Subjects that they I say should be no otherwise united to a State but so as to ruine it and enrich themselves by its Spoils Let us suppose the Estates that are in Mainmort among the Ecclesiasticks possessed by Merchants or Tradesmen the Commerce would have been much greater in FRANCE and by Consequence the Kingdom should have been more rich and potent Let us suppose that they had been in the hands of the Generals of Armies Collonels and other Military Officers who like the Turkish Timariots should entertain upon those Estates so many thousands of Married Men as might Cultivate them What an incredible ease would that give to the poor people who should thereby be reliev'd from the Burden of Maintaining so many Troops what increases of People and wâ—…at Riches would not that produce Or let us suppose that those Estates were in possession of people of Quality or others who either had serv'd or might serve the King in his Camp tho' not in the manner of Timariots they would spend those Estates in the service of the King by doing him Honour at Court or Generously in fine Buildings Sculptures Paintings Gravings or other Magnificent Curiosities and Ornaments which would Embellish and Set off the Provinces and Towns make Arts to flourish imploy a vast number of people and cause Money to circulate incessantly from one hand to another Or suppose they were possess'd by Laicks of all ranks indifferently as the other half of the Estates of the Kingdom are at present and that as to other things the Government should remain on the same footing as it is at present which however is not much to be desired The King in that case should mightily increase his Revenue the Officers of Justice of the Police or Discipline of Cities and those of the Treasury as also those of the Imposts and all their Train would get twice as much Riches as they do except their number should be Augmented in proportion In which case the King would be enrich'd by the sale of great number of Places It 's true the people should always continue miserable if they were as much Tax'd in proportion but the King's Revenues would be doubled Nay the very name of Mainmort imports that those Estates in such hands are unprofitable to the Society I have enlarg'd a little upon this Article beyond what I intended because it is of the highest concern in Politicks and that I have met with several Men of Parts who did not â—…ightly apprehend the Mischief of having so much wealth in Mainmort Article VI. relates to the great Quantity of Plate which they have in their Churches and Convents and in those places they call their Treasuries as St. Denis near Paris Notre Dame de Liesse and des Ardillieres and other places of that nature This one Superstitious and Foolish Custom must needs have robb'd the Publick Commerce of divers Millions at such time as the Clergy had amass'd a great quantiâ—…y of it as before this War which was the true cause that a great part of it was melted down by the King's Order Suppose that in the whole it had not exceeded 20 Millions that would have at least amounted to several Millions amongst the people per Annum However I will not take upon me to determine how far this loss extended because I dont know what quantity of Plate they had for the Popish Clergy never tell the truth in these cases and very seldom in any others Article VII Relates to the constant practice of their Clergy in hoarding up Money which is of more importance than the preceding Article for seeing many of them possesses great Revenues and are neither allowed to Trade nor to Marry and by consequence have no lawful Off-spring they do ordinarily betake themselves to the amassing of vast sums of Money under the pretext of providing for their Nephews and Neeces as the Popes do and they don't provide for them neither for the most part till after their death which is doubly prejudicial to Commerce It hath moreover been the constant Observation of such persons that they are very Covetous and don't love to give Alms to the Poor altho' they be thereunto obliged by the intention of their Founders so that taking of their Avarice for granted which is inâ—…eparably annex'd and natural to that sort of people together with their sordid Principles of Parsimony at least in all their Communities where they spend little in comparison of their vast Incomes tho' at the same time they eat and drink a great deal These things I say being taken for granted as they are certainly true there 's ground to believe that all their Clergy together Secular and Regular of both Sexes might have constantly before this War at least 50 Millions of useless Money to the Publick in their Coffers or the hands of the Publick Notaries Whence 't is easie â—…o perceive that the Publick lost considerably by this Money which in Commerce would have brought abundance of profit to the Kingdom helped to pay Taxes imployed abundance of people and contributed to Propagation This Article must certainly amount to sevâ—…ral Millions I will not determine how many but without doubt this and the preceding Article are to be reckoned at 8 or 10 Millions loss per Annum at least Article VIII relates to the Ridiculous Festivals that they observe wherein the poor Idolatrous People lose their time besides the Debaucheries which this abuse occasions indispensibly in Popish Countries which together can't be reckoned at less than â—…50 Millions of Livrâ—…s loss per An. For supposing that the Industry of the Nation might have been formerly valued at above 600 Millions per Annum as I have made it appear elsewhere if it were not for the abuses of Popery whereof this is one of the most prejudicial Supposing I say there are above 50 working days lost in a Year by Festivals in general without reckoning Sundays and some remarkable Festivals that would be the 6th part of the peoples Industry lost which amounts to 100 Millions per Annum We must also take notice that besides those general Festivals and Holy days there are many particular Festivals viz. those of every Parish who have their particular Saint whose Image they adore according to the Doctrine of their Councils the Festivals of Saints for every Profession Trade and Distemper when they practise the like the Festivals of Beasts or Saints that are Patrons of Beasts so that there 's much above the 6th part of the peoples time lost I confess that the time of those Holy-days is not absolutely lost for then they mind House-keeping dress Victuals and take care of their Cattle on Sunday c. and some other profitable things are done as Travelling by Land and Sea and Mariners are imployed on those days as well as others which to observe by the by is still a great advantage that Protestants and Trading Nations have above others who have not so much Trade by Sea But then if
the four Ember-weeks and other Fast-days and the Orders of Monks and Nuns had not been set up by Superstition for this occasion'd a neglect in breeding of Cattle and even at present tho' most of the Kingdom lies desolate there would be Cattle enough if Lent were abolish'd and Lands not abandoned and tho' France is at less expence now as to the buying of Foreign Fish than it was before the War yet it still expends very great Summs that way tho' the poorest sort of people in the remotest Provinces from the Sea seldom taste Fish of any sort and ev'n very rarely of Flesh-meat But lest any Body should imagine that I contradict my self in saying that the people of England don't eat less Fish since the Observation of Lent but rather more and that I pretend nevertheless that the notice of such a Superstition does prejudice to the Revenues of Land in France and hinders the Breeding and Consumption of Cattel I shall answer that specious objection I call it specious because it seems that if so be the abolishing of Lent and other Fish-days in England produce that effect that more Fish is eaten in it since it would seem to follow that less Flesh-meat should be consum'd and so consequently if Lent and other pretended Fast-days were abolished in France more Fish would be eaten and less Flesh destroyed I answer that there is no real contradiction in what I have asserted but only a seeming one and that also to those who do not weigh things rightly my reason is this that in England the people have always and at all seasons plenty both of Meat and Fish no place in the Kingdom being very remote from Sea and there being many Rivers full of Fresh-Water Fish and the Tide coming up a great way in many of those Rivers the Sea-Fish is conveyed into the Country at a very small charge They have also plenty of good Cattel so that they may at all times eat that they like best or find cheapest without that aversion which the Tyranny of Imposition occasions when they are commanded upon Eternal Damnation to eat or not to eat such and such things at such and such times whereas France is generally much more remote from the Sea and Fish there very scarce or dear Now in those places at a great distance from the Sea if it were not for the Superstition of Lent and other Fast-days as they call them in those places they would eat much more Meat than they do and more also than is eaten on the Sea-coasts where Fish is more plentiful and cheaper and consequently they should breed more Cattle More Fish would also be eaten in the Sea Ports and other places near the Sea than is eaten at present if it were not for the tyrannous Impositions upon their Consciences which forbids them to eat Meat at such times and creates in most part of them a kind of abhorrency of Fish which they are forced to eat and hence it comes to pass that less Fish is taken in the Sea-Ports than there would be were it not for this Superstition and less Cattle is also bred in the Country than would be were it not for the same Abuse which forbids the eating of Meat above five Months in the Year and so puts all things out of order for by this Means those that live near the Sea are disgusted at Fish which Nature and Providence affords them very cheap nay almost for nothing which would be a great Treasure to them if it were not for the tyranny impos'd upon them and those who live in remote places of the Country and have an opportunity to breed abundance of Cattle and eat Meat very cheap are forced to abstain from it and lose that great advantage tho' they cannot have Fish but at a very dear rate It deserves likewise our Observation that France has lost considerably in respect of the profits they made of their Cattle by the expulsion of the Protestants because they bought those young Cattle Poultry c. in the Towns and Countries where they liv'd which otherwise had been lost or very chargeable to the Owners Article XIII relates to the Injustice Violence and Spiritual Tyranny of the Popish Clergy which causes an unestimable dammage to the Kingdom of France This Spirit of Injustice and Inhumanity which is essential to Popery was the cause of the last War which they kindled secretly and of the last Persecution and of all the Massacres and Civil Wars that have been in France That same Spirit of VIOLENC sets them whenever they meet with Princes obnoxious to them to persecute all those with the utmost fury that differ from them in their Opinions though they have no other Foundation sor them but their own Ambition Pride and Covetousness that Spirit I say of Injustice has been one of the great causes of the Ruin of France I leave it to the VVorld to Judge whether they did not take advantage of the Ambition of that Potent Prince who was perhaps possessed with the design of an Uâ—…iversal Monarchy to make him believe that it was convenient for him in order to aâ—…tain his end to destroy the Reformation in England Holland France and all other parts and under that pretence to bring King James who was known to be a Bigoted Prince into the same design and to oblige him to do all what we know he did 'T is by such Methods as these that the Court of Rome Ruines all the Princes and States of Christendom when she is in any way affraid that they will grow too Potent then to be sure she inspires them by her Emissaries and Confessors with such designs as will lay them desolate and unpeople their Country when at the same time they have no mistrust of any such thingâ—… I shall not offer to compute the dammage done by this Article at any certain Sumâ—… of Money for every one may easily perceive that this is a Fountain of innumerable Mischiefs Article XIV shews plainly how ruinous the Popish â—…lergy is to the State of France in this that theâ—… contribute little to the great Charge of â—…e â—…tion tho' they enjoy the half of all Estates Real and Personal of the Kingdom and â—…ught consequently to pay as much proportioâ—…ably to the King as those do who possess the other half of the Kingdom For the Clergy even at present scarcely pay 10 Millions oâ—…â—…vres towards the 200 Millions which the King hath exacted every year from the Nation one way or other since the War that is to say that the Clergy and Religious Orders as they call them of France who make up perâ—…aps 300000 Souls enjoy as much Revenâ—… as 8 or 9 Millions of other People that may â—…ill be reckoned to be in the Kingdom oâ—… â—…rance or as much as was enjoy'd by 13 or 〈◊〉 Millioâ—…s that might have been in it 30 yeâ—…rs ago â—…nd that tho' every one of the Clergy and â—…uch like Religious Persons have one with aâ—…other
