gallantly defended by the Duke of Guise till the Imperial Army moulder'd away and was made despicable by the sword sickness and grievous winter weather and at length was forc'd to make a pitiful Retreat from it after which that great Prince retir'd to a Cloister and from it to another world So did that Emperours Great Grandfather Charles of Burgundy with a great deal of vanity but with a greater deal of loss continue his Siege of Nuise as it were in despight of the Roman Emperour and all the Princes of Germany till he was forc'd to sneak away from it with dammage and dishonour enough So did Rocandolf continue the Siege of Buda notwithstanding all the prayers and perswasions of all his great Officers to the contrary to the utter undoing of a rich and a gallant Army as hath been told you in another place But as in ancient times so in our late European Wars it hath been an ordinary To raise a Siege without taking the place no dishonour thing for brave Generals to raise their Sieges either upon the intelligence of the advance of a strong succourse or some other weighty consideration So did the great Gustavus raise his Siege from Ingolstadt in Bavaria The Swedish Felt-Marshal Banier from Leipsick in Saxony His Successor Torstenson from Birn in Silesia and Wrangle who succeeded him from Eggar in Bohemia So did Instances Wallenstein from the Sieges of both Magdeburg and Stralsund So did Marquess Spinola raise his Siege from Bergen op Zoom upon Count Mansfeld's conjunction with Maurice Prince of Orange and was not asham'd to bury some of his Cannon that he might make his Retreat with more expedition So did that same Prince Maurice raise the Siege he had form'd at Groll upon Spinola's advance towards him And so did his Brother Henry Prince of Orange rise from Venlo upon the approach of the Cardinal Infant But if a General be well provided and there is no sickness in his Army and if he have strong hopes to To march from a besieged Fort to fight an Enemy hazzardous carry the place he ought not to leave it unless it be to fight the succourse that is coming to it This hath been often practis'd sometimes unfortunately and sometimes successfully Take a few instances of both Count Tili left the Siege of Leipsick march'd toward the King of Sweden who came to relieve the Town and fought him but to his great loss So did the Duke of Weymar and the Suedish Felt-Marshal Gustavus Horne leave the Siege of Nordling and march'd Instances to fight the Hungarian King but with the loss of the day and their Army too But that same Duke of Weimar had afterwards better fortune when he besieg'd Brisac from the Siege whereof he rose twice and fought the Armies that were sent to relieve the Town and return'd both times to the Siege crown'd with Laurel So did the Swedish Army leave the Siege of Hameln that Town out of which they say a Piper plaid first all the Rats and next all the Children and of the last none returned and met the Imperial Army which advanc'd to relieve it and sought with Victory So did the French and English leave the Siege of Dunkirk not many years ago and fight Don Juan d'Austria and beat him But if the Besieging Army be well and strongly entrench'd against an Enemy To lye still entrench'd notwithstanding of any succourse both within and without the Town and want for no provisions he should make no such hazzard but lye still and when a succourse comes it must either look on and leave the attempt or storm the Besiegers fortified Camp If the succourse be forc'd to march back without doing his errand then the Besieger is master of the Town or Fort. So did the Duke of Alva when he besieg'd Mons in Henault keep himself within his fortified Camp and endur'd all the bravadoes of William Prince of Orange who came with an Army out of Germany to relieve the Town the Duke knowing well that the Prince for want of Money would in a short time be forc'd to disband his Army If he who comes with the succourse resolves to storm the Besiegers fortified Camp he doth it with as To storm an entrenched Camp often unsuccessful much disadvantage as an Army without shelter can fight with one that is entrench'd and seldome such attempts are successful Hannibal try'd it at the Siege of Capua and though he did it both skilfully cunningly and couragiously yet after he had storm'd the Roman Camp and was beat off he was forc'd to leave that rich and great City to be a prey to it s exasperated Enemy Count Pappenheim though a brave Captain yet gave cause to question his discretion very much when he was so lavish of his Master the Emperours Souldiers at a time when he had so much need of them against the Victorious King of Sweden as to storm the fortified Camp of Henry Prince of Orange at Maestricht