to employ no other Arms but Tears and Patience and Martyrdom I can't tell whether they would dare to say so they dare say any thing according to the diversity of Times and Interests but we know very well that if they should dare to say so it would be a lye for it 't is certain there is no sort of Violence which they have not made use of to arrest the designs of such a Prince and deprive him of his Life We cannot take one step in the History of Papism without finding proofs but 't is needless to report them Kings are not Masters of Conscience and Religion they are not so much as Masters of the Lives of their Subjects how then should they be Masters of their eternal Salvation and their Religion All those who are not devoted to Flattery do avow that the right of Self-Preservation is a right which cannot be alienated a People hath always right to take care of themselves by all manner of ways against a Tyrant who would ruin and destroy them Suppose a Soveraign for some worldly Interest for the refusal of Tribute or Homage or in an Humor should resolve upon Massacring a whole Nation or one great party is there any one so much a Flatterer as to assert that such a Soveraign has right to do it and that the Subjects have no right to defend themselves to oppose such Violence with Force Such an one will be confuted by all Mankind for 't is believed by every one that he has a right to use all means for his own preservation when he is set upon by an unjust Violence Having made this Supposition let us make another Suppose a Soveraign should attempt to Massacre his Subjects upon the account of Religion shall this cause of Religion which intervenes tye the hands of the Subjects annihilate the Laws of Nature deprive them of the inalienable Right of Self-Preservation Shall it be lawful for a People to preserve and defend themselves when they are to be massacred for refusing unjust Taxes and shall it not be lawful to defend themselves when they are to be massacred upon the account of Religion I must say this is a sottish piece of Morality let him that desires to lye at the Foot stool of a Throne and flatter Kings maintain it no man will ever really believe it 'T is of no great advantage to argue upon the Rights of Soveraigns 't is a question we will not enter upon But thus much we ought to know That the Rights of GOD the Rights of the People and the Rights of Kings are inseparable This good sence demonstrates and therefore a Prince that annihilates the Right of GOD and the Right of the People does thereby annihilate his own Right Nothing is due to him who pays nothing to any one neither to God nor men The Supposition we make is not a Castle in the Air and without speaking of Princes called Christian who have massacred their Subjects upon the account of Religion the History of the Church presents us with Dioclesian who enterprized the extirpation of Christians by an universal Massacre Where is it to be found in the Gospel that the Christian-Subjects of the Roman Empire had no right to oppose this Violence whereas if for any other cause than that of Religion their Emperours had oppressed them in such a manner they might have had right to defend themselves If this be so Religion is of the meanest concern in the World. If the whole World had courage enough to suffer Martyrdom the Spiritual Interest of Religion would not be so deeply concerned but when 't is to be consider'd that in a Million of Christians perhaps not ten Thousand of them are so disposed as to endure massacring we are to recollect that such an exposing the Truth exposes the Faithful to the dangers of Apostasie gives up an innumerable company of the Weaker to ruin and suffers the whole Church to be destroyed If this be so that 't is always unlawful to maintain the True Religion by Arms wherefore is the Memory of the Maccabees so blessed in the Church Why are they not accursed by the Wise Why are they applauded for having taken Arms against the Kings of Syria their lawful Soveraigns The Persecution of the famous Antiochus was meerly upon the account of Religion for the Jews were very submissive both in their Tribute and all other Homage But he would oblige them to abjure their Religion for which many suffer'd Martyrdom with admirable Patience The Maccabees had also the same way to signalize their courage but they took another way they took up Arms they defended their Religion they shook off the Yoke of the Kings of Syria not only as to their Spiritual but their Temporal Bondage An exact president for the States of the Vnited Provinces in the last Age who having taken up Arms first to maintain their Religion then shook off the temporal Yoke of Spain and made themselves a separate State. Monsieur de Meaux and his Friends who so boldly censure the Hollanders for taking Arms upon the account of their Religion and for having taken that occasion to shake off an insupportable Yoke ought to make out the difference between the case of the Maccabees and that of the Low Countries It is incumbent upon him who so furiously rallies our Synods for recommending an Abbot who bore Arms in defence of the Gospel to draw an Indictment against the Memory of those grand Hero's of the Jewish Church whom all Christians admire and whose Conduct they approve But