a part of the Kingdom than a Cancer is which devours the Body that it seizes on or thaâ—… a Palsie which renders diverse of the Members of the Body useless can be a part of the same and this is so much the truer that the Clergy as I have already said acknowledge the Authority of and have sworn Obedience to another Sovereign Prince who must of necessity be a natural Enemy to France because of the Usurpations that he hath made and designs to make oâ—… that Kingdom in which he cannot maintain his old nor make new Usurpations without eâ—…feebling the Kingdom from time to time proportionably as he sees its power and the Authority of the Kings Increase and to this end he serves himself of his Ecclesiasticks who under a Cloak of Religion have attain'd a mighty Credit and are maintain'd on the Fat of the Land at the Expence of others and that which is a wonderful thing have their Generals in great number and Garrisons in all Ciâ—…ies consisting of diverse Regiments of diâ—…erent Liveries that is to say the different Orders of Ecclesiasticks who under Spiritual Pretences enjoy the Temporal Estates of the Kingdom keep Princes and Subjects under the Popes Yoke and so Constitute one formidable Empire within another Imperium in Imperio It is certain tho' it can't be denied that the Taxes in France are excessive that if the Clergy had contributed proportionably to their Revenues with the rest of the People the Kingdom had been worth one half more than 't is except the King had augmented the Taxes in proportion and in that case he would have almost doubled his Revenues If the Clergy had paid the share they ought to have paid of the Impositions the Kingdom would have been much less harras'd and ruin'd than it is so that this Article reaches a great way throughout the Kingdom That we may the better understand it suppose that any Man has two Slaves or two Carriage-Horses of equal streâ—…gth in his possession capable of working or carrying considerable burdens it is certain if he work them equally and load neither of them above their ability that both of them may hold out a long time but if he overcharge the one excessively to ease the other that which is overloaded cannot hold out but must languish by degrees and become unable either for Work or Carriage except it be little or nothing and does quickly die Suppose then that it does not hold out above half the time that it might have done had it been treated as the other or that it does not work half so much as it might have done otherwise there is one half lost or if it hold not out or work not above a 4th part that is three fourths loss Thus it is with the people of France they are much less profitable to the King and State than they would be if the Clergy bore one hâ—…lf of the charge of the Kingdom as they ought to do I believe this Article may amount to forty or fifty Millions per Annum for besides the Taxes from whence they are exempted they are not subject as I have already said to any of the Vexations which are committed in the Levying 'em nor to quartering of Soldiers nor are they pillag'd by Civil Officers Farmers general and their Underlings but on the contrary they pillage them Article XV relates to their Practice and Morals I mean those of the Clergy this occasions an infinite number of Crimes which are committed without Scruple nay they think they merit Heaven by the Commission of them for they Act them by a Principle of Conscience The Mischiefs which they have committed on the Account of their pretended Religion are to be ascribed to their Morals They have Consecrated and Canoniz'd Perfidiousness Cruelty Murther the Ravishing of Matrons and Virgins and the Stealing of Children and Estates It is not easie to compute this loss in Money but all people of Sense must needs perceive that this does ruin or very much incommode Trade Arts Manufactures Navigation and all sort of Handy-labour for the Persecutors as well as the Persecuted suffer incredibly thereby without mentioning the value of the Men and Women whom they Massacre and Kill in a hundr'd manners either all at once or gradually This doth moreover occasion a general and incredible Corruption in the whole Nation for people perceiving that the Crimes committed on the account of Religion which of all things in the World ought to be the most Sacred are not punish'd but applauded and rewarded by the Clergy or at their Suggestion by those who govern them they readily conclude that if it be lawful to Commit such things for the good of the Church it is more lawful to Commit them for other ends By this means the people become desperately wicked at the heart and if they were not afraid of Secular Justice would become a meer Society of Thieves and Robbers That we may the better understand this let us suppose that the Civil Magistrate should approve Crimes in the same manner promise Heaven to the Criminals and reward them also in this life as the Clergy have compensated those who were the most Zealous in committing all sorts of Cruelties and Indignities against the Protestants I say if the Civil Government should thus countenance the Destruction of Honest and Substantial Men all humane Society must be forthwith dissolv'd and unable to subsist Or otherwise let us suppose that a multitude of Villains should prevail over Mankind and commit all imaginable crimes out of a principle of Conscience in order to oblige Men to say that they believe an Onion a Tree a Stone or an Horse are adorable and deserve the Worship which the Papists call Dulia and Latria as well as God and force them in effect to Invoke and Adore those Creatures and that this numerous multitude of Villains should call themselves Infallible at the same time and by all sorts of Cruelty and Torture force people to acknowledge them as such and that none durst oppose them on pain of losing their Liberty Estate Honour and Life what unspeakable disorders would this occasion in a State For honest Men who would not be guilty of such unbecoming unmanly practices should be outragiously persecuted put to death by their Orders and the multitude would think themselves oblig'd to take party with those Villains to avoid their own Ruin and for fear of becoming suspected to those Wretches become as wicked themselves But the Divine Providence hath not permitted humane Justice to be deprav'd to that height as is the Religion of the Church of Rome which is abundantly more wicked than the most wicked of Men and herein it is directly opposite to other Religions which tho' they be wicked in themselves do nevertheless teach better Morals than those of the people that profess them whereas on the contrary the Laicks of â—…he Church of Rome are more honest and less Villainous than their Religion I think it
as much to spend now in relation to the Revenâ—…e of the Real and Personal Estaâ—…es as 40 or 50 other persons of the promiscuous multitude taken one with another that yet for all that the Clergy and those Religious Orders taken in bulk don't bear above the 20th part of the Charges of the Government To this may be added that before the War when the King did raise by the ordinary Impositions 132 Millions yearly besides the Casualties as they term them that did amount some years to 50 60 and 70 Millions the Clergy did not pay above 5 or 6 Millions yearly for the Poll-tax by which they were obliged to pay 4 Millions per Annum during 5 years was establiâ—…hed since But that we may the better comprehend how much the Clergy is eased above all other Subjects oâ—… the Kingdom it must be known that the Officers of Judicature and other Civil Officers in the Nation as those of the Finances Civil Government and others who all purchas'd their Ofâ—…ices at a very dear rate the Farmers of the Imposts with all their dependants and the Clergy themselves did cost the people altogether above 200 Millions of Livres yearly about 20 or 30 years ago besides the other vexations and losses of time which they suffered by continual Wranglings at Law Oppressions and Depredations of their Goods by the said Officers or by the Superstition of the Clergy of all which Vexations Losses of Time and other Calamities as the Marches Counter-marches and Quartering of Souldiers if they had been free they might have probably saved or earned 100 Millions per Annum more but those I don't reckon because they turn'd to no bodies Account Now the Clergy is not only â—…ree from all those Mischiefs and losses of Money and Time to which the other Subjects are obnoxious but they likewise get Money from the people and plunder them â—…y their false Devotions and a thousand new ways suggested by their Covetousness abusing the peoples Credulity endeavouring continually to involve them in greater Ignorance that they might domineer over them more easily and so dispoil them 'T is very well known that the Officers of Judicature indulge the Clergy much more than they do the other Subjects and that the Farmers of the Impositions have little or nothing to do with them The Clergy are moreover respected and feared by the Lawyers and maintani some Judges Advocates and Attorneys who are their Pensioners There is not one Community of Religious Persons but what have Pensioners in all the Notable Tribunals where their business lies who order it so that they gain almost all their Suits at Law how unjust soever they be against the Laity who have neither so much Money nor so great Protection as they Then by the help of a Father Titler which they have in every Community they forge false Titles every day and this they account a pious Fraud as well as the false Donatives and Legacies which they often pretend to have been bestowed upon them In this manner they bereave the poor Laity of their Estates by the Favour and Protection they find one from another for they stand by one another as Thieves do and are all of them supported by the Pope who has a secret Influence upon their Affairs And many times they are also supported by Courtiers Then as to the Farmers general and particular of Impositions and their Servants the Romish Clergy is not exposed to their Robberies because they are not obnoxious to the Publick Taxes but on the contrary that sort of Men are obnoxious to the Clergy for they flatter them with the hopes of a pardon for all their Extortions and Robberies if they will but employ 'em to say Masses make them Presents or enter into their Fraternities and pay them for it Nor do they suffer by the Cheating Tricks of other Ecclesiasticks as the rest of the Subjects do for one Raven never picks out the Eyes of another The Estates Farms and Tenants of the Clergy are moreover in a better condition than those of others because their Landlords are better able to support them so that their Houses and Lands are always in better order and stock'd with the best Cattle of the Land The Clergy moreover are not liable to be forced to buy new Offices nor to lose the old ones as other Subjects are or to buy Letters of Nobility nor are they crushed with ordinary or extraordinary Taxes nor with forced Loans to the King nor with Quartering of Soldiers whereby so many thousands of other People have been every day plagued nor are they obliged to go to War nor to the Arrier-Ban By which means it comes to pass that the Clergy who are for the most part burthensom and unprofitable to the Nation nay even to their own pretended Church are free from all the Calamities under which the useful Subjects groan I grant the Curates and Country Priests are so laden with Taxes that they can hardly subsist yet they fare a great deal better than the greatest part of the Laity who formerly had Estates which now they have lost by the Taxes and are charged with Debts and Children besides Whereas tho' the Priests be never so poor yet still they have some Bread left them without any toil for it for they neither Labour nor Preach nor are bound to do any Work but what the dullest Peasant might do if he could but read and had memory enough to learn by long practise how to handle the Musquet for the Mass-Trade can be learnt as easily They enjoy a Church-Living gratis which they neither merit for their Capacity nor Services neither had they it left them by Inheritance from their Ancestors nor can they be seized upon for Debts I grant 't is but reason they should live by their Trade since they do that which the people would have them to do but as for the great numbers of rich Monastries Convents â—… which contribute little or nothing to the Government is it not ridiculous they should enjoy the half of all the Estates in that Kingdom and not pay the 20th part towards the support of the Government of what the rest of the Nation pays for as I have said before those wealthy Clergy-men pay almost nothing of what the Clergy pays in general all the burden falls upon the little Curates and Priests who are left without Protection What 〈◊〉 then is it that the diligent and laborious forâ—… of people in a Nation should perish and be destroyed like Victims meerly to fatten the lazy and idle sort of people and that so many Millions of useful Subjects should be sacrific'd to such sluggish Belly-Gods We can never enough bewail such Blindness as this nor express all the Mischiefs which such Injustice brings along with it This very thing alone is capable of ruining the Kingdom by degrees If it be objected that the Ecclesiasticks who possess one half of it are not ruined I Answer they are properly no more
