Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	according_a	good_a	law_n	1,316	5	4.6145	4	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

fauor their cause because of the onely token of persecution Thus haue I learned to iudge by a place that lately I redde in S. Hierom heretofore one of the famous priests of the Romish Church He saith he that is pursued doth imitate Christ but he that pursueth or persecuteth is Antichrist Not that I meane to iustifie all those heretikes whom our kinges haue suppressed as the Gothes who were Arrians and of late the Anabaptists for they were monsters of whom the first subuerted the groundes of our saluation namely the diuinitie of Iesus an intollerable case among Christians and yet the warre that hath béene leauied against them had other foundations than religion The Anabaptists besides their apparant errors in religion did also peruert the right of magistrates and both the one and the other were by one consent condemned euen in the most reformed Churches As for the Albigeois following such ancient recordes as I haue found contrarie to the writings of our Historiographers I feare they were oppressed rather vppon stomacke then equitie But I wil leaue those passed examples and come onely to the reason of things present I could well like to haue our Church purged from heresies and heretikes but I must withall mistike the polluting of it with our owne bloud neither can I thinke these so violent meanes to be either lawfull or sufficient Iesus Christ tooke a whippe to driue the money chaungers out of the temple but wee are farre inough from doing the like For those men did not falsifie the Law or the Prophets but verie vnfitly they made the house of God which was ordained onely for prayer their market place They did abuse the holy place with profane trafike and so consequently this punishment of Iesus Christ was but politike Considering that in the meane time he was ordinarily conuersant among the priests Scribes and Pharisies entring and disputing in their Sinagogues and yet neuer laying hand vpon them albeit they were the verie falsifiers of the doctrine of Moses and the Prophecies of his own coming Our sauior Christs kingdom is not of this world the weapon wherewith he fighteth with his enimies are spirituall neither is his saluation purchased by mans arme how much more necessarie then were it to defend religion by the true vnderstanding of the scriptures by reformation of our liues by prayers and holy deuotion to the seruice of God by teaching the ignorant setting reasons against opinions and antiquitie against noueltie and to be briefe by hearkening to the voice of our shepeheard in lew of those who to the end to bewitch vs with their dreames doe shroude them selues vnder that title This is the cause why from henceforth I doe protest to depart from these cruelties which are but too ordinarie among vs and to begge pardon of the God of mercie whom I beséech with the truth of his word to shine into the bottomlesse gulses of my ignorance to the end that leaning no longer to the outward shew of men I may behold the righteousnes of this cause for the which these poore reformed persons doe so long and so constantly abide whatsoeuer the torments to them afforde notwithstanding all our torments they shake not and that is it that shaketh me yea and I wonder that the losse of their goods maketh them not to abandon their religion Their benefit must be verie great sith so many calamities can not make them to giue it ouer and we may well say that they haue a verie bright and large knowledge in that notwithstanding whatsoeuer hope of domesticall ease we propound they can neuer mistake I sée them lurke in euerie place depriued of their rents and beseeged with a thousand necessities and yet can neuer be banished their assemblies and patient bearing of their opressions Surely they are not so senselesse as vpon pleasure to suffer so many inconueniences so that of necessitie they must bee inuited and strengthened by some stronger matter then the frailtie of this world Willingly could I ioine with Gamaliel and say That if this reformed religion be of God it is in vaine for man to labour to destroy it if it be not of him it will vanish of it selfe Howbeit I séeke not to take the sword from the magistrate but gladly I would beat iudgement into his head wherby he might discerne the bonds of his duetie for it is not inough to doe a mans duetie but he must doe it conueniently according to the circumstances of time place and persons which are the ordinarie rules of our actions Extreame law is extreame iniurie say the lawers and that vpon good reason Nothing can be more iust then to punish the rebels of a common wealth as men guiltie of treason but it may so happen that this iustice may be pernitious and as a man may say vniust If the whole bodie of a towne or prouince shoulde rise against their Soueraigne yet if they should fall againe into his hands he ought to preferre the conseruation of so many persons before their destruction because of the great benefit that would ensue therof namely the preseruation of one portion of his realme as lately did the L. Constable at Burdeaux and the Romane Senate many times with the peoples mutinies whereas contrarie wise the violences of Silla and Marius who put their fellow citizens euen by thousands to the sword were detestable and almost vnworthie to be spoken off When the mischiefe is so great as it can not be cured without euident danger it is better to tollerate it in the weake parte than to lose all as it happeneth to those of whom when the palsie hath taken hold of halfe the bodie no wise phisition will counsell to diuide it from the other halfe that is yet in health Now if this consideration may take place in all diseases simply much more then in such as are of long continuance and lightly more vncurable then the later euen so then when one parte of a state is by whatsoeuer meanes deuided from the other wee must bee verie warie of making them to méete especially when such means bringeth now vtter confusion to the whole bodie and that the infected partes be noble and essentiall for in a mischiefe in a maner vniuersall tolleration in it selfe is farre more necessary then the triall of the vtter rooting of it out when it passeth our strength that there is so great equalitie that the combat ought still to be in doubt And such are those which we terme necessarie euils which beeing preserued doe also preserue the subiect whereto they are adioyned and ought as a man should say to be more curiously entreated then health it selfe Howbeit this similitude may in one respect be maimed for such an inconuenience may grow in a state that it will be most necessarie to oppose the whole for the whole and not before trial of the gentle most louing means And in a monarchie wee must aduenture euē the crown and scepter against him that aduentureth

