where imagination sits like a terrible Judge pronouncing the charge she hath been taught from Power Custome and Education which through the compunction of a tender Conscience doth so rack the most intrinsick thoughts of all prepossessed with the dread of a future account as they doe not seldome confesse themselves guilty of such hainous offences as none else are able to accuse them for expecting more ease from the sentence of the publick Magistrate then they can find in their private Consciences which daily excruciate them with the terrors of Hell and the losse of Heaven To conclude by the heat of Religion many Vertues are hatched and more Vices stifled in the shell 18. Yet little is observable in the Rites of Mahumet that is Chargeable to performe or grievous to the Nature of Man Perhaps the cause why Sacrifice is not taken in amongst the number of things borrowed from the Jews as thinking it incongruous with a Divine Essence to be appeased or delighted by the losse and blood of poor Creatures incapable of the Will or Power to transgresse Though the inclination to Oppression Covetousnesse and Cruelty is no more a stranger to their natures then ours which proves Sin an effect of Law and constraint rather then of Liberty or Nature But the People of God had a higher Prospect from these bloudy Ceremonies then the dark mist about Mahumet would suffer him or any other out of the true Church to apprehend else Wolves and not Sheep had furnished their Altars Neither did this new State Founder believe any merit could reside in a voluntary Maceration or persecution of our Bodies as if the most mercifull God confessed to have prepared in future all celestiall beatitudes for those that love him should for the present so farre divest that nature as to delight to see us miserable which makes me think that the putting out of their Eyes before the Tombe of their Prophet now in use among them to prevent the sight of any thing after and the wearing of such huge and painfull Kings in the most tender parts of their bodies grew not from any Institute of his but are rather Bastards of that Church reputed for nothing more justly the Whore of Babylon then for burning her Proselytes with such exorbitant zeal as the Anchorites and Monks are led by when they Whip and Stigmatize themselves out of hope to purchase Heaven A lunacy superlative to theirs who lend mony in this world upō human security to be paid in the next by God himselfe No ways suitable with this Foūders Philosophy who would have thought it lesse Blasphemy with Plutarch to acknowledge no God at all then to imagine him owner of such Passions as are unworthy and below a Divine Essence 19. THe totall Abstinence from Wine is the most materiall Sacrament of the Turks Obedience to Mahumets Law Now least any should passe it as a lesse pertinent piece of Prudence then really it is I desire those that take more delight in condemning then acquitting the actions of Antiquity to suspend their Judgements till these Reasons are weighed 1. He was not so poore a Naturalist as not to know Wine effeminates no lesse then enervates the body of Man the cause Sampsons Mother together with himselfe abstained from it otherwise he might by the Witch his Mistresse have been as easily charmed into Drunkenesse as Sleep For though it may not unpossibly conjure up a present furious Resolution it was never yet fam'd for a friend to the Habit of valour 2. It is a Sworne Enemy to Discipline rendering the most obedient Souldiers during that Distemper deafe to all necessary words of Command 3. Wine dries the Braine by Nature and besides by Accident informes the Understanding through the Commerce and Familiarity it breeds with men of different Judgements And so might have easily called up acuter Spirits and caused a stricter Scrutiny into the Miracles Life and Procedure of their Legislater then an infantine Power was able to correspond for There being no humour so bad but this strong liquor is able to make worse and inflame by representing miscarriages in Commanders and affronts from their Fellowes which in a calmer temper could never have floated in so weake Imaginations And thus led on by Chimera's they like Samson snatch up the most improbable weapons which they doe not seldome employ in almost as miraculous Successes 4. The Transparency of Drunkennesse able to conceale nothing to its owne Shame And Flexibility to all things rather then Reason 5. Being yet in an itinerant condition and so not likely to find Wine alwaies at hand it could not have layn in the power of any earthly thing but a premeditated religious Injunction to have kept such an untutor'd Rabble within the cōpasse of moderation when ever they had met with it Not seldome the Fate of Armies who upon such disadvantages have been all cut off by farre inferiour Powers being themselves first overcome by Drinke 6. To end this Digression in which more might be said Wine could be no fit ingredient to mingle with the heat of the Country they marched in and the labour they must needs encounter in the rough way leading to so high Designes 20. Not to presume to vie Instances with the people of the Jewes who besides the prudence of Moses had the unerring Spirit of God to direct them in all emergent occasions which by the way renders their frequent Grumblings no lesse prodigious then blasphemous I find few Nations more constant to their Founders Aphorismes or that