eternall and that 't is built upon an immoveable Stone Though this Barke cannot perish nor make Shipwrack Though the Doctrine be infallible that hinders not but regard being had to the manners of particular persons but that some alteration may often happen in it That Compliance must be made with the time sayls shifted according to the nature of the winds which blow Relaxation from the severity of discipline and much submission to th' inclination of the people Miracles have founded the Church and th' Holy Ghost aydes it with his protection But it requires also that the prudence of Prelates should interpose to govern it Reason is not banished provided that it remaine subject to Faith and the Truths which have been proposed to us all naked and with the sole Authority of signes are not declared unto us by the Councills but after great inquiries and answerable consultations And nevertheless Prudence requires that in the Conduct of souls what is best in it self be not so much considered as what is most conformable to them That a violent subjection be not imposed upon them for fear least the yoak being made too heavy it give a desire to shake it off Heretofore the Churches Arms were very dreadfull and the greatest Princes tremble at the Noyse of th' Thunder of Rome The Prudence of Pastors who made no unlawfull use of their powers th' opinion had of their sanctity caused that they who were threatned held themselves at that instant culpable and that they had even fear of unjust excommunications But as there 's nothing so good which man doth not abuse nor any thing so holy which his Malice or fragility doth not corrupt It hath hapned that in these latter ages have been seen great alterations of Manners in Pastors and great abuses in th' exercise of Justice There was no fault of Boniface th' eighth and of Jules the second which did not passe the bounds of the Spirit which confines their power and instead of opening the Kingdome of Heaven whereof Jesus Christ had left them the keys endevoured to take away th' Interest of Lands from their true Masters and lawfull possessors Besides that the too frequent use of Excommunications and th' application thereof to matters of nothing The Scismes of the Popes which have vexed the Church and caused many persons to take up Arms who ought to have been governed by a single person All this is the cause that they are now lesse respected then they ought to be and make not sufficient impressions of terrour upon Christian Souls In effect There 's nothing that so much conserves the reverence due to Holy things as the Rarity nor that vilifies them more then to render them popular Those things principally which are of an Order superiour to the body and whose effects are not sensible and respect another Life then this have need of these precautions that they may be wholsome Insomuch that 't is to misunderstand it to draw a consequence from the time past when Ecclesiastique Discipline was in vigour the consciences of Christians docile when there was nothing but heate and flame among the faithfull when obedience was generall and that superiours had not so much use of a Spurre to provoke the love of virtue and to the pursuit of good as of a Bridle to retaine and to hinder th' excess by th' impetuosity of Zeal 'T is ill done I say to draw consequences from that time to this present time when not only Heretiques change the Truths received but Atheists assault the Principles of Faith and the Foundations of Religion In the dispensation of Ecclesiastical punishments The Prelates and the Soveraigne chief of the Church ought not to decline th' end for which God left then the power t' impose them Instead of building they ought not to pul down nor destroy a whole body in cutting of a perished member and sick part To conclude There 's nothing that Superiours spirituall or temporall ought more t' avoid nor wherein they ought to be more difficult than in putting their Authority to Reference and to make Lawes that are not observed 'T is t' offend against the forme of what they are and 't is much better to suffer Evills and to Tolerate abuses in a State then to discover its wants of power in not correcting of them or manifest its weakness in contesting too much to surmount their Resistance Truly since Sr. the Cardinall hath had the power of Administration it cannot be said That th' Example of strangers hath put us out of our way nor that we have lost our selves in following our predecessors and for nor daring to be bolder wiser than they This great Minister of State hath so well known the Nature of th' Ill we laboured of and our Boare and the Remedies have been dispensed with such due proportion and equality that the defect hindered not the operations nor th' excess sharpned the disease The sweetness which the King used towards the Rochellers when they were not in condition any longer to resist his forces The grace which was afforded to Criminalls when they were in his power and the Clemency he exercised when the might have used Severity without blame and have made examples of Justice which could not have had any ill consequence nor dangerous revenge On th' other side the Comportment at Privas and that sad spectacle which seemed to have been procured by some superiour providence To supply it may be the too great humanity of the King and that of his Ministers of State The Manner of