where he left not so few as 1500 dead men on the place besides as many more who were wounded The Prince followed a precedent was given him by Spinola when he besieg'd Breda who kept himself within his Trenches constantly when first Maurice and then Henry Prince of Orange and Count Mansfield offered him Battel and beat off likewise some assaults more made on some places of his Camp by that same Prince Henry and Sir Horatio Vere When an Army that hath attempted the relief of a Town hath retir'd and is either baffled or beaten the Governour of the besieged place may with reputation Of rendition yield on honourable conditions which will not be so good as they would have been before but be what they will they ought to be punctually and inviolably kept but of this I shall speak in another place If a Besieger obtain a Victory over the Army that comes to relieve the besieged place some think To drive Prisoners to the Port of a besieged Town he may drive all his Prisoners to the Ports of the Town and if the Governour will not take them in he may suffer them to starve But I can find no reason why the Governour should admit them and far less why the Victorious General should have respited their lives from the Sword to put them to a more merciless Death yet I saw some part of this practis'd at that Town of Hammeln whereof I spoke but just now for after the defeat of the Imperial Army the Swedish General sent all the Prisoners who were no fewer than three thousand to the Ports of the Town but the Governour gave entrance to none of them But I conceive this was done only to frighten the Garrison out of the thoughts of further resistance and to give them within assurance that their Friends were defeated and not to starve those poor Creatures But the matter came not to the tryal for next day the Governour sought a Parley and
ever have extirpated the City and name of the Romans Here Rome was fav'd not at all by the Senates prudence but by her Enemies negligence Seventhly Their custome to recall their Consuls and Proconsuls at Seventh the end of every year unless by mighty favour or invincible necessity they were continued which made their Generals either desperately hazard Battel or grant an advantagious and honourable Peace to their almost conquered Enemies lest their Successors should have the honour to finish the War Take these instances Sempronius against all reason would needs fight Hannibal at Trebia before his Colleague Publ. Scipiâ— was recover'd of his wound for fear new Consuls should come and rob him of the glory of the Victory The like fear made Titus Flaminius grant an advantagious Peace to Nabis the Tyrant of Lacedaemon when Titus was almost Master of all Greece So did Scipio the African to the vanquish'd Carthaginians after he had beat Hannibal at Zama publickly professing that the ambitious desires of Claudius and Cornelius who aspired to succeed him and put an end to that long War was the cause he did not finish it himself wanting time with the destruction of Carthage Eighthly Their extraordinary superstition beyond all other Nations They Eighth must sacrifice great and small Beasts make Processions Lectisterniums and Supplications to all their Gods and Goddesses who were not a few not only some days but sometimes some weeks before their Generals were permitted to march from the City whereby time and occasion not to be recovered in the matter of War were very frequently lost All this must be done to pease their angry Deities when any prodigies were seen or heard of either within or without the City for some whereof natural reasons might have been given some of them were palpable and ridiculous lyes and not a few of them compos'd either by the State or the Priests to cheat the credulous vulgar and yet with the relation of them Titus Livius even nauâ—eates his Reader insomuch that Boccalini tells us in one of his Raguagli that when Dion was severely reprov'd in Parnassus before Apollo for writing such fabulous Miracles Livius was observ'd to blush as guilty of the same crime yet Boccalini's own Tacitus and Suetonius use us very â—ittle better Livy tells us of several Oxen that spoke particularly of one that said Cave Tibi Roma But I wonder why many more poor mens Oxen did not learn to speak since this Oxe for his seasonable warning in bidding Rome beware of herself was order'd to be fed on the publick charge Suetonius tells us of a Crow which towards the end of Dâ—mitians Reign told the Romans from the Capitol That all should be well If she had not lov'd her liberty better than her meat she had not flown away but stay'd still and been fed at the publick expence of the City and perhaps been worshipp'd as Fatidick for things did indeed grow well