who seldom finde their abilities represented in their Issue yet he left three such Sons as did not give his enemies occasion to upbraid his memory with them For the Reall Presence maintained by him in the Sacrament it doth not so much condemn his Judgement in this as it justifies his Integrity in all the rest He being as resolute to vindicate what he thought true against the perswasions of his Friends as he was against the threats and promises of his Enemies For if any by-respect could have warped him it would have been a desire to appease the hot Dispute the retention of this error raised in his Own Party wholly of his judgment but in this particular in which Zwinglius and the Helvetian Church did oppose him And if this be not enough to wash him clean from the imputation of Self-ends and Covetousnesse the Proverb used in Germany may That Poore Luther made many rich As he was protected from a number of apparent mischiefs so the same had freed him from many hidden in respect of the eyes of the world it being impossible that he who had gall'd so many Grandees should not have Revenge laid in wait for him in every corner Experience proving that Kings themselves can scarce whisper against the Court of Rome but the Knife is ready to give them a finall Answer His Death was with as little Molestation as his Life was full For being call'd to the County of Mansfield the place of his birth to determine a Case in controversy between two Princes of that Family he died there in the sixty third year of his Age Had the Apostles nay our Saviour himselfe been alive and maintained what Luther did they had been persecuted by the Clergie Therefore the Crucifying of Christ is no prodigy in Nature but daily practis'd among men For he that can find the heart to stigmatize and whip his Brother for an Error meerely in Judgment would never have spared Peter or Paul coming with no more visible Authority then they had But this is not the way to suppresse an Heresy since most are jealous of that opinion which useth the Sword for her Defence Truth having been long since determined to be most strong And where Oppression is there for the most part she is supposed to be This shews as little Discretion as Charity in such as persecute those that may be in the Right or if not shall by this means be kept the longer in the Wrong If a Horse starts the more he is beaten the harder he is kept in the way but let him stand have leisure to consider what he blanched at he will perceive it is a Block so go on Yet it is neither cruelty nor imprudēce to restrain such furious Spirits as they do Dogs that will bawl fly at all they do not know But I should be utterly against burning their Books in publick if they have once gained the light which onely adds to their price saves them a labour because if the State did not put them in credit by their notice they would perhaps after a while for shame burn them themselves The Whip reforms not so much as he that endures it but is taken as a triumph by the Faction increasing their animosity if not their number So that in effect it proves a punishment to none but the honest and tender-hearted of the people who cannot choose but be scandalized to see the Image of God defaced by cutting Eaves and slitting Noses c. And this raiseth a strong suspition that the Hand of Justice would not lie so heavy onely on the preciser fide but that something inclines it that may at last turne to the subversion of the most moderate part The Dutch though they tolerate all Religions Tenents yet none increased to their prejudice till they strove to suppresse the Arminians who are in tast as like the Papists as Scallions are to Onions all the difference is that the latter is the stronger Yet since they have let them alone this Opinion is observed to be lesse numerously attended Had the Pope seasonably reformed the Error Luther discovered so apparently in the publication of Indulgences and rewarded him a Bishoprick for his Learning and Zeale let him afterwards have said what he pleased it would have been looked upon by the people as of no credit who like nothing so well as what goeth crosse to the grain of Authority The Lord Treasurer Cecil having been unsufferably abused by Libels sent for the Poet and after he had ratled him soundly began to take notice of the poor fellowes good parts saying It might be vexatious poverty compelled him to make use of false though common Rumours given out by such as hated all in Authority To ease which he gave him 20 pieces promising to take the first opportunity to advance him This favour most contrary to his expectation who would willingly have given one ear to have saved the other did so worke with him and the rest of the Pasquillers of the time that till the Treasurers death none used the like Invectives Bancroft Archbishop of Canterbury used the like demeanour towards some Gentlemen that had laid the imputation of Sodomy to his Charge c. Clemency seldome causeth repentance in an established Kingdome or if it proves a fault it is easily mended Whereas Cruelty can never be recalled raising a far greater Party out of a thirst of Revenge than ever yet could be mustred up from the hope of Impunity Therefore to conclude since Luther alone had the power to do so much let us not be thus severe against others that having their zeal kindled though perhaps at the wrong end run madding through the world but rather pity them if they be in an errour Because they something resemble the first Messengers of Truth FINIS
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