hearkning to the propositions of accommodations not to make the culpable desperate and to press the War and hasten victory To take from them the means of expecting any thing from time which is th' hope of unfortunate persons Th' industry which Sr. the Cardinall hath added to force Th' Art he hath used to sow division and to convey distrust amongst the Rebels He divided their Interests and hath made them weak for want of Union The assaults of his Eloquence and of that divine faculty which hath so charmed the Hearers that all the passions that nourished Rebellion were quieted Th' hottest Motions of desyance they had for us were stayed The most opinionated could not but consent to what we would have and the most valiant durst not seek their safety in Arms but in Obedience and subjection Moreover the most scrupulous observation of promised things and that Legall and new proceeding wherewith fears were not allayed but their hopes were surmounted That I say hath reconciled all their spirits hath rendred the victory perfect and firme in gaining the wills of the Conquer'd hath cut off the last Roots of Rebellion and finished the work which had been so often begun and as often destroyed by ill Fortune or by ill Conduct If the King would have believed th' old Ministers of State and the wise persons that had Governed in other Raignes He had never assaulted the Hugenots He had not offended a party
an enterprise ought alwaies to be committed to him who proposed it provided he be a capable person to perform it for therein he is excited to do well by the glory of Success and by the jealousie of his opinion which is a violent and imperious passion and strayning to defend the noblest and most exalted faculty of the Soul which is the Judgement seldom abates of the Contest and pursuit As also it is not safe to put th' execution of a design into the hands of them that voted against it who will be alwaies slow in Action who will bring to it but the halfe of themselves who will have but faint motions and conformable to the passions that shake them which are irresolution and distrust and who have wherewithall to comfort themselves in th' ill of success by the truth of the Prediction they had made and by the Reputation of Wisdom and providence they had gained to themselves Though it be so and much better that be who is capable to resolve be also capable to execute 'T is neverthelesse a rare encounter amongst men and as there are but few places on th' Earth which bring forth all that respects the pleasures of the Senses and the necessities of Life so there are but few souls that have all the virtues proper for Governments and it seems that the Law of humane Society as that of Nature would have a dependency betwixt the spirits of men as there is a Commerce and Communication betwixt divers Countries and different Nations of the World so the Coldness of Parmenio tempered th' heat of Alexander so the Wisdom of Cyneas restrained the Courage of Pyrrhus so Scipio observed th'orders of Laelius and Augustus found a temper in the prudence of Metaenas and valour of Agrippa to which nothing was impossible Wherefore a Minister of State that hath all these perfections ought to be of high price with his Prince The State ought to reverence him as an extraordinary person and the virtues which being severed merit a price and to be esteemed deserve highly some new respect and a particular Veneration when they joyn in a single subject for the generall good of the World At least 't is certain that th' ill which attends the great variety of Agents is avoided They that uphold them agree rarely together in the same Design Concord is seldom sound amongst them unless it be in Looks and Words because th' heart is false or interessed and Jealousie is there the stronger for that it proposeth to it selfe the possession of so great a good as the favour of the Prince and the power of the State They that are onely for Counsell and whose virtue shines only in the Cabinet Councell encline alwaies to peace how dishonourable soever 'T is then they truly raign when all other greatnesse bowes to theirs And that they see at their feet the glory of Armes and the Crowns of the Victorious On the contrary during the War they are out of countenance and their Authority declines in that troublesome season They are darkned by a profession that hath more pomp and light then theirs And in regard that those who are called to Command are usually extraordinary persons it makes them strongly jealous and apprehend th' encrease of power upon the spirit of their Master and the taking of root in his Inclinations wherefore they endeavour to make them unprofitable that they might be the lesse considerable They trouble them in their employments that they might be the lesse happy The great Victories make them more afraid then great Losses and our Generalls have often seen dis-banded th' Armies they Commanded and enterprises ruined whereof the Beginnings were plausible for having not timely received or in the fit Quantity the provisions necessary for continuing of the War They on th' other side prolong the troubles and lengthen the confusion to th'uttermost of their power to subsist in Credit and esteem They love the stormes because they help to guide the Ship They desire sicknesse because they are imployed in applying the Remedies but neverthelesse they would have