set before their Eyes We must also consider that the Rigor and Length of the last Persecution of France nay which continues still and hath been one of the longest and most cruel that ever the Christians endur'd since the Establishment of Christianity that grand Rigor I say and the continuance of the Persecution have giv'n occasion to all Persons of the Romish Communion who had not absolutely divested themselves of all Conscience and Humanity and become perfect Bruits to inquire into those Opinions â—…or which the Protestants have suffered and suffer still so many evils and have found them Reasonable and Christian contrary to what the Monks represented them to be and diverse of the honestest of their Clergy-men who were formerly very Ignorant have instructed themselves in them All of them have been terrified to find so much Courage Firmness Humility and surprizing Patience amongst an infinite number of Persons of all Sexes Ages and Conditions which made them to think that in all this there was something Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are also surpriz'd to find by the Zeal which those poor People discover at present when persecuted in diverse places with the utmost rage that they are less Papists than ever which occasions many thoughts of heart amongst those who have any Judgment Besides the bad success of that Persecution which hath been accompanied with this long and bloody War a violent Famine and the dethroning of the late King James with whom it was concerted and which in fine hath issued in the ruine of the Kingdom of France hath made it evident that it was not a WoÅ•k which God approv'd and that he did without all doubt avenge himself on the Nation for their perfidiousness and cruelty committed against his People at the Instigation of the Court of Rome and the Clergy of France and those who are not judicially blinded or have any Sense of God upon them understand and perceive clearly that God concern'd himself in the Cause of the Protestants and the Evils they Suffered Which ought to be another strong Argument to incline the Papists to embrace the Protestant Religion So that there 's no cause to doubt but the People of France have a mighty disposition to shake off the Popes Yoke and to embrace the Doctrine of the Gospel if the King of France would declare himself for it above half the business would be done Never Prince had nor can have so fair an occasion to acquire Immortal Glory and to render his People happy as the King of France has at present in putting that great Work in Execution for besides all the Dispositions thereunto abovementioned he hath the most Authority in his Dominions of any Prince in the World and hath the finest and most numerous Army that ever was seen in France and if he should sâ—…and in need of any assistance to carry on a Work so Glorious so Magnificent and Advantagious to Mankind there 's no doubt but the Incomparable William and other Protestant Powers would lend him their helpiâ—…g haâ—…d It seems that the present State of the Kingdom of France doth moreover indispensibly require this general Reformation and the abolition of the Papacy to the end the King may appropriate to himself all or at least the greatest part of the Riches of the Church which belong to no Body and whereof he might dispose for the â—…afety of the State without any Injustice by which means he would be enabled to pay his Debts to every one and to prevent a Civil War which seems to threaten France unavoidably if there come a K of lesser Authority than Lewis the XIV by reason of the desperate Condition into which People of all ranks are upon the brink of being reduc'd because of the ill condition of their Affairs All his Troops seem to require it also to prevent their being cashier'd for they must either perish in Foreign Countries or starve or be hang'd at home the great numbers of brave Officers and Noblemen ruined by the Kings Service do also require it and 't is a thousand times more just that they should be compensated by the Riches of the Church which belong to no Body but the King and State than that they should be enjoy'd by such an Herd of Scandalous and Unprofitable Ecclesiasticks The great numbers of others who have been forced by several ways to lend Money to the King or to buy Places or Letters of Nobility and must unavoidably be cashier'd and ruined or who have lost all they had by the Taxes do also require such a general Reformation that the King may be enabled â—…o pay or give them some Compensation and to furnish them Bread of which they have none left And besides those above-mentioned all ranks of People through the Kingdom in general require it that they may be delivered from those prodigious Losses that they suffer continually by Popery which amount as has been said to above 200 Millions per Annum that so they may be Re-established and Repeopled a little for which end the Monks Nuns and other Ecclesiasticks might be very useful if their Monasteries were dissolved The general Desolation of the Cities and Countries do also demand it that so that King may be in a condition to moderate the Impositions and Taxes with which they are overwhelm'd at present and will continue so to be Without this all Arts Manufactures and Husbandry will infallibly decay more and more and the Art Military will come to nothing in France where it hath flourished so much in this Reign The Interest of the Church of France as they call it and all the honest Ecclesiasticks among them seem also to require it because if after the present King and Dauphin there should happen to come a weak Prince the Kingdom also being so much weakned as 't is at present and as it will continue to be still may be for ever ruin'd unless this general Reformation be set about speedily If I say a weak Prince should happen to come to the Crown at such a time the Popes will treat France in a more Tyrannical and Cruel manner than ever because of the fears they have laboured under that France would shake off their Yoke and of the attempts which they will pretend have been made upon their Authority in this Reign which they will never pardon Then the Pope will Establish the Inquisition in France deprive the Gallican Church of that she calls her Liberties rob the King of his Regale oblige him to restore the Seculariz'd Estates to the Church and certainly despoil the Bishops of their Lawful Jurisdiction over the Regular Clergy Then they must believe the Infallibility of the Pope or at least pretend to do so both in Matters of Fact and Right his Almighty Power in Heav'n and Earth his Superiority over Councils his Absolute Power over the Temporal Rights of Kings and their Lives as well as in the matters of their Salvation and the like over their Subjects The Pope
the Monks and the Jesuites will render themselves Masters of all under a weak Prince and the Kingdom will be more expos'd to the Cheats Impostures and Scandalous Vices of the Clergy than ever The King of France should hereby gain the Affection of all Protestant Princes and States intirely which would be much more useful to him than that of the Popish Princes because they are honester in their Treaties and at present much more powerful especially by Sea and more able to hurt or help him And moreover France cannot subsist without Commerce with them and the King knows very well that they have no thoughts of regaining any thing from France as the Popish Princes have because she hath never taken any thing from them nor have they any thoughts of making Conquests upon him as being more Sage and Judicious than that comes to Neither has he any reason to fear that the Court of Rome will employ them to do Mischief to France as they have imployed and may still imploy Popish Princes to do But if France neglect such a fair opportunity as this is to shake off the Yoke of Popery when there is such an Indispensible Necessity â—…o do it for the fafety of the Kingdom which must otherwise perish after having seen so evidently that Popery is the ruin of States and by consequence a false Religion all the World will have reason to believe that His Majesty does not only hate the Protestant Religion but the very Persons of all Protestants especially if he does not Re-establish his Subjects of the Reformed Religion in the free Exercise of the same and in a full and entire Liberty in all Respects as his other Subjects and with all possible Assurance for time to come seeing no Man can reproach them with Disloyalty towards the King nor on the account of their Doctrine which the most Learned of the Papists themselves acknowledge to be very Sound and Conformable to the Scripture and make their boasts that they believe the same things as they do having nothing else to reproach them with but only that they don't believe enough because they don't believe Transubstantiation nor fifty other Fooleries of the like Nature nor adore the half of one of the two Sacraments which has not so much as the Honour to be Bread but is only an Elil Elilim a Nothing an Idol which according to St. Paul is a meer Nothing of this number of Learned Men is the Bp. of Meaux as appears by his Exposition of the Catholick Doctrine Without â—…his Reformation France will become as desolate in 30 years time as Spain and Portugal is at present though there should be a continued Peace all that while For the Women and Girls who are at present three thirds of the People of France will for the most part be dead without Children because there are not Men enough at present to Marry them so that this want of People will be much more apparent then than now It may very well be said that the Kingdom of France hath for 30 or 40 years had a great Ascendant over all the other Nations of Europe by means of the Kings Vigour and Absolute Power But the Kingdom will lose that Ascendant come to nothing and be despicable to all the World and especially to the Court of Rome without hopes of being ever able to recover it self if such a Reformation be not made And I dare venture to say that without this the Kingdom is in danger to be torn into pieces by Civil Wars ere it be long or involved in short in another new War on the account of Religion by the Jesuites at the secret Suggestion of the Pope who are still afraid of that Kings great Authority tho his Kingdom is ruined There 's no other Method left as I have intimated already to put the King in a condition to pay his numerous Debts but this Evangelical Reformation and because diverse Persons of great Merit have desir'd of me to give some Account of the Ways and Means they take to find Money to borrow and Places to sell in a Kingdom so much ruined as France I could not refuse to obey them in imparting what is publickly known of that Matter in France therefore I shall here make a little digression We must observe then that the Court entertains a great number of People in Provinces and Towns who make it their business to discover those who have yet any Money left ' em Whereupon the Intendant Governour or other Chief Men of the Place have orders either to call for such Persons or to go to their Houses and tell them that the King has a mind to sell such and such new Places or Augmentations of Salleries to all Civil Officers who are already in Place or Letters of Nobility to Commoners or some other Priviledges or to create Rents upon the Town-House of Paris or to alienate the Revenues of the Post-Office or some part of his Demain c. Then they are acquainted Civilly that they will oblige the Court to lay out their Money on such thingâ—… and do a piece of good Service to the State that their Principal and Interest will both be sure and their gain considerable If they answer that they have no Money after being desir'd thus to lay it out then they find it to be as Tacitus says Preceserant sed quibus resisti non poterat They were Prayers indeed but such as they could not resist Those Officers inform themselves more particâ—…larly of the Staâ—…e of their Affairs from Scriveners and Notaries who are oblig'd to tell all they know of it After this they proceed to threaten the Persons that so they may squeeze Money out of them But there are few who let it come to this extremity because they see so many Examples before them of People ruined by such Refusals for either they are tax'd extraordinarily as rich Persons or are accused that either they themselves or their Friends whose Estates they Inherit robb'd the Publick when they were in Office and thereupon despoil them of their Estates Otherwise all the Actions of their whole Life are Canvass'd or if that fail the Conversations of their Children and other Relations are enquired into on purpose to vex them and their Tenants are over-whelm'd with Impositions or Quartering of Soldiers There are a hundred other such Methods and their Children and Relations are never advanc'd neither in the Church in the Army nor otherwise And they are besiâ—…es accounted at Court Enemies to the Government sometimes imprisoned and if they have any Suit at Law the adverse Party is sure to find favour c. It 's true there are some who are known to be extreamly Rich or in great business â—…hat prevent â—…he Court on purpose â—…o gain Favour and lend their Money upon the Town-house of Paris nor do they know how to dispose of their Money otherwise Trade being quite ruined Houses and Land being of no value and all people almost being
