It is not only as having the Happiness to be Your subject, that I beg
Your permission to lay this Book at Your feet. In whatever part of the
world I had been born, or had resided, I should have desired to present
it to Your Majesty, as the Great Protector of the Reformed Religion, and
worthily filling that Throne, which, above any in _Europe_, is the chief
Bulwark against the Papal Power, and all its pernicious attendants. The
wonderful rise, and monstrous growth of that Power, almost to the ruin
of all true Religion, and all the Civil rights of mankind, will be
delineated in the course of this Work, which I flatter myself may be of
some Use to the Protestant Cause. For, next to the light of the Gospel,
there is nothing that Popery has more to fear, than that of historical
Truth: It is a test which the pretensions and doctrines of _Rome_ can
never abide; and therefore she has used her utmost endeavours, not only
to lock up the Gospel from the eyes of the Laity, and prefer her own
Comments, Decrees, and Traditions, to the authority of the Scriptures,
but to corrupt, disguise, and falsify History, in which necessary
business her ablest pens have been employed. To take off those
disguises, and discover those falsehoods, is consequently a task
becoming the zeal of a good Protestant; and my intention at least,
though not my performance encourages me to hope for Your Majesty’s
Gracious Protection.
In the latter part of this History I shall have often the pleasure to
shew, how great an Instrument under _GOD_ the Power and Strength of this
kingdom has been, to maintain and support the Reformation all over
_Europe_. But I must also shew with concern, that from the death of our
wise Queen _Elizabeth_, the Princes of the House of _Stuart_, instead of
pursuing that glorious Plan, which she had traced out, were either
remiss in the cause, or wholly forsook it; so that had not the
Revolution providentially happened, and in consequence of it, the House
of _Brunswick_ been called to the Throne of these kingdoms, the Reformed
Religion would, in all probability, have not only been lost in _Great
Britain_, or at least under a fate of severe persecution, but would have
been in great danger every-where else, from such a change in the Balance
of Power as that event must have produced. The support of Your Royal
Family is therefore most necessary, even upon motives of
self-preservation, to every Protestant both here and abroad. May a due
sense of that important connection between Your safety and Theirs, be
always kept alive in their minds. May our Holy Religion continue to
flourish under Your Majesty’s Care, and that of Your Royal Posterity, to
the latest times. May neither the open attacks, nor secret machinations
of _Rome_ prevail against it. And may it produce all the Fruits that
ought to spring from it, the truly-christian spirit of Toleration,
universal charity, good morals, good learning, freedom of thought, and
candour of mind. I need add no other wishes or prayers to these: They
comprehend all happiness to Your Majesty, to Your Royal Family, and to
my Country; and they come from the heart of,
_Sir_,
_Your Majesty’s_
_Most Loyal_,
_Most Faithful_,
_And most devoted Subject_,