no end made for fear of remaining idle Pylots and uprofitable Physicians Moreover they complain alwaies first They frequently accuse them of their own faults and ease themselves upon them of th' envy of their ill successes and disgraces that attend it And when it doth not so happen and that there should be amongst them a perfect understanding and generall agreement The Obligation neverthelesse which some of them are under to receive Orders for Action from others and that regular Dependency is over importunate and sometimes pernicious Whilst they consult the Councell of the Prince occasions do passe Things take another Countenance and so many unexpected Accidents happen for which suddain provision must be made that by their Violence they are carried away before Remedy can be applied and the businesse perisheth for not daring to relieve it when it was in their power This unhappinesse hath been particularly observed in some of our Neighbours States The Venetians have made little use of th' occasions of the War and their Generalls have often seen a good occasion passe away before them without daring to stay it or to hinder it from flying away because they had not the Senate's Order They begin also to withdraw from that dangerous Maxime and are no more so scrupulous as they were to permit them to act of themselves and to take th' Advantages which offer themselves It is also observed that th' affairs of the Low Countries suffered much for the same reason towards th' end of the life of Philip the second and that they changed extreamly by reason of the great delayes they were constrained to use at the time of the want of his health and decay of his age Th' ill was that they would take most cognisance of all things when they could worse do it and were most earnest to retain businesse when the time was elapsed That Prince changed his Conduct and in safer occasions he was accustomed to give almost a soveraign Authority to them whom he imployed The Duke of Alva had it most absolute when he came into Flanders to make War to the growing Rebellion Don John of Austria had it very large when he was chosen chiefe of the Christian League against the Turk after the Conquest of Portugal The Cardinal Albert had an unlimitted power to reform the Kingdom and Philip the second procured him a Legation that he might act with the greater Authority and he was at one and the same time absolute Judge of temporal and spiritual Affairs Insomuch that if the Cardinall had carried with him in his second journey beyond the Mountains a Commission as ample as some have described it and that the noyse which was but a Fable had been true it-had not been new nor without Example Our Neighbours have shewed us the way and that Nation also which understands th' Art of governing better then any Nation in the World But the
of a single person and Ottoman had no labour to make slaves of them whom he subdued nor to banish liberty from his Dominions as the greatest of all Crimes On the contrary Gentlenesse is proper for the governing of the Germans and other people of the North. They are enemies to all force There 's not a Chain which weighs not with them thoughit be necessary and just And th' Abundance of heat and blood inspires them with undaunted spirits which makes them resist all sorts of Domination if it be not in their hands Wherefore they would have all persons governed by Common wealths or at least have no Kings which should not be Elective and subordinate to their Authority And for that reason also 't is very easie to make them revolt against the Church because it was their Mother and to make them hate the Pope because he was their Superiour Insomuch that I do not think that the death of seven and twenty Lords whose heads were cut off after the battail of Prague and that bloody spactacle which they boasted of to Germany procured so much terrour as it raised hatred against th' house of Austria and the Spanish Government And I do not believe that the manner of nourishing the War which Wallastein introduced into that Country The rigour of the Contributions there raised Th' oppression of the Towns taken or of them that obeyed have so much assuted the Victories of th' Emperour as they have disposed that people to Insurrections And if the prosperities of the King of Sweden continue that they may cause a strange revolution and destroy those violent Conquests which have neither foot nor root At the end of th' Account I do not see that th' Emperour hath made other Advantage of those great emotions which lasted so many years than in avoiding the Ruine that threatned him nor that he became the richer for making such an infinite sort of persons poor nor that he did other thing then impose a necessity to keep alwaies on foot a dreadfull Army to make them affraid or to see his greatnesse decline or to give over th' Ambition of rendring himselfe Master of Germany and of reducing the people to a totall deficiency from whom he could not take any away the will to rebell As to the zeal which he hath expressed to holy things and as to th'exercise of that Religion which he re-established in all places 'T is a work whereof th' Apparance is very plausible and Christian Yet insomuch that all-that is but without and that souls give place to Armes and obey not the truth 'T is to be feared that such a Reformation will fall in the change of th' Emperours