after that Monsters death yet methinks she was a very ill natur'd Bird that would not tell so good news in the vulgar language which was Latin for you are to know she spoke in Greek that the poor people of Rome who were oppress'd by that bloody Tyrant might have understood the comfortable Prophecy as well as the fabulous Priests I pray you take the Story in Verse Tarpeio nuper sedit quae culmine cornix Est bene non potuit dicere dixit Erit Vpon the Capitol the Crow Did not say All was well But That things shortly well should go Distinctly she did tell Nor must the Roman Generals go out of Rome till they took their auspices right nor must they fight if the entrails of the Sacrificed Beasts did not fully please the jugling Priests or yet if the Sacred Pulleâ—s did not eat their meat well and it was well enough known how the Chicken masters couzen'd the Consuls oft enough with the eating or not eating of the Chicken it being almost constantly in their power to make the Consuls give Battel or abstain from it when they pleas'd Julius Caesar would not be so cheated for though the Hostia which he was to Sacrifice run away from him which was thought to presage had fortune yet went he on to Africk and at his landing there his foot tripping he fell this his Souldiers thought very ominous but he gave it another interpretation and said He had taken possession of the Countrey Teneo te Africa But contrary to what I have said appear two famous Authors Machiavelli and Polybius The first in his first Book of his Discourses on Titus Livius makes the Romans tenacious adâ—ering to Machiavelli their superstition which he calls Religion to be one of the causes of their aggrandizing their Empire and commends them much for â—uffering no Innovation to be introduc'd in their Holy Rites yet all he doth upon the matter is to shew that the Ancient Romans made a prudent use of their pretended Religion and under the notion of it govern'd their Common-wealth politickly But I say first that is but one of his own conjectures and notwithstanding any thing he saith to the contrary I suppose those Romans were as eally superstitious as they pretended to be even the Senators themselves and himself in the eleventh Chapter of that Book avers that there was never greater fear of God for many ages than in that ancient Republick then by his own account it was no pretended but a real Religion And is not this â—ound Christian Doctrine to aver that the fear of God was where Devils under the notion of Deities were publickly ador'd and worshipp'd Secondly I say if the Roman Senate was to be commended for not suffering any alteration to be made in that Religion which their second King Numa Pompilius had establish'd amongst them then by Machiavell's rule we must approve of all the persecutions of the Heathen Emperours against the Christians for thereby they did but endeavour to banish all new Religions out of their Dominions Truly I think that not any one part of that Florentines Writings smells ranker of Atheism than this doth But Polybius an universally approv'd Author speaks very near Polybius the same language in the sixth Book of his History where he saith that that which with other Nations was accounted a Vice was made useful by the Romans for keeping their Subjects within the bounds of their duty and that was saith he the superstitious veneration of their Gods in an extraordinary way but withal he adds that the Romans did well to restrain the fury and other passions of the Commons with unseen terrours with feign'd and fearful bug-bears and that both they and other Ancient Nations had done prudently to induce in credulous minds the opinion of Deities and of the torments of Hell and though these have no existency yet the Doctrine of them saith he is not to be rashly condemn'd since it over-awes the vulgar Whether this Discourse will not prove Polybius though he knew not
them In that same place he tells us of the Conditions on which a Triumph was granted which were these He must have kill'd five thousand Enemies at least won much spoil and augmented the Roman Dominions and Estates Yet the same Livy tells us in his Fortieth Book that P. Cornelius and M. Babius Triumphed over the Ligurians who had yielded themselves without fighting so here was Triumph without bloodshed Triumphs were not granted to those who had prevail'd over a Roman Army this render'd Casar odious to the Populacy because he would needs Triumph for his Victory in Spain over young Pâ—mpey neither did that Invincible Captain out-live that Triumph six Months Ovations were granted to meaner persons and for lesser Victories he who Ovation entered ovant either went on foot or on Horseback but had not his Army to follow him he carried