give lesse way to a refining by the agitation of experiences drawn from a confluence of differing events then the Turke for which he stands obliged to his own firme Constancy in Religion and his Neighbours often variations which have opened the gap to his most signall Conquests It being impossible to shake this Tree of Paradice but to the prejudice of the Prince in possession and benefit of such subtil Serpents as desire to Supplant him therefore not to be done out of any wantoner instigation then an absolute Necessity For though the Change of an opinion that is antient may stop a leake for the present it breeds such a worme as doth cause a perpetual Colick in the State Apparent in France where the Queen Mother fomented the Protestants to maintaine her Regency and could never after be free from the danger of Civil War This makes me wonder to find Toleration of Religion so common an Article in the Transactions of Princes Since it no way sutes with the complexiō of Prudence to palliate a present defect by such a Recipe as may breed for the future an incurable Disease 21. Yet because many Customes passe current in the Minority of Power would prove childish and defective in a more Setled Condition and after Posterity is swelled to so considerable a bulk as that the most numerous part may be allowed to exchange Battleaxes and Swords into Shares and Pickaxes it could not be avoided by humane
Providence but something should be wanting in relation to so vast an Empire no lesse terrible to the Eare then admirable to their Eyes have seen it A Fortune perhaps as far above the hopes of their first Founder as it transcends the ordinary extent of the like endeavours Therefore he deserves in my opinion more Commendation for foreseeing so much then blame in omitting Provisions against such accidents as none but a Prophet indeed could be ever able to presage Many Carriages being necessary to the Sword are superfluous if not destructive when the Scepter is obtained The first intending the death of Enemies but the latter the Preservation of Subjects and Friends 22. Whereupon his Successors finding that though the Keyes of the Church can hang no where so quietly as at the Girdle of the Prince of which Moses is an unerring Example yet to give a greater lustre to the beames of Religion esteemed by all if not quite corrupted yet far lesse pure in Secular Vessels then those set wholly apart for the worship of God And to have withall a favourable Umpire of a seeming more indifferent sanctified allay ready to compose any Discontents that might be fomented between the civill Power and the Subject either through others Ambition or their own Oppression not unlikely to result from so absolute a Jurisdiction A Religious man call'd the Mufty is set up whose Habit is Green a colour none but the Kindred of Mahumet are suffered to weare of which number he is alwaies supposed to be one Now the better to enable him to strike an awfull Reverence into the People in case a misled Zeale should melt them into Divisions or a colder Licence freez them into a chill Atheisme the Emperour honours the Mufty in publick with the highest reverence and most solemne attention Denying him nothing he dare aske No Malefactor being suffered to dye hath the fortune to see him or be seen by him as he passeth The Prince placing him upon all weighty occasions next the Throne where by his publick Gestures he acts a lively and terrible dread of those Crackers that contain no other Sparkes of a celestiall fire then what resides in true Reason of State Which is the Art of Governing to the best advantage for Prince and People And though this Circumcised Pope yeilds an infallible obedience to all the Emperour inspires him with yet being rarely seen the Generality reverence him as if they apprehended something about him more then humane And let our new Polititians practise what they please Experience hath made it sufficiently manifest that A too prostituted Familiarity breeds contempt not only in things civill but Divine Now such as think the Prudence absolutely necessary to the Conduct of humane affaires uselesse in those relating to Heaven may be out For since Miracles and the audible voice of God is silent nothing is so likely as a Sanctified Policy to retaine a competent Reverence for Religion or maintain so much Probity as is requisite in a generall Commerce to keep us from murdering one another upon the instigation of Covetousnesse and Revenge Therefore the way for Prince and Priest to be thought more then men is to doe nothing unworthily say nothing unproperly nor weare any thing undecently 23. The Turk in this is happy that the Mufty his Pope no lesse then Meca his Rome are within the reach of his power so as he is not to seeke for the Oracles of Religion out of his own Territories denied by custome to the most considerable part of Europe whose Princes are regulated by the Popes Inspirations not only in things concerning God but what else may be fetched in by his Pastorall Crook In Ordine ad Spiritualia And left this absurd proceeding should be exposed to a generall Reformation the Bishop of Rome tolerates all Incestuous Matches and other base ad unjust actions Princes desire to have indulged for feare like Hen. the 8. they should doe it of themselves The consideration of which makes them beare the heavy weight of so many Ecclesiasticks who scarce acknowledge any obedience but