earthly Felicity Universality and Consent as the Papacy Neither do they want as great an Antiquity for some of their Tenets the which if they once come to be washed over by the varnish of Learning the Mufty may assisted by his Master's force turne his Holinesse out of Rome as that Bishop did the Emperours and so avenge Europe and Asia both for the rent the subtill Priests made between the East and the West Churches for no more religious respect than to beautifie their own habit and increase their Power And if the Virgin City of Venice comes to be wholly prostituted to the lust of this Monster who hath already intangled his Sword in one of her strongest Locks it is possible the Catholick King shall not be able long to injoy those Concubinary Principalities made his by no juster Contract than the Procuration of his Chaplain the Pope his own Subtilty and the impertinent Quarrels of lesse advised Neighbours But to give the Pope his due looked upon by the dazled eyes of our Zelots for a more terrible Devil than it may be he is were he confined within a narrower Circle in relation to temporall power Christian Princes are apt to take so much advantage from the harping irons Luther Calvin and other Divines perhaps better skill'd in subverting Errors than reconciling of Truth have fastned in the sides of this Ecclesiastical Leviathan not to be kept floating in a narrower Sea than that of Rome formerly as Magisteriall in things temporall as now she remaines in spirituals which prudence might manage to as universall a tranquility as appeared in the dayes of Augustus that he hath no leisure to look abroad for feare the same Spirit that troubled the waters in Germany should dry up those in Italy c. It being in the power of every Prince to cut the banks of the Church which in France is the feare of Schisme and in the Catholick King's Dominions the Inquisition Yet in case his Holinesse should make it a cordiall endeavour to foment a League against the Turk France and Spaine would fall out who should head it and endeavour to spoile the others Subjects in the meane time Such incomparable Charity resides among Christian Princes that value Religion no higher than the profit it brings so as the Roman Bishop with all his Emissaries have full imployment by adding and taking away to keep the scales even between these two tottering Princes and to heighten their spirits against England and other Nations at enmity with Rome least we should have a Great Turk of our own that is an Universal Monarch under whose absolute power the Pope and all other Christian Princes could expect no higher places than those of Vassals And though a Combination were feasible small advantage would accrue since every considerable confederate must have a Generall of their own from whence would proceed more Cry than Wooll by perplexing Counsels with contrary commands Because if it were probable Kings should so far forget their Honour as to lay down all disputes about precedence yet their particular Interest could not but remember them that the strength designed against the Turke might after successe recoile upon themselves not without a president in Story and therefore not likely to employ any other in Chiefe but their own Subjects And what contrary affections ends and endeavours are covered under a Force patched up of so many Nations is manifest in the Maritime battell of Lepanto where though the desire of all might be to ecclips the Ottoman Moon yet it was in many so faint as they could not endure it should be removed quite out of its Sphere or lose the Interest it doth exercise within the Christian Pale which by a through persecution of that naval victory might easily have been brought about out of feare the greater Princes by that secured should after have made it their endeavour to devour the less And this with some Un brages of Jealousies the Catbolick King had of his Brother Don John of Austria made the Confederates return without doing more than shew the Grand Segnior wherein he was defective and by this chastizing to make him mend the fault he had committed in being no better provided of Commanders and Provisions for Sea which he hath since repaired at our cost by maintaining an Arcenall in Algeers of which the King of Spain denyed his Brother to be Governour so jealous are Christians one of the other that they have more confidence in Turks than those of their own Religion yet to speak Gods troth whosoever shall command an Army against this Epidemicall Enemy with such successe as Don John had will be owner of too popular an Honour to be less than superlative whereever he comes and therefore liable like him to receive a Fig out of the venemous hand of Jealousie Which warrants me to think the fittest for such an imployment as the heading an Army raised by a League is the Pope who lying within gun-shot himselfe is the most likely to take the truest aime at the finishing of the work But this the Lutherans and Protestants would oppose no lesse than the Princes of Italy who cannot but feare that the power of the Ottoman Family being sufficiently moderated he could have no better employment for the Army than to face them with it looked upon perhaps in his esteem as greater enemies Yet if there were an unity in Religion and a totall abatement of his Holinesse pretences to any secular power farther than the extent of Peters Patrimony it might with more probability be brought about than any temporall Prince is able to give caution for And thus Policy might not onely make use of him in opposing the Turk but in reconciling such Kings as when they are weary of their inconsiderat Quarrels know no other way to bring about peace than by the mediation of the Bishop of Rome But as things now stand Experience hath taught us how vain a Composition of Force is in the attempt of moderating the Ottoman Grandure Nor is any Prince yet in a capacity to undertake him alone The Emperour being shackled by the links of contrary Opinions and now utterly disabled since the Swedes Ineursion I confesse the Catholick King upon whose skirts he sits were the most likely to get ground upon the Turks Dominions did not the French perplex him with the feare of losing his own Between which Nations there can be no reconciliation so long as the Pope's greatnesse is supported by Division An Universall Monarchy in Europe being more against the graine of the Court of Rome than it yet apprehends danger from that in Asia so as it is no improbable Paradox to maintain That the Turk by accident supports his Holinesse And if the Pope and Inquisition were put down Atheisme would break in like a Torrent or which is worse Religion would be divided into such destructive bloudy and hypocriticall streames as her name would be quite lost in the dilatation or render her professors