a branch of Mirtle in his hand and the people in their Acclamations cried Ohe or Oho and by this it would seem it was Ohatiâ— and not Ovatio some think it had its denomination above because the Victor Sacrificed a sheep The Prisoners were led before the Triumphant Chariot and so soon as it turned â—owards the Capitol they were taken to the place of execution anâ— put to death so you may be sure that all were not merry in that day of joy This certainly was a most barbarous and inhumane custom wherewith the Enemy of Mankind inspir'd that Warlike Nation Chains of Gold Chains of Gold were likewise given to deserving persons by most of the Ancients and were looked upon as rewards proper to Militaty persons as in some places they are used yet To him saith Polybius who first mounted to the Wall of an assaulted City was given a Crown of Gold as also to him who saved a Roman Citizen or Ally from being kill'd by an enemy upon whom the party who was saved was obliged to look as his Saviour and was compell'd to set the Crown on his head if he did not do it willingly The first Crown was called Corona Muralis or a Wall-Crown Mural Crown Citizen-Crown the second Corona Civica or the Citizen-Crown This is all that we have from Polybius of Rewards except that he tells us that those who received these gifts when they returned to Rome might make shew of them at solemn Games and Assemblies which indeed was no small honour for them since none were permitted to wear them but those who had deserved them and these badges of honour they had liberty to place at the posts of the doors of their houses or in the most conspicuous places of their dwellings to be seen by all who past by or came in to visit them In conspectissima adium parte saith our Author But I find in other stories that the Crown which was given to him who sav'd a Roman was of Oak it may be the Golden one was given to him who saved a Oakeâ— Crown Citizen without the death of the enemy and the Oaken Crown to him who both saved him and kill'd the enemy who had endanger'd the Roman A Crown of Gold was given to him who first entered the enemies Camp and was called Campal Crown Naval-Crown Corona Castrensis A Crown of Gold was given to him who in a Naval Battel first entered an enemies Ship and was called Corona Navalis A Crown of Gold was given to any Commander for doing any gallant piece of service An Olive-Crown Olive-Crown was given to him who carried himself eminently in Battel But the most honourable Crown of all was the Obsidional one which was given to him who Obsidional Crown succoured or relieved a besieged City Castle or Camp for if he who saved one Citizens life deserved a Crown much more he who saved a City wherein the lives of so many Citizens were concerned This Crown of relieving the besâ—eged was of grass or flowers because in these times it was a custom that these who were vanquished and reduced to obedience presented their Conquerours with grass herbs or flowers Neither do I think it was bad policy besides the humanity of it after the loss of a Battel or some other disaster to comfort the Soldiers by laying the blame on fortune some mistake or accident imputing no blame to the Soldiers thereby encouraging them to wipe away the stain of their mishap by some gallant and glorious atchievement This To comfort the Vanquish'd was excellently practised by Câ—sar after his Army was bafled at the storm of Pompeys Camp and to the proposal of rewards to those who fought well and comfort to those who were overcome doth Virgil allude in the fifth of his Aeneids Sic ait geminum pugnae proponit honorem Victori velatum auro vittisque juvencum Eâ—sâ—m atque insignem galeam solatia victo A Combats twofold prize he doth propone A Bull with gilded horns he gives to one To others he presents fair Helms and Swords And to the vanquish'd comfortable words Thus you see the Romans at best were severe enough in their punishments and in their rewards frugal many times exorbitant in the first and Parsimonioâ—s in the second yet as the Proverb goes Better half a loaf than no breâ—d Better small rewards than no rewards at all CHAP. XXV Polybius his Comparison of the Macedonian Phalanx and the Roman Legion review'd IT is a common saying he who wins plays best yet it is not universally true for very often the expertest Gamesters are losers and so we find in aâ— ages that great Captains and well train'd Armies have not always been victorious yet I am not of the opinion that the success of the Roman Armies under the Conduct of Flaminius and Aemilius against the two Macedoniâ—n Kings Philip and Perseus moved Polybius to give the Palm and Garland to the Legion when he compared it with the Phalange towards the end of the Seventeenth