to the Sea of Rome 24. Though the Turkish Court no lesse then the Common People do afford the Gaudy plumage of Honour to the Mufty the highest Bird in this earthly Paradise yet if he but offers to tune his note contrary to the true Dialect of State he is straight unperched It having been long observable in this Empire That neither Friends Money Sanctity Love of People former Desert or any present need of the persons accurate Parts were ever found Antidotes sufficient to expell the poyson of the Emperours Jealousy who esteemes no number of Lives though never so innocent equivalent with his safety or the Nation's Yet if this Holy man comes to his death by an unnatural Obstruction the honour of his place is so far from receiving diminution by it that his Body goes to the Grave with the least aspertion to his Fame his Life being rather commended So as his Successor mounts into his Chaire untainted by any Prejudice which Christians contract to their Popes or Patriarchs by the errors they discover after their Deaths The cause such as succeed are not in so great esteeme as their Offices require Thought capable to be tainted with the same faults their Predecessors were owners of not here imagined because the Mufty how ill soever he deserved of Church or State is registred among their Saints In which appears the highest point of Policy it being unlikely any should question the truth of his Judgement when he is in being whose Actions they dare not arraigne after he is dead And for his Removall it passeth without the least notice given to or takē by the Generality who are otherwaies employed either in caressing their plurality of Wives or dispatching the businesse necessary to their Professions Abominating us Christians for walking to no more profitable an end then to talke of Newes c. 25. This discourse of the Mufty's dispatch may afford some room by the way to enquire into the justice of Clandestine Deaths a Custome with the Mahumetans but such an one as I hope never to see concocted into a more generall practice among us yet observing how our Chronicles lie overflowed with such vast Oceans of Bloud spilt upon no more urgent and publick necessity then what relates to the ends and ambition of a single person I will venture to say of it and that only for the Meridian of Turkey That a Physitian or a Felton may be cheaper employed then an Army and with lesse prejudice to the good of the Generality Voted by all Right and Reason the Supreame Law And for whose Salvation Innocency himselfe was willing to dye For where the sole power of Life and Limbe resides as it doth here in the breast of the Prince under the warrant of an uninterrupted Custome the malice making the Murder and not the blow I cannot think it so hainous a Crime that in case a Subject hath justly
for nothing but Learning a Trade had never been so over-laid but to find employment for these Changelings who Fairy-like throw about Fire-brands in State and Church upon the least apprehension of any want or superfluity in Ceremony or Decency To conclude Such as too rigidly expell by their forked Lawes any naturall desires forget they will returne or breake out into a worse mischiefe No lesse then the more prudent Advice of Solomon not to wring the nose of the People to voide excrements lest Blood should follow For if Law did not outwrangle Nature she might possibly be heard to plead that our ordinary Marriages doe rather tire then satisfie her desires And though it may not be owned as a decent Poesie for the Ringleaders to Sedition yet the setting too high a Mulct upon the peoples Peccadillio's and dissents in Judgement no way in their power to prevent though possibly to dissemble is the cause of a loathing of the present Goverment and a certaine presage of ruine to all in Authority if not the whole State to be brought about under the pretence of zeale to Religion and care of the peoples Liberty though the first is no more visible in the Church than the latter is in the civill Administration of affairs Far exceeding the Cheat of Ananias and Saphira who gave a considerable part of what was their own whilst these swallow all the primitive Charity had laid out in pious uses belying so farre the holy Spirit as to pretend the worst they can say or do is dictated by it And I wish Mahumet were only guilty in this who made not his Religion alone but his loathsome Disease a Baud to his Ambition Rapine 30. Punishments in Turkey are more sharpe than common which doth rather stupifie than waken the humour to Rebellion and are executed on open Malefactors not the Darlings of the people removing the latter upon occasion by a clancular procedure As in case a Mad-man one of the Prophet of their Rable for such they esteeme so should inveigh against Authority they are far wiser than to stigmatize or whip them through the City as we used to doe before the people who take themselves not only concerned but wounded in the generall Liberty through their sufferings It being their nature to take hold of and believe any evill report of such Governours at least as are employed in Taxes or any other ungratefull service though most necessary for the use of the State therefore in such cases if they cannot tempt him over to their side by Gold they stop his mouth with something lesse cordiall and if his body be found no diligence is omitted in the enquiring after some Ruffin on whom the people may be likely