broke so that there 's no safety in lending it to private Hands besides they are affraid of the Species being cry'd down the same having been augmented one 6th part during the War Thâ—…n the Interest is upon the foot of twelve fourteen eighteen or twenty years purchase more or less and most of those Persons live at Paris on those Revenues Here I shall take notice by the way that above two thirds of all the Kingdoms Money Plate and Jewels are at Paris and that there was plenty of Money in France 15 years ago as 't is necessary for Trade in a Country where the half of all Estates are in Mainmort We must suppose that Court was perswaded that the last War was just and necessary and that the Kingdom was in great danger had it not been for the help of such Methods and they reasoned as that Man who said formerly Praestat aliquam habere Rempublicam quam nullam that is 't is better to have some Republick than none And we must think also that they thought the Kingdom was able soon or late to pay and reimburse all those Loans both Principal and Interest and that the Money was useless during the War in the hands of private Men who had it or might even be prejudicial to the Kingdom if the Owners had applyed themselves to Usury as 't is in such Circumstances in some Countries So that 't is no wonder that the Court having such an Authority made use oâ—… such Ways and Means How then can all those Publick Debts old and new be paid without abolishing Popery How can those who have bought their Places of whom three fourths at least must be Cashier'd be otherwise reimbursed and this last alone may amount perhaps to a thousand Millions besides what is due to those who have purchas'd Augmentations of Salleries and Titles of Nobility which together with other Priviledges sold also must be abolish'd or how can the Interests of all those Debts be paid seeing the Kingdom is every day more and more dispeopled for there 's at least three Women for one Man and by consequence there are but few Marriages and more People die than are born What hopes then can that Kiâ—…gdom entertain from Trade and Husbandry when they have no Men to manage them And besides the continuance of the Persecution will more and more alienate the Hearts of all True Protestant Strangers who either will not Travel or at least not stay any long time in France where so much Perfidiousness and Cruelty abounds against their Brethren and where they cannot promise safety to themâ—…elves for eiâ—…her â—…hey are in hazard of being knock'd on the head by the Furious and Idolatrous People if they don't kneel before their breaden God in the Streets or are always at the Mercy of their Landlords Masters of Exercises or Idolatrous and Bigotted Physitians c. for it is now the mode in France to be mad Bigots and if they fall sick there they will be persecuted to the death in order to make them abjure their Religion Nor can they have leave to eat Meat for six Months almost in the Year without buying Permission of the Priests for they are now more ridiculous in France in those matters than at Rome it self Because the Pope is well satisfied to draw Strangers thither and to have their Money and that France should lose so much by it So that the great proâ—…it which the Kingdom of France did ordinarily reap from Protestant Strangers must reasonably be supposed to diminish considerably There will happen also another Inconvenience by the abating of the Value of Money which must yet of necessity be done and will occasion abundance of disorder in the Kingdom I confess that the abolishing of Popery which we have demonstrated to be so necessary cannot prevent that diminution of the Value of the Coin which is so just but it would occasion that that loss and all the rest would be nothing so sensibly felt by the Kingdom because the Affairs of the King and the Subject both would be abundantly better'd by it I think it necessary to observe here that the Rents of the Town-house of Paris before-mentioned consist in Taxes laid upon all sorts of things that are exported or imported into that City for the use of Man and Beast as Provisions Cattle Corn VVine Cloaths Firing Hay Straw c. Nor is there any thing but what is liable to this Impost whether it be the product of the Kingdom or of Foreign Countries and it is the same as to all manner of Goods Exported from Paris as Manufactures all sorts of things â—… la mode for Dresses either of Men or Women and whether it be to the Provinces of France or to Foreign Countries so that there 's nothing but what pays the very Herbs and Flowers not being excepted About 20 years ago the King had at least 20 Millions of Livres or above a Million and a half Sterling yearly by this Impost but it is without all doubt much diminished at present The Salt alone which is sold at 14 and 15 d. per Pound did formerly yield 1800000 Livres per Annum which was appropriated for the Use of the Kings Table and those of the Officers of his Houshould tho' Paris be nothing near so Big Rich and well Peopled as London and by consequence spends much less Then besides the Tax on all things Imported into that City for the use of Man and Beast which pay by the Gross either at the Gaâ—…s the entrance of the Suburbs or to the Pataches on the River which are Boats with Officers of the Custom-house and Guards to levy the said Tax on all things Imported or Exported by Water there is moreover a Tax laid upon every thing that is retail'd within the City and Surburbs and because that this Revenue must necessarily fall in proportion to the Decrease and Poverty of the People the Court who are unwilling that it should do so augment the Tax on every thing to make up what they lose by this fall of the Revenue which occasions abundance less to be consumed and this Branch of the Revenue to fall more and more and People to suffer Extremly by it Those Taxes are so many that there are several Books writ for ascertaining them It is the same in several of the biggest Towns of the Kingdom and 't is at present the best parâ—… of the Kâ—…ngs Revenues becâ—…use the great Cities are not so Depopulated as the Country But let 's return to our Subject I shall suppose here the Popish Religion to be Good as to its Doctrine and Woâ—…ship and the Protestant Religion False yet the King of France by embracing the latter should be â—…ssoon saved if he paid his Debts reliev'd his People from their Pressures and his Kingdom from a Foreign Yoke which ruines it if he labour'd incessâ—…ntly to Re-establish and Re-people his Kingdom doing Justice to all rewarding such as have been undone by his Service in
THE Political Mischiefs OF POPERY OR Arguments Demonstrating I. That the Romish Religion Ruines all those Countries where 't is Establish'd II. That it occasions the loss of above 200 Millions of Livres or 16 Millions Sterling per An. to France in particular III. That if Popery were Abolished in France that Kingdom would become incomparably more Rich and Populous and the King's Revenues would Advance above 100 Millions of Livres or 8 Millions Sterling per Annum IV. That it is impossible that France should ever be Re-established whilst Popery is their National Religion By a Person of Quality a Native of France Author of The Desolation of France demonstrated LONDON Sold by J. Harris at the Harrow in Little Britain 1698. TO The Honourable THE House of Commons THIS Treatise which I take the Liberty to Dedicate to your Honours with all imaginable Respect was published sometime ago in French and by several Persons of Great Judgment thought not Unworthy to be presented to your view in English because of the Importance of the Matter and the Profit which they thought might from thence redound to Church and State The design of it is to prove by Political Arguments a Method New and Extraordinary that the Romish Religion is the Falsest of any that hath hitherto appeared in the World because it is the destruction and plague of all Countries where it is Established and Ruins Nations more than any other False Religion that we have yet heard of This I demonstrate by the Instance of France and make it evident that Popery occasions the loss of above 200 Millions of Livres per Annum to that Kingdom whence it follows that even as to Temporals the Kingdom of England reaps unspeakable Advantages by the Reformation which hath delivered her from that Cruel and Unsupportable Yoke I have so much the greater Reason to hope that this Book will not be unacceptable to your Honours because it tends more and more to confirm the Protestant Religion in this Kingdom for the defence of which against the Tyranny of Popery you have on all occasions testified an ardent Zeal The tender Care and great Charity which you have manifested towards the poor Refugees who suffer for the said Religion but above all the Courage and Zeal you have discover'd in this last War by sparing nothing that was necessary for the preservation of the Protestant Interest have made it gloriously appear to all the Nations of the Earth that you value neither your Treasures nor your Blood when there 's a necessity of spending them in defence of your Religion And in effect there was no less at Stake than the loosing or preserving it for your selves and your Posterity nay I may say for the whole Protestant World and together with that you must have lost your precious Liberties and all that is dear to you as Men and Christians That it would please God that by your Genenerous Example and Sage Resolves you may transmit to all succeeding Parliaments that same Prudence Magnanimity and Zeal for the Mainteâ—…ance of the Protestant Religion and your Publick Liberties against all Attempts of Popery is and shall be the constant Prayer of him who is with all possible Submission and profound Respect Your Honours Most humble and most Obedient Servant De Soulignê Grandson to M. Du Plessis Mornay THE PREFACE TO THE READER ABout a Year ago I published a Treatise for the Service of this Nation upon the present State of France Entituled The Desolation of France Demonstrated And there in short I made it evident That Popery was the principal Cause of all the Misery and Ruin that hath befall'n that Kingdom The Book was pleasing to this Nation in general but some were apt to think I had aggravated Matters and that the Condition of France was not so bad as I had represented it Amongst others a certain Gentleman of great Parts was pleased to write a Manuscript upon that Subject full of Wit and diametrically opposite to what I had advanced but did not think fit to publish it The Events that happened since have confirmed in part what I then said whereupon that Ingenious Person hath acknowledged in a curious piece lately published That I had Reason on my side for what I had writ in general as to the Condition of France But diverse other Persons of Worth having wished that I would justifie the Proposition which I had advanced in the same Book viz. That Popery occasions the loss of 200 Millions per An. to France which to them seem'd a Paradox I thought my self obliged to saâ—…isfie their desire To this end I publish'd what I had writ upon that Subject sometime ago in French that by the Iudgment which others gave upon it I might be the better enabled to conjecture what was proper to be Added or Corrected in the English Edition which I nâ—…w present to the Publick with several Additions and had done it sooner but for some Reasons not fit to be here related But I supposed besides that People will have more Inclination to Read such Pieces now the War is over during which they lov'd to hear of nothing but bloody Battles and Princes Dethron'd according to the humour of the Romans in Horace his time as he expresseth it in the following Lines Pugnas exactos Tyrannos Densum humeris bibit aure vulgus I doubt not but some people will say That I write with too much heat against Popery To which I reply 1. That those Persons don't know Popery well enough nor have they ever examined it throughly They are misled by some common Prejudices and judge of that Religion not according to its essential Principles and constant Practise but only by the external Behaviour of some that profess it as Laicks who are sâ—…metimes as well Polished Civilized Learned and Honest in outward appearance as Protestants and here those People stop withâ—…ut consulting the Scripture or considering that the Dâ—…ctrine Morals and Tyranny of the Romish Clergy are more becoming Devils than Men. I confess that they are Men and Women as well as others and that there are People morally Honest among them as there are among Pagans Iews and Mahumetans and even among the Romish Clergy there are sone who are honester as to the matter of Society than their Religiâ—…n obliges them to be But those Gentlemen I speak of think there 's no hurt in their Idolatry nor don 't consider the Mischiefs their Religion does to ail Mankind in general because they think it never did them any so that according to this Maxim of theirs all Religions should be alike for there are Rational and Moral People of all Perswasions 2. I may Reply That there was never any Protestant that had more Reason than my self to write sharply against Popery there having been no Man hitherto who hath studied that Point so thoroughly as I have done in Regard of the infinite Mischiefs which it occasions to States as wiâ—…l appear by the following
