intercession or by his power that the Edicts made for our subsistance might be obserued and that the promise which was giuen vs wherein his also was ingaged for our libertie might not be violated and that my brother by his presence and his continuall solicitations had greatly aduanced it Almighty God hath giuen me the grace to bring it to perfection by the imployment of Monsieur de S. Blancard For the King of Great Britaine moued with a feruent zeale for the defence of the Christian faith and with an incessant desire to see the Church of God out of oppression throughout all parts of the earth there being no place where since the small time that God hath called him to the conduct of his Kingdomes that this affection hath not borne his courage and imployed his forces hath imbraced this Cause with great vigour not moued thereunto out of any ambitious desire to intrude vpon others but onely out of the compassion which hee hath of our miseries and the displeasure to see his interuention with so great indignity contemned so farre forth as that they will make it serue for the oppression of those whom he desired to releeue and thereby to adde vnto his Crowne that rich flowre of honour to bee the deliuerer of the Churches of this Kingdome which by their faith and constancie euen in the persecutions haue made themselues to be celebrate throughout the world Moreouer hee hath let vs know that to bee his onely designe to the which hee protesteth to betake himselfe with so great firmnesse as it hath beene religiously confirmed vnto me by men of quality which hee hath done mee the honour to send vnto mee that hee would neuer let goe his hold vntill such time as that it should plainely appeare vnto him that by an intire assurance he hath atchieued vs a firme repose and a solid contentment requiring of vs nothing else but that which the Churches which are in the estate of resistance I should doe my duety not onely to approue the request which the said Seignieur de S. Blancard had made vnto him in my behalfe in the name of our Churches but also to ioyne our selues vnto his armes and not to deport our selues from the generall end for the respect of any particular accommodation and ioyntly with him to obtaine a good firme and assured peace which shall restore vnto all our Churches at the least part of the prosperity from the which they are fallen And this is the cause wherefore in the name of God I doe summon those which haue any remainder of ancient zeale in their hearts and which hitherto haue sighed in attending who should come from any part for the deliuerance of the Church of God and which haue alwayes protested that when they should see any assured grounds of resistance or of subsistance they would make it appeare that they had no lesse affection then the rest for the consolation of so many poore persecuted flocks nor show no lesse resolution to sacrifice all they haue to so holy and so glorious an enterprise Therefore the Cause now in hand cannot be said to be vniust for there was neuer any more needfull nor the resolution to enter thereinto rash hauing for our protector a Prince so religious so faithfull so neare a neighbour and so powerfull neither is the designe impatient in regard that for the space of a whole yeare wee haue to small purpose expected to see the persecution to cease and the promised things to bee obserued nor the execution of this designe criminall forasmuch as wee haue no other end but the restitution of the Churches by the means heretofore vsed by our Fathers fauoured of God and authorised by naturall and politicke right As for mee I should for euer feele my conscience charged before God and mine honour defaced among men if hauing seene so many oppressions vpon the Church for the which the Sonne of God hath shed his blood and indured death I should not seeke with all my power and meanes to ease it and seeing so great a day of deliuerance to offer it selfe vnto mee if I should not follow and embrace so opportune a fauour which wee may iustly say to bee sent vs from aboue and if I had either through consideration or through delayes of slothfulnesse diuerted so great a blessing and refused an occasion so aduantagious to draw vs from the shame and miserie wherein wee are confessing freely that I can no longer liue among so many publike calamities no more then I can suruiue after the full dissipation of the Church wherewith wee see our selues so nearely threatned also I beleeue that all those which hitherto God hath preserued by so many of his powerfull maruailes will not bee slacke to so laudable a worke and I haue too good an opinion of the courage and zeale of euery one to thinke that they would withdraw themselues through impiety or to destroy it through perfidiousnesse And I assure my selfe that time shall make all men to see that I haue not beene moued to this enterprise out of any desire to make my selfe great or to make any profit of the publike ruine For at the same time I see my selfe engaged to trauailes disturbations and continuall watchings to bee incessantly stirred with gree es and exposed to manifest dangers my familie is constrained to seeke by a voluntarie banishment among strangers the repose which it cannot finde with me and as my expences increase my reuenewes doe diminish But my conscience doth so presse mee in this Cause that although I should bee abandoned of all and left alone which