pin from the stake and earnestly to open mine eies to perceiue the causes of our misfortune togither with the necessitie of a farther cause of mischiefe wherof this late one is but the first or at the least the most apparant beginning Not my maisters that I will resemble those foules which so soone as colde weather commeth on doe habandon euerie climate by anie rash alteration of my wil which so long and resolutely I haue alwaies kept For I protest that of all the reasons that may bee imagined in this noueltie I do admit onely the same which setteth before me the preseruation of that estate for the which so farre I am from all feare of the losse of my first pretence that I wish rather to lose my selfe and in the name of God doo exhort you so wel to try my aduice that you may allow therof and ensuing the same shew so good an example to the rest of Frāce that sith your selues are the light that should lighten vs this estate may also by your meanes recouer her auncient brightnesse and this oppressed people perfect reliefe from all their afflictions To enter therefore into the matter my selfe haue alwaies béene through zeale to religiō thrust for ward whensoeuer there fell out any spéech of the defence thereof I came as hotely as might be desired Now this religion I alwaies held in such sort as I receiued of my predecessors and as I account it true saluation of my soule I preferred it before all other whatsoeuer worldly considerations Wherein I was confirmed not onely by this domesticall example but also by that doctrine which your selues haue alwaies deliuered vnto vs referring al that possibly I might vnto the authoritie which long you haue obteined and kept among our nation I will not bee ashamed to say that in this case I haue willingly reposed my selfe vpon you as imagining that you would not damme your selues in sport as also that in so good company I could not doo amisse In consideration wherof I neuer troubled my selfe much about the search into the depth of these misteries and difficulties wherein your schoole is as it were plunged leauing to you the arguing in words and reseruing to my selfe the decisions in action wherewith as néede required to yéeld authoritie to your decrées and for my part stoutly to oppose my selfe against all those that woulde withstand you howbeit vnder the authoritie of the soneraigne magistrate to whom I neuer doubted of my due obedience Hereupon I alwaies supposed that our warre was not lawful against al such as shot against you and sought to subuert your doctrine accounting them verie heretikes Apostataes from the Church with whom we were to striue euen for life considering that their opinions did for the most part kill vs by rauishing from vs through their frowardnesse that which I supposed you had imparted vnto vs in sincere and faithful consciences For this which I haue often heard you say did I take for an infalible principle that is to say That our Church can not erre also that to accuse you of error was such an error as deserued to be pursued with fire and sworde Thus was I neuer of any other mind but that we had a most firme and more than necessarie foundation euery way to persecute those whom men tearme Protestants So presumpteous a title could not I like of as in these latter ages Gods spirit threatneth vs with sundrie seducers so haue I alwaies accounted these men to be whereupon I haue detested their companies so farre haue I béene from sparing whatsoeuer I could possibly doe to vse against them all rigors whereby to roote them out For this cause doe I make great account of the deuotion which diuers of our kinges haue at sundrie times shewed But séeing that the more we striue the more this people increase the large expertence of these affaires maketh mee the more stacke in these matters and their late victorie which God hath giuen them causeth me to imagine that hee doth wholy fauor their cause also that whatsoeuer crosses hee doth by our hands lay vpon them hee doth neuerthelesse reserue vnto them a happie a comfortable end Disorder saith a certaine auncient breedeth good decrees and the reiteration of our transgressions when wee finde them doe worke vs to our knowledge wisedome yea the apprentiship of our owne losses is more strong and forceable then that which proceedeth of others harmes I doe therefore willingly suffer my selfe to bee carried away with that whose effects doe teach me to procéede further not that I will search out all the contentious pointes betwene the one and the other for as yet I haue not taken so much paines but onely in respect of the proceedings vsed against their persons and goods First you are all to debate in matter of religion you differ in sundrie articles and yet doe agrée in the ground which is one onely Iesus Christ mediator betwene God and man and sole head of the Chruch I pray you is this a matter to be decided by your murders is it such a controuersie as may bee so determined how can you graunt life