Book of his excellent History for to attribute either the justness of a cause or yet the good or bad order of an Army to contingent events were to Careat successibus optâ— Quisquis ab eventu facta notand◠〈…〉 stint the power of Heaven which both the Author and all Pagans then did acknowledg to be in their gods and leave nothing to that Eternal Providence which we adore by the direction whereof the actions of Mortals are govern'd and is in nothing more visible than in the successes and rouâ—â— of Arâ—â—es And therefore the Soveraign Lord of the World takes to himself the Title of Lord of Hosts the smallest and most inconsiderable accidents in War which are all appointed by the finger of the Almighty being able to produce most unexpected changes as Caesar well observed There hath been therefore other reasons that mov'd so rational and judicious an Author as Polybius was both famed and known to be to prefer the Legion to the Phalange other reasons I say than success and if I guess right at his meaning you may take them
left an Honourable employment in which he had gain'd much reputation and went to his own Countrey to commence a War against his Prince for being illiterate he was not able to discern that he was fighting against Gods Ordinances when he suffer'd himself to be perswaded by some skilful and learned men that he was to fight for the cause of God That Souldier who serves or fights for any Prince or State for wages in a cause he knows to be unjust sins damnably and stands in need of both a sudden and serious repentance But alas how few of them can discern and again alas how few of them study to discern and inform themselves of the Justice or Unjustice of a cause Besides it is the sad fate of many of them that being engaged in a foreign Prince's service even in a just cause when that War is at an end the Prince begins a new War and an unjust one but will not permit his Souldiers to leave his service as being tyed to him by their Military Sacrament yet I think if foreign Souldiers knew the War to be unjust in such a case they should desert their employments and suffer any thing that can be done to them before they draw their Swords against their own Consciences and Judgements in an unjust quarrel Grotius tells us that St. Austin says Militare non est delictum propter praedam St. Austinâ— defended militare est peccatum To be a Souldier says the Father is no crime but to serve in the Wars for booty is a sin and I shall say so too Yet neither St. Austin nor Grotius dare aver but a Souldier after the Victory may take a share of the booty It was a common practice of Gods people the Israelites and it is no where forbidden in Gods word Austine's meaning then must be to fight meerly for Booty without any other motive is a sin and so I say too But observe that the Father says not Militare propter mercedem est peccatum To fight for wages is a sin for indeed iâ— is no sin for a meer Souldier to serve for wages unless his Conscience tells him he fights in an unjust cause but Grotius adds Imo propter stipendium militare peccaâ—um est si id unice praecipâ—e spectâ—â—ur Yea to fight for wages says he is a sin if wages be chiefly and only look'd to What if I grant him all this it will not follow that the profession of pure and only Souldiery without any other trade is unlawful If some Souldiers serve only for wages without any consideration of the cause all do not â—o But what if the Souldier cannot know whether the cause for which he fights be just or unjust nay what if he conceive the cause to be most just whâ—n it is truly in it self most unjust shall we not presume that in such a case invincible Ignorance may plead an excuse with a merciful God assuredly it should prevail much with the charity Christ hath commanded men to bear one to another I am of the opinion if De Grot had writ thus when his Masters the Estates of the Sâ—vâ—n Vnited Provinces commenc'd their War against the King of Spain they would have given him but very sorry thanks for such doctrine for they stood then in great need of men as perhaps they do this very day and whether their quarrel with Philip the Second who undoubtedly was their Soveraign one way or other was just or unjust was strongly debated among the wiâ—est States-men Politicians Divines and Lawyers in all Europe and therefore could not be discerned by every dull and block-headed Souldier it was enough for them to believe what their Masters said That the cause was just and therefore very lawful for them to serve for wages And if those Estates had not begun the War till all those who serv'd them whose only trade was Souldiery had been satisfied in their Judgements and Consciences concerning the justice of the War I dare