to put him into another that might in a smal time prove as bad or if he had governed moderately all his life it had been like the good day in a Feaver which is so short and uncertaine that it takes away all tast of Ease and Delight c. A DISCOURSE Upon the Greatness Corruption OF The Court of Rome THere is nothing Idlenesse and Peace makes not worse Labour and Exercise better The Tree that stands in the Weather roots best and deepest The running Water and Aire that is agitated are most wholsome and sweet The Cause of this may be deduced from Gods eternall Decree That nothing in Nature should remain idle and without motion This also extends to the Children of Grace who goe more nimbly about the works of their heavenly Calling being driven by the stormes of Persecution than when they have nothing but the smooth voice of Prosperity to allure and perswade them The Martyrs professed Christ more boldly amidst the flames of the hottest Persecutions than we dare do in the Sunshine of the Gospell God never made a larger promise of his continuing Truth in any place than to the Nation of the Jewes Yet how often do we find it buried in the rubbish of Errors and Impiety Their Kings and Priests either teaching or at least tolerating Idolatry The Church being driven into so dark and narrow a corner as the Prophet Elias could not discover a righteous man Neither was Jerusalem in better plight which had the Temple and in that the Oracles of God in possession For if it did scape profanation during the worser dayes of Solomon his son Rehoboam saw it plundered and in most of his successors raignes it lay neglected or misimploied So that if a stranger led by the glorious title the Jewes had to be the people of God should have conformed himselfe to their worship he had scarce mended his markt though he were before never so great an Idolater Yet God never gave a larger Charter to any Church part of it being contained in these words I have hallowed this House which thou hast built to put my name there for ever This proves Gods Promises conditionall and that outward Felicity seldome accompanies inward Integrity or if they have the luck to meet they presently part mens hearts being ordinarily to narrow to entertain goodnesse and worldly pomp The Churches we read of in the New Testament with whom the Holy Ghost was so familiar as to direct particular Letters unto them are not now to be found Onely Rome brags she remains the same in purity of Doctrine though for Manners she is as corrupt as her elder Sister Sodome so that if Italy be a Circle of Impiety the Court of Rome is the Center Yet these plead their Title with God himselfe grounding it upon the tottering Foundation of worldly felicity Forgetting that it is against the example of all times that any Nation much lesse a Church should so long saile under the merry gale of earthly prosperity not long ere this discharge herselfe of that rich lading she was fraught with all when she traded for Soules under the Fathers of the Primitive times There having been such a succession of imperious greatnesse in that Chaire as Rome is now more like the proud triumphant Chappel of Antichrist than the poore and militant Church of God All the calamities that have of late fallen upon her may be said to have dropt from her owne Ambition in seeking to enlarge her power at the cost and prejudice of others and therefore more naturally to be styled Punishments than Persecutions You cast your eyes on no Story where the villany of Popes is not at large discovered who can then believe that the pure Spirit of God should indow with infallibility of judgment Monsters so visibly corrupted We finde the Holy Ghost did under the Law hate and forbid all impurity though in meer outward Ceremony how then should he under the brighter light of the Gospell suffer himselfe to be poured out of one uncleane Vessell into another beginning again with a Conjurer where he left with a Sodomite Yet they say Rome is the true Church out of which there is no Salvation Not remembring that the holy Scripture Charity and Reason tell us Gods Church is as universall as the Earth and shall one day be gathered together under Christ the Head Now in the meane time that harmony of Opinions they pretend to may be rather wished than hoped for In Pauls time some made conscience of eating things sacrificed to Idols others of Circumcision yet he condemnes them not for schismaticall And it is but a weak evasion to say He bare with them in regard of the infancy of the Church For in these dayes of knowledge she is as infantine in some places as she was then where he that taught had the strength of Miracles to justifie his Doctrine which these want and are driven to this shift in lieu of them to cozen the people with such as are supposititious Now if there be no salvation out of the Church of Rome not to speak of our selves c. what Charity is it to think all the Water cast away that is poured in Christs name upon the faces of those Christians in Greece Rushia and remoter places to which this Ages curiosity covetousnesse hath taught thē the way This makes me think there is no room for such monopolizing Opinions But I leave this to Divines returning to the Pope After the Piety of the first Bishops of Rome had purchased them Reputation and that God had not onely opened the hearts of Potentates to receive the Gospell but their hands to build and endow Churches They being advanced first to the Dignity of Arch bishops thence to Patriarchs so at last to the Papal Supremacy a name derived from Pater Patriarcharum which for brevities sake was written Pa Pa exchanged their Piety for Promotion It being the Custome of fraile Humanity to conclude goodnesse at the beginning of Felicity For taking the advantage of new kindled Zeale wisely observed by them to be the hottest the Popes were able to lead King and People whither they pleased in the interim had the opportunity to proportion what power or riches they thought fit for themselves Now as Policy is not able to keep long the right way to Heaven so at last it led them into a world of Impieties by encroaching under pretence of Religion upon higher Jurisdiction and Power than could naturally belong to Subjects which wanting strength of their own to maintain they sheltered them under the Donation of such Princes as had no better titles to their Crownes than was derived from an Vsurpation over the weaknesse of those in former possession glad of the Popes Protection because they found the generality of men either out of Religion or Ignorance made their estimate of the truth or falshood of the Titles and legality of the Claims of Princes according as they were