to his soule whose bodely life you haue taken away how can you saue those to whom you graunt no time to belieue or how would you haue them to belieue without preaching vnto These be the ordinarie complaintes wherewith they vsually appeale from our pursutes which notwithstanding they séeme iust yet doe we stop our eares against them as against the maremaids song But why doe you denie them all frienndly conference for the decision of your controuersies I know you will answere that it is a matter that hath already beene preferred and yet hath not profited But the Lawiers haue taught me that whatsoeuer hath béene fraudulently done is accounted as wonne for in all our assemblies our procéedings haue béene vnperfect for proofe whereof I referre my selfe to the acts of the Councel of Trent and lately to the parley at Poyssy Concerning the first there was neuer action more impertinent then that wherein they were condemned and yet neither were or could be heard considering that their aduersaries were also their iudges as also your selues doe know that the French Church did neuer in all and through all alow of it witnesse the appeales there against made albeit I say nothing of the opposition of our kings whereby this counsaile may not be admitted as irreuocable in Fraunce otherwise we shall reueale our partialitie in ruling their condemnation after our owne fantasies and not according to the

rule you your force dependeth onely vpon peace whereas in the warres besides that these reformed doe catch from the Clergie infinite treasures euē those that are left do vanish with the aire séem only to fatten vp such as vnder colour of fauouring of you doe but séeke to get their liuings Many of our Popes haue agreed our kings with the Emperors and English men when we had but forren warres greater reason then haue you in these ciuill and domesticall dissentions the most intollerable or odious in the world to séeke some way so to do Whosoeuer shall say to his brother Racha is by God himselfe accursed what then shall you hee if not onelie in wordes but in déede also you build the dissipation of your neighbours And what clemency can you looke for of God that are so cruell to men so cruell I say euen to your selues I will speake boldly vnto you my maisters I feare if you long continue this sauage life it will happen to you as it did to Esau that for want of being in Gods house you wil loose your birthright For so long as you pursue these reformed you are as it were in the wildernesse where you runne thirsting after their blood and the whiles haue no care to serue your heauenly father So as vnlesse I bee deceiued at your returne the gate of his mercy wil bee shutte against you you shall bee knowne but not acknowledged to bee his children and finally these cruelties will inherite crueltie these oppressions oppression and these iniquities vengeance Beware my maisters for albeit you deceiue men God seeth your hearts and to him all secrets are open suffer not religion to be the belweather vnto the subuerters of this state and as the shortest follies are the best so content your selues that you haue brought things into that dispaire wherein wée now sée them and so long as there is any likelihood of recouerie delate not your abilitie anie longer least it fléete away in the violence of our mishaps As for the league whereto you haue lent the vizard of religion consider that you cherish the serpent that killeth you you haue swallowed henbane which maketh you to die without féeling Remember you not that when it was first reuealed you were not named as indéed what religion could they think on that purpósed onelie impietie Could they that shot onelie at your kings person your head protector and his state to order it after their fantasies call you to warrant their religion you that should preach nothing but obedience to the magistrate Hereunto doo the blind sée as clerely as the daie These shamelesse persons thought vpō nothing lesse then religion The death of the Lords annointed the spoile of his crown did they leuell at witnes their practises against the best and most Catholike Townes in France for they neuer medled with the reformed or attempted against anie thing to them apperteining And I maruaile how beeing so fierce against these partakers of common quiet as ye were at the beginning you can now be so drunke with their hipocrisie as yee are albeit you serue thē but for a vailet and to say truth you haue but the fooles part in the tragedie that they plaie vpon the Theater of France What protection néeded you when no man seemed to molest you who gaue them this office ouer your soueraigne néeded he to be constrained to your defence which hee euer so willingly tooke vpon him could not you be defended but by war had you not for certaine yéeres tried the defence of peace was it not possible to liue in so faire a path without murthering all the world All France before the last troubles did wee sée in so good peace that the