Treatise 3. No Man can exceed bounds in expressing his Abhorrence of Popery provided he forbear reflecting upon innocent Persons as I have carefully done for certainly the Malignity of tâ—…e Romish Religion and Clergy goes beyond all Expression or Idea and if I have Reason on my side as it appears I have all honest Papists will think theâ—…selves obliged to me foâ—… disabusing them and if they can convict me of a Mistake I am wiâ—…ling to bear the reproach of it The Wits of this Age will perhaps find fault with my Stile and manner of Expression and complain that it is dull and not genteel for most People now a days look for a fine Stile in Books But besides that my Matter will not admit of a flâ—…urishing Stile nor sallies of Fancy I freely own that I am none of those who are fond of the Title of a fine Wit an Orator or Polite Writer I am concent if I can discover in my rude Method such things as are of the highest Importance and Use to Men and Christians which no body else hath taken notice of And I hope that those who love Solid and Important Discoveries and the Order and Good of the Commonwealth will do me Iustice. Those that have finer Pens tâ—…an I may perhaps Handle this Subject better after me Correct my Faults Supply my Defects and Add to my Discoveries it being a Maxim as true â—…s common Facile est inventis addere For my own part I must confess that I expect more from Works of this naâ—…ure towards the Destruction of Popery than from all the Books of Controversies that shall be writ henceforward Great Men never Read them and for the most part they govern themselves meerly by sensible Reasons and Visible Interest Those that I propose here are Uncontrovertible beyond all Exception and Intelligible to People of the meanest Capacities if they have but patience to hear them so that all that remains to be Controverted is the degree of the Mischief occasioned by Popery and whether it be so great as Ihave represented it or not I have chosen to insist on the Instance of France to prove the infinite Malignity of the Romish Religion rather than on that of any other Popish State because that Country is best known to me and that last year I undertook to make it appear that the Ruin of France proceeded mostly from Popery so that â—…is Treatise is an Appendix of that I am forced contrary to my inclination to represent the Mischiefs of the Government of France but what I say is the Truth and with no design to offend any Man my intention being only to display the desperate Malignity of Popery I own that those who Govern in France are endowed with many greaâ—… and rare Qualities but Popery striveth continually either to Stiste them or to Employ tâ—…em to base and pernicions Ends. There is nothing more certain than that all would do well there were it not for the Popish Clergy and especially the Iesuites whâ—… carry the chief Sway in that Nation I propose â—…o other end to my self in this but to serve the Church of God and my present Country the Kingdom of England in which I have hitherto found some Bread and where I hope I shall not be suffered to starve in time to come Whereas on the contrary I have been robb'd of all in France for serving Goâ—… according to my own Conscience and it 's probable that if I and others â—…ad slaid there till now we should not only have been dâ—…riev'd of our Lives but had the same endeavours us'd to ruine our Souls that have been made use of to ruine those of others And moreover it may be easily evinced that all I say might be of infinite advantage to France if she knew how to make use of it seeing she might thereby become abâ—…ndantly moâ—… Rich Poâ—…ent and Happy than ever she was So that in tâ—… respect I discover a thousand times more Love for France than those do who Govern her or than indâ—…d she discovers for her self THE Translator's Letter TO THE Book-Seller SIR THE following Book being now Traâ—…slated must take its Faâ—…e in the World The Worthy Author hath performed his part to Admiration and as it became a Grandson of the Greâ—…t du Plesfis Mornay though under a much greater Disadvantage than he Thâ—… Grandfather when he wrote his Books which have eterniz'd his Fame was one of the chief of the Protestants of France then a flourishing and formidable â—…ody and abounded in all things necessary for his Undertaking but the Grandson on the contrary hath had much ado to escape with his Life and is cast upon our Island as part of the valuable Wreck of that once renown'd Protestant Church Yet in that forlorn Condition with little encouragement from Men and as little help of Books he hath given us many proofs of his Zeal and Abilities to serve the Protestant Interest His Book Entituled The Desolation of France demonstrated c. met with deservâ—…d Applaufe and if the dignity of the Subject depth of Thought and strength of Argument have any influence upon Mankind there 's no Reason to think that this he now offers to the Publick can meet with less As for the Translation which is my own part you know I have performed it duâ—…ing a hurry of other business so that if it be passable English it is as much as you can expect The Author will bear me witness that I have kept to his Sense and indeed as there is something uncommon in his Thought there is the same in his manner of Expression which is more adapâ—…ed to inform the Judgment than to please the Fancy and therefore to have attempted to set off or rather to disguise by flourishes of Stile what the Author designed should be intelligible to every one would have been an injury to the pattern he hath set me I have nothing to add but that as in the last Century God raised up many great Men â—…o discover the False Doctrines of the Râ—…mish Church which made such People as had any due regard to their Salvation to come out of her Who knows â—…ut that he same Providence by raising up others to disâ—…over the Pâ—…li ical Mischiefs of that Religion to Kingdoms and States mâ—…y thereby stir up the Kings and Princes of thâ—… Earth to hate the Whore and burn her flesh with fire That this mâ—…y be one of the effects of this Book the best if nâ—…t the only Treaâ—…ise that ever was writ upon the Subject and that it maâ—… Aâ—…swer your Expectâ—…tion and Procure the Author that Reâ—…pect and Esteem which he deserves â—…rom all good Men is the unfeigned wish and hearty desire of Your humble Servant G. Ridpath ERRATA PAg. 2. line 27. less read more p. 56. l. 34. r. Flesh-meat p. 59. l. 27. r. bought in Lent p. 60. l. 7. VIOLENC r. Violence p. 113. l. 5. r. But when shall they be able to do it p.
to the State to which they are commonly Eâ—…emies And hereby they do likewise take the Bread out of the Mouths of abundance of School-masters who are Honester Men than themselves have nothing else to Live on have Families to Maintain and pay Taxes to the King proportionably to their Income Whereas those Ecclesiasticks have enough to Live on without teaching School being for the most part too Rich already and on the other hand they pay almost nothing to the King ruine the Kingdom and have no Families to Maintain Nay that which is worse they acknowledge a Foreign Authority viz. that of the Pope to be Superior to His Majesties Authority and they are accustomed to inspire their Scholars with those injust and pernicious Sentiments as also a False and Bastard Devotion which enclines them to shake off all Subjection to their Parents to make themselves Jesuits or Priests of the Oratory and to give their Estates to the Order into which they enter themselves or at least to make their Relations pay them a good Pension of which the Convent reaps the Profit They do likewise corrupt those Children in another manner at least the Jesuits labour under the Scandal of it and indeed there 's no wickedness of which they are not capable The other Monks who neither keep Schools nor Boarders do nevertheless seduce abundance of Young People under preâ—…ence of Confessing them and by Vertue of the Credit which they have to creep into Houses they ensnare and seduce also the Parents to become Monks and Nuns and to give them their Estates especially in the time of Widowhood nay sometimes they persuade them to be Unmarried on that account and so create Divisions betwixt Man and Wife and their Children They do likewise Debauch their Wives and Daughters know all the Secrets of Old and Young and make their own Advantage of the Weakness of every one In many places the Nuns do likewise take young Boarders who oftentimes learn somewhat else than Virtue among them and by degrees they persuade them also to turn Nuns especially if there be any profit to be had by it to the Convent for the Relations of the Girls give them either a considerable sum of Money for ever or a good Annual Pension which is so much loss to the Capital Stock of the Kingdom seeing it falls into Mainmort or becomes Dead There are also many of those Convents both of Monks and Nuns who for Money take in the young Bastards of Persons of Quality that would not have the thing known and many times they make away with 'em there have been found in Ponds Cisterns and Houses of Office several Corps and Bones of those poor Infants They plunder the people also by their Tapers Wax-candles and Torches which they use in Grand Processions for they oblige the people to furnish those things and all that is not spent belongs as they alledge to the Church that is to say to the Priests or Monks It is well enough known that on certain days which they look upon as great Festivals they oblige every Corporation or Company in great Towns to furnish huge Torches each of which does sometimes represent an History of the Old and New Testament or fabulous Legend or sometimes they will have the Images of 5 or 6 Persons or as many Beasts in Wax at large so weighty that they must have 10 or 12 Men to carry one of these Torches Twenty such they carry in Procession which costs more sometimes than 10 or 20000 Livres and the profit of this is to be reap'd by their Clergy at the Expense of the poor Idolatrous People This is chiefly to be seen on that â—…day which they call the Feast of God for the Popes good Men have thought fit that God should have a Festival as well as Dominic Loyola Xavier c. And if the Inquisition were established in France as many people imagine it may be done in this Reign which however I believe not it would still pillage the Nation more as it hath done Spain and Portugal There 's yet another secret way that the Monks are charged with using to levy a great Summ of Money upon the People and their own Devotionists all at once which is thus When their Convent and its Dependencies or their Church is old and does not please them they set it on fire themselves and then make heavy Lamentations for that sad Accident which it hath pleased God to permit and then they go a begging for Money to Re-build what is burnt If it require 30000 Livres more or less to Re-build it as it was they will raise at least 100000 upon the people leaving always the work unfinished and give out that the Summs