or those appointed for that purpose would take the paines by the touch-stone of a diligent scrutiny and scrupulous examination of Witnesses apart to distinguish the pure and golden Truth from the baser Alchimy of the most cunningly-forged Falshood 60. They preferre Christianity so farre as no Jew can turne Turk till he hath been Christened The vulgar thinking God best pleased with such a gradation though Authority interjected this Ceremony to fence them against a too great concourse of this subtill people who in relation to Circumcision are apter to embrace their Religion then ours doe by their Conversion lessen the profit arising from them as Jewes Now least the Impiety of casting blocks in the way of Proselytes should seem to relate only to this so much abominated Nation I desire to be informed if there be not a Law in force here at the Jewes being in England as there is still in some other Nations That such of them as turned Christians should loose all or the greatest part of what they had For which this pious reason was given That many remained Jewes still in their hearts notwithstanding an outward profession Thus a greater Hypocrisie cheated the lesse 61. I finde them though constant to their own yet so indulgent to the opinions of Strangers as to afford such a safe passe among them which besides the profit it brings to Commerce keeps them in so moderate a temper as the plague of Hypocrisie which like an Iron-mole staines and in a short time eats out the purity of Religion by acting a sublimer impiety than the nature of man unsuborned through Ambition or Covetousnesse is able to make reall longer than a Fanatick heat inspires it hath not yet there broke out farther than among some few particulars though by such the Cockatrice of Civill Warre is ordinarily disclosed in the Bosomes of Christians concluding all damned which rest not in their Expositions and Customes how ridiculous soever Not considering the mischiefe they doe that remove old uncertain Errors before they have found as certaine Truths to put in their roome The same may be said of reputed inconveniences such as is their conniving at Courtesans chiefely done to prevent Adultery Sodomy and B stiality sinnes infesting these hot Countrys therefore possibly lesse abominable than some Divines make it This sort of Cattell being as ancient as the Patriarch Judah Neither did divers others looked upon as men after Gods own heart blush to keep droves of them Nay if some be not foulely out in their Expositions they are reckoned to David in the Bill of Gods Blessings And he that doth by this publique sin as some have done by Religion exchange it for a worse though perhaps more solitary I pray what hath the Nation left to brag of Faults of greater privacy though lesse naturall increasing Hypocrites more than Saints And if our Blessed Saviour should now speak to the Consciences of men as he did to the Jewes He that is without sin c. I believe Fornication would scape whatever became of Adultery To conclude this point it is so much the greater boldnesse to adde to than diminish from the severity of God as we stand more in need of his Mercy than Justice 62. The gross of their Revenue is employed in securing the Empire at home or fetching Victory from abroad The Grand Segnior being only luxurious in Women and domestick pleasures which like Fontanels in the body may possibly evaporate worse humours than they foment Though contrary to the better inculcated than practised Doctrine of our Theologues especially those of the Church of Rome Catholick Kings rather conniving at this mischiefe than the perpetuall inconveniences resulting from a married Clergie who by giving their Children better breeding than Estates are the cause they do not seldome fall into exorbitances 63. REpute hath swell'd the Sultan's power to such a vast Monstrosity and so farre dazled the eyes of Christian Princes weakned by divisions in Religion that they dare not look upon him without a Present Neither is the Persian much bolder which gives him the advantage no lesse than honour to be still on the offensive And in this the generosity he useth to divulge the Prince if not the place he meaneth next to attacque turns more to his advantage than may appeare to every eye other Nations resting so secure upon this as they doe not provide if at all a defence proportionable to the danger which if once made ready could not be laid out to a more probable advantage for themselves and Christendome than in stopping the progresse of this Polyphaemus who is likely if not prevented by some civill Rupture to devoure all the Italian Principalities if once he ravish the Venetian whose hands have been weakened by the longest Warre that ever any single State maintained against this Monster who for want of assistance cannot choose but shortly yeild up Candy to his Lust And then our drousy Princes who were no more affected with her Cries than wakened by the noise of her Canon and the voice of Prudence daily roaring in their eares shall lament their Errour and curse themselves and the Counsell that moved them to observe this unnaturall Neutrality and to preferre a little pleasure they take in gratifying the envy they have ever borne to this more magnificent Republick tyed by all reason to maintain the smaller States of Italy in being before the assuring of their feares by a cordiall combining against this common enemy of whose mercy they can have no hope Nothing being more suitable to his former procedure or future security than utterly to eradicate them long looked upon by him as the only obstructers of his farther progresse into Christendome Though apparently known that what the Venetians doe is rather by the strength of their Heads than Hands having not yet made themselves very famous for Valour participating not so much of the Lion as Fox with whose skin most of their Atchievements are found to be lined being themselves if fooles in any thing in the excessive awe they stand of Death the cause they employ Strangers Neither is it a lesse wonder that France Spaine and other potent Nations doe daily passe by greater affronts received from the Ottoman Empire without the least notice taken then they are observed to fight for among themselves as if nothing could be dishonourable or unsafe but what ariseth from the injuries of men of the same Religion an argument of as great Imprudence as Impiety especially resulting from the Omission if not Commission of the Court of Rome For did the Jesuites and other active Priests turne the tide of their Policy which hath already immerged Europe in bloud towards the Turks they might soon be overflown by as great a deluge of Schismes as we are now plunged in But the feare of losing the Bird in hand makes the Pope unwilling to imploy his Engines for the taking of this Not considering that the Mahumetan profession is grown up to as high an
