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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	according_a	law_n	time_n	1,531	5	3.5321	3	false

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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

nullitie of the iudgement which vndoubtedly is generall vntill by the reformation of those articles which we allow not there can bee no fault found therein For otherwise by taking and leauing what wee list wee shoulde play too open Such also the like priuiledge groweth of the same reason why will you not suffer the professors of the pretended reformed religion to enioy the like libertie of iudgement as your selues As for the parley at Poyssy I remember that the chiefe controuersie which concerned the sacrament of the altar was in a manner agréed also that looking into our owne consciences wee shall finde that our owne partakers vpon a politike discretion interrupted it lest the ouerthrow of that foundation shoulde haue pulled downe the whole building Euer since that time I imagined that it was well doone to sticke to antiquitie but since calling to mind that the ministers pleaded their cause out of the holy scriptures and the auncient Doctors conformable thereto I can not thinke but that except in respect of the time in case they verifie their allegations they can not be but well grounded and contrariwise that if wee speake but of the opinion of our Popes only who besides for the most part haue not béene the honestest men in the world we shall lose our cause outright But when I doe more nearely consider of your selues I doe runne into some further mistrust for can you that professe the vnderstanding and teaching of the scriptures want iudgement to comprehend them or fidelitie to deliuer them Shall these reformed persons haue that priuiledge aboue you to whome it hath béene purchased so long agoe Are you learned like to those high priestes mentioned in the holy scriptures among whom Gods law was perished Will God conceale his mysteries from your greatnes and reueale them to their basenes Can you forge vnto your selues anie Cabal in lew of the doctrine of Gods spirite Haue the subtilties of the serpent made you to rebell against your creator I dare not imagine thus much of you albeit your aduersaries doe sufficiently cast it in your téeth But I coulde rather wish them to abstaine from iniuring of you and to bee content simply to expound their owne sayings as also that you did the like by them howbeit you haue growne so far into wordes with them that we haue beene at handiblowes for your sakes whereby these braules doe séeme to bee the more irreconciliable wherein I said that hetherto we haue taken a verie wrong course in ministring a corsiue to the wound before we tryed such suppliant ointments as might peraduenture haue yéelded some ease The mischiefe was but in bréeding but we through our hastie and headlong procéedings haue sodenly brought it to extremitie so that in lew of appeasing these troubles of the Church wee haue also brought in the troubles of the Estate as if our peace depended onely vpon confusion yea we haue so shusled the Cardes that we can not finde againe the principall We all haue beene forced to grow so obstinate in your obstinacies that for the preseruing of you some haue hazarded and others quite lost them selues for the maintaining of your rents we haue spent our owne for your amitie we haue entred enmitie with our owne kinsmen vnder the pretence of the honour of God men haue shamefully entreated men to be briefe Religion hath caused vs in the insolencies of our warres to treade all religion vnder foote also whereas it had béene more méete and profitable gently to haue reduced those that were strayed to the folde wee haue beene their butchers In lew of shewing the way to those that went amisse wee haue thrust them into the mire in lew of presenting Ioseph vnto Iacob wee haue shewed onely his garment tainted in bloud whiles him selfe mourned in the pitte in lew of receyuing the angels with the conuersion of these miserable persons we haue made them sorrowfull through their deathes neuerthelesse God desireth not the death of a sinner but rather that he may bee conuerted and liue The holy Ghost speaketh of the spirituall death whereof we are the cause when we preuent their repentance with their destructions What profit haue you found in giuing vs counsell euen from the beginning to take arme against the pretended reformed Did you not meane that they should haue béene rooted out and we preserued haue yee your desires Are not you I pray you guiltie of the deathes of so many as vpon simplicitie haue followed your counsels with what consciences doe you staye vs to kill others are not you the executioners to both parties sée you not that in lew of diminishing their number you lessen ours that wee lose as many friendes on our owne partes as enimies of theirs that we can not weaken them without weakening of our selues what profit is there in this equalitie They render you blow for blow assault for assault battell for battell victorie for victorie and in the end you are alwaies forced to accept of their conditions of peace yet is there nothing that can make vs giue ouer We still play the kites with their bowels which neuerthelesse doe dayly grow vp againe we ordinarily draw away their bloud which neuer dryeth vp and which is worse we still incurre as much losse as we procure them and consuming our enimies doe wast our owne bloud and yet can not perceiue that you be any whit moued at our miseries as if our labours were your rest and our sorrowes your contentation you laugh when others wéepe and neuer cease thrusting forward the wheele of these calamities whereby to assure your felicitie But I can not finde that we haue any profit in all this and I wonder that our long expence which we haue had these twentie or twentie and fiue yeares can not instruct vs in our lesson This is the seuenth ciuill warre that wee haue leagued against these reformed and yet we are now to beginne True it is that we haue wun some victories but all is but vanitie if we haue gotten the field alas wee haue séene it couered likewise with a great part of our owne men and returning into our tents wee haue heard the mournings at our owne families At our departure thence what haue we done but made warre to the end to purchase peace what is become of all our purposes to roote out this people whom wee haue found so resolute in their defence we haue returned thence into our closets then with shame and misfortune then haue we sodden them againe but they that haue endeuoured to digest them haue found them to bee but fish And yet are wee so farre bewitched as among all these diseases to thinke that we be in health still there are some firebrands readie to kindle our dissentions and they that shoulde cast on water doe poure on oyle brimstone and pitch least the fire should goe out When I examine all these procéedings I leaue to the persecuted and in my doubt of religion I doe the more