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

wrongfully to take it away And why because that euerie defensiue warre is most lawfull and especially when your whole state is called into question Yea which is more you are by nature bound therto and in case you bee retchlesse therein you do inwardly betraie your country The like is it in all matters wherevpon dependeth your authoritie togither with the preseruation of your rightes which ought to be inuiolable It is therfore the duetie of euerie soueraigne magistrate diligently to watch and vpon necessitie stoutly to employ himselfe But so long as the state is not touched there can be no cause sufficiēt to set the Monarke against his subiects so farre must hee be from shrowding himselfe with the vaile of religion to oppresse his realme notwithstanding whatsoeuer the diuersities thereof especially if the number of the contrarie partie bée innumerable also that tolleration may be a manifest occasion of rest Wherefore albeit these pretended reformed were the most damnable heretikes in the worlde yet considering the multitude of them the good Townes and almost all the good prouinces which they enioy with the mightie valiant Captaines that support them it were but in vaine for vs to enterprise to assaile them from whō we can bring nothing but the tokens of their stomackes notwithstanding whatsoeuer forrain succour we haue had to support vs that they haue hitherto resisted vs with the faction onely that they haue in France So far shall we be from doing them anie harme at all if they get their forren helpe Besides this we cannot well cast them off from amongst vs without extreme inhumanitie for for the most part they be conioyned vnto vs by consanguinitie and all generally by like participation of one selfe countrie Far are we from conforming our selues to the Israelites who by a certaine iust permission of God suffered the Iebusites to dwell in Ierusalem albeit the proportion betwéene vs and the reformed were without comparison greater then betwéene them either to the great Emperor Theodosius who as witnesse Epiphanius and Tertullian Doctors of the Church and men woorthie credite during his Empire tollerated an hundred sectes but especially the Arrians whom thrée or foure Emperors before him had fauoured who wer founded both by prescription of time and by eight Councels which had confirmed their heresie after the same of Nice and namely the Councell of Arimini where sixtie Bishops mainteined Arrianisme onelie thrée persons stucke to the trueth and yet Theodosius himselfe perseuered constantly in true religion wherin he caused his children to bee instructed and so did more weaken Arrianisme then hee coulde haue done by anie violence of decrées which he surceased I will not bring in for example the Turke who tollerateth all kindes of religion for that I minde to kéepe the Christians within Christendome but surely he doeth the more stedfastly establish his estate for that men being glad of libertie care not for troubling his estate that graunteth them peace Behold Germany Poleland you shal sée no nation so diuers in religion as they and yet can they ioyne in a common peace neither doo the diuision of opinions diuide their estates As for the Catholike king he at the first established his Inquisition so surelie that these reformed haue had no great opportunitie to settle themselues in Spaine but for the low Countries hée cannot yet compasse it there which redoundeth to the great detriment confusion of his affaires how good a face soeuer hée set vpon the matter But God hath giuen him that bone to gnaw vpon least he should imploy his great wealth to the destruction of any his mightie neighbor which with the incredible treasure that this Flemish warre hath wasted he might peraduenture haue done yet doe I not thinke but euerie of you doe abhorre the infinite mischiefes which his obstinacie hath bred for through the naturall loue that is rooted in vs we iudge more fréely of others then of our selues and in déede wee haue taken pittie of them witnesse the French troupes at sundrie times led thither and euen lately the same which the late Monsieur brought albeit the whole haue had but had successe either for our honors or the profite of those poore tirannized people Howbeit we haue alwaies in apparance shewed what griefe wee haue conceyued of their desolation and therfore notwithstanding whatsoeuer controuersie of religion the Catholike French could runne to their succour albeit we haue conuerted our furie against the same faction among vs so diuers haue wee beene to helpe some and to oppresse other some euen those to whom we were more bound to shew fauour and curtesie Neuerthelesse I will not say that the Catholikes tended chiefely to aide the reformed in Flanders simply in respect of their religion but I pretend thereby onely to shew that they haue all great reason to maintain their felow countrimen who shroud them selues vnder the same cloake of reformation as to succour strangers Concerning these men they propound to them selues charitie towardes their neighbors and hatred of the Spaniard with the desire of his destruction neither haue wee feared to make the Catholikes protectors of the Reformed against the Catholikes and yet doo we make a conscience to vse the like curtesie to ours against our selues which wee might with much more ease profit and commoditie doe considering that thereof doe depend the preseruation eminencie of the estate Thus much haue I thought good now to say vnto you concerning this matter beséeching you my maisters to examine my reasons thereto to adde suche as your discretions are able to performe whereby wee all may procure the restoring of our affaires In the name of God doe I exhort you to enter into so déepe consideration of our miseries and the difficultie or rather impossibilitie of our purposes that we may shortly after manie stormes taste of some tranquillitie bearing faithfull counsels to the king in this matter according as by the duetie of your functions you are bound The kingdome of Christ is destinate to troubles true but woe vnto those that are the causers thereof This sacred shepeheards shéepe ought not to become wolues or they to whom Christ hath commanded peace to make warres or Gods children to murder their bretheren But I speake only to you my maisters whom I acknowledge to bee the principall court which at this day doe minister whatsoeuer motion you list to our affaires consider that it is your parts to become mediators in all these funerall diuisions to reunite if not in religion yet at the least in peace al these partakers which are so fleshed one against an other Hitherto haue you béen content to cast your torches betwéene our armies and sodenly after the maner of the auncient Priests of Rome to retire into place of safetie Now is it time for you to run and quench them otherwise you shall daily lose your great supporters and in the ende grow so weake that they whom you thinke weakest shall ouer