fortune and that Heresie may more dangeously overflow than it idd if it ever recover impunity and its first License To further confirm what I have said I will make use of th'evidence of the Spaniards who confess that the Duke of Alva was too blame t' employ gentlenesse to gain the Portugals who were onely to be overcome And that is was to make them worse to flatter them in subduing of them On the contrary that severity lost the Flemmings and that the floods of Blood which he there made to run out the more provoked the rebellion and gave pretence to disobedience to shew it self which had been till then modest irresolute Gentleness then in generall is proper for the Conduct of the Northern people and severity for the Spaniards and them of th' East for the aforesaid Reasons They that are under a temperate Climate as the French and whose Complexions are tempred by the clemency of th' Heavens and the scituation of Country have also need of a moderate Conduct and of such a temper of Justice as takes impunity from vice and renders it not alwaies to the Culpable desperate Upon what hath been said 't is easie to judge that it is not alwaies safe to act by Imitation That th' Example of what is practised in a Nation is an ill principle for the Government of an other Nation That universal proposalls are dangerous in the publique And t' establish generall Rules to be observed of all People and upon all occasions is to fit the Robe of Fables to all the States of the Moon 'T is to give the same form to two contrary natures 'T is to range under and equall measure two different Quantities And that a Minister of State may the better comprehend this truth which is very Important Let him know that except some most generall propositions which are in the practice of affairs as th'ultimate principles of the Metaphysiques in the Sciences There ' none that is not disputed and contradicted which hath not reasons and examples to favour it and which are contrary to it as I have elsewhere shewed and therefore ought either alwaies to be followed or alwaies to be rejected Let 's see it by Experience and discourse in passing by of th' use of severity and gentleness since we are upon that subject they who advise that a Prince should rather make himselfe to be feared then loved and that Rigour supports a Scepter much better than Easiness of Manners and Indulgency may at once say That though it may be true that soveraigne Authority is equally preserved betwixt the feare and love of the people That nevertheless the means which gives birth to the first of these two passions are more certain then those that engender the second That their operation is more infallible and that good Deeds act not so certainly upon the spirits of men as punishments That 't is alwaies in the power of them who have Forces in their hands to make themselves to be feared But that it is not in the power of them that are good to make themselves to be beloved That men love voluntarily and by Election but fear for the most part of necessity and in spight of Reason and against the resistance of all discourse That for all times The Corruption of Mankind hath been such that it had had more need of Justice for to subsist then of the goodnesse of its Superiours That the State of innocency is very rare in the world but that of Repentance is common and in continual use that the Governours have been alwaies more exercise to heal Diseases than to preserve health and the good condition of States That in a word The Nature of the people is to fear much and to love little but neverthelesse that they love not the Reigns under which they live That they are never content with thei present Condition That they are sensible onely of the memory of things past and hopes of the future And that ordinarily the dead Princes are their delights And though sometimes they may have Love for their Masters and that their Inclination therein accompanies their Duty There 's no passion that changeth so easily in their understanding as this And whether the Manners of Princes change and degenerate or that they are disguised and falsifyed to
different things That they applyed the spots of th' one to th' other that had none at all and have revolted against the Holy Chair because they could not suffer the vices of the Pope Th'Authors neverthelesse of this great Attempt have not sinned of ignorance and were not carried thereunto by the zeal of th' honour of God They knew well that the Licence of Manners is not incompatible with the purity of opinions That the Will may follow Evill though the Reason doth not approve of it and that the same Authority which forbids us t' imitate the deboshes of Pastors commands us to respect their doctrine and to hold us in the way they teach us distinct from the myre they are fallen into But they were put on by other Motives Avarice and Spight animated them against the dignity to be revenged of the persons that possessed it Instead of stopping at th' abuses they exercised they assaulted the power which God had given them Instead of pruning the branches they would cut down the body and take away their Neighbours Life to hinder him from Doing ill And as those Creatures who draw Poyson from Flowers and Simples whereof men make perfumes and Medicines Instead of admiring the care God hath for his Church in hindring it from spoyle in the midst of corruption