in this world is suppressed and their Imaginations wholly engaged on that which is to come By this the feare of lapsing into grosser Idolatry or profounder Atheisme is preventeds being bred only in expectation of Miserie here and so more guilty then sensible of that ridiculous folly David so much upbraids them with that consume time in the service of Gods that have neither Eyes to see Eares to heare nor wills to helpe such as pray to them For this Stupidnesse once found in That we have been taught to make the Object of our worship and joyning forces with the Afflictions that doe ordinarily attend the Best and the Blessings not observed to baulk the most Impious This I say doth often hurry such as have had their hopes deluded or adjourn'd beyond the extent of a small Faith into wretchlesse Infidelity or which is worse a low and despicable opinion of their Maker avoided by the Mahumetans who look for no remoter causes of Afflictions then what result from personall miscarriages or the will of those in Authoritie assigning their Maker an higher imployment then the attending or accomplishing our earthly desires which if attained they might possibly hinder us from greater in Heaven to which this world is but a troublesome and dark passage Nor can the Turks prevarications upon a most partiall Scrutinie bear that stresse of wickednesse the more seared consciences of some Christians doe daily endure manifest in the French Massacre the foulnes of which story hath not yet been matched by Mahumet or any of his disciples never found to have borne such bitter fruit But not to insist upon the Equity or Reason of their Law it gives them as the Priests manage it a satisfactory pretence to esteem all wayes decent and consonant to Religion that are able or likely to enlarge their Empire Not questioning the Quarrell no more then the future happinesse of such Soules as have the Fate to expire in it And if upbraided herewith they desire the Pope to catechize his most Catholick Son How he came by Portugall Naples Milan Sicily c. And what warrant he is able to produce from the Avenger of Bloud that might authorize him to shed that Ocean he let out in America upon no more serious occasion then Gold the Conversion of the people into slaves to dig it Can there be a ranker Blasphemy offered against the Lord of Hosts then to set up his Standard in so vast and sanguine a field of Ambition and the Crosse of his Son in a greater Golgotha then that wherein he was Crucified And all this under pretence of Religion as if God were lesse jealous of the honour of his Church then the Priests were of their Temple into the verge of which they would not admit the price of bloud much lesse then can the Judge of all things accept the persons of those that shed it 16. The awfulnesse the Turks beare to the Name of God is so great that they dare not employ the paper wherein they find it written to any base office but leave it hid in a hole to the farther disposure of the Owners Providence And therefore possibly not so likely as Christians who observe no such decency to call it to the witnesse of an untruth much to the advantage of Governours there as it might be in Christendome did Custome or Law screw the peoples minds up to as high an esteem of it Neither would this lessen but encrease the benefit States-men make by dispensing with its abuse which is now so often and grosly practised as it is apparent to the multitude who are apter to follow the Example of their Kings then the Doctrine of their Teachers and might if any apparition of Justice or Religion were extant in their Governors have their Passions as the Turkes stirred up to approbation or dislike proportionable to the more or lesse dismall relations their Priests read to them out of their Mahumetan Legend so much the more excusable because the awe borne to these though but Fictions doth help to spare the more ungratefull Rod the too frequent use of which hath in all times produced more Feare then Love 17. This proves A false Religion doth contribute more to safety then Atheisme or a stupid neglect of all Worship and that a Clergy is of excellent concernment provided they keep close in their Doctrine to Reason of State not to be brought about but through the mediation of their own Interest by nothing so easily biassed as comfortable Livings and severe Deaths or punishments in case their exhortations goe contrary to the grain of the Civill Government whose Administrators have not so much cause to complaine of the Church-men for their recoyling since by their frequent setting them upon the people they taught them at last to worrey themselves Their Tongue like a Sword being as well able to wound one side as another moves according as it is enclined by profit or feare Neither can any breach they have formerly made in the affaires of their Patrons disparage the Calling more then it doth a piece of Ordnance that being lost through imprudence and miscarriage doth after batter down the house of her Founder since all their Fulminations tend that way to which the Hand that fills their Bellies is pleas'd to direct them there being none easier warped then they nor more violent assertors of what their own Wisdome or the worlds Folly hath given them leave to call Theirs as were easily deducible from their frequent changings which gives me the boldnesse to believe that if all which is without question the Churches were restored and the dignity of their Tenents and Calling vindicated the truly honest would comply with any Government out of Conscience and the rest batter contrary Parties in hope of Preferment Such as look upon the Mahumetan Profession as of the grosser allay because so farre subservient to worldly Policy that the Grandees and Priests like Juglers carry the coale of zeale only in their mouths not being heated themselves with what they goe about to enflame others suffering their Threats and Promises to rise no higher or fall no lower thē suits with the politick reaches of the Prince may find other Courts standing in as prophane a posture especially that of Rome not unworthily looked upon for the Magazeen from whence the rest of the world is supplied with Wisdome shall I call it or Deceit where Church-men like Burning-glasses cast the Rayes of a Celestiall Fire into the Consciences of others carrying in the meane time themselves a cold Chrystaline Fragil Creed towards what they endeavour to informe the People taking upon them a publick curè of Soules out of a no more religious respect then to provide against their private wants yet connived at here as well as by all wise Princes else because Law can promote no Good nor prevent Evill but what is open to publick cognisance whereas Religion penetrates so low as to erect a Tribunall in every minde
