poorly ſtocked with ſaints and martyrs, which is forced to adopt ſuch enormous ſinners into her calendar, in order to ſwell the number.
But to unravel this myſtery of (nonſenſe as well as of) iniquity, which has already worked for a long time amongſt us; or, at leaſt, to give the moſt probable ſolution of it; it is to be remembered, that king Charles, this burleſque upon ſaintſhip and martyrdom, though ſo great an oppreſſor, was a true friend to the Church; ſo true a friend to her, that he was very well affected towards the Roman Catholics; and would, probably, have been very willing to unite Lambeth and Rome. This appears by his marrying a true daughter of that true mother of harlots; which he did with a diſpenſation from the Pope, that ſupreme BISHOP; to whom when he wrote he gave the title of MOST HOLY FATHER. His queen was extremely bigoted to all the follies and ſuperſtitions, and to the hierarchy, of Rome; and had a prodigious aſcendancy over him all his life. It was, in part, owing to this, that he (probably) abetted the maſſacre of the proteſtants in Ireland; that he aſſiſted in extirpating the French proteſtants at Rochelle; that he all along encouraged papiſt, and popiſhly effected clergymen, in preference to all other perſons, and that he upheld that monſter of wickedneſs, ARCH-BISHOP LAUD, and the biſhops of his ſtamp; in all their church-tyranny and diabolical cruelties. In return to his kindneſs and indulgence in which reſpects, they cauſed many of the
