Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	good_a	king_n	prince_n	3,500	5	5.4628	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35445	The visions of Pasquin, or, A character of the Roman court, religion and practices together with an account of the arts of the Pope's nephews to get money, the tricks of the priests to fill the churches coffers by masses for the dead, the policy of the Jesuites to cully princes, and cheat Christendom, as also an exact description of purgatory and hell, in a dialogue between Pasquin and Marsorio, translated out of Italian.; Pasquillus ecstaticus. English	Curione, Celio Secondo, 1503-1569.	1689 (1689)	Wing C7622A; ESTC R13924	82,935	71

yet come invigorated by these words I advanced further on to see whence it could proceed that a Machine that was so beautiful and built with such strong walls should be liable to shake in that manner as if it had been a little Tree newly planted in the midst of an open Field M. There must needs be some mystery in that because it is contrary to the course of nature P. Thou must understand that this Hall is upheld by a multitude of Fryers and Priests who kneeling with their hands upon their knees bare it upon their backs and they began already to put their hands upon the ground which made them appear more like beasts than men And because it was impossible for me to observe it without my kneeling I made no bones of it to satisfie my curiosity it being very pleasant to me to observe the posture of those wretched Fryers for some of them knocked their Noses to the ground and others endeavoured to bear themselves up and others had a mind to lie flat down to leave all the weight upon the rest of their fellows others cursed those who had planted them to bear up that building On the back-side there was a multitude of persons heaving with their shoulders against the Wall of this Hall striving to throw down this building but that which imports most was that they did it with so great delight and force that their sweat ran down all over their faces being amazed at this I asked my friend of it who informed me thus Those which thou seest uphold this Fabrick are the Divines and Doctors of the Roman Church and because the fatigue is great they would be willing to be discharged of it but it is impossible for them to be freed being nailed there by their own fault At first they bore it all upon their heads standing upright but afterwards being oppressed with the extremity of the weight they bowed down their heads receiving the weight upon their necks but those being weakened they shifted it all upon their shoulders whereon they upheld the building a great while until their strength failed them and then they bowed down to the Earth as you saw them Those other who stand in a posture to throw down all this pile into ruine are the Doctors and Divines of the contrary Religion who labour stoutly for the destruction of this Fabrick and would have done it before now if it were not for the Assistance which they often receive from the benignity of Princes When he had said this he shewed at the four corners of the Hall four Princes who were stretching their wits to prop it up which was it that kept it upright for still as the others endeavoured to overthrow it these staid it with the props which they held in their hands neither can it be discerned which were the readier the one to maintain it or the other to throw it down M. What Princes were these who so much concerned themselves for the supporting of this place P. The Emperor the King of Spain and the King of Poland at three corners and at the fourth many Catholick Princes joyned together as well Germans as Italians but yet the greatest support is that which is given by the Emperor and the King of Spain M. I have ever heard that France and the Republick of Venice have brought a great many props to hold up the Vatican how comes it then that you say nothing here of them P. Softly you do not give me time to tell all this will come after but since thou art in such haste to know it I will tell thee that the King of France and the Republick of Venice defend the Vatican as thou sayest with Policy that is to say with moderation and altho' some Ages past these two Potentates without considering of the infinite charge and the hazard they put their own States to ran furiously to the defence of the Popes when they saw them oppressed either with the ambition of Princes or the force of Heresies yet their principal end was not to help the Popes to grow so proud being wise enough to foresee that which afterwards came to pass whilst these good Popes growing great not to say fat by the protection of these two Monarchies spurned at the obligation and like Mules kicked at those who brought them their provender but only to gain themselves a name of Piety and Zeal towards Religion with the people so that from that time they have gone with leaden heels to the assistance of the Popes and I see them in this part of the Hall which I have described to thee walking up and down with their props in their hands and I observe it is their policy to see the place attached but not conquered they are pleased to see it tremble and shak'd but not to be precipitated or cast down and therefore they incite the Combatants to fight against it and when they see the Victory inclining to them they immediately set to their props not having the heart to see the place thrown down M. Now I do not doubt but that place was the habitation of the Popes those particulars which thou relates so clearly manifesting it that it would be a gross simplicity to question it P. There is no great wit required to conjecture it I presently imagined it before the good man told me any thing of it and was immediately confirmed in my opinion M. Why then did not the King of Spain and those other Princes which strive so much to uphold that place arm themselves instantly to fight against the Enemies it being ever better to subdue an Enemy before they have had any success than to drive them out again when they have got any footing P. 