able to correspond for a greater summe than the follies of a single person can possibly consume unlesse attached by the bottomlesse humour of Play which a prudent Prince cannot choose but look upon as farre below the dignity of his person it being impossible for him either to win or lose but at the prejudice of his Courtiers or Subjects 69. Here is no medium between the Anger of the Sultan Death A great man flea'd out of Office being rarely or never permitted to mingle among the people who are easily suborned out of pitty to believe such persecuted for their sakes Therefore Discontent is not suffered to live the Power being as severely punished as the Will to do Mischief This makes the Grandees to carry their bodies swimming between Popularity and an Epidemicall Dislike since though the first be the most certain messenger of Death yet the latter doth not seldom bring the same errand For such as by Taxes or perverting of Justice though by the Emperors command are found abusers of the people die some cruell death to give the more publick satisfaction whereas those who fall under his Jealousie in relation to his particular safety leave the world by a lesse painfull Exit which may breed an opinion in the Multitude That their Prince is only cruell on their behalf and at the worst but severe in his own Here the vanity of Court Minions is manifest who like Beasts for Sacrifice are crowned and honoured till their Masters sinnes require their blood to set him right in the opinion of the people in the fury of whom lies all the Hell the Religion of most Princes teacheth them to apprehend 70. THe Priests scrue up to the height of Miracles all unusuall Contingencies which make not a few in such a Mass of Events neither is their Report wanting to augment them And these are still hanged before the eyes of the People either to terrify or allure them as it suits with the present humour of State And thus the Popish Legend came to be gilded by so many miraculous effects of Saints and their Reliques which after all contradiction was buried appear'd to the world under no lesse then a cloud of witnesses Being capable of no stronger confutation than what they receive from a present incapacity of doing the like Now if the Turks have been too numerous in their election or hyperbolical in the predication of these pious or rather usefull deceits the error is committed after the example of the Court of Rome the most exact Copy for Policy the world affords Nor is there place left for blame in relation to either since what was obtruded upon the Catholicks heretofore suited as well the apprehensions of those times as these do now the Turks Therefore the Imprudence lies not in the folly of the Miracles but theirs who suffered such a criticall Learning to blaze out as pretends matter of Reproof in all things extant Knowledg being as great an enemy to our present felicity as it was to that in Paradise So as Rome is forced at this day to let Miracles fall out of fear to finde her self detected by the now-supernumerany issue of tatling Apollo which out of too much Wit or too little Faith make an over-strict scrutiny into their Truth hanging like Locusts and croaking like Frogs about all things that seem green or rotten in the Church Nor will they fall off till their mouths be stopped by Preferment or their heads satisfied with Reason Yet had she but enough of the first it might suffice to purchase a competent proportion of the latter or at worst so much Sophistry as might serve her turn But the ancient Piety being blended in Luxury her Revenue in a great proportion swallowed up by the covetousnesse of Princes the Pope Clergie hold the Remainder by no better Tenure than by rendering themselves necessary to the ambition of Monarchs especially that of Spaine Republiques being naturally not so auspicious to the Priesthood Neverthelesse lest the Catholick King should attain to an absolute power in Christendome under which his Holinesse would be totally ecclipsed his principall endeavour has been to foment a difference still between him and France and so by their banding to keep himself up in play Shifts the Church was never put to during the Golden Age of Ignorance when Learning and all Books lay at her mercy so as shee had power to cut them shorter or extend their sence as best fitted the occasion The Laity being so perplexed between the hope of Heaven and feare of Hell that the dark entry of Death gave the Priests as opportune a way to become their Executors as the bloody night of the Passeover did the Jewes to rob the Egyptians But now in the absence of the ancient Piety and Ignorance the Church of Rome hath no better way to keep Reason from breaking in upon her who like a Woolfe hath this last Century lain gnawing at the Pope's Honour and Profit than by sacrificing more men yeerly to the fury of the Inquisition than Solomon did Beasts at the dedication of the Temple An Impiety not chargable upon the Turk who kills none for the profession of any Religion though never so contrary to his own leaving God to avenge his Truth which no question he would not be long in doing were he so angry with the opposite Tenents as they in their furious Sermons are pleased to represent him 71. The Turk finding Printing and Learning the chief fomentors of Livisions in Christendome hath hitherto kept them out of his Territories Yet whilst wet tire out our best time in tugging at the hard Text of a dry Book or the study of strange Languages which are but the Bindings of Learning and do often cover lesse Knowledge than may be had in our own Ideom they come more adapted into State-employments and sooner furnished with clearer Reason drawn from the quicker Fountains of lesse-erring Experience And were never yet found to be out-reached in Prudence by the most politick and learned Princes in Europe Nor can any think this strange that considers what the custome of Universities requires at the hands of Students viz. knowledge in the Arts so called and a nimble mouthing of canting Termes coyned by themselves and so current in the commerce of no larger Understandings than their own such as are sworn to the same Principles The vanity of which is in nothing more apparent than in this that they can easier start ten Errors than kill one as is manifest in the differences between us and Rome concerning which though in right reason we do and cannot but agree in many things yet the heat and rancour of the dispute is no whit abated 72. All Sciences any wayes resembling those we call Liberall are taught no where but in the Seraglio where the Grand Segnior hath the power to increase or diminish the number of their Professors according as it suits his occasions Able men resembling wanton Boyes that rather than
