The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

586 FAITH NOT TO BE KEPT WITPI HERETICS.with hereticswas constantly advocated by them, as well asby other advocates of Homanism in our country."*In mostof the southern German States the Protestant cause wasoverthrown by the same arts. In truth, this maxim ofRome, that faith is not to be kept when to keep it wouldtend to the advantage of Protestantism or the detriment ofPopery, kept Germany in the flames of war, with short intervals,for upwards of a century. The advantages whichthe Protestants had secured by their arms, and which theyhad compelled their enemies to ratify by solemn treaty,were perfidiously denied and infringed ; they were thusforced again and again to take up arms ; and the successivewars in which Europe was involved, and which occasionedso great an expenditure of blood and treasure, grew outIlome''s maxim, which in almost all these particular caseswas directly applied and enforced by pontifical authority,that such oaths and treaties " were from the very beginning,and for ever shall be, null and void ; and that no one isbound toobserve them, or any of them, even though theyhave been often ratified and confirmed by oath.^-f-But the guiltiest land and throne in Europe, in respect ofviolated oaths, is France. In point of perfidy, the house ofBourbon has far exceeded the ordinary measure, we do notsay of pagan governments, but of Boman Catholic governments.The kings of France were the eldest sons of the'Church, and bore most of the paternal likeness.ofEvery oneof their acts proclaimed them to be of their father the Pope,who was a liar from the beginning. Did the poor Huguenotsever trust them but to be betrayed by them ? Of thenumerous engagements intowhich they entered with theirProtestant subjects, was there one which they ever honestlyfulfilled ? What were these treaties, with their ample* Historical Sketch of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the Reformationin Poland, Ly Count Valerian Krasinski, preface, p. viii.t Letter of Clement XI. respecting tlie treaty of Alt Ilaustadt in 1707.The treaty was made by the Emperor with Charles XII. of Sweden, andcontained some clauses favourable to Protestants.