'T is certain the Spaniard and the Emperour would have disturbed the whole world and turned it up-side down as they have often done with their violent Remedies if the King of France and the Venetian Republick had not hindred them But those two great Powers judged the things of Religion according to Policy and on the contrary the other Princes judged of matters of Policy according to the Laws of Religion for the King of France and the Republick of Venice know very well that if the Hereticks had not mortified the Pope and his Ecclesiasticks the Ecclesiasticks and the Pope would have been Hereticks against the Princes and therefore they often help the Protestants at a pinch not that they would defend their Religion but that they might with their Religion mortifie the Popes and by consequence be more humbled to the Catholick Princes For my part I cannot say I ever received so much pleasure in so short a time as when I stayed in the out-parts of this Pontificial Seat for the King of Spain and the Emperor who upheld now and then gave a kick to those Adversaries that sought to shake it the King of France and the Republick of Venice when they saw it interposed so that they put off most of the

the Policy of other Princes will not only roast but kindle the fire to roast the Spaniards in the Fat of the French but because these two Monarchies are so situated by nature and the distribution of Politick Interests that the one cannot be diminished without the augmentation of the other so that all the Politick Reason of other Princes requires them to keep these two Monarchies in an eaven balance wherefore every time they see one of them falling they run immediately to lend them their hand against the other And in truth it is a curious thing to see how the English Venetians Hollanders and Swisses and the other Princes of Italy and Germany labour to raise up the poor Spaniards one lifts up one leg another another some one arm others another some hold up his head some hold him out a Rope In fine some with one thing and some with another all endeavoured to raise up the oppressed Spaniards but with all this they do nothing and to speak truly how can they because they fear so much the rising Fortune of France that they dare not declare themselves openly in favour of the Spaniard whereby the help they bring him serves to little purpose M. I know not how Affairs go in Hell because I was never there but am sure they are otherwise transacted in Europe Policy and Religion being so jumbled together that the Interest of Religion is very often obstructed by the Interests of Policy P. He that prescribed that Recipe must be a Fool of a Physician and I am angry Marforius that thou shouldst talk so like a wise man of Gotham for how prethee can the discoursing of Princes and Religion agree together since the Religion of Princes must ever serve or be used as Antimony is by the sick and sometimes by the healthy which when taken in small quantity exactly weigh'd and prepared curiously restores health to the Infirm and confirms it to the Healthy But the least Grain taken too much without due weight and preparation poysons the stomach and kills the body So Religion by Princes must needs be but little used and very well weighed for a little too much is sufficient to disturb the quiet of any Principality Nay I will say more that as Antimony is not commonly given but in desperate cases So Princes ought not to stick too close to the Interests of Religion but in those Occurrences when they cannot possibly do otherwise Bethlem Gabor understood that prescription exceeding well and therefore when the French Embassador went into Germany to tell him that tho' Indeed it was true that Policy required the King of France to humble the House of Austria and that a more opportune season could never be found to do so than at that time yet the Interest of Religion did oblige the King to go off from that League he had made with the said Gabor to the prejudice of the House of Austria for fear of seeing the Catholick Religion destroyed in those parts To which proposal Gabor answered in these few words Tu Princeps de Religione curas Is your Master a Monarch and is he scrupulous in matters of Religion M. This Example doth not much satisfie me for this Gabor was worse than any Turk and amongst Christian Princes there are other kinds of Principles P. Hear Marforius what I have to say to thee upon this particular it is more displeasing to God when a Christian does good works and afterwards repents the doing of them than if he had not done them at all he being fitter to be excused who hath omitted doing good but he is worthiest of punishment that repents of his good deeds Now amongst Princes the same Reason is current for they had much better lay aside some Maxims of Religion than to embrace them a while and repent