raised were but very small and not enough to carry on the Work for none but themselves know perfectly what is given or what the building hath cost because they take care that no body shall be acquainted with their Affairs and so this furnishes them with a pretence to beg constantly and to procure Legacies from some silly people when a dying on pretence of finishing that Work There are many Orders who sell little Relicks that they say have been Consecrated by the Pope and Beads that have touch'd some Miraculous Images The Carmelites have what they call the Apparel of the Virgin c. The Holy Days are moreover very gainful to the Ecclesiasticks of all sorts because the people go to Church on those Days with more Devotion than on Sundays cause abundance of Masses to be said and besides paying for them give Money also to the Box. Those Festival Days are like so many Fairs wherein the Clergy make Money of their Merchandize They are likewise very advantagious to the Pope not only in that they contribute to the Enriching of his Ecclesiastical Troops which he entertains as I have already said at the Expence of those whom he has brought under his Yoke and of whom he assures himself more and more by that Method both by weakening them and keeping in their Kingdoms Armies and Garrisons of Priests and Monks who have Sworn to him as being in their Opinion Superiour to the King and having a Right to claim Obedience from him in every thing so that they are constantly ready either to revolt or to kill Kings when the Pope desires it or when Princes would have them contribute to the Charge of the State But those Festivals we now Treat of are above all advantagious to the Popes in this that they raise him above all humane Authority nay above that of God himself for 't is they who have Institured or Authoriz'd all those pretended Holy Days by which they give Laws to the Consciences of Men and oblige them to Adore and Invoke whom they please and for the most part Villains that is to say the Popes themselves and the Ministers of their Tyranny and by this means the Popes don't content themselves to be Ador'd while they live but they hope to be
Livres a piece one with another so that the loss of Two Millions and 250000 souls which is the fourth part of the Nine Millions above-mentioned that might have been born in 800 years time of the Romish Clergy had they been Married amounts to 3350 Millions which being divided by 800 is above Four Millions loss each year and this is so much the more palpable that those Two Millions and a Half of people being added to those that were already in the Kingdom would have increased in Value and have augmented the Value of the Kingdom and of all the People for the better Peopled a Country is the more Valuable it is as is also every individual in the Kingdom so that this occasions an annual loss of Four Millions at least one year with another Article V. The Popish Clergy possesses one half of the Estates Real and Personal in the Kingdom of France which half about 30 years ago we have computed elsewhere at 200 Millions per annum then it is to be noted that those Estates are in Mainmort that is to say lye dead because they can neither engage nor alieâ—…ate 'em nor imploy them in Trade so that they are less advantagious to the Country than if they were in the hands of Men fit for Commerce Handicrafts Husbandry or Manufactures or that those Estates pass'd by Inheritance from Father to Son so that by necessary consequence their being in the hands of the Clergy is very much against the Good of the Kingdom Hence also it follows that the Ecclesiasticks may well increase their own Riches at the Expense of the People whose Estates they are able to acquire whereas the People can never make any advantage of them They are moreover as so many Usurers and make profit from the Industry and Labour of the People by lending them Money at a great Interest which is very pernicious to a State They are in this respect abundantly worse than the Iews who ordinarily are very Covetous spend little and are great Usurers nor are there any Land-Estates to be purchas'd from them because they ordinarily have none Yet they are abundantly more profitable to a State than the Popish Clergy because divers of 'em Traffick by Sea imploy Vessels Marriners and other People of business and do moreover maintain and breed up Families For our better understanding how prejudicial it is to a State to have a great part of their Fund or Stock in Mainmort we must consider that if all the Riches of a State wâ—…re so it could not subsist as the World is managed at present Trade Arts Maâ—…factures Sciences and Industry c. must necessarily fâ—…ll all hope of advancing ones self or of acquiring Estates by Labour and Industry or of distinguishing our selves from others would evanish all people would by this means be alike Wealthy there would be neither Poor nor Rich Knowing nor Ignorant there could be no subordination in any thing and all should be in confusion Such a Nation would be uncapable of making War or defending it self for a Neighbouring Nation whose Funds should not be in Mainmort must immediately become Master of that Nation that were so for by dividing their Funds amongst their Soldiers they would encourage all their Soldiers to take Arms against the other Nation and to dispoil them of all For suppose those two Nations are equal in number of Men and extent of Dominions That Nation whose Wealth is not in Mainmort and has more poor people than Rich according to the usual course of the World might make an Effort twenty times greater than the other seeing their stock is ordinarily of 20 times more value than their Revenue at the 20th Penny So that one very inconsiderable Nation might by this Method easily Conquer the whole World if the Wealth of all other Nations besides it self were in Mainmort for as soon as ever they should have subdued another they would dispose of their Stock in favour of their Soldiers and of all others that should follow their Party If that should take place there would be no such thing as getting of Riches nor would there be any need of Money but people would only Barter one Commodity against another with their Neighbours for a few days and in very small quantities for the use only of a few persons Credit must either be totally abolish'd or extend only to a small part of each ones Revenue and only for a few Days or Weeks and there would likewise be a necessity of assurance that he who borrowed was not already indebted to another in some part of his Revenue Who then would take upon him the trouble of administring Justice if there were no Estate to be acquir'd by his Labour Or who is it would be Physician or Divine or serve the Publick in any Station for nothing Suppose that in such a Country I have an Estate in Land which I cannot Engage and I have a desire to take up my abode in a Neighbouring Nation where their Estates are not so dispos'd in Mainmort and that I have occasion for Two Ten or 20000 l. in Money for something that may be Advantagious to the State or my own Family as carrying on a Trade opening Shop c. Who will lend me that Money if I canâ—…ot Mortgage my Estate Or suppose I have Money to Lend to whom shall I Lend it Where are my Sureties seeing no person can alienate his Estate Whereas when a Man may Mortgage his Estate for ready Money all those Funds enter into Commerce every Industrious and Diligent Person imploys himself in hopes that sometime or other he may get some share of it and thus all is in Motion and Circulates as it ought to do in a Body Politick without which it should not be able to make use of its Members but labour under a Civil or Political Palsie The Soldier hopes to purchase some Estate one time or other Men of Ingenuity and Parts if Poor entertain the like hopes and therefore set themselves to Business â—… good Mechanick or Mariner does the like and so the rest for which there would be no room if Estates were inalienable for in this case Prodigality Liberality Covetousness Industry or Idleness could neither profit or hurt us if there were no Riches and by Consequence no Honours to be acquir'd amongst men Hence then it is clear that the Kingdom of France is depriv'd of the use of one half of its Members because one half of its Substance is in Mainmort for the more of a Countries Wealth that there is so the less they have of Activity Motion Commerce or Credit one among another or with Strangers Hence it comes to pass that Popish Countries who have a great part of their Wealth in Mainmort cannot drive any considerable Trade ev'n tho' their mischievous Religion should not have unpeopled them as it inâ—…allibly does unless they have abundance more of ready circulating Money than other Nations which have more Credit and Hopes for Trade
because they have more Funds proper to be engaged in the same Tho' there be some Popish Countries in Italy that have still a considerable Trade as Genoa Venice and Leghorn This is occasioned partly bâ—…cause the Clergâ—… is not so Numerous and Rich there and partly that private persons are forbid the putting out of Money to Use and that for the most part in times of Peace Interest of Money does not exceed 3 per Cent in those places which obliges the people to be frugal and to improve their Money in a way of Trade without which Popery would reduce them low enough in a little time And yet notwithstanding â—…his if all Protestant Nations would fix the Interest of Money among themselves at the same rate they should quickly Engross all the Commerce into their hands and in a little time those Popish people would come to nothing for naturally Popery is good for nothing else but to ruin Kingdoms and to render the Pope and the Ecclesiasticks Masters of all The Banks and Lombards in those Towns of Italy are also very useful to them but after all these are but two or three Cities in that Country which is no great matter and which with all those helps would be much less considerable if it were not that they have extended their Dominion in a manner over all the rest of Italy of whose Land Estates they possess a great part by the purchases they have made whereas on the other hand Frâ—…nce and England are generally fitter for Trade and without doubt the Italians would be four times more proper for it than they are and their Country abundantly better peopled were it not for their Religion and Italy by remaining Papist would be much more unpeopled than 't is were it not the Seat of the Papacy but it is in some manner compensated for its losses by the Popish Religion with the Booty which the Court of Rome draws thither from all other Nations as those who live in the Neighbourhood of Algier are advantaged by the Robberies of that Nest of Pyrats It must be considered that in a great State or Country let it be what it will and let them drive what Trade they please except it be in the Provinces of Holland and Zealand the Real Estates are abundantly more valuable for the Capital Fund than Personal Estates tho' the latter do very near afford as much Revenue But if all those Real Estates were in Mainmort and could not be alienated the Personal Estate would be abundantly more valuable because any Man who is possessed of such might therewith purchase an Estate in a Neighbouring Country which should not be in Mainmort and whereof he might dispose at pleasure It is also certain that how much Land Estate soever any person may have if his Estate were in Mainmort he could not be said to be worth so much as the real value of his Land because a Man cannot be accounted rich but in proportion to that Estate which he has power to dispose of It 's true that in a plentiful year he should be able to maintain abundance of people but then all of them would run the risk of being starved in a year of dearth and scarcity because not being able to alienate his Estate he should not have credit to buy Provisions and besides those people that serve him must needs be slaves for none else would serve him but in hopes to gain something and what is it they could gain when there is no Stock to be acquir'd nor no Money and if there were it would be of no use to them Some may perhaps imagine that if there were great Publick Store-houses of Metals Cloaths Linnen Hides and such things which might be alienated and purchas'd by Industry either in whole or in part that they might serve instead of real Estates as to that matter But it is easily perceived that this could satisfie none at best but the poorer sort who live from Hand to Mouth and not aspiring persons or those of a refin'd Spirit Moreover except it were Steel and Iron which are indispensably necessary for the use of Life Gold Silver and other Metals would be of little worth for there being no Commerce Money would be out of use for that very reason And as for those other Commodities above-mentioned viz. Linnen Hides Cloath c. they are so very apt