I thinke will neuer be I am resolued to pursue it vntill the last drop of my blood and to the last breath of my life and though I should goe begge my bread among strange nations God will giue mee the grace to iustifie vnto the world that I neuer had other intent then to sacrifice mine estate my rest and my life and to lay downe all my particular interests for the deliuerance of the Church without hauing any thought which shall tend to the reuolting from the obedience and fidelity whereunto nature and conscience doth binde nice to the King my Soueraigne Lord. And in this case if that were all I doe offer that if the Church might bee re-established in her first prosperity voluntarily to exile my selfe from this Kingdome and to passe the rest of my life among strangers as a priuate man and to renounce all honour and worldly aduantage and to depriue my selfe of the good and repose which I should procure for others to meditate by my selfe and to celebrate with continuall praises the fauour which God should shew mee to see yet once againe his poore people out of anguish and bondage and to haue gotten so great honour to haue made my selfe the instrument of their deliuerance FINIS
A DECLARATION OF THE DVKE OF ROHAN Peere of France c. CONTAINING THE iustnes of Reasons and Motiues which haue obliged him to implore the Assistance of the King of Great Britaine and to take armes for the defence of the Reformed Churches Translated according to the French Copie LONDON Printed for Nathanael Butter 1628. A DECLARATION of the Duke of ROHAN Peere of France c. Containing the iustnesse of reasons and motiues which haue obliged him to implore the assistance of the King of Great Britaine to take armes for the defence of the Reformed Churches I Might content my selfe to oppose the sinceritie of all mine actions against the blame which ignorant or malicious persons will vndertake to poure vpon mine innocencie and vpon the necessitie of my resolution It might satisfie me if I had no regard but to my selfe to indeauour to doe better and to leaue enuy and slander for a chastisement to the calumniators the equitable iudgement of good people is to me in stead of an honourable recompence and will alwayes giue mee more satisfaction then the blame of wicked people is able to doe me displeasure But for as much as at the ouerture of so great and extraordinarie things which happen among men euery one discourseth according to his fantasie and oft-times euill interpretations doe surmount aboue the most sound opinions and that aboue all silence is taken for a confession of the fact and that Spirits which are facile and easie to be perswaded if they bee not instructed in the truth doe readily suffer themselues to bee surprized and drawne to error from whence commeth such diuersitie of speech among vs and the deuision of hearts torne by contrarie apprehensions alwayes accompanied with weaknesse and followed with ruine and that the comming of strangers into the Kingdome which men beleeue and I doe not deny it to haue beene procured by the care of my brother and my selfe shall bee for a long time the subiect of all the good or of all the euill which shall be discoursed of either within or without this Kingdom I haue thought it my duty to put to light this small Discourse to iustifie this action to all the world to make it appeare euen vnto our enemies that it is grounded vpon an euident right and to our friends that wee haue beene thereunto constrained by the most powerfull lawes of necessity It is well knowne to all men by what reasons I was bound to conclude the peace in the treatie before Montpellier wherein I had thought all at once to procure deliuerance and respiration to the Church of God to my King the honour and glorie which hee could desire and peace and repose to the whole State which was thereunto so absolutely necessarie to arest the progresse of the King of Spaine who outragiously spurned with his feete the best and most faithfull Allies of this Crowne that hee might the better come with greater facility to the end of this Monarchie after the which hee hath long gaped and the more easily to attaine this peace wee haue yeelded our selues with a full confidence into his Maiesties hands that we might be indebted for our deliuerance next after God to his onely goodnesse hauing for a precious gage of our reestablishment and preseruation his sacred word I was perswaded thereunto besides the reasons aboue mentioned by the Letters of the King of Great Brittaine and of eminent men amongst vs which did giue testimonie to haue yet much zeale for the Church But I know not through what Councell the word which his Maiestie confirmed vnto me all the time till hee came to Lyons and afterwards by many letters was found so suddenly altered the publike faith violated and all our deere and most necessary liberties oppressed For in stead of re-establishing according to the Acts and Conditions of the Peace of Mountpelier in its first estate the Magistracy is changed and parted in two by violence a Citadell built as a publike monument erected to condemne or to kill our Conscience and a Garrison of foure thousand men maintained within the Towne to the insupportible vexation of all the Inhabitants In stead of demolishing the Fort of Rochell according to the same promises specified in his Maiesties acts they haue augmented and fortifyed it with all things necessary