Which makes Oaths among States-men upon a true survey to signifie nothing at best more danger than profit Binding onely such as in relation to Impotency or Honesty stand in least need And becoming like Juglers Knots no waies astrictive to the more Potent who are ever able to elude them by slights or break them by power Now since Italy for whose Meridian he calculated his Advise's consists for the most part of weak pieces it shewes him more excusable if not commendable in fitting them so accurately to their practice and conveniency And till all Kings agree which is never to be expected to keep their Stipulations and Covenants you cannot thinke it reasonable that a Subject to the Duke of Florence should have advised his Patron to begin so contrary to the examples of those times as it was knowne the Pope did then contract an Amity with the Grand Seignior which in Charity may bee thought he meant not to observe though for his sake he suffered himselfe to be hired to poyson his Brother fled into Christendome for feare of tasting the fate of the rest after his Father's death and might have been of great advantage to any other that had designed to abate the Ottoman Empire Now after the breach of Faith so contrary to the promise made to this poor Infidel at his being put into his hands and his Holinesse's owne interest in case the Tunke had envaded Europe it cannot be more passion than discretion to condemne Machiavel for his seasonable Advice in relation to the Oaths of Princes After all this he saw Charles the French King dose Italy with the like facility he had gained it all the advantages he might have made being snatched from between his legs by the Catholick King And the Pope and his Son by mistake poysoned with the same Bottle of Wine prepared by themselves for others by which the Father was taken away presently but the Son fortified with Youth and Antidotes had leisure to live and see what he had gotten torn out of his possession and himselfe forced to fly to his Father-in-law the King of Navarre in whose service he was murder'd It were heartily to be wished that unlawfull practises were onely vendible in Italy and not the traffick of all the Courts in the known world where the marks the Text hath set upon Jeroboam who according to the Dialect of England for I finde it not so elsewhere may be styled The Machiavel of the Jewes cannot scare Princes out of the same path For what King hath failed to set up altars at Bethel and Dan when their power is in danger by the peoples going to Jerusalem When Saul was but a Subject he sought to the Prophet for his Fathers Asses but after his assumption to the Throne a Witch is consulted about the successe of a Battell Christ saith Not many great c. are called Men's out-sides at Court are soft but their hearts within seared and hard Pride is the roote of all Evill which Princes do not onely foster in themselves but water by preferments in all others they find able to promote the ends of it whose effects cannot be comprized in a narrower circle than the whole Masse of Impieties Ambition is able to commit That prompted Phocas to kill his Master the Emperour Caesar to ruine the most glorious Republique ever the Sun saw It teacheth Children to pull undecently the Crownes from their Fathers Heads it is this that fills Hell with Soules Heaven with Complaints and the Earth with Bloud It made Charles the fifth to arme himselfe against him be believed if he believed any thing to be the Vicar of our Saviour and would have led him in triumph with Francis the French King made his Prisoner the same yeare by a like fate of War Neither did Philip the second do lesse then mingle the blood of his then onely Son Charles with the great quantity he spilt upon the face of Europe yet his thirst unsatisfied he set a new world abroach in America which he let run till it was as empty of people as himselfe of Pitty Are not the Heads of Nations presented by Historians like that of the Baptist in Chargers of blood Nay what are Chronicles lesse than Registers of Murders projects to bring thē about to the best advantage of ambitious Pretenders Yet none are so severely blamed that writ thē I would not be so far mistaken as to be thought to apologize for tyrannicall Principles and practices knowing they render both Doers and Sufferers miserable my aim being onely to prove that if Machiavell stood legally indicted he could not be condemned by those at the Helme in any State who in all ages were his Peeres could not therefore in equity take up a stone against him Bad advice without Execution hurts onely the Giver Besides I cannot believe the generality of those that cry out upon him in publique ever saw or read his Writings but take their Clamour upon trust as they do against Julian stiled the Apostate how truly I leave to such as are better able to judge than thousands of men so impudent as to extend incomparable Wits upon the erring Rack of Common Fame in imitation of their ignorant ' Ancestors who looked upon Mathematitians as Conjurers though Wisdome hath justified these her Children so farre as to informe the world that no Learning is a greater enemy to Falshood then theirs Yet Machiavell is so modest as to ask Who had not rather be Titus then Nero But to him that will be a Tyrant he proposeth a way least prejudiciall to his temporall Estate As if he should say Thou art already at defiance with Heaven therefore to preserve thee in an earthly power no mean is left but to be perfectly wicked a task not higherto performed no not by the worst of Usurpers it being as far beyond example that any Tyrant hath done all the mischiefe requisite to his own and Childrens safety as that the best of Kings have in any age put in execution all the good Now of the first he proposeth Caesar Borgia for the most absolute pattern who used all Artifices to removeevery impediment standing between him and his desires but his owne being sick at the time of his Fathe'rs death which perplexed his affaires so as he could not bring in a Pope of his owne Faction for want of which his so well-built Designes as he fondly supposed fell to the ground as most of their do that prosecute Empires by oblique meanes into whose lap Divine Justice not seldome throwes Destruction or some louder Discontents that over-vote the pleasure Ambition takes in the accomplishment of her ends But since it is sometime the will of God for Reasons best knowne to himselfe to give a happy successe to bad meanes wisely contrived why should this Florentine be so bitterly inveyed against who cannot be denyed but to have had at least as vertuous Principles for a Member of the Roman Church as Alexander the