to father the Murther or the Corps not appearing they pretend him rapt up into Heaven by the mediation of their great Prophet at whose feet he sits pleading their cause and guarding them from some Plague they say impends over them for their disobedience to the Emperour the Vicegerent of God upon Earth Nor doth this often times serve but a solemne Fast is appointed where the Statesmen do in shew and the Ignorant in pure zeale afflict themselves during which time the newes of some victory or happy accident is brought and owned as the returne of their Prayers no lesse than a heavenly approbation given to the Actions of those in Power Thus after the multitude have been sufficiently chastised for the Courtiers faults they become humble and quiet submitting their backs to any burden out of a feare of worse and an opinion they have that it is consonant to the will of God Yet in my judgement no wise Prince ought to tire out this remedy by a too often application lest it should not only loose its vertue but breed a worse Disease an over heated zeale consuming not seldome the wrong end to that for which it was at first kindled being apt to be driven by the contrary winds of Ambition and Covetousnesse upon the Church where the Buckets use to hang likeliest to quench the flames of any other sedition than what results from this Wild-fire which for the most part melts the Lead consumes the foundation of the House of God under pretence of his Service a course that is so far from edification that it makes all not acquainted with the true knack of Ambition hate to be reformed Whose second remove is to the Court where finding all things in a rotten condition or at best obnoxious to be construed to a sense contrary to the prepossessed minds of the Major part the whole Fabrick is consumed to the very person of the Prince out of whose ashes another ariseth that proves a Bird of the same feather if not a worse The Subjects returning home laden for the generality with no more benefit than the Beggers that in a drunken fit expose themselves to the danger of the Law Wounds Beating and Death only to burne the old Whipping-post though dayly experience informes them they can neither be quiet or safe without it which is the cause that in all places they set up a new one when the fury of the distemper is over Thus are Subjects no lesse vaine that doe rebell than Governours mad that provoke them to it 31. The Subjects in Turkey have nothing hereditary All Honours and places of profit being peculiar to Desert and determine with Life without the least partiality shewed to greatnesse of Birth unlesse that it produceth more jealousie than favour to have descended from a Father formerly in power This hangs no lesse weight of Restraint on the Ambition of all in actuall Administration of publick Affaires than it adds Industry to such as have not yet attained to that height By which a foule errour in Europe is obviated where men ascend to the highest places by the mediation of Friends and Money rather than any advantage their worth brings to the Common-wealth It being most ordinary for Fools to be admitted into the Temples of Honour and Riches whilst the choicest endowments of Art and Nature are suffered to pray if not beg without 32. The Emperour 's being here Administratour to all dead mens Estates forceth their Children to be solicitous after trades as having none to rely on for a future maintenance but themselves And to adde reputation to this laudable custome the Grand Segnior professeth some Art himself in which he disdains not to consume his spare time From whence accrues this benefit to the State That Disbanded Souldiers the pest of Christian Nations are one day in Armes the next at work in their Shops Neither have they such confluence of Idle men Lawyers and Scholars which among us make up a third of the people and are for the most part Contrivers and Fomenters of all the distractions found in Church and State From whence results the severest of the Curses God left to the choice of David For the Plague and Famine terminate chiefely in Children and the weakest of
so different tempers who out of hatred to others or love to themselves could not choose but reveale it 3. As the body of Man be it never so sound is maintained in being by contention of humors the bloud flying to the heart upon any sudden assault But if a Bruise be made in a remote place it falls not out so but affords the virulent matter leisure togather Thus are bad Princes with more ease and safety destroyed by a remote and open hostility than a sudden and private attempt For neere men see dayly so many effects of their cruelty that they are afraid studying more their own safety than the freedome of the Common wealth Besides the familiarity with Tyranny makes it so domesticall that those within the Verge of the Court know not well how to live without it Therefore they must be tender of his preservation to maintain their own power having rendred themselves either actively or passively as odious to the people as their Master 4. As any thing that ministers occasion of discourse the farther it extends the more sound it makes and he that gathereth Snow hath a Ball proportionable to the distance he rolls it in So those that cry out a farr off upon the abuses of the Court doe not onely draw attention from some about them but tickle the eares and stir up the Spirits of all such as have felt or do