controuersies in religion did nothing impeach the concord of one or other trafick was growne common againe the waies were frée through all parts of the realme what losse had you by it wherin were you troubled who molested you either in your goods or persons Enioyed you not your church rents euen among these reformed did you not eate and drinke togither without outrage who euer complained of this contentation As for these reformed which of them during this time refused the obedience that the subiect oweth to his Prince who haue defrauded him of his roiall prerogatiues what taxes or ordinarie Subsidies haue they reiected who amongst them followed not the ordinarie course of iustice who conspired against the state your selues my maisters will confesse there was no fault in them If by obseruing their religion they did amisse it was by the consent of the king and all the soueraigne Courtes of this realme by the consent I saie so solemnely sworne the infringing whereof séemeth to mende their cause not that I will laie the blame vpon the king but onelie vpon those whose violence haue brought him to this extremitie to falsefie his word for the breaking of their pernitious drifts and to turne to these rebels so to turne the storme that they had moued against him into the innocencie of these peaceable persons Thus doe such as are in danger of shipwracke abandon their owne goods to relieue their vessell albeit this forced will be a will sith the first motions rest in him that executeth it But I will enter no farther into the considerations which the king may haue had to gainsay himselfe and yet will I boldly say that hee neuer did thing so preiuditiall to his state wherof he hath most euident proofes and I beséech God to bee content with that is past and to withdraw his hand from of his people and grant vs some release from these oppressions As also your selues doe in déede know notwithstanding the pursuit of the Pensioners of the leagued remaining about his person what adoo there was to make his maiestie resolue himselfe thereto This his cléere iudgement perceiued the pernitious consequence of assotiation but hee wanted supporters to vphold himselfe considering that the chiefe Officers of his counsell who before had bound their faith to these Princes neuer desisted from bending of him that way neither haue I alwaies béene of that minde but did long persuade my self that the stedfastnesse of our affaires consisted in this inconstancie howbeit I was forced to bee as it were sheitle witted and by diuorcement from vanitie to marry with reason For sith the king knew well inough that there was no quarell but at his estate hee should haue made no difficultie to call about him such as haue most interest therein as the Princes of the blood and their power at the least vpon extremitie according to their own offers That was the way to haue suppressed the insolent proceedings of these partakers who fish only in puddle water and vse our confusions to their own establishment For the people would easily haue belieued that in truth there was no quarrell but at the state if the king had vnderpropped himself with the pillers of the state and not béene beaten downe with the

against her enimies but also she hath as I find béene often molested by her owne household seruants Nouatian the Priest denyed to receyue such as had reuolted to penauce and so with the helpe of Nicostratus a Priest of Carthage caused a great schisme in the Church Samosatenus being Bishop of Antioch renewed the errors of the Ebionites Arrius a Priest of Alexandria had the assistance of many Bishops and Emperors yea and since of whole nations in his heresie Now if in these beginnings the treasons of such as séemed to serue God were so great there is no doubt but this mischiefe hath still slipped in and béene maintained in the Church Yea if you can well thinke vpon it it may bee you will not iudge your selues cleane exempt from all corruptions but I will say no more for feare of incurring your censures Howbeit I am sory you neuer proue the decision of the processe which the reformed haue entred against you and haue long hung vpon the file also that we must belieue some rather then other some wtout any further notice of the matter for so should we be no longer troubled to know whether these two princes be heretikes or not Howbeit admit they be which hardly and without preiudice to their replication I can belieue is it your partes to shrinke from their obedience So did neuer any Christians in the Primitiue Church against the heathen Emperors to whom in all publike gouernment they submitted them selues albeit there could bee no greater difference in religion than was betweene them Did they reuolt against Constantin the great who in the end fauoured Arrius against Licinius against Iulian the Apostata against Valentinian and many others that exercised tyranny against their religion But the king of Nauarre is farre from dealing so with vs for he