there is now an Objection fram'd from the Conduct of the Primitive Christians who during the ten Persecutions never rencountred their Persecutors with any thing but Patience God forbid that I should diminish their Worth or abate any thing of those Acknowledgements which are due to them but I want to be instructed how they were in a condition to provide against the Violences of the Roman Emperours I don't know that the Christians were as one to five hundred if you take the whole extent of the Roman Empire There are Authors that believe Rome it self could not number above forty thousand Christians in the second and third Ages whereas in the last accounts the Christians were reckon'd to rise to many Millions If then there were so few in the capital City how could there be so great an appearance in other places How then could so small a number of People scatter'd thorough the extent of so vast an Empire maintain themselves where there were numerous Armies on foot to guard their spacious Frontiers 'T was not then onely Religion but Prudence in the first Christians to suffer a less evil to avoid a greater if they had opened themselves into a state of Defence they had been exspos'd to inevitable Death so that they had no other way but to conceal themselves Tertullian is cited upon this occasion who reports that the Christians fill'd the Cities the Castles the Armies but 't is known
divided into divers Parties as it was under Charles I It is apparent that the Anarchical and Independant Party have once gained the power over it so that we might have seen the Nation return to the same Estate it was under Cromwell and perhaps to a worse The King might very possibly have been exposed to the same Miseries which his Father suffer'd The Prince therefore for the Interest of the State for the Interest of the Princesses for his own and also for the King 's could not dispense with putting himself at the head of an Expedition which might have been ruin'd if it had not been govern'd by so great a Soul. And then for the pretended Obligations of Consanguinity they are meer appearances there are Obligations much more indispensable He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me We owe to God to the Laws to Religion more than to our Kindred It had been a cruel piece of Piety to have seen a Church and a Kingdom perish without relieving them for fear of offending one Person with whom we have some relation of Flesh and Bloud I know our Enemies will not scruple saying that it was not Piety but Ambition that gave life to these great Motions which this Great Prince was very sensible of But we who are near him and have known his sentiments for many Years are able to witness two things one is that he is truly touch'd with the Love of God and his Religion The other is that he did not undertake this Enterprize till the last Extremity And we know with the greatest certainty that the English were twenty times refused upon the Proposition which they made because he always hoped that God would open some softer Methods to protect Religion from the Oppression which was prepared for it Those that are near him can witness that there never was a Prince more Zealous and better affected to the Truth The Success which God hath given to his Enterprizes may convince us that he it is whom God is pleased to make use of for accomplishing his great Designs and for the establishment of the True Religion One might further say things much more considerable for Justification of this Great Enterprize with respect both to the Nation and the Prince but time will place them in a better Light and it shall be made known that those who have shed so much Bloud and have had no respect to the Laws of Consanguinity merit not regard upon their account Nevertheless the Prince has and always will have a regard to the King whose Destiny is so much lamented for he has no design against his Person or against his Dignity he would onely take away from him the means of hurting others and of hurting himself But this Unfortunate Prince by following the Inspirations of that unhappy Genius which hath animated him for so many Years has cast himself into a Precipiece and saught his Safety by forsaking his Palace and his Kingdom without having any just cause for it It cannot be said with any truth that the King of England could observe either in the Conduct of the Prince or the Lords or the Bishops or the People any design to attack his Person his Life his Liberty or his Dignity On the contrary every thing was so disposed that Affairs might be treated of with the greatest sweetness In the first Address which was presented to the King after the Prince's arrival by fourteen or fifteen of the Lords Ecclesiastical and Temporal they promise after they have entreated for a free Parliament to serve him with all their power and the power of their Friends And in the last great Council held Decemb. 