for a long and perpetuall establishment and from the same doe plot many enterprises against the Towne which being discouered were authorised not onely by impunitie but euen by recompences giuen to the vndertakers The exercise of our religion is not reestablished in the places from whence it was expelled during the warre but even during the peace many other Churches are intangled in the same persecution diuers Pastors imprisoned Edicts and Declarations made against the libertie of discipline as it appeareth by the presence of Commissaries in the Ecclesiasticall Assemblies And in hatred of the Religion many places are spoyled and razed in time of peace as Caumont Castillon Pont-Orson and others The Chamber of the Edict a Court of Iustice for those of both Religions within the Towne of Castres is not reestablished as it was promised but is transferred to Beziers a seditious towne and of a contrary religion They torture torment and send to the Gallies men that are innocent and of reputation vpon vngrounded suspitions and inuented accusations They diuide our Magistrates by a decree as at Pamies they confiscate the greatest part of our goods vnder title of reprisals To conclude they doe all things otherwise then was promised by the treatie I made vnto the King most humble and reiterate remonstrances by letters and deputation but in the end they were offended with my complaints and imputed them as a crime the King by an expresse letter imposed Silence vpon mee and prohibited mee any more to releeue the interest of our Churches and proceeded so farre as to offer commissions to certaine neighbour Gentlemen of that place of my retreate with great promises to seize vpon my person either aliue or dead and for prooues of that they haue lately sent one to murther me which narrowly missing of his purpose shooting of a Pistoll at me burnt my Ruffe and kild one which stood next behind mee hauing before divulged among those of our religion by men waged and payed to that end that I had sould the libertie of our Churches and had receiued the damnable reward of their last infalliable destruction And to couer vnto strangers of our religion the designe which they had for our perdition they publish in brute onely warre against the Spanyard the league with other Princes and States interessed whilst that vnderhand by the intermission of a Legat peace is treated with him and finally was concluded as the time did make it appeare leauing for a prey vnto him those which they had animated and armed out of those hopes whilst they prepared vessels and all equipage necessary to blocke vp Rochell The affayres were reduced to such tearmes that Mountpelier was
captiue Rochell vpon the point to bee the like all the Churches of this Kingdome threatned with bondage and for mine owne particular I was cruelly vlcered to see my selfe made so blacke with Calumnies as if I had by preuarication consented to the ruine and oppression of so many poore people the complaints whereof peirced my heart and made mee to feele a more insupportable dolour then all the rest of my sufferings Being pressed with such displeasures when all hopes of bettering our condition were taken away and that by expresse letters they gaue vs to vnderstand that the desire of changing our condition or to require it should bee for the time to come the greatest and the most vnpardonable of all our crimes and that if it wee not preuented by some bold and prompt resolution Rochell would be lost my brother protected the enterprise of Blauet from whence insued the precedent warre with such successe as is knowne to all men and which notwithstanding by the prouidence of Almighty God finished with greater aduantage for our Churches then wee should haue hoped for In regard that the King finding it conuenient that the peace should be cōcluded through the interuention of the Ambassadors of England who by vertue of their cōmissions bound their Master to the inuiolable obseruation of the treatie and that by writings and an authenticall act by them signed and sealed with their seales of Armes which were in their behalfe sent vnto vs by Monsieur de Montmartin at the time when I had conuocated the Assembly at Nismes for the acceptation of the peace in two Originals whereof the one is at Rochell and the other with me which containe in expresse tearmes as followeth That they giue vs such assurance that the King of great Britaine will labour by his intercessions ioyned to our most humble supplications to abridge the time for the demolishing of the Fort Lewis for the which they as Ambassadours gaue vs all such Royall words and promises as we could desire And the said Monsieur de Montmartin did assure mee from him in that behalfe that they being returned into England would cause to bee deliuered vnto my brother another Act signed with the Kings owne hand which should containe in expresse termes viz. That if the King should refuse or too long deferre the razing of the said Fort and the intire obseruation of the treaty of the peace the said King of Great Britaine would employ all the forces which God hath giuen him to maintaine his word and to make vs fully to inioy those things which haue beene promised by the answers and declarations of his Maiestie and by the act of the interuention of his Ambassadors Which gaue vs hope that either the conditions of this peace should be more exactly obserued then those of the