of them afterwards When the King of France besieged Rochel the Spaniards against all Maxims of Policy solely upon those of Religion sent their Army to help the Most Christian King which much weakened their own Force and made the Party of the Most Christian King their Enemy stronger which a while after the Spaniards well perceiving repented extremely what they had done biting their Nails for rage at it Thus they got little with God nothing with the King of France and least of all with the World losing that blast of Fame which they thought to have gained in Christendom as soon as it was rumoured about that they repented what they had done Of these Examples one may find a thousand and it is certain that Princes ordinarily repent of all those Maxims of Religion which they make use of sometimes for I know not what reason And it would be much better for them never to embrace them than to repent so suddenly of their so doing losing the favour of Heaven by their Repentance and what they might have got by the Interests of Policy The French are not so simple as the Spaniards and they never touch the Affairs of Religion but with the tips of their fingers M. But methinks yet in the time of Bethlem Gabor they have hugged Religion in their arms P. Alas how thou art couzened Those Maxims of Religion served them only in appearance to cover some particular private Interests which were a foot then in France designing to oblige the Infanta of Spain to yield to I cannot tell you what Marriage without which consideration the Maxims of Policy would have infinitely out-stript those of Religion The French are not so scrupulous they love rather never to embrace the Maxims of Religion than embrace them and repent of them as the Spaniards do Whilst Cardinal Richlieu lived who perfectly understood these Rules the Pope's Nuncio tho' he often set before him the War against Geneva and always proposed the great Maxims of Religion the good Cardinal continually answered him thus Provided the Maxims of Religion do not ruine the Maxims of State And in this manner he dismissed the Nuncio who never went further with him because he saw him much more steered by the Maxims of State than by those of Religion Maxims of Religion are really gross Victuals and fit for common people but those of State are curious bits and only fit for Princes to whose Tables gross Meats ought never to be brought but in times of great necessity it being unfit to fill their stomachs with that which is only good to fill the bellies of the ruder popularity That such Meat is good to satiate common people I grant but to nourish Princes I deny because the same food which serves for nutriment to the People would hurt Princes when they would make use of them because a stomach which is accustomed to delicate Meat is not able to bear grosser food In fine the best Princes leave Maxims of Religion to Monks and Priests as food proportioned to their temper and reserve for themselves Maxims of State as food proper for Princes M. Before I forget prethee tell me what pains the

THE VISIONS OF PASQUIN OR A CHARACTER OF THE Roman Court Religion and Practices Together with an Account of The Arts of the Popes Nephews to get Money The Tricks of the Priests to fill the Churches Coffers by Masses for the Dead The Policy of the Jesuites to Cully Princes and Cheat Christendom AS ALSO An Exact Description of Purgatory and Hell. In a Dialogue between Pasquin and Marforio Tran slated out of Italian Ridentem dicere verum Quis vetat Licensed Feb. 9. 1689. LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin near the Black Bull in the Old-Bailey 1689. THE PREFACE THE Vices of the Roman Court have been so notorious the Pride of their Popes the Ambition of their Prelates the Covetousness of the Nephews and the Hypocrisy of their Monastick Orders not to instance in their Lusts and Brutalities have been and still are so visible to the World that in their own Country Italy under the awe of the Inquisition and within the immediate reach of his Holinesse's Catchpoles the Sbirri there have been found some men of Courage and Honesty who have dared to pull off the mask and expose their pretended sanctity and let the World see that no men have erred more grosly than the bold pretenders to Infallibility no men are more slaves to the World its Pomps and Vanities than those who have vowed to forsake them and no mens minds are so eagerly set upon hoarding up wealth for their ravenous kindred as those who say in Hypocrisy what St. Peter said in truth Silver and Gold have I none For there are a sort of Inbabitants of the Roman World who have no Estates and yet have great Revenues no tillage and yet abound in corn no Wives and yet have more Children to a single mans share than the Countess of Holland had at a birth It is true the learned men of the Reformed Church have with much strength of argument and authority baffled and confuted the false Doctrines of the Papal faction but perhaps those who have shown their actions in a true light and made appear how specious their sanctity is and how ridiculous their devotion dressing up their Narratives in a Jocular and Comical habit have used the more successfull method to make the World acquainted with their extravagancies This course the old Satyrists took to expose Vice and in later ages the Copy was transcribed by Orthuinus Gratius and Rabelais who gave the World an excellent Picture of the Ignorance and Luxury of the