Hutchinson -DA407 .H9 H7 1806

78 better of by their owne printetl papers, and Mr. Maye's history, which I find to be impartially true, so farre as he bath carried it on, saving some littl e mistakes in his owne indgement, and rnisinformations which some vaine people gave of the state, and more mdulgence to the king's gui lt then can iustly be allow'd. To take up my di scourse of Mr. Hutchinson where I left it, he was now come to his owne house at Owthorpe, about the time when the Irish massacre was acted, and finding humors begin to he ,·ery stirring, he applied himselfe 'to understand the things then in dispute, and read all the publick papers that came forth, betweenc the king and parliament, besides many other private treatises, both concerning the present and foregoing times. Hereby he became abundantly inform'd in his understanding, and convinc'd in conscience, of the righteousnesse of the parliament's cause, in poynt of civil! right; and though he was satisfied of the endeavours to reduce 'poperie, and subvert the true protestant religion, which indeed was apparent to every one that impartially consitlered it, yet he did not thinke that so cleare a ground of the warre, as the defence of the iust English liberties; ' and although he was clearly r Reduce, Latin rrducerr, to bring back, restore, revi ve. • This observ~tion clearly shews that lVIr. Hutchinson did not suffer his zeal for rel ig ion to run into funaticism, so as to mislead his judgment in political matters, and is in unison with a sen timent whi ch nppears in 'May's hi story, who, in pages 115, 116, and 117, shews by various facts nnd arguments, u that laws and liberties having been a so much violated by the king, if the parliament had not so far drawn religion also a into the ir cause, it might have sped better; that by doing it they frequently weak.. u ened their reasonin3, and assuredly lost a more cons iderable party of gentlemen "than they gained." Had he cont inued hi s history to the end he would probably ha\•e remarked that by thus forcing religion into their service, and making as it were a tool of it, they found it had two edges, and, as it well might, proved rather more destructive to them than their ad,•ersaries, as it serverl to disunite the parliament, to whose very existence umon was necessary .

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