former or in case of new oppressions we should haue for our warrant to sustaine vs him who made himselfe the Mediator of the treaty interpreter of words giuen and pledges for the inuiolable obseruation thereof But we haue beene so vnhappy that although it seemed vnto vs that this peace built vpon so weake foundations should continue many ages yet notwithstanding it was worse obserued then all those which haue beene violated with more licence and lesse consideration For after that the Kings Counsell had reuoked all promises which they had made to all strangers which are allied to the Crowne to signe and conclude the league against the Spanyard they made a shamefull peace with him and haue equally contemned all the the Edicts which were giuen vs to moue vs to lay downe the armes wee had then taken vp for our necessary defence For the Edict was not verified in the Parliaments but with modifications which destroyed them neither could we with all our suits euer obtaine to haue the said modification to bee read And in stead of razing the Fort of Rochell and to deliuer the gouernment thereof from souldierss according to the promises They haue on the contrary filled the Fort with new munitions giuen the keeping of it to a fauorite and multiplied the souldiers within the Isles They haue drawne and built mighty Forts to hold them in a perpetuall seruitude and to take frō Rochell all hope of liberty for the time to come they haue with impunity made enterprizes vpon the towne They would exile the Pastours which were affectionate to the conseruation thereof they haue filled the coast with shippes of warre and by land they haue hindered them frō gathering their fruits at Sea they haue arrested the ships which brought corne for their prouision They haue oppressed their merchandise with new subsidies and by this meanes doe spoile their commerce To conclude they haue made them vnder the name of peace to feele the hardest conditions which they might suffer during the calamity of the warre and for the height of all euil they maintaine within the inclosure of the walls Commissaries being armed with emiment authority who insolently doe labour to oppresse the rest of their liberties and to subuert all the foundations of their subsistance In the meane time the generality of our Churches hath not beene more fauourably vsed for the Commissaries who though they were alwayes promised neuer came within the prouinces for the execution of the Edict nor the exercise of our Religion was neuer re-established in the places where it was ordained by the declaration that it should be replanted by meanes whereof there are more then forty Churches of great importance destitute of this consolation Our Temples are by the same iniustice and violence alwaies detained from vs as they were before And euen since the peace in diuers places they haue committed new barbarous insolencies vpon this subiect among others the Cardinall of Sourdis and the Baron of Peraut all which remaine without reparation and without punishment And by an Edict of fresh date the 14. of Aprill in this yeare 1627. they tearme the liberty of our Religion a simple toleration vntill as they say that we be reunited vnder one Pastour that is to say the Pope to make vs know that wee deceiue our selues in beleeuing that the most iust liberties which haue beene granted vs should be perpetuall and inuiolable And in the same Declaration they doe intirely ouerturne all the discipline of our Churches for they doe absolutely interdict all the Pastours to make any politicke assemblies although they bee but onely for the liberty of our consciences and the assurance which is giuen vnto vs to maintaine them And by a like draught of the pen they blast all the Pastours which are not borne within the Kingdome taking away their liberty to come into the Ecclesiasticall assemblies Prouinciall or Nationall And they prohibit vs to giue or lend Pastours to strange Churches or Vniuersities or to receiue any from them without expresse permission from the King They command them that are without to returne without delay and yet notwithstanding they say that they may not re-enter into their
deliuered vnto me And the oathes which I haue taken in all our assemblies doe bind mee neuer to abandon this cause and to imploy all the power vnderstanding and meanes which God hath giuen me for the preseruation and subsistence of our Churches both in generall and in particular and to imploy therein whatsoeuer is most deare vnto me In such sort that I should now hold my selfe periured and a forsaker of this so holy and so iust a Cause if I should not by all my trauailes and meanes procure the deliuerance of so many poore persecuted Churches the ordinary complaints and sighes whereof doe interrupt my sleepe waken my conscience and binde me by so necessary a duty to all that I am able to doe for the easing of them I ioyne thereunto the strangers Caution whereof I haue spoken for in regard that all our Churches haue receiued it with ioy and consolation and haue blessed God that the peace was concluded in that manner they did not beleeue that it was a piece that should be knawne with wormes and rotten in a coffer But that it should be dearely kept as the authenticall gage of our safety and as necessity should binde vs to make it of value and force to our aduantage and to oppose the force of them which haue taken this Cause in hand