Friars and of late the Author of the Cardinalismo the Nepotismo the life of Donna Olympia and the History of the Roman Curtesans hath admirably described the practices of the men of the Purple the sottishness of the Papal Nephews the incestuous intrigue between even his Holiness himself and his Brother's Wife Olympia together with the unlawful and preposterous Indulgences of that Court that pretends to unspotted sanctity many other such writings having been sent into the World some of which have visited this Country while others are still confined to their forreign dress Such writings are for the most part called Pasquils or Pasquinades from the statue of Pasquin in the middle of Rome to which they are commonly affixt It is thought by learned men to be the remains of a statue of one of the old Gladiators with his Enemy lying dead at his Feet and the conjecture is happy for Pasquin is invincible he triumphs over Princes and subdues all the World and without the help of Arms or Armies makes even Popes stoop and tremble and executes those in Effigie who by their power rescue their persons from the punishments they deserve It hath been often consulted and perhaps in the Conclave to remove this statue and a certain Prince once resolved to throw it into the River Tyber but chang'd his resolution when his Servant told him that it would make a greater noise under Water than while above-ground and produce a spawn of Frogs whose croakings would deafen the City that sits on seven Hills and what a noise then may we imagine makes he when his friend Marforio attends him and like some Ecchoes repeats what he says much louder than it was first spoken Such a couple of Companions are enough to laugh Impudence it self out of countenance and put the Governess of a Roman Bordelli to the blush Nor is it but requisite that those who by their Station or their Interests are above the Laws should be subject to the lashes of a smart wit as well as to those of their own Consciences the Furies within when they lay on most severely are seldom heard by the by-standers but the World takes notice how a dissolute Grandee is whipt by a keen and implacable Satyrist who rubbs off the Paint and shews the deformities who strips the Actor in Religion of his mortified dress and exposes the Covetousness and Hypocrisy the sensuality and leudness that lodges under the habit of devotion and by these means instructs mankind to make a less show and to be more truly and really pious and honest and not to admire a demure outside which covers all manner of villanies For what inclinations can we have to believe that Pope Pius who being forbidden to eat Pork lest it should throw him into his grave made answer that he would indulge his appetite al despito di Dio in despite of God and his Authority What incouragement have we to think him just who throwing St. Peter's Keys into the Tyber said that St. Paul's Sword should conquer his adversaries Who can believe Alexander the 6th to have been true to his vow of chastity who prostituted his own Daughter Lucretia Or Leo the 10th to have had any regard to Religion who boasted of the vast sums he had gotten by the Fabula de Christo the fabulous accounts which the Gospel gives of our Holy Saviour as he blasphemously stiled the Sacred Scriptures Who can believer the Inquisition to be the Tribunal of Christ while their proceedings are a demonstration that they are the Executioners of the Kingdom of Darkness Who can think that there is much charity at Rome when the Papal Nephews like the Plant-animal Boranez eat up and devour all that comes within their reach Or that Chastity is to be reckoned among the Vertues of that City in which their Curtesans are the Companions of their mitred men and the Monks are the notorious practisers of Masculine Venery While the book of God is lockt up in Libraries and made a Prisoner under the restraint of an unknown Tongue and those who all their life long walk in the direct paths to Hell and Destruction hope to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven at the back-door by the help of an Indulgence or a thousand Masses as if every thing were to be bought in the Court of Christ above because there is nothing to be had in the Court of his pretended Vicar on Earth without Money But I detain you too long in the Portal the

Germans suffer in Hell P. The same pains that are endured by Tantalus which is to be very thirsty without having any Wine to quench their drought so that it is a curious thing to observe their going up and down in Hell to look out some place to plant Vines in and although they endeavour it with all possible diligence they have not yet nor ever will succeed in their design because the Devil knowing perfectly well that it is natural to the Germans to esteem any place Paradice where they find good Wine tho' all the Daemons in Hell were in the place therefore they ever find an opposition to these designs M. Since there are so many Lakes surely they should do them the favour to make them Ferry-men rather than let them perish with thirst P. They would never accept that Office because they have taken an Oath never to be drowned but in Wine which they will not break to die in the Water M. Well follow on thy Voyage and let us say no more of the Maxims of Religion Princes having more need of it than we P. Thou art in the right after we had observed the French and the Spaniards we walked about that spacious place a