9th constituted of all that were considerable at London it is certain that the King was only askt to call a free Parliament but this was done with such respectful and tender Expressions that 't is evident the Nation had no design against the Person or Dignity of the King. And the King having agreed upon the meeting of a Parliament upon the 25th of January the Prince accepted of it upon the most reasonable condition that can be imagined Which was that neither his own nor the King's Army should come within forty Miles of the place where the Parliament sate Here it appear'd that the King had no sincere intention in calling the Parliament and that it was only to gain time and to receive the foreign Assistance which he expected These Succours failing and his own Troopes declaring that they could not fight against the Laws and Religion of their Country he was resolv'd suddenly to play the part of quitting his Throne Choosing rather not to Reign than not to Reign over the Laws and to take the advantage of an odious imputation against the Protestants that they had driven him from his Kingdom But all Europe is witness to the contrary and if hereafter he looses the Crown 't is a loss for which he can only blame himself having drawn it upon himself partly by Violation of the Laws and partly by his Desertion If there had been any design violently to drive him from his Throne why was he so stopt in his Flight What an Object is a King Arrested as a Fugitive But why was he staid to do him Violence Was he not honourably entreated to return to his own Palace Had he not the liberty given to retire as he was best pleased I question not but all this shall be reflected upon us with the most malevolent Influences for 't is a common thing with the Papism in its rage to take hold of all that may any way serve its Revenge But be wise and Adore the profound Judgments of God. You see in this Event the first blow to the ruin of Popery which we have proposed apparently near out of the Prophecies of the New Testament This great and surprizing Revolution will without doubt draw others after it which shall be no less considerable The Empire of Antichrist hath not received so terrible a check since the last Age it rouls down to its Fall and God visibly pushes it upon the Precipiece Keep silence then my Brethren but do not suffer your selves to be carried down the stream of Outrages against him whom God hath chosen for the Instrument of his great Work. Remember the Injustice which the Papists have been guilty of at this time To violate Laws which ought to have been most inviolable to break their Oaths to trample under Foot the most sacred Engagements to seize upon the Miserable and force them to Abjuration to throw them into Prisons to send them to Gallies to Banish them and confiscate their Goods This is all good and lawful for advancing the Catholick Religion But to maintain the Reform'd Religion by maintaining Laws and to repress the Enterprizes of those that would violate them this is an horrible Attempt an infernal Action Is not this to weigh Actions in unequal Balances January 1 1689. With the Priviledge of our Lords the States Rotterdam at the House of Abr. Acher near the Bourse Books lately Printed for J. Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey I. A Discourse concerning the Nature Power and Proper Effects of the Present Conventions in both Kingdoms called by the Prince of Orange Quarto II. A Political Conference between Aulicus a Courtier Demas a Country-man and Civicus a Citizen Clearing the Original of Civil Government the Powers and Duties of Soveraigns and Subjects in a familiar and plain Way which may be understood by every ordinary Capacity Quarto III. Liberty of Conscience Explicated and Vindicated and the Just Limits betwixt it and Authority Sacred and Civil Cleared Quarto IV. The Triumphs of Grace or the last Words and Edifying Death of the Lady Margaret de la Musse a Noble French Lady Aged only Sixteen Years Twelves
Monsieur JVRIEV's Judgment Upon the Question of Defending our Religion by Arms WITH REFLECTIONS UPON THE Affairs of England IN HIS Ninth Pastoral LETTER of the Third Year Faithfully Translated out of French. Licensed and Entered according to Order LONDON Printed for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey and are to be sold by Richard Baldwin next the Black Bull in the Old-Bayly MDCLXXXIX THE Translator TO THE READER 'T IS said by the Prophet Daniel That many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be encreased The Commerce of Nations the Translating from one Language to another is this running to and fro whereby Mankind communicate their general Sentiments improve by the Correspondence and are absolved from the Curse of Babel People that only measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves take very scanty measures and make very fond comparisons when they are mistaken they have no way of rectifying themselves but enjoy a very great satisfaction in being positive and immovable tho' they are never so much in the wrong In opposition to this the World has always had a great deference to a Catholick Sence so soon as ever Christianity enjoyed its liberty under the Glorious Emperour Constantine there was such an assembling of Councils communicating the Judgment of particular Churches for Agreement of the whole that the Heathens were wont to deride the Christians for tiring the Post-horses and wearing out the Stage-Coaches of the Empire When Christianity was Transubstantiated into Popery and all the Methods of Religion turn'd against it self then was Catholicism made use of as the grand