538 THE STATE AND FATE OF
also did in instances innumerable. But since so many nations fell off from all dependence on him and subjection to him, by the light and profession of the protestant religion, there is a balance of power against him, and an awe upon him in his presumptions, lest he should be dealt withal by others in the like manner. Had these western parts of the world continued under a superstitious sense of a fealty and obedience in all things due to the pope, as they were before the Reformation, the king of France himself should not so easily have rejected his personal infallibility and jurisdiction' as he seems to have done. But he hath now no way left to avenge himself but assassina- tions; which at this time may prove of very evil consequence unto himself Wherefore, the princes of Europe, as well those by whom the protestant religion is not embraced, yea, is opposed and perse- cuted, as those by whom it is received, seem not so sensible of the benefit and advantage which doth accrue unto them all thereby; for from thence alone it is, with the interest and power which it hath obtained in the world, that they are freed in their minds and in their rule from as base a servitude and bondage as ever persons under their denomination were subject unto.
The common people, also, who yet continue in the communion of the papal church have received no small advantage by that effec- tual light which shines in the world from the principles of this reli- gion, even where it is not received; for, from the fear of the dis- coveries to be made by it, hath a curb been put upon the flagitious lives of the priests and friars, wherewith all places were defiled; shame, also, with necessity, having stirred them up to deliver them- selves in some measure from their old stupid ignorance. Many re- trenchments have been made, also, in some of the most gross parts of
' Louis XIV. had several disputes with the papal court. The main ground of quarrel at this time was the determination of Innocent XI. to insist upon his rights in the matter of the Kegale. This was a royal privilege, according to which, on the demi.se of a bishop in certain French sees, the king of France was entitled to collect and enjoy the revenues, and to act in some respects as bishop, till a new bishop was appointed. It was the aim of Louis to extend this right to all sees in his dominions, but Innocent wovild suffer no abatement on the ancient prerogative of the church. A fierce contest ensued, in which pontifical epistles were met with royal mandates. Louis proceeded to induct into office bishops whose nomination the pope had refused to sanction, and, when the thtmders of the Vatican had been put in requisition to overawe him, sum- moned a convention of bishops in 1682, at which four propositions were adopted,^ — tlie first limiting the supremacy of the pope to spiritual matters ; the second representing, according to the council of Constance, the authority of the pope to be subordinate to a general council ; the third affirming the validity of the canons and usages of the Gal- ilean chm-ch ; and the last ?naintaiuing the assent of the church to be requisite, before the decision of the pope, even on matters of faith, could be received as valid. These propositions were registered in the Parliament of Paris, and ordained to be read from year to year in the schools, and to be subscribed by all profes.sors in universities. New disputes arose in regard to certain immunities possessed by the French ambassador at Rome, and the pontificate of Innocent closed without any reconciliation being effected between tlic Eoinan sec and the French court. — Ed.
THE PKOTESTANT RELIGION. 539
idolatry, that were for many ages in general practice among them. And they are hereby, also, in some good measure, freed from the terror of evil spirits wherewith they were continually haunted; for before the Reformation, possessions, apparitions, sprites, ghosts, fiends, with silly miracles about them, filled all places, and were a great annoyance unto the common people. Somewhat there was, no doubt, of the juggling of priests in these things, and somewhat of the agency of the devil ; each of them making use of the other to further their own designs. But upon the first preaching of the gospel there was an abatement made of these things in all places; which hath gone on until they are everywhere grown the matter of scorn and contempt.
This religion being thus planted, and producing these effects, the house of Austria, in both the branches of it, the imperial and the regal, espoused the antichristian interest and quarrel against it ; and for eighty years or thereabouts endeavoured, by all ways of force and cruelty, its utter extirpation. What immense treasures of wealth they have spent and wasted, what an ocean of blood they have shed, both of their own subjects and others, in the pursuit of this design, cannot be well conceived. But what hath been the issue of all their undertakings to this end? They have so far broken themselves and their power in their obstinate pursuit of them, that those who not long since thought of nothing less than a universal monarchy, are forced to seek unto protest-ant states and nations to preserve them from immediate ruin. So vain, foolish, and fruitless, for the most part, are the deep counsels and projections of men, so destructive and ruin- ous unto themselves in the issue, when their desires and designs are enlarged beyond the bounds which right and equity have fixed unto them; especially will they be so when they are found fighting against God and his interest in the world. And if the same design be now pursued by another, it will in time come unto the same catastrophe.