and to sinke in so violent tempests They have severed themselves from her and have indeavoured to cut the bands of the Members and the Head and t' abolish that divine dependancy which makes a regular body as Dissolution makes a Monster God also hath raised many great persons to fight the designs of the Revolted and to revenge th' injury done him in destroying what was of his Institution for the vices of Men and in judging of the virtue of the Sacraments by the goodness of the Priests and the force of the work by the merit of the workman But as 't is hard for th' humane spirit to observe moderation in its designes and that it be not transported in the pursuit of good for which it hath passion It hath also happened that they who have runne to the Relief of th' Holy Chair have truly prospered in that defence and repelled th' imposture of them that have assaulted it yet all have stayed there some have passed their bounds and being pressed with too much heat which the love of truth had inspired into them have not only supported the spirituall power of the Pope but have also attributed unto him a temporal which was unknown to th' Apostles unheard of in the Primitive Church which gives jealousie t' other Princes which hath not ot this time edified which hath destroyed much and made Schism to enter into those States which had been Catholique the space of many ages And insomuch that they who have been raised to this Supream dignity which severs them from the Community of men are nevertheless men sometimes have common inclinations There 's no wonder if some of them are glad to see their Authority extended To see themselves made more powerfull then they thought to be that the light which doth surround them is greater and disperseth its Ray further then they did imagine and if they are easily perswaded to a thing so conformable to their desires and to the most violent appetite of reasonable Nature which is that of Domination Insomuch that 't is not only true that the change of Fortune is ordinarily accompanied with the change of Manners but also sometimes of Opinions That it disorders all the powers of the Soul That it alters the disposition of th' Understanding after it hath changed that of the Will And some Popes have judged more favourably of the greatness of the Holy Chaire when they were in it they they did before when they were but single Cardinals or in some lower dignity Wherefore in subjects which look either directly or obliquely upon th' Holy Chaire A Minister of State ought to be very circumspect He must slide upon that Pavement if he must passe upon it If he be constrained to touch upon so delicate parts Let it be done with a subtile and light hand and that he do not pierce too deep if it be possible into a matter wherein it will be hard not to be offended if he do not offend Above all that he stay alwaies in the bounds of Reason and in the bounds of Justice That he take nothing away from another but that he permit not any thing to be taken away from his Master That his imprudence or softness do not occasion any prejudice for the future to the State and that he remember the proceeding of Charles the fifth when he came into Italy to be Crowned Emperour The Legates who were sent to receive him prayed him that he would swear to do no wrong to the Liberties of the Church nor injure the spouse of Jesus Christ He answered that he would swear neither to alter the rights of the Church nor the pretensions of th' Empire That had an aspect to the Citties of Pleasance and of Parma which the one pretended to be a Fiefe of th' Empire th' other of the Holy Chaire Truly Sr. the Cardinal behaved himself so well in Occurrences of this nature that the Rights of the Crown and Dignity of th' Holy Chaire have been inviolable in his hands That nothing but Justice held the Ballance that he gave to God and Caesar their due and maintained equally the Quality of a Minister of State and of a Prince of the Church He is not ignorant of the Temper which ought to be betwixt a blind Zeal and License scarce Catholique He knowes the way was to be held betwixt these two precipices He knowes how to saile without striking upon the Rocks He cannot wander for want of light He hath a most profound knowledge of Holy things and of the things of the world and the Sorbone admired him as their Ornament before it did reverence him for their benefactor and protector Wherefore he took care not to see with other Mens Eyes as others have done or to Move with the passion of strangers So no soul also was ever lesse prepossessed then his or more direct in its apprehensions There 's no Irregularity in the functions of his powers and with exception to the Commerce of Faith which is alwayes priviledged the Will gives not its opinions to th' Understanding but receives its heate and affections from his discourse and his Illuminations Wherefore 't is easie to judge how imprudent the Calumny of them was who assaulted him during the Negotiation of Cardinal Barberin or a little after Rome did not complaine of Him and th' Holy Father knew well that the necessities of State and th' hidden Causes of its Conduct do not ever permit That to the zeal of honest Men all be given that they would have None then but ill Frenchmen have complained or strangers that hate us and to whom Pretences are good when Causes are wanting to them That cry us down who