affirm they had never been either Free or Soveraign Estates What Judgement shall we make of all the Civil Wars of Germany France and Great Britain certainly the cause of both parties could not be just and yet no doubt all or most of each party thought their own cause the most just and the only just cause shall we therefore cast all whose quarrel was most unjust into the ever-burning flames of Hell God forbid Ignorance was the greatest sin of most of them though it may be feared many of the Leaders of the faction sinn'd against Conscience and Judgement The late King of Sueden Charles Gustavus invaded Poland in the year 1655. examine the matter rightly it was a most perfect breach of the twenty six years Truce concluded and sworn in the year 1635. there being yet six years to run but the poverty of the Suedish Court of the Grandees and General persons concurring with the unlimited Ambition of that Martial King trod upon all bonds of Equity Law and Justice and carried on that Invasion and that Kings Manifesto though the poorest that ever was published was so gilded over with seeming reasons for the justification of his Arms that thousands not piercing further than the external pretences were fool'd into a belief that the cause was just and were content to serve him for pay What Court of Justice can condemn those Innocents for sin yet if De Grot presided in it they would be condemn'd to the Gallows and perhaps worse as fedifragous and perjur'd Breakers of the Laws of Nations Robbers and Thieves It is question Whether those Souldiers who made their address to John the John the Baptist Baptist serv'd in a just and lawful War or not For my part I think they did not yet they serv'd their Master the Roman Emperour for pay and thought the cause just which I am confident justified their service in an ill cause otherwise the Baptist was oblig'd to tell them their quarrel was unjust and if they continued in that service they sinn'd damnably but he rather encourag'd them to serve still and be content with their pay and wrong no man Grotius would have handled them more roughly That the cause wherein they serv'd was unjust and unlawful I demonstrate thus Whether Pompey and Crâ—ssus made War in the name of the Roman Senate against the Jews justly and lawfully shall not be the debate though I think they did not but whether that War was just or not Julius Câ—sar usurping the State alter'd the case for as he had no just right to the Soveraignty of Rome so he had as little to Judea After his death the Senate and People of Rome resumes the Soveraignty but kept it not long for it was soon taken from them by Octavius Antony and Lepidus and so reduc'd to a Triumvirate Antony and Octavius quickly robb'd Lepidus of his third and so divided the Empire into two parts each of them usurping the Soveraignty of his own share to which neither of them
men who profess the name of Christ than either Grotius or Machiavel If I mistake not that great Doctor of the Gentiles thought the Art of Souldiery consider'd a part and distinguish'd from all other Arts either Liberal or Mechanical very lawful and therefore compar'd not the professors of it to infamous people such as Grotius knew Hangmen to be On the contrary the Apostle proposes a pure Souldier who waited only on his own Art of War as a fit example for his Son Timothy to follow Read the third and fourth verses of the second Chapter of his Second Epistle to Timothy you will find these words Thou therefore endure hardness at a good Souldier of Jesus Christ No man that Warreth entangleth himself with the things of this life that he might please him who hath hired him to be a Souldier The French Translation hath it the affairs of this life the Italian the doings of this life the German hath it no Warriour seeks another livelihood This is much and more than I desire for I think it were good for Souldiers to have learned some othe Art or Trade than that of Souldiery only Deodati expounds these words in the doings of this life that is says he in such affairs such Art or such Trades as may hinder a Souldier in his duty of Souldiery Be that as it will I avouch That the Apostle in these words pronounceth the pure Art of a meer Souldier without any other Art or Trade to be most lawful else he had made no apposite comparison between Timothy and a Souldier which I presume none who hath read Paul's Epistles and believes them to be endited by the Holy Ghost will be so impious as to fancy By this Text a Christian man may very lawfully apply himself to the profession of pure Souldiery without learning any other Art or Trade And I think also that Timothy was exhorted if not commanded to apply himself only to the Ministry of the Gospel and to no other