little while where we saw several deserted in which we met some poor Spaniards full of Lice with bare Breeches and I being full of curiosity asked one of them his name to which he replyed haughtily I am called Don Lopez of Lopis at which I was extremely astonished to see that neither Lice Poverty Misery nor Hell could humble the Spanish Pride therefore I intreated him to tell me what good that Title did him to which he answered that it shewed him to be a Spaniard loving rather to be known to be of that Countrey tho' a Beggar than esteemed a French-man tho' rich Which Opinion being heard by a French-man who passed by he said Keep thy Title for that Feather of a Title will be the last thing that the French will take away from the Spaniards in which time turning my Eyes from this object I had passed but a few steps on when I found my self very near the Gate through which I had entred whereupon making haste to get out I unexpectedly heard a noise a rumour a screeching a fearful cry which said very mournfully O miserable people we are lost Oh our poor Princes where are you Oh our beloved Liberty which art gone when shall we ever recever thee again I believed these had been Souls new come into Hell but a Devil himself who was in great pain told me that those who made that horrible noise were the Italian and German Princes who apprehended they should lose all because the French had gone on so far that in fine they had set their very feet upon the necks of the poor Spaniards and the Embassadors of those Princes wandered up and down like Flies to procure Leagues but to retard a little the immense Victories of the French But it was pleasanter to me to find a certain Daemon who understood Politicks well enough seeing the said Embassadors run sweating up and down cry out unto them with a loud voice O with reverence to your Lordships Character you are very Fops you should have cured your disease at its birth and not stayed till it was grown old and difficult to be cured In the mean time I said to my Assistant Let us go on to dispatch our business and leave the care of these intanglements to the Princes that are like to lose by it so mending our pace we went out of that place and came into a large path crouded with an infinite company of people who were travelling and bemoaning their most bitter destiny cursing the very Earth that had sustained them which made the Daemons rage so much the more that with great diligence and care they employed every one in his Task and administred torments and punishments according to the Sentence passed upon every one for his faults But I who was not to suffer there with others but only to consider the punishments of others went away with the pace of a new-made Gentleman observing every thing minutely and although the sight was very terrible in it self yet I found some pleasure in the variety of that Tragical Scene because they were so equally proportioned Amongst others I observed a great company of naked Women who held one another by the hand and wringed one another hard behind them went an innumerable croud of Devils with Iron Rods in their hands threatning them and forcing them to return back at which I was much astonished not knowing how to find out the reason why the Devils would not have Women be in Hell. But the Daemon that was with me eased me of this doubt telling me that they were married Women of which kind of persons the Devils held there was more need of in the World than now in Hell. To tell you the truth this first reason did not satisfie me thinking it too obscure and I told him I could not believe that married persons were more necessary in the World than in Hell because these who were condemned to such pains had incurred them by their wicked life and the World was eased by the abatement of that mischief for from the diminution of wickedness ariseth the increase of goodness Then the Devil who laughed all this while at my words gave me this answer I did not tell thee that Women were necessary in the World for the good of it but for the advantage of Hell which draws a double profit from Womens living in the World and I 'le tell thee how first for the custom of bearing Horns which is grown so common amongst the Devils that it 's now thought a shame for any one to be without them and because we Devils have no Wives who will take the pains to fill our heads with Horns we are forced on that account to multiply the number of married Whores as much as it is possible in the World knowing no other way how to maintain this fashion which reigns amongst us introduced by the fantasticalness of those Painters that will needs have us Horned which hath occasioned our taking care that among the whole Female Sex the Painters Wives should afford us the greatest supply of that sort of Animals and now as soon as any Woman's Liberality hath planted Horns on her Husband's forehead a hundred Devils are ready to cut them off whence no Horns are ever seen upon the heads of men though their Wives be the greatest Whores in the World. This agreement being made between them that the Men should preserve the Roots and the Devils wear the Branches Secondly We are as ambitious as the Spaniards and therefore endeavour to draw the noblest prey 's into Hell and because Women are esteemed vile and abject Beasts therefore we procure with all our power their continuing in the World by whose means also the number of the damned is always multiplying nor let this