Their strength lies in the Field and not in Fortresses looked upon as nurseries of Rebellion especially in so absolute a Tyranny where it is more common for the Emperour to send for the Head of a Bashaw then to be denyed A power that would be buried in stronger Holds out of which few would come to such entertainement as is given to the Grandees upon the least invitation of Jealousie Not to beat more upon this Argument long since driven up to the head by the best of Judgements That fortified places suite the affaires of weake Princes better then those of greater strength c. he that hath men in abundance needs them no more then those of narrower confines and lesse populous are able to subsist without them 52 They make not Religion the cause or at least proclaime it not for the principall Motto of a Warre which wakens the attentions and invokes the assistance of all the contrary profession the poorest man taking himselfe so farre interested in the vindication of his Faith that if he hath nothing else to venture he will account it sacriledge to deny his life But no sound of that being heard the voice of hope and feare drownes that of danger and concernment in the prejudice and hatred they beare to their Neighbours Fathering all misfortune that fals to them upon divine vengeance in opposition of which they dare not engage no more then most Princes are willing to part with their Gold till it is too late like the wretched inhabitants of Constantinople who chose rather to loose all in an entire sum than to breake it for the preservation of themselves their Country And if any thing could have tempted Christians to the rescue of their own interest in the costody of others it would have been then when this Emperiall City was in such danger But the moderation of Caesars power was so gratefull a Spectacle for the present as it dazeled their apprehensions in relation to any future inconveniences yet when this key of Europe was lost those that before were quiet if not contented Spectators began to mistrust their own doores and bewaile their ignorance in not foreseeing that the effects of such a neighbourhood was not so easily to be resisted as the Siege which was the cause might have been raised had there been a cordiall conjunction amongst those tied in policy to have kept him farther off Thus by presuming more on the strength of others than there is cause for most states at last come to be distressed themselves 53. Their Militia is observed to be more daring in their Christian expeditions than those undertaken against the Persian a people looked upon as too neer of kin to them in Religion to warrant their Murdering The same sinne committed by Princes in grosse which private persons doe by retaile yet are punished for it in this world where the other are commended though the people l describe are too wise and affectionate towards the more substantiall part of their Creed to prosecute those of their own profession to the farthest extent of their power out of no more serious consideration then whether their owne or the Persian Priests delude the people with the greatest shew of Truth especially both owning one and the same supreame Jugler Mahumet In this exceeding the prudence if not the piety of Christians who make the sword an Umpire in the smallest differences of Opinion as if successe found as great an assertor of the designes of these Infidells as ever it hath yet appeared in the favour of Saints could be able to beare so great a stresse as the weight of Religion on which depends Salvation not possibly to be brought about by the wicked Engines dayly employed by Princes and men in power to keep Victory fastened to their Tentdoors It being the Sufferings not the Valour of our Champion CHRIST that can enroll us in the Heavenly Host For though weda e not give successe to Fortune any more than we are able to wrest her out of the hand of God yet we finde by experience that the wheeles of her Chariot are too weak durty and unsteddy for Truth to triumph in much lesse to be made captive to any others Interpretation than her own 54 And though the paint of Religion is the ordinary Charme that raiseth the impetuous spirits of the people into stormes by which they can sooner destroy others than save themselves no reparations being to be procured but out of their own purses who may far easier change their Masters then find better yet is Bloud very unsuitable to the tast of true Religion which participates more of the Lamb than the Lion having been ever readier to suffer wrong then do it till the Priests of old as some think first for the Princes sake and after for their own had not only taught her the art of Jugling but made her so tetchey by the corroding doctrines they instil'd into mens consciences upon the least wordly occasion that brought their Honour or Profit under question farre repugnant to the first intent of Religion which was to set a bar against strife and all other unnaturall desires men without the awe of God are apt to fall into Oppression being a generall mischiefe all are liable to either in childhood or old age This brought Government into use among such as had felt the heavy experiment of Anarchy to avoid which nothing contributes more than Unity in Religion and where that cannot be compassed without much strife a Liberty to professe what opinions men please provided they be not repugnant to the generall welfare 54. Wherefore Mahumet and his successors the better to gain the love of the people to Religion tempered it with so much moderation as it rather enclines to Hope than Feare wisely foreseeing that nothing makes Subjects recoile more from their Obedience than when they are loaded with a conceit that their Governours lead them in the way to Hell This gives me occasion to think that the Goblings armed by the Catholicks with so much terror may possibly like the Elephants of Pyrrhus fall foule upon themselves and bring their Religion into a low contempt through an apparent detection or a panick feare not so likely to attach the Creed of the Turks who have no painting to communicate any thing subject to gather so much drosse as might enforme the people they are but the effects of humane Art nor Priests that dare be so bold as to put a greater Excise upon the sinnes of the people or the price of Heaven then stands with the conveniency or Reason of State Thus are the Turkish Souldiers bred in no lesse Obedience than Valour which are indeed the most saving Articles of their Beliefe and though undervalued by us that expect after death a lesse carnall Heaven yet nothing causeth their Unity more or is a greater provocation to augmentation of Empire then the conformty held by their Priests in the inculcation of their Doctrine not perplexing their consciences