to spoil that they could not be kept any long time and besides with what should they be exchang'd there being little or no Money because it would not be necessary there being no Trade nor Estate to be alienated Further if all those Real Estates were in Mainmort and unalienable there would be no room for Industry and by Consequence not the 10th part of the Personal Estates that there are at present For as I have already said Money would be useless Navigation Ships Merchandize and all Moveables superfluous all Arts would decay no Man would work but for his own use and that of his Family and pressing occasions Persons of Dignity and Honour if there were any such could not make any Figure or Pomp to distinguish them from others and in a word the whole face of the Universe would be chang'd or rather turn'd upside down Of all Riches those which are most generally desir'd and without which there could be no other are Real Estates to wit Lands and Houses because they are most profitable durable and visible and cannot be stoln and besides they occasion their Possessors to be most taken notice of in the World These are things which cannot be wanted whereas we may well enough be without most of the other things and it 's the natural and general desire of all Mankind to attain to such Estates which cause tâ—…e subsistance of Society Arts Sciences and Commerce If it be objected that in our time there are abundance that love Money better and prefer it to real Estates I Answer That it 's because they know that therewith they can purchase Houses and Lands when they have a mind to them But if they had never so much Money in a Country where such Estates could not be alienated they would find themselves very uneasie and be perfect Beggars for where there 's no Commerce they would not know what to do with their Money nor would they any way be taken Notice of According to the present Posture of Affairs a Man may Buy or Farm an House and Land for his Money without being oblig'd to any Body because such things are always to be had either for a longer or shorter time and that there is a flourishing Trade amongst Men for which there could be no place if all those Estates were in Mainmort At present we may reckon Kingdoms and States as to the Capital Stock and as to the Revenue of this Stock we may reckon all the real and personal Estates of a People and of every particular Person apart We can now fix the Value of an entire Nation at a
Popes was the cause of the Mahometans subduing part of Europe and that the Empire of the East of Christian became Mahometan The Ambition of the Popes hath also torn in pieces the Empire of the West and spoil'd its Emperours of part of their Dominions even of Rome it self and made them their Vassals and Slaves in a manner so as to tread upon them in person sometimes with Impunity so that by the Ambition of the Roman Clergy and their Popes the Empire is no other than a meer Shadow of what it formerly was It is very well known that by the perfidiousness of the Pope the Turks rendred themselves Masters of Hungary the Court of Rome having oblig'd the unhappy King Uladislaus to violate his Faith and break the Treaty he had made with them which Violation was followed by a Total Defeat of that King at the Battle of Varnâ—… and the loss of the Kingdom which the Infidels seized upon as may be seen by the following Distich wherein that â—…nfortunate King is made to complain that the Pope and his Clergy had ruined him by their perfidious Counsel Me nisi Pontifices jussissent rumpere faedus Non ferret Scythicum Pannonis or a jugum May be thus English'd By Popes command had I my League ne'r broke Pannonia ne'r had felt the Scythian Yoke For above 1000 years the Popes and their Clergy have been constantly aspiring to the Universal Monarchy and have made it their constant business to sow Divisions betwixt Christian Princes and their Subjects and to kindle War amongst those Princes to weaken them by one another that so they might bring them all under their Yoke By this method they make themselves Arbitrators and Masters of their differences and always cast the Ballance on the side of their own Interest without any regard to Honour or Justice and that not by Armies or open Force but by the Intrigues of Confessors Monks and Prostitutes or as the Scripture represents it by their Cups Draughts and Witchcrasts as becometh the great Prostitute that hath made the Kings and the Princes of the Earth drunk with the VVine of her Fornication They still foment now as formerly and without ceasing Divisions and Factions in all the Countries of Europe yea even amongst Protestants by their secret Emissaries whom they imploy in great numbers in order to bring them gradually under their Yoke one way or other by a Million of Crimes A famous Spanish Polititian who knew their Game well enough said that there is not so much as a Sword drawn noâ—… a Pike carried in Christendom that hath not been sharpen'd in the Forge of Rome No se Saca espada non se arbola pica cuyo el hierro no estuviere aguzado en la fraga de Roma They had the greatest share in the War newly concluded and made their profit on 't tho' the simple Vulgar are apt to think they have no hand in it No Body is Ignorant of the cunning Invention made use of by the Popes formerly to bring part of Asia under their Yoke without putting themselves to any charge and at the same time to increase their own Authority and Conquests in Europe at the expence of the Christian Princes whom they dispoil'd Their way was to perswade those poor innocent Princes to go in Person to Asia with great Fleets and Navies to chase the Mahometans from that Country for which end the Popes call'd it the Holy Land as if that Land had been holier than another after having put the Lord Jesus Christ to death And while those Princes were in that Country with numerous Armies of their Subjects by which they dispeopled their own Dominions the Popes endeavoured to make themselves Masters of tâ—…e same or at least suck'd their Subjects to the bone and drain'd out all the Riches of their Countries by means of their Clergy France and England suffered very much by this means and we have no reason to doubt but they would have been much more rich and populous had it not been for that All the World knows that the Romish Clergy or Church hath destroyed or caus'd to be destroyed by their Orders more people â—…nder pretence of Religion than all the Heathen Emperours and more than all the Nations of the habitable World have done upon that account since the Creation of the World France and England can testifie this from sad Experience It 's well enough known that their Councils that is to say the Luminaries of Popery the most enlightned and sincere part of the Church of Rome a mark of the Absolute Reprobation of that Church for several Ages It 's well enough known I say that those Councils have establish'd it as a Maxim or Rule for several Ages past that they are not oblig'd to keep Faith with Hereticks and that Princes are obliged on pain of eternal Damnation and the loss of their Dominions to destroy them Whence it comes to pass that not only all the Murders Robberies Perjuries Rapes and all Crimes in general are permitted but commanded against all those Christians who oppose themselves never so little to the Interests Tyranny or Ambition of the Pope and Clergy which Sentence doth à fortiori include also Jews Pagans and Mahometans when the Church of Rome shall think meet seeing it is clear that they ought not to have any more favour shew'd them than those they call Hereticks From those Principles have proceeded so many Massacres Persecutions Violations of Faith Religious Wars Croisades and Leagues to extirpate those who were called Hereticks Hence also proceeded many Assassinations of Princes and Attempts upon their Lives which France hath often had experience of hence came the Civil Wars in England and Ireland the burning of Towns and Conspiracies against the State One of the Kings of France was formerly whipp'd at Rome in the Person of his Ambassador by the Popes Order which is the highest Ignominy that can be done to a Nation or Prince And if we have not fresh and daily Instances from their Church of such decrees as those of the Councils of Constance and Latâ—…ran or such remarkable demonstrations of their Pride and Cruelty it 's not because they have chang'd their Principles but because there is no opportunity offers to do it with safety and for the advantage of the Pope It is not want of good will The Habit remains still though the Acts are not continually exerted A Shoemaker says Horace though he lays aside all the Tools of his Art and shuts up his Shop is a Shoemaker still Alfenus vafer omni Abjecto instrumento Artis clausâque tabernâ—… Sutor erat c. We see what that Church hath occasion'd to be done lately and does yet at present in France against the Protestants and what they would have done in England and for their Inquisition it continues still the same It may be clearly seen by all those proofs which we have produc'd of the Natural and Necessary Opposition there is betwixt the Church
one manner or other making reparation to his Reformed Subjects for the dammage he hath done them making Verâ—…ue and Learning to Flourish and Baâ—…ishing Vice Ignorance and Imposture all which he may do by abolishing Popery and which can't be done without it I say that he would assoon be saved in a Religion that is falâ—…e as to Doctrine and Worship by doing those things as he could be in the Popish Religion supposing it to be Orthodox in Worship and Doctrine and that he did not perform his Duâ—…y in all those respects as it is certain he cannot do whilst his Kingdom continues Popish Vengeance in 〈◊〉 cases displeases God but that which the French K. should hereby take of the Court of Râ—…me might well be called an Holy Vengeance seeing the Popes have ruin'd France by their Religion secret Intrigues and by the Spirit of Pecsecution with which they have inspired her Princes c. The King on the other hand would Re-establish Frâ—…nce by the Ruine of the Popes which were no more but thebruising of the Scorpion upon the wound that it makes By this means the King of France would obâ—…ain a mighty Ascendant over the House of Austria by the Augmentation of his Power and Riches and the Favour which he should find among Protestants and the Pope would not be any thing formidable to the French King It 's time now to draw to a conclusion and therefore I sháll only say that it is clear as the Sun shine that the Court of Frâ—…nce by saving that dammage which Popery occasions to the Kiâ—…gdom might easily upon the 200 Millions which the Kingdom would at least gain by it encrease its Revenue 100 Millions without reckoning the Revenues of the Church the Plate in their Churches and Treasuries and their Groâ—…ing-timber which the King might dispose of as he should think fit and at the same time the blessing of God would attend the King and the Nation whereas they have great reason to dread the contrary if they don't follow this Meâ—…hod But whereas it continues too evident that the Romish Clergy influences the King to persecute and murder still his Protestant Subjects with all manner of Outrage it it a certain proof that the Pope is aâ—…raid of his Power still and does not think him reduced low â—…nough and therefore if he can he will certainly prompt him to undertake new Enterpriâ—…es against some Nation and perhaps a Protestant State and the truth is while the French Court continues to treat their own Reformed Subjects at that rate there 's very good reason for Protestants to be Jealous of them By this Persecution we may perceive that the Morals of the Church of Rome are far worse â—…han those of the civilized Pagans as appears by that Saying of Tacitus Apud optimum quemque â—…am miserum est occidere quam perire That is to say all honest Men account it as uâ—…grateful to nature to kill others as to be kill'd themselves but on the contrary that which is call'd the Church of Rome accounts it a thing meriâ—…orious to be drunk with the Blood of the Saints esteems it more advantagious to those that shed it or occasion it to be shed than the Blood of the Cross so that I cannot forbear to say that it would seem that Persecuting Clergy are certain of their own Reprobation for if they were in any doubt concerning it or had the least hope of Salvation or that their Church were not wholly abandoned by God they would not so defile and pollute it by such a desperate Conduct and by the Commission of so many Cruelties Perjuries Profanities and Sacriledges to advance its Interest FINIS Consult the Errata * Las Empresâ—… Politicas de Savedra