against the violence of those which might hereafter iniustly oppresse vs and tread vnderfoot the promises which were giuen for our subsistance It may seeme of some that I should haue entred into communication with our Churches before I should h ue resolued for this negotiation and to call vpon the King of Great Brittaine for his promise But I doe not thinke that men of good vnderstanding can make so friuolous a scruple For among the common people euery one knoweth that there was no sufficient resolution for that I know that all men desired it but I saw no man to at durst attempt it and I felt my selfe bound in conscience and authorised by the right aforesaid and I saw that we could hope for no generall assembly and that all places among vs were filled with spies hired to discouer all good actions and to make them vnprofitable and I considered that to communicate so ticklish a thing to many would be to expose to the winde and to lose that hope which was yet left vs for our re-establishment which is the cause that I chose rather to hazard my selfe alone then to neglect the interest of our Churches or to expose any of them to the persecution whererein such a proceeeding being discouered they would infallibly haue beene entangled for euer And to shew that in this negotiation I haue had no other proiect then may tend to the good of the Common-wealth I haue therein employed Monsieur de S. Blancard whose zeale to the Church of God hath beene knowne to all men whose integrity without reproch was free from all fraud and deceipt and who hath seasoned the courage which hee hath showne in all occasions with a singular prudence beyond the expectation of his age in such sort that I hauing made vse of a man that was so entirely for the publike good and which hath so often exposed his life for the preseruation of the liberties which yet remained vnto our Churches who so honourably ended his life in this quarrell that the memory of him shall be for euer a good odour I cannot be suspected to haue done this this negotiation for any particular ambition I will not heere stand to make answere to those which say that what euill soeuer is done vs wee ought not to repulse it by force notwithstanding any right or necessity that may seeme to authorise our defence but onely oppose thereunto a gentle patience and a firme resolution to martyrdome But I leaue the decision of this question to diuines and Lawyers and will onely content my selfe to say that such speeches in the mouthes of our enemies and of some of our owne are suggested by the passion which they haue for our destruction And it is an effect of the hire which they haue receiued or are made to hope for experience hauing taught vs to perceiue in many that it is the discourse of one that is hired and a forerunner of a declaration of an Apostacie For the first namely our enemies I finde not that strange that they endeauour to lulle vs asleepe that they may binde vs and put out our eyes and to impose the seruitude vpon vs which they haue proiected with lesse perill For they are taught by diuers proofes that our resistance making them to partake with vs of the feare and danger they cannot make an attempt vpon our liues without hazarding of their owne and it is safer and more easie for them to cut our throats in our beds or to bring vs out of prison to execution then to force vs in a breach or in a trench I only wonder at their impudency all the world knowing the small account which they make of superiour powers established by God what leagues they haue made not onely to preserue their owne Religion and liues but to constraine the Soueraigne to exterminate the others not to binde him to peace but to force him to an vniust and a barbarous warre against his most affectionate subiects and faithfull seruants so farre as to dispossesse him of his Throne and to protest that they cannot subiect themselues to a Prince which professeth a contrary Religion to theirs For those that are among vs I suppose that some speake out of weaknes and out of a desire which they haue to see the ancient zeale kindled among vs which they suppose will be extinguished by the license of armes But I doe imagine also that many are led thereunto by falshood and deceipt being people little disposed to doe what they say and whom an hundreth crownes would make to speake a very different language As for me hauing receiued the purity of Religion from my fathers I doe indeauour to imitate their zeale and to follow their example which praised bee Almighty God hath beene without reproach I know right well that this point hath beene resolued by excellent Theologians which bee it in piety be in doctrine those of this age doe not surpasse And I beleeue that when God will deliuer vs by humane meanes as oft times by them he hath restored the exteriour condition of his Church we should not oppose our selues against this worke but we ought to labour with the instruments of our deliuerance and to acknowledge in this aboue all the blessings of God powred vpon the Saints and vpon the generous labours of our ancestours that by their firme and bold resistance it hath pleased the Lord to procure libertie rest and prosperity to his Church Therefore the publike necessity being stronger then our patience which by little and little made it selfe guilty of our destruction we had our recourse to the King of Great Britaine to obtaine either by his