their most secret designes else they are able to distresse them through the strength of their own friends Thus a Prince comes to have an Enemy in his bosome and such an one as he dares not question for feare of a shower at home and a storme from abroad So as if all the benefit Story can record to have at least of late accrued to Kings from the great Allyes of their Wives were put together you shall find it inconsiderable computed with the losse especially if their Religion differs for then she looking upon him as out of the reach of Gods mercy can think nothing an injury to his person or a losse to his estate if her ghostly fathers are pleased to encourage her Considerations without bottome in this conformity in Profession and parity in Subjection where the birth of the first Son gives the title of Sultana to a slave the highest honour or employment a woman can be borne to and what might abundantly content them also in Europe where they are made the Arbitrators of the Royall Line 65. The Emperour appeares not in Publick but on Horseback where all Deformityes if he owes any are best concealed And is then in such Splendor as the former-ingaged opinion of the multitude renders him more than Humane whereas our lesse Majestick Princes become so cheap by their daily figging up and down the streets after their pleasures unattended whilst this graver Monarch enjoyes them all under his own roof where none are suffered to enter but those that are dumb from their Births or are rendered so through feare or use no action or word breathed out of the Seraglio to the Emperours disadvantage but proves mortall to the divulger Not possible to be observed among Christians whose Meales like Puppet-playes are made the object of all eyes and their lightest Discourses apt then to break out the scorn of Strangers that blow them over the four corners of the earth with no small addition whilst their own Subjects calculate a crooked nature from the Deformities of their Bodies evil Gestures or a too luxurious taking in of their Wine or Meat It not being easie to shew a man at a greater disadvantage than whilst he is taking his Repast the most certaine Symbol of Mortality This altogether cast no lesse cloud over their Majesty than their Cheats and Perjuries to procure Money are observed to doe upon their Probity which raiseth such a damp of Contempt about the Throne as the Obedience they own proceeds rather from a dread of their present power than any voluntary or naturall affection their Subjects bear to them or their vertues of which they have so low esteem as they think them easy to be matched if not by themselves by a number their Commerce and Experience hath coped withall 66. In Progresse his Train is not inferiour to an Army in which he receives all graciously that come to see him And by this Strength and Affability the remotest parts are not only wooed to Obedience but terrified from Insurrections calculating by the Power attending him in his Pleasures the terriblenesse of a Force that should be raised in his Fury Notwithstanding at this time nothing appears about him but Love in his words and Charity in his actions For where he sees the earth covered with Poore he casts his Mony which like water put into a Pump gives him the opportunity safely to drein the more affluent Rich. This makes the Generality look upon him as a God that may give way to Punishment never to Passion 67. He owns not in his Royall Person any ingratefull Imposition but appeares ever before his people like the Sun carrying in his looks no less Serenity than Splendour in all about him and answers any clamours of Joy with as cordiall Blessings and Thanks knowing it as uncomely for a Prince in publick to seem angry as poor That threatning no lesse danger to the Lives than This doth presage incroachment upon the Fortunes of all that come to see him And though none can more freely command what belongs to his Subjects he discovers no will to employ any Arbitrary power in his own person how well so ever it suits with his Nature or Occasions Handling all Grievances to his people by the mediation of others whom upon emergency he delivers up to their Fury Neither doth this lessen the number of these Harpies any more than it doth Conjurers to hear their Predecessors were torne in pieces by the command of those they had formerly nourished with their Blood Thus by such amiable gestures and the high price he seems in publick to set upon the Nations content so great a Love is kindled in the hearts of his Subjects that all the evills that fall upon them are removed from the principall cause and attributed to such as are only instrumentall in their promotion A practice waved by our lesse advised Monarchs who sit in Parliament as Jupiter is painted with Thunder in their hands as if they had already the will and power and wanted nothing but their peoples consent to make them miserable not affording a gratefull concession but by the high and rugged way of Exchange nor good words but to usher in a more chargeable Request scorning to reckon with the Subject make even for their Minions and Officers Faults till they are so far run in the account of Prejudice that all Love and Obedience is quite forfeited and the Crown exposed to the purchase of any that hath the subtilty and power to buy it 68. For to obviate the like miscarriage the Turk gives often a favourable hearing to such as complain of the Grandees not seldome gratifying them with the Heads of their Oppressors By which he doth not only stop the mouths of his people with a shew of Piety and Justice but fills his Exchecquer with the reall Coin he finds about those thus complained of Yet if he takes the party's Life to be more considerable to his affaires than his Death he satisfies the publick discontent by translating the Offender to some remoter employment where being farther from the Court severity may be more necessary at least not so dishonourable as when it appeares at the foot of his Chair Thinking it not safe to gall the many-headed Monster twice in a Place with one and the same Engine And by this even and constant procedure an uninterrupted Prosperity hath been intailed to this Empire that the voice of Liberty continues still such a stranger in their streets as if their Language were barren of a word to expresse it Thus by claiming nothing he enjoyes all and by defending none of his bad Instruments hath been secure himself till these latter yeares in which some Constellation seems to hover over the World inclining all Nations to Rebellion This imboldens me to assert it as a Maxime That Princes contract more hatred from the injustice and oppressions of their Favourites than their own A farre lesse Revenue than doth legally depend on a Crown being