is not yet come to that which wee feare Thus we cry without a cause before we be beaten not that foresight is not an effect of wisedom but because it is in vaine to preuent that which wee neither can nor ought to eschewe Howsoeuer God giueth vs our kings we must suffer it neither is there anie law or lawfull example in the world that teacheth vs to doe otherwise Herein the reformed may séeme to beare themselues but badly in that they take armes against their soueraigne in defence of their religion But besides that they are iustly grounded vpon the defensiue vnder the magistrats authority also that nothing is more naturall then to expulse violence they doe besides alledge the peremptorie reasons which often enough they haue giuen vs to vnderstand of neither is their any fault but in our negligence that wee are not sufficiently enstructed thereof Moreouer the king of Nauarres and the P. of Condes maner of dealing with our Catholikes might make you to hope of all good entreatie whensoeuer things may come to that passe Truely the king of Nauarre hath alwaies tollerated Catholike religion in his Realme which is the lawer Nauarre that is to say a portion of all Nauarre the rest thereof lying beyond the Pirinean mountaines the Spaniards vniustly detaine from him And this can myselfe testifie as hauing séene it with my owne eyes for vpon a certaine curiositie I trauailed thither two yeares since euen to know whether that which I had heard to the contrarie were true or no. True it is that matters are otherwise ordered in his soueraignetie of Bearne which is because at his comming thereto he so found them yea so well established for the space of certaine yeares during the life of his late mother the Quéene of Nauarre that it were very hard yea vnpossible to make any alteration which also is dangerous vnlesse any greater benefit be verie apparant Secondly his house is full of Catholike gentlemen which serue him euen in his most priuate and notable offices neither did hee euer make anie difficultie with great courtesie to receyue all those that offered them selues This is no token that he will otherwise deale whensoeuer hee shall obtaine our estate neither will I vse any more then one reason gathered of the likelihood yea vnlesse I be deceiued of the verie trueth It is not likely that this Prince séeing himselfe exalted vnto the throne would after so many troubles séeke other then peace so farre would he be from taking occasion of warre with his subiects whose affections he had rather captiuate then estrange whereupon he will alwaies like that his subiects should maintaine their accustomed religion prouided that the insolencie of these harebraines who séeke but to trouble the water and then to blame the lambes least they should faile of some pretence to deuoure them doe permit him the like He may alwaies consider that the Catholikes parte is well vnderpropped that if his were inuincible so is the other and therefore that hee shall haue a better hand by maintaining of it then by drawing vpon his estate the cursse of the people and vpon his conscience the destruction thereof as also I will adde the other of his house being Catholikes hauing so good part therein hee will be the more careful for their sakes But what we doe according to the prouerbe striue for the Bishops cope and to no purpose doe deuide the inheritance of the liuing who peraduenture may outline all those that dispute of thinges to come after his death yea it séemeth we share out the webbe of his life at our pleasures but albeit it bee not lawfull to moue this question yet may we resolue it to the end to take away all doubts from those that bréeds preiudice to peace and the common wealth And indéede it is as much as to complaine of ease Well you sée that the king of Nauars troupes doe at this day consist as well of the one as of the other sorte likewise that concord remaineth amongst them whereas the best of their profession that cometh amongst vs must bee imprisoned ransomed from all his goodes yea and finally suffer that death which hee hath not deserued These be monsters they must be choaked vp and many times for the satisfying of the rage of the enimies to the State we are forced to iniurie our owne selues I know that the most malicious among them doe vse to gird at this the king of Nauarres facilitie as if the same were the baites wherewith he séeketh to draw vs into his nettes but no man can doe so wel as to please all men still there is some thing to be misliked and mens fansies must be tormented for their pleasures How would it haue béene if in the beginnig abandoning his owne religion for our pleasures he had taken ours Then would they haue said it had béen to curry fauor with vs that he so counterfeited to the end to deceiue vs that outwardly hee had beene a Catholike and inwardly reformed in his conscience that he had not cast his olde skin that yet he smelt of the faggot that we must waite for his perseuerance so to know