feare the weight of Oppression Nay such persons themselves as at a neerer distance would out of hope or feare labour to quench it will a great way off look upon a combustion with delight Novelty being of that nature especially following things ill that it raiseth more expectation of good than it can destroy 5. Open force doth assure the Malecontents that there is pretence made of no more than what is cordially intended to which the soft whispers of a few confederates cannot enough perswade It being the ordinary practice of tyrannicall Governours by such instruments to entrap others for whose lives and estates they long But in this case Report that represents nothing in its due proportion instead of the danger that is musters up all that may be And in this the concerned Tyrant seconds her who looking through the false Spectacles of guilt feare reads his fortune worse than possibly it is written and above prevention so farre as though Hope the last friend in such adversities cannot quite be shook off she fixeth upon lower objects than the continuance of his former power This flattered Nero that though they drave him out of Rome yet for pity or to satisfie his Party they might be drawn to leave him Egypt quiet As foolish an opinion in him as it had been madnesse in them to think any power meet to be left in the hands of an exafperated Prince whose Revenge cannot be buried but in his grave especially if it respects his Subjects For though himselfe might be of a nature to forgive it those about him cannot but will be ready to incite him to take it upon all occasions 6. Where there are many that conspire the apprehension of any one will soone detect the rest whereas the like resolution taken by a single person and not communicated seldome failes being secure from all feare and hastened by no accident but what opportunity presents 7. Ill Counsell is rather to be hearkened unto than none at all there being a possibility to mend it with better whereas a dull suspension looseth time a thing it recoverable and doth not only assure the Adversaries but disheartens Friends giving them leisure to listen to the free offers of the contrary Party It may be observed in the fall of Nero that the meanest Conspiracy is not to be slighted For in a crazed Common wealth the least jangling will bring the multitude about the eares of their Governour who having offended all knowes not whom to trust that hath any power with the people And this perceived by his own they desert him or by his destruction labour to purchase their particular safety For what hope can another have in him that distrusts himselfe He that hath lost the love of his people cannot be certain of his present safety or moderate ruine when it comes for the most part sudden in regard of his owne knowledge though presaged and wished by all the world besides No prudence can maintaine a Tyrant long in power for though he may divert the people from making inspection into his disposition by exposing his Agents to their mercy yet at last the succession of the same abuses will direct them to the true cause which being once discovered to lye in his Nature nothing he doth shall please but he suspected for more evill than it can in probability produce The worlds Opinion exercising no lesse authority over Kings than meaner men Besides the delivering up men in Authority to the rage of the People like letting of Blood may stop the progresse of a present Fever but much weakens the power of the Prince to resist a future distemper After the disorders of a Tyrant are laid before the eyes of the people it turnes thousands his enemies in an instant that out of Custome or Conscience prayed for him the day before Who are more solicitous to advance his destruction than carefull to choose a Successour that might be fit to govern Their Discretion extending no farther than their Nourishment which they only receive frōhand to mouth Therfore all the use that can be made of this popular Monster is during their first heat For their expectations deloded being incapable of honour or reward they are ready with the Dog to lick up the same Nero they had vomited out And that it is easier to expell a Tyrant than to finde a Prince in all points worthy to succeed appeared by Galba And by Otho we find when the multitude are up in Swarmes they care not what Bush they light on If Seneca had got the Emperiall Diadem from under Piso it is uncertain whether he had been able to have kept it Vertue having shewed her selfe as great an enemy to a fresh Family as Vice to whom Cruelty is for the most part more necessary than Clemency especially towards the Nobility who are observed to carry the most naturall affection to the old line that first wound them up to honour I would be loath to blame Seneca wrongfully though the immense Treasure he left behind him doth not onely by consequence accuse him of too much covetousnesse as some Authors are bold to lay Ambition to his charge which the worse became him because unpossible to be satisfied but at the cost of his Maker But admit this Stoick in outward Profession though an Epicure in his Gardens c. to be as good as he desired to be thought yet if he had not restored to the Romans their lost liberty but sought to establish the Government in his owne house he had onely imitated their Charity that take a Slave out of one cruell Family
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