be unemployed will do mischief None attaining to any perfection but what he hath use for Idle Valour being the tool as Learning Knowledge are the operators of all Civil Dissentions A course quite contrary to the ill husbandry of Europe or more particularly England in whose Body Mercury and Sulphur exceed Employment which should be the Salt to fix the rest and keep them from putrefaction For want of which her Schooles do man out as many Enemies as Friends legible in the vast volumes of Controversies that lie vendible on every Stall This results from the multitude of Grammer-Schooles in the building of which appears more Zeal than Knowledge where all come that are but able to bring a Bag and a Bottle no unfit Emblem of the future poverty of their Trade In which like a Lottery ten take their chance in Beggery for one that meets with a Prize and that when it comes is scarse worth the labour cost time required in making thē capable No mens fortunes being confined in so narrow a Circle nor built upon such shaking Foundations as those of Scholars The fire already kindled in Church and State by their clashing in Opinions having melted the Basons and larger Plate our Ancestors set up for the incouragement of Learning which like a Viper doth now endeavour to eat out the bowels of her Mother For the Parents of Schoole-boyes not being able to advance them higher all the rest is lost but Reading and Writing and they rendered by seven or eight yeares lazy living uncapable of the labour belonging to the more profitable Plough and so become Serving men and Lawyers and Justices Clerks by the vertue of which profession they turne cunning Knaves and cozen their Countrey A charge circumcised in Turkey by mixing the expensive Callings of Law and Divinity together by which the Priests are so fully employed as no leisure is given to study Innovation in either profession and consequently dries up the Fountaines of Rebellion Which foreseen by the prudent eye of the divine Legislator Moses directed him to the uniting of the sacred Rites and civill Sanctions into one Body making the Law of the Land a piece of Gods Law and the Justice of the Magistrate Religion which stamps no lesse authority upon the Law then it procures Reverence to the Judges and promiseth to the Government where it is entertained Length of dayes and Safety on the one hand with Riches and Honour on the other Which course affords also such Expedition as gives one side at least cause to applaud Justice whereas here the better'd party is left so little to boast of that he returnes home as ill satisfyed as he which had Sentence pronounced against him 73. Neither are these Delayes any whit remedyed by the ill-Husbandry of breeding so many to the long Robe as are found in England which excesse springs from the multitude of Pedants that reign among us who like Flies blow one another in such quantities over the Nation as they doe not onely supplant those of their owne Calling which is it selfe were mischiefe enough but infect all Government Their Scholars if they arrive to any maturity at length turne Academicks whose Cloystered and Monkish Learning is by Statesmen looked upon as resembling dead Honey which is stale course and lesse usefull none being pure and Virginall but what is sucked from every Flower that may be found in the wilde fielde of a generall Commerce For though out of the huge heap of University-men Providence hath snatched such choice Brands as are able to illuminate the world yet let these towring Eagles speak sincerely who like the Soul of Learning appeare above that vast pile of Fathers Schoolemen Linguists Critick's c. heaped up by the Court of Rome for a Funerall to all farther enquiry after Truth and they must tell you that the least part of this excellency came from their Mother The Tongues being at the best but the Crackers of Knowledge the Kernell remaining uselesse if not bitter and loathsome till picked dressed by Employment Experience Nor can this be admired by such as consider the practise of ordinary Tutors who throw to their Pupils the dry Bones and not the Marrow of Erudition By which more time is often consumed in the setting out than a wise man perhaps would have thought well spent in the whole Journey 74. This is not said to bring any water towards the clensing of their hands who either have or doe intend to imbrue them in the Sacrilegious Spoiles of Colledges to the utter discouragement of all future Charity I wish them rather cut off For though thousands are found to bury their Talents in the ocean of Controversies and an implicit adhering to the writings of the Ancients who might possibly erre out of no lesse policy than the Church of Rome hath since maintained them yet all ages do afford some that scorne to be tied up to Patternes but inrich the world with such new Inventions as may not onely expiate for the Charge but the Ignorance of all Foundations 75. Thus I have shewn that the Turk's want of knowledg in our Learning or Religion leaves him neither so Imprudent or Wicked but that he is able to promote his owne Interest and willing to make his Subjects so far happy as may suit with an Absolute power AN INDEX OF The particulars contained in the Observations upon the TURKISH GOVERNMENT 1. THe Preface Mahumet the Founder of the Turkish Empire his Story disadvantagiously recorded for want of Pens of their owne 2. The time lucky for his Attempts 3. His Followers ignorant and so apt to take any Religious impression 4. Crosse Accidents hindred not their Progresse 5. 7. His chiefe Rites gathered out of Judaisme and Christianity 6. Images prohibited and why 8. The institution and Use of the Jewish their Sabbath And 9. Priests 10. Their Policy directed more to the Princes Interest than the Priest's 11. Who are to be kept in a Mediocrity 12. The Aliaron by whom interpreted 13. Prayers more frequent then Preaching 14. In what Uses their Doctrine ends 15. Not to expect happinesse here but in another world Their Practise not so bad as some Christians 16. The advantages to the State from Oaths and Religion 17. Though a false one and from Church-men who yet drive on their owne interest 18. The Mahumetan Rites not chargeable or grievous to Nature Sacrifices why omitted 19. Their Abstinence from Wine and the Reasons thereof 20. Their Constancy to their Primitive Institutes the mischiefe of Change and 21. Their Provisions against it 22. Reasons of State for the Mufiy's Advancement and the Emperour 's honouring him in publique 23. Meca within his owne power 24 Which yet cannot allwaies secure him from his Jealousie but upon occasion he makes him away privately yet without aspersing his Fame and why 25. Of the Expediency of such clandistine Dispatches 26. A Reflection upon Queen Elizabeth for executing Queen Mary of Scotland 27. Of the