Instrument of its own Ruine The general falling away which was the Prediction of a false Religion prevailing was the chief argument why that Religion was not false which had prevailed So that we have the Judgment both of Friends and Enemies those who first setled Religion and those who afterwards overthrew it that the general Opinion of the Church of God ought to be of the greatest esteem especially in those difficult Cases where we are not our selves able to determine our Duties out of the Holy Scriptures 'T is then only disputed which is the Catholick Church that which shone bright immediately after our Saviour's time or that prevailing Faction of Apostates which clouded the Heavens and cast a mist over the face of the Earth But the Light of Truth is so sprung forth again that the Question vanishes 't is easy to distinguish between Day and Night Now if the Christians had so great an Opinion of their common Agreement before their Religion was corrupted why should not we honour the same way And since Reformation is but the Restoration of Primitive Religion be glad to hear what foreign Churches say of those Doctrines which are disputed amongst us He is an Enemy to the Church of England who would set it up against the Reform'd Churches of France and Germany and of the Northern Crowns where God is worshipped also after the manner which his Enemies call Heresy Why should not the Church of God be esteemed one Catholick Church since its Reformation as well as before its grand Depravation There were as many Heresies and Schisms and Errours within its bowels then as now but the common Agreement of the greater part in substantial Truths made the Advice of one Church to another to be very much reverenced and regarded The Judgment of Monsieur Jurieu is not to be looked upon as his private Opinion but as the general Sence of the good Christians of France for the Papists had an Intrigue to destroy the whole Reform'd Religion all over Europe by perswading the Protestants to stand still while they were ruined and to this purpose Monsieur de Meaux picks up and ridicules the Decisions of their Synods That it was lawful to make use of Arms in favour of Religion So that this is a Defence of their ancient Doctrine and rescuing the Right of Self-preservation from the hands of their Enemies in a most needful time when they would have taken it away from all men in order to an Vniversal Destruction of the Truth Certainly the French have demonstrated such eminent Loyalty and Patience that they well deserved to be heard upon the Question We may in England look back with some horror upon the danger we have escaped this piece of Policy was framed also for the finest and strongest Intrigue that could bring about our Destruction it was the presumption of Arbitrary and Irresistible Power of Absolute and undeniable Obedience which heartned our Enemies to such attempts as they durst not otherwise have thought upon They had the advantage of many Years to make preparation by preferring such to Places of Honour and Power who were themselves generally the greatest Slaves and so were willing to enslave others The choice was made with a great deal of Judgment and Curiosity either of such whose Atheism and Debauchery made them ready to do any thing or of such who had suffer'd under the Pretenders to Liberty and therefore were inclined to an excess of Duty The former run into all the extravagancies of Blasphemy having their mouths full of great swelling words That the King was above Jesus Christ that Tyranny and Oppression themselves if acted by Persons in Authority were the Ordinances of God and not to be resisted under pain of Damnation But Death has eased some places of their burdens and called those Followers of Balaam before a Tribunal where they shall behold him whom they pierced The better part consider'd the Glories of suffering Relion how much it was able to bear and that Passive Obedience had first made its triumphant entry into the World they therefore encouraged the inferiour Clergy to such a degree that it was almost received as the Doctrine of the Church of England that an Vnlimited Authority was of Divine Right and that tho' Religion was never so much our Property yet it had a property in it to yield up itself and every thing else to the will of the first Invader But so soon as the Rights of our Religious and Civil Liberties were found to be mortally wounded and that its Interest was to be destroyed by such Sufferings as neither the Laws of God or Man required then could the Fathers of the Church no longer conceal a Truth the neglect whereof had near cost them that which was dearer to them than their Lives the tenderness they bore to their Children would not expose them to an unnecessary Destruction After their personal Sufferings and the Day-break of our Deliverance appear'd the late King James was alarm'd with an expression in the Prince of Orange's Declaration That he was most earnestly Invited hither by divers of the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and others He therefore sent for the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishops of London Peterborough and Rochester to sign an Abhorrence under their hands of the intended Invasion But this they refused to do not being