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amidst the ruin of all others, and to which alone eternity is promised.

us.

The judgments of God upon the greatest of all the empires of this world, that is, upon the Roman empire, have not been hid from You have just learned them from the mouth of St. John. Rome hath herself felt the hand of God, and hath been, as well as others, an example of his justice. But her lot was happier than that of other cities. Purged by her calamities from the remains of idolatry, she now subsists only by Christianity, which she dispenses to the whole world*.

Thus all the great empires that we have seen upon earth have concurred in different ways to the good of religion, and the glory of God, as God himself had declared by his prophets.

When you read so often in their writings, that kings shall flock into the Church, and that they shall be her protectors and nursing fathers; by these words you understand the emperors and other Christian princes. And as your royal ancestors have signalized themselves above all others, by protecting and extending the Church of God, I shall not fear to assure you, that it is they who, of all kings, are most clearly foretold in those illustrious prophecies.

God therefore who had a mind to make use of various empires, to chastise or to exercise, to extend or to protect his people, will

Mr. Bossuet, in this and the following sentences, speaks as a Catholic, and a Frenchman. But the events that have taken place since the time in which he wrote, oblige us to make a different application of the prophecies to which he refers,

ing to make himself known as the author of so wonderful a purpose, discovered the secret to his prophets, and made them foretel what He had resolved to execute. Wherefore, as the empires entered into the order of God's designs with regard to the people whom He had chosen, the fortune of those empires stands announced by the same oracles of the Holy Spirit, which foretel the succession of the faithful people.

The more you shall accustom yourself to investigate great things, and to trace them to their principles, the more will you be filled with admiration of those counsels of Providence. It is of importance that you should early form ideas of them, which will daily grow clearer in your mind, and that you should learn to refer human things to the orders of that eternal wisdom on which they depend.

God does not every day declare his will by his prophets, concerning the kings and monarchies, which he sets up or pulls down. But having done it so many times in those great empires of which we have been speaking, He shews us by those famous instances, how He acts in all others, and teaches kings these two fundamental truths; first, that it is He who forms kingdoms, to give them to whomsoever He will; and secondly, that He knows how to make them subservient, in the time and order He has predetermined, to the designs he hath upon his people.

This, Sir, ought to keep all princes in entire dependence, and make them on all occasions attentive to God's commands,

that they may concur in what He purposes for his own glory, on every occasion He presents to them.

But this progression of empires, even to consider it in a merely human light, hath great advantages; particularly to princes, seeing arrogance, the ordinary companion of so eminent a station, is effectually humbled by such a spectacle. For if men learn moderation by seeing kings die, how much more will they be struck, when they behold kingdoms themselves expire; and what can afford a more excellent lesson of the vanity of human grandeur?

Thus when you see pass away, as it were in an instant, before your eyes, I do not say kings and emperors, but those great empires, which have made the whole world terrible; when you see the Assyrians, both ancient and modern, the Medes, Persians, Greeks, aud Romans, present themselves successively before you, and fall, so to speak, one upon another, this dreadful wreck will make you sensible that there is nothing solid among men, and that inconstancy and agitation are the proper portion of human affairs.

II. The Revolutions of Empires have particular causes, which Princes ought to study.

BUT, Sir, what will render this spectacle more useful and entertaining to you, is the reflection you will make, not only upon the rise and fall of empires, but also upon the causes of their advancement and decline.

For, Sir, the same God who made the

concatenation of the universe, and who, Almighty in himself, hath thought fit, for the sake of order, that all the parts of that great whole should have a mutual dependence on one another; that same God hath also thought fit that the course of human affairs should have its progression and proportions: I mean that men and nations have had qualities proportioned to the rank for which they were designed; and that, except in a few extraordinary cases, in which God hath chosen that his hand should appear alone, no great change has happened, that has not had its causes in preceding ages.

And as in all affairs there is that which prepares them, that which determines to undertake them, and that which makes them succeed, the true knowledge of history is to mark, in every period, those secret dispositions which have prepared the way for great changes, and the important conjunctures that have brought those changes to pass.

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Indeed, it is not sufficient to look barely before one, that is, to consider those great events, that decide at once the fate of empires. He that will thoroughly understand human affairs must trace them higher; and must observe the inclinations and manners, or to say every thing in one word, the character, as well of the ruling nations in general, as of their princes in particular; and, in fine, of all the extraordinary men, who, by the importance of the part they have had to act in the world, have contributed, either by good or evil, to the change of states, and the fortune of the public.

I have endeavoured to prepare you for

these important reflections in the first part of this treatise; in it you may have observed the genius of the nations, and that of the great men who conducted them. Those events, whieh have been momentous in their issue, have been exhibited; and in order to keep you attentive to the chain of the grand affairs of the world, which I wished chiefly to make you understand, I have omitted a great many particular facts, the consequences of which were not so considerable. But because confining ourselves so closely to this progression has made us pass over a great many things so quickly, that we could not make the reflections they deserved, you will now apply yourself to them with a more particular attention, and accustom your mind to investigate effects in their remotest causes.

By this, Sir, you will learn what is so necessary for you to know, that though, in considering only particular occurrences, fortune alone seems to decide the rise and fall of empires; yet if we take in the whole, it happens with them almost as in a game, which the most dexterous wins at the long

run.

And indeed, in that bloody game in which nations have disputed for empire and power, that which hath foreseen the farthest, that which hath most diligently exerted itself, that which hath longest held out under great fatigues, and, in fine, which hath best understood how to act the offensive or defensive part, according to circumstances, has in the end had the advantage, and made fortune itself subservient to its designs.

Be indefatigable therefore in examining

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