the cost of a totall subversion either by the Turke or Lutheran Professors 12. The severall Orders and distinct Names they gave the Friars known to breed Emulation Division among them as is evident about the Conception of the V. Mary c. And the irreconcilable feud between the active Society of Jesus and all the other duller Fraternities 13. Ceremony though the Body of Religion yet is too weak to bear that Stresse the Priests laid upon it who should rather have built upon faith to which nothing is impossible Considering withall that though externall behaviour may add warmth to zeal yet a redundancy of it doth not seldome suffocate extinguish it by converting it into Idolatry which is a palpable mistake in the worship of God and cannot long among knowing people be held from clamouring for a Reformation which the Pope should ever have prevented by a hasty doing it himselfe For if once undertaken by the uninterested Rabble they will never leave till the forme of worship is bruised beaten out of all comlinesse so as nothing can satisfy but the molding it anew Which the win of no single Age much lesse that contained in a few Heads is able to make compleat Church Discipline well instituted being the highest result of all Prudece God hath intrusted men withall whose materialls too neer scrutinized seem to discover more Policy then Piety by the contemplation of which mens Judgements being once dazeld they are ever after propense to Athoisme and a prejudiciall jealousie of their Teachers 14. The Pope neglected the prudentiall carriage of a Miller who being supplied with a larger stream than the conveniency of his Trade requires suffers it to run wast rather then endanger the subversion of the whole Engine he hath liv'd so long happily by Whereas the Pope permitted the Ecclesiasticks not onely to appropriate to their particular profit all that which ignorant zeal did voluntarily plentifully shower down upon them but connived at the Mists and Thunders they raised in the Consciences of Dying men By which they became co-heirs almost in every Family Forgetting that A great Booty invites Theft at best Envy it being unlikely Princes should long forbear squeezing such Spunges out of awfulnesse to Religion as had no better authority for their dreining their Subjects than they drew from a forraign power owned by the most rather out of Policy than Piety especially since it was ordinary with his Holiness himselfe to make great Leavies upon no other reason than to augment his own or raise new Empires for his Sons or Nephews 15. The abundance of such contingencies bred a neglect of their surer more legitimate Patrimony consisting in Tithes unquestiond Churchoduties very sufficient to have maintained a number large enough for the loading the patience and conveniency of the most prudent States without the additiō of such vast Revenues not possible to be apprehended but under the notion of things superfluous in the Church since Christ in person never owned such Plenty which made it seem more undecent in him that pretended to be his Vicar 16. Fallacies discovered in Miracles which call in questiō as well those antiently truly done as such as are reported to be new Thus the pious Deceits our Ancestors used to bring men to salvation are not only made Stales to catch Profit but instrumentall to Infidelity A DISCOURSE IN VINDICATION OF Martin Luther HE may be suspected of Hypocrisie if not Atheisme that too suddenly leapes out of one Opinion into another It being impossible for meer flesh and blood to pull up all at once a Religion rooted by Costome and Education in the Understanding which must be convinced before it can let in another with any cordiall welcome I speak not of the antient and extraordinary Callings of God but those experimented in our times in which over much hast doth often-times bewray Deceit As appeared in the Bishop of Spalatto who in my dayes left Italy for fear of Paul the fifth his enemy and reconcil'd himselfe to the Church of England but the old Pope being dead and his Kinsman in the Chaire he resumes his former Errors and goes to Rome in hope of Preferment where contrary to promise he dies miserably When Falshood is fallen-out with for any other respect than Love of Truth it inclines to Atheisme and is so far from mending the Condition of the Convert that it renders it worse None ever shewed greater signes of Gods Spirit than Luther did who observed such Gradations as it may appear he found faule with nothing he was not first led to by the dictates of Conscience Falling first upon the abuse of Indulgences too apparent an Impiety to passe by so acute a Judgment undiscovered From this he ascended to higher Contemplations which afforded him the opportunity to take notice of remoter and deeper Errors His Wit Learning having that vast advantage over the stupid Ignorance of those times that he bare down all before him without any other Opposition than the contrary Faction was able to raise out of power much weakened by the desire all Princes had to set limits to the Pope's daily Usurpations And as for the Books then writ against him they did rather shar pen than blunt the desire of Change For the Friars had so long enjoyed a free current of their Doctrine without interruption that they were more intent on the reaping of such Fruit as grew from the Errors sown by their Predecessors than upon Arguments to defend thē So as if Princes that were weary of the Yoak of Rome had wanted the guidance of Luther it is not easle to say whither they might have wandered And though Charls the fifth then Emperour to keep his subjects in obedience did seem to discountenance the Schism as they call'd it yet he was content to shut up the Pope in the Castle of S. Angelo Which proves his small affection and the truth of this Tenet that if ever Christendome falls under one Monarch or turns into popular States the power of the Pope will be lost or confined to Rome being at this day onely kept up like a Shittle-cock by the bandying of Princes 'T is objected against Luther That he was too passionate using irreverent speeches towards some in Authority Yet so much of this fault as Zeale leaves unexcused may be imputed to his Education All can be said is He was but a Man and subject to Common Infirmities And because his ene mies do so often object this it is strongly to be presumed his worst fault I could have wish'd he had not married a Nun but I believe he did it to shew People The Quarrell was irreconcilable as Absalom projected when he polluted his Fathers bed And in this sense the benefit takes away much of the blame which lay not in the unlawfullnesse but the inexpediency of the fact And to shew God did not curse his Match Though he might participate of the fate of other learned men