Documentos

• Author: Gabriela C. Cobo del Rosal Pérez
• Profession: Licenciada en Derecho por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid
• Pages: 99-124

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INDICE DOCUMENTAL

1.- Robert Barclay, An Epistle of love and friendly advice, 1679.

2.- Tratado de Limerick, Treaty of Limerick, 1691.

3.- John Bellers, Some Reasons for an European State, Proposed to the POWERS of EUROPE, by an Universal

Guarantee, and an Annual Congress, Senate, Dyet, or Parliament, to Settle any Disputes about the Bounds and

Rights of Princes and States hereafter, 1714.

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DOCUMENTOS

1.- ROBERT BARCLAY,

AN EPISTLE OF LOVE AND FRIENDLY ADVICE

, 1679.

Robert Barclay, An Epistle of Love and Friendly advice, Londres, Benjamin Clark, 1679 [Peter Sippel,

ed. internet]

https://books.google.es/books?id=Yn1mAAAAcAAJ&lpg=PP1&ots=0RSVwavOTv&dq=B

arclay's%20Epistle%20to%20the%20ambassadors&hl=es&pg=PA2#v=onepage&q=Barclay's

%20Epistle%20to%20the%20ambassadors&f=false1717

AN EPISTLE OF LOVE and Friendly Advice, to the Ambassadors of the several Princes of Europe,

met at Nimeguen, to Consult the Peace of Christendom, so far as they are concerned. Wherein the true

Cause of the present War is discovered, and the right Remedy and Means for a firm and settled Peace

is proposed.

By R. Barclay a Lover and Travailer for the Peace of Christendom.

Which was delivered to them in Latin the 23d. and 24th. dayes of the Month called February,

1677/8. and now published in English for the satisfaction of such as understand not the Language.

Psal. 2:10. Be wise therefore ye Kings, be instructed ye Judges of the Earth; serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice

with trembling.

Kiss the son, least he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little; blessed are they

that put their trust in him.

(p. 1) To the Ambassadors and Deputies of the Christian Princes and States met at Nimeguen, to consult the

Peace of Christendom, R.B., a Servant of Jesus Christ, and hearty wel-wisher to the Christian World, wishes increase

of Grace and Peace, and the spirit of sound Judgement, with hearts inclined and willing to receive and obey the Counsel

of God.

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Let it not seem strange unto you, who are men chosen and authorized by the great Monarchs and

States of Europe to find out a speedy remedy for the present great trouble, under which many of her

inhabitants do groan; (as such, whose Wisdom, and Prudence, and abilities has so recommended /

(p.2) them to the World, as to be judged fit for so great and difficult a work) to be addressed unto by

one, who by the World may be esteemed weak and foolish; whose advice is not ushered unto you, by

the Commission of any of the Princes of this World, nor seconded by the recommendation of any

earthly state: For since your work is that which concerns all Christians, why may not every Christian

who feels himself stir’d up of the Lord thereunto, contribute therein; and if they have place to be

heard in this Affair, who come in the name of Kings and Princes, let it not seem heavy unto you, to

hear him, that comes in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who in the truest sense is the head and

governour, and cheif Bishop of the Church, the most truly Christian and Catholic King : Many of whose Subjects

are concerned in this matter, and the blood of many in hazard, for whom he hath shed his precious

blood, and yet who shall not seek to obtrude upon you the beleif of the Truth or certainty of his

Commission, / (p. 3) because of his own Testimony; but leave it, as well as the things he therein

delivereth, to the holy and pure witness of God, in all your Consciences, to be received or rejected

by you, as it shall there be approved, or not approved.

Know then, my Friends, that many and often times my Soul has been deeply bowed down under

the weighty sense of the present state of Christendom; and in secret before the Lord I have mourned,

and bitterly lamented because thereof: And as I was crossing the Sea, and being the last Summer in

Holland, and some parts of Germany, the burthen thereof fell often upon me, and it several times came

before me to write unto you, what I then saw and felt from God of these things, while I was in those

parts. But I waited and was not willing to be hasty; and now being returned to my own Country, and

at my own Home, I cheerfully accept the fit season, which the Lord has put in my hand, and called

me to therein, to signifie unto you those things, / (p. 4) which in his name and authority I am commanded to

do.

And for this end, the Lord has shewn me, what the causes are of all this mischief and confusion,

and desolation; which are necessary to be made known unto you, and deeply and seriously to be

considered by you; else ye can never be able to apply the right remedies; I speak of the primary and

original cause, as it proceeds from him, and is hatched by him, who is the Author of all mischief, and

the great enemy to, as well as envyer of the true peace and prosperity of all good Christians; and who

sows in mens hearts that evil seed, and formenteth that bad ground, from which all evil ariseth; for unless

this be seen, discovered and removed in the ground, although the secondary and more immediate

causes be seen, (to wit) the projects, designs, and councils of men, and in part be answered and

removed by giving way to some, and taking from others, according as they are more or less formidable

and considerable, measuring these / (p. 5) things by the rules of human wisdom, and carnal prudence

and policy; Yet that is not sufficient: that may allay the heat for a time, but will not remove the evil;

and you in so doing, will prove but like those Physitians, that do mitigate the pain and violence of a

Disease for a time, but do not take away the ground and cause of it; so that it shortly again returns,

and in the end destroys him that is afflicted with it.

The chief ground, cause and root then of all this misery among all those called Christians, is

because they are only such in Name, and not in Nature, having only a form and profession of

Christianity in shew and words, but are still strangers, yea, and enemies to the life and virtue of it;

owning God and Christ in words, but denying them in works; and therefore the Lord Jesus Christ

will not own them as his Children nor Disciples; for while they say they are his followers, while they

preach and exalt his precepts, while they extol his life, patience and meekness, his self-denying perfect