Art yet if he had learn'd any other way of livelihood before Paul circumcis'd him it would not have been forbid him Paul himself before his conversion had learn'd to be a Tent-maker which he exercis'd for his livelihood when he preach'd the Gospel Luke the Evangelist before his Baptism was a Physician which no doubt he practis'd all the time he accompanied St. Paul in his Voyages But I think by this Text men are forbid to learn any other Art after they are actual Ministers of the Gospel And therefore I conceive Church-men are forbid to have plurality of Professions which perhaps they will be contented to hear with better will than to have it told them That plurality of Benefices is forbidden the Clergy But because Grotius hath made use of St. Austine's authority against me in St. Austinâ—'s authority this question which I have cleared I shall presume to cite that same Father in defence of my cause It is true I have read but few of his learned Books but the passage I mind to speak of I have read cited by a very worthy and credible Author and though he cites it for another purpose yet finding it makes very much for mine I could not chuse but make use of it The words are in one of his Books against the Manichees and are these Non est potest as niâ—i à Deo â—ive â—nbâ—nte sive sinente Ergo vir justus si fortè sub Rege etiam Sacrilego militat rectè potest illo jubente Bellare quemadmodum enim Regem facit reum Iniquit as imperandi ita Innocentem Militem facit ordo serviendi English me this Monsieur de Grot but because you eâ—ther cannot or will not I both can and will There is no power says he but from God either commanding or permitting it therefore if sometimes a Righteous man serves as a Souldier under a Sacrilegious King he may lawfully fight when he is commanded for as the sin of commanding makes that King Guilty so the obedience of serving makes that Souldier Innocent This is more than I have yet said this great and pious Divine seems to me to assert That a Souldiers Art is not only lawful but that he is bound to fight when commanded even in a cause the Justice whereof does not appear to him yea though the Injustice of it be made apparent to him But assuredly St. Austin meant to except those things which are diametrically against the word and Will of God for the rule holds firm and perpetual Better obey God than Man In other matters the Souldier is not so strictly to examine the quarrel the sin of commanding to fight in an unjust cause rendering the Souldiers obedience in fighting blameless and innocent Hence it will follow That a profess'd Souldier who knows no other Art or Trade may lawfully make profession of his skill and practise it in any part of the World for wages so he fight not for those who are profess'd Enemies of the name of Christ against those who profess it for I do not at all doubt but Christian Souldiers who make a profession of Souldiery and have no other way of livelihood but to fight for wages may very lawfully serve either the Sophi of Persia or the great Mogul of India against the Great Turk because though they be all three equally blasphemous adorers of the Alcoran yet the Wars of the first two may divert the Grand Signior from the Invasion of Christendome Give me leave to take the help of another Doctor and Father of the Christian Tertu'lian's authority Church and that is Tertullian whom I find cited by many others to prove taking Arms against Soveraign power unlawful The passage is in that Apologetick which he wrote in vindication of the Primitive Christians persecuted by Heathen Emperours I shall only cite the words that I conceive make for my purpose Cui Bello non prompti fuimus cui Bello non idonâ—i etiam impares Copiis qui nunc tam libenter trucidamur To what War says he were we not fit to what War were we not ready though fewer in number of forces who now are content willingly to be slain In these words observe that profess'd Christians were Souldiers and fought willingly and without constraint and for pay too you may be sure under the Banners of Heathen yea Persecuting Emperours without examining the Justice of the War which ordinarily was very oft wanting with those Princes who measured the equity of their cause by the length of their Sword I doubt not but the War which the Tyrant Maximianus made was neither just nor lawful yet the Theban Legion consisting of six thousand Christians serv'd faithfully in that War and found no opposition in their Consciences to that Military employment But when that Pagan Emperour commanded them to Sacrifice to his false Deities and Idols then they flatly refus'd obedience knowing surely they were not oblig'd to disobey God by giving obedience to Man and offer'd their Throats to be