119. l. 6. as r. an Political Arguments proving that the Popish Religion ruines all those States where it is the Publick Religion TO justifie my Proposition I will make it appear in Eighteen Articles that the Popish Religion occasions the Loss of above 200 Millions of Livers per annum to France The I. Article which concerns this affair is the Cheats of the Clergy by which they pillag'd the People to the Value of 40 or 50 Millions per Annum Thirty years ago when the Kingdom was in a good condition Part of the Methods they took to do this were as follows The Chief are their Masses which they say for the Living and the Dead viz. to deliver the Souls of the Deceased not from Hell but from a place unknown to Scripture nay to God himself which they call Purgatory and to expiate the Sins of the Living who either pay for those Masses or assist at saying them This is the Clergies Greatest Traffick and that which contributes most of any thing to retain all Popish States and Kingdoms under the Pope's Tyrannical Yoke by the multitudes of Priests and Monks that it entertains who are as so many Armies to support that Usurper and who render him Master of all those Kingdoms There are Churches where above 50 or 100 such Masses are said every day upon a great number of Altars as they call them which raises Subfistance for a great number of Priests Monks and did formerly maintain a greater number It is here proper to be observed that to the end they may entertain the greater number of 'em at the same time they recommend the Mass as the principal part of Divine Worship and Religion and oblige the people to frequent it every day the Priests are strictly forbid to say above two per diem except in some priviledg'd places as in Picardy and the Country of Arras because the Parishes there are poor and small Which makes it plain that they have no essential Reason why a Priest may not say divers Maises in one day but that the Court of Rome was resolv'd to maintain as many of her Pensioners or Life-guard men at the Charge of others as she could The Parliament of Paris hath regulated their pay at 12 d. per Mass and in divers Provinces they have not above 5 d. or 6 d. apiece which is as good at least as the pay of Horse and Foot tho' they be more useful and their Calling less dangerous Abundance of Masses are said for the Cure of Diseases both in Men and Women Children Beasts and Birds as Hogs Dogs Geese c. as also for a happy Journey safe return of a Ship a happy Marriage as also for meer trifles as for the finding again of a lost Ring Fork Spoon c. Nay ev'n for success in an Assassination or Plot against a Prince or a Robbery c. That is to say they do really sacrifice as they themselves pretend the Body of Jesus Christ in all those cases and many others of the same nature Being herein more blind than the very Pagans who thought it enough to offer some Cakes or to sacrifice some low-priz'd Animal to their Gods and Goddesses when they pray'd them to succeed their designs according to that of the Poet O pulchra Laverna Da mihi fallere da justum sanctumque videri Noctem peccatis fraudibus objice Nubem tibi farre litabo Which may be Englished ad sensum thus O fair Laverna pre'thee never fail Ore all my Villanies to spread a Vail And thou shalt have thy fill of Cakes Ale I am also well assured that in order to bring Money into the Priests Pocket they have in some places introduced a Custom of playing at Dice and Cards for Masses as well as for Prayers and he that loses pays the Priest who does really next morning as he pretends sacrifiâ—…e Jesus Christ but in an unbloody Sacrifice however for the Expiation of the Winners Sins and Crimes how heinous soever they may be I own that I never saw them play for Masses but have divers times seen them play for Prayers and know no reason why they may not as well play for the other In the time of Pope Leo the Xth. the Preachers of Indulgence plaid for the pardon of the Sins of Towns and Cities in Germany They get also Money by those Masses another way which is that those who assist at them do many times put Money into the Box which falls all to the share of the Priests Sometimes it happens that a dying person orders 100 1000 6000 nay 10000 Masses to be said for the repose of his soul after his death for which his Heirs pay thro' the Nose There are very few Roman Catholicks who are not guilty of this Weakness at their death but if some of those who understand better despise those fooleries upon their Death-bed their Friends who are not so well informed are sure to order Masses for them and pay the Priests for their pains nay the very poorest of them always take care to have some Masses said Besides this there 's every year an Anniversary as they call it for most people which have left any Estate behind them or whose Friends are well to pass that is to say a Mass Sung for the Soul of the deceased by a great number of Priests sometimes 50 or 100 together who must all of them be splendidly treated afterwards where they usually fuddle themselves and each of them must have a piece of Money besides It is then upon the account of the great Profit which the Mass brings to the Clergy that they have made it one of the most essential parts of their Worship The Invention of their Fraternities or Brotherhoods is another grand Method by which they pillage the people who being as Ignorant as Pagans the Monks take advantage of it and perswade them that whoever enters into the Order shall have a share in the Merits of the same nor do they admit them without a considerable Present at first which they oblige them to repeat from time to time Sometimes there are people of Quality of both Sexes nay even Generals of Armies that have been much esteem'd in the World who do so far forget themselves and become so weak as to desire to die in the Habit of these rascally Monks who impose upon them so far as to make them to believe that they cannot fail of being saved and of going directly to Paradice without touching at Purgatory provided they die in the habit of their Order and that the habit of their St. Francis is as much worth as the Baptism of Jesus Christ. Many considerable Persons in the Courts of Justice and abundance of others are guilty of this Weakness as well as silly Women Whence it comes to pass that they serve the Order into which they have entred with all their might and it may be justly said that they divide the Kingdom into diverse Factions who are in a
continual Câ—…nspiracy against God and the King and their Neighbours for as those different Orders subsist and enrich themselves meerly by the Idolatry Superstition and Ignorance of the People they foment it as much as they can and engage in the Interests and Designs of the Court of Rome to favour the same against the King and the State and every one of those Orders hate and despise one another both out of a principle of Envy and because they know one another at bottom and then their Devotionists who are join'd to their Fraternities espouse all their Passions Quarrels and Interests Those Monks do likewise persuade abundance of Silly Women of Quality and others to enter their very Sucking Infants into their Fraternities persuading them that there 's no better method to make them to Live insomuch that sometimes we shall see those poor little Creatures muffled up in a Monks Hood and Cassock by which the Order lose nothing Another method made use of by the Ecclesiasticks to catch the Wealth and Substance of the People is their Indulgences which they obtain of the Pope from time to time for some Churches or Monasteries which whosoever Visits during such a number of days which serve as a Fair or so many Market Days to the place shall infallibly receive a Pardon of all their Sins provided they give bountifully also to the said Church or Monastery for that is always to be understood and there are very few but what give more or less in such cases Another of their Baits to fish for the Peoples Money is the Holy Relicks as they call them in their Churches Monasteries and Convents And when the Peoples Devotion grows cold for the Old Relicks they never fail of bringing New Shrines or Boxes full of New and Fresh And ordinarily they say they come from Holy Rome It is well enough known that oftentimes those Reliques are pieces of Past-board fashioned like Bones sometimes they are the real Bones of an Humane Creature and sometimes of Beasts as it hath been often proved the Priests and Monks making it the Matter of their Diversion to insult over the foolish Credulity of thâ—… People in this Impudent manner and yet at the same time make them pay for Seeing and Touching those Reliques There are also Miracles to be performed from time to time when the Priests and Monks please by the Statues Images or Bones of some dead Man or Woman under the Name of Reliques or Shrines of some Saints as they call the Bones and Boxes in which they keep them Those Miracles are of great Advantage to the Clergy for by this means they bring abundance of Offerings to their Churches â—…nd Chappels There are moreovâ—…r Legacies Dirges and Donatives whether they be Voluntary by Persons whom they have Seduced or Suborn'd or altogether false which the Priests or Monks forge in order to dispoil Families whereof the World has had Millions of Examples and some such happen every day Auricular Confession is also one of their most Gainful Inventions by which they Shear their Flock four times a Year There are few People who don 't at such times give them a Piece of Money especially those who are guilty of Great Crimes and thereupon theâ—… receive Absolution provided that together with this they do some little troublesome thing which the Priests impose upon them under the Notion of Penance the better to colour that Infamous Traffick and to make the People believe that 't is not for the Money they Absolve them for that would appear odious ev'n to the most dissolute Wretch in the World I take no notice here of the great Advantage the Pope and his Clergy make of this Confession to dive into the Secrets of Princes and Grandees and of all People in General that so they may make their own use of it and take their Measures thereupon to pry into the greatest Secrets of Men and Women which gives the Ecclesiasticks an opportunity to Debauch all the Sex or to squeeze Money out of them for by this means they lead Captive silly Women laden with Sins and carried away with divers Lusts according to the Words of the Text. There 's another thing very Gainful to the Romish Clergy and that is Burials not only in that they sell the Ground at dear rate in their Churches and Convents and that they make a great deal of Profit as I have said already by Masses for the Dead but they get also a great deal of Money for the singing of a multitude of the Priestly-herd at ordinary Interments where there is commonly a great number who have each of them a piece of Money and a good Treat at which they use to fuddle themselves as well as at the Aniversaries above-mentioned I don't here condemn a reasonable Allowance for one or two Ministers or Priests who go before the Corps and cannot subsist without those little Profits or who are there to comfort the Friends of the deceased or to instruct the Company by putting them in mind of their Latter End or to Preach the Funeral Sermons of Persons of great Merit but I condemn only the great Excess of that pretended Church in imploying such a great number of Priests at Funerals without necessity who sing in the Streets like so many Priests of Bacchus things which neither the People nor the greatest part of themselves understand and which occasions a great Charge to the Friends of the deceased who frequently have not one bit of Bread left after they have paid for the Funeral and the Masses that are to be said afterwards for the deceased In my time it was a Complaint at Paris that the meanest person such as a Footman could not be Buried for less than four Pistoles Perhaps the Court has moderated the Charge since they have erected so many Offices of Buriers of the dead and Criers of Burials and that there 's a Tax as I am inform'd of eight Crowns laid on every Burial for the King for it would be very hard that the Priests and the King should squeeze so great a sum from the Poor People all at once upon this Account The Gain which the Priests have by Marriages and Baptisms is also very Excessive Let them in Gods Name have some Profit thence as the Ministers have in England who cannot subsist without it but this matter ought to be moderated and there should be a distinction made betwixt Poor and Rich. At present I confess that those profits of the Popish Priests in France are much diâ—…inished because as times are now there are but few Marriages or Baptisms in that Kingdom These are the most General and Common Methods that the Idolatrous Clergy of France make use of to cheat the poor Ignorant people of their Money and Substance I take no notice here of what they gain by their Schools and Boarders because it may be said in some sense that what they gain that way is honestly got Yet herein also they occasion a loss