admonishing us of our duty by these heavenly Voices who melodiously sung those holy Hymns which we were wont to sound forth in our Church which was then laid wast and destroyed I protest before God that these things are so as I have reported them and I am very glad to make known these truths for the Edification of all those that fear the Lord. In Testimony whereof I subscribe my self at Amsterdam September 4. 1686. V. Deformalagues I do maintain that a Testimony such as this though it were alone is capable of putting the spirit of incredulity to distress for what that is reasonable can be said against it It will be said this is the Testimony of a Woman but by being a Woman hath she renounced all Honor Shame and Conscience in the matter of Testimony She must have renounced all those things to attest with an Oath a matter of Fact with so many circumstances She is but a Woman but she is not a Woman that reports some Visions of the night or particular Revelations she is a Woman that reports things that happened in publick and whereof she hath for witnesses with her self many hundreds of persons Though she be a Woman it does not follow but she may be endued with good understanding now she must have lost all sense to advance such a falsity and to expose her self to be overwhelmed with shame as a maker of Fables to conclude she is a Woman but she speaks of a thing happened not above seven days ago if I may so say To conclude behold a Memorial of Monsieur de Brassalay a Gentleman of Honor and acknowledged such by all that know him Some days before the Interdiction of the Churches of Bearn there were many persons that heard the singing of Psalms in the Air in the City of Orthez The first that heard it was Lichigaray Brunier a Lawyer revolted some years since the most malignant of the Persecutors and who continually stirred up troubles to those of the Reformed Religion He rose from his Bed to go tell the Curate that there was an Assembly of people that sung Psalms without the City he also went to a Serjeant named Gowlan to conduct him to the place where he thought to surprize them but this Popish Serjeant having laid his Ear to the Window answered him there was nothing to be done for he well perceived the singing was in the Air. Afterward it was heard from time to time more than a month by divers persons sometimes at night and sometimes by day among others Lichagaray Canneille an Elder of the Church of Orthez protested and told me that sitting upon the bank of the River a thousand Paces from the City reading in a Book he heard a great singing of Psalms on that side the Church stands which is in the midst of the City and not doubting at all that is was an ordinary Assembly that were met together at Evening Prayers which was then very numerous because of the hazardous conjuncture and consisted at the least of two or three thousand souls he hasted to go thither and always heard a great singing of Psalms till he was entered into the City but having found the doors of the Church shut the Neighbours told him that it was not yet the hour of Prayer It is to no purpose to say they sung in some Cavern or Cave for there is nothing but Houses and the parts adjacent to Orthez are Vineyards Meadows and Fields it has been a long time since forbidden to sing Psalms in Houses and no body has dared to venture thereon and least of all would they think thereon in a time when they every hour feared the Interdiction of their Church and when they advised by all sorts of methods to defend themselves from it Moreover this Elder hath assured me that he never heard more lofty singing in the Church This he told me being in Bearne about sixteen months since in the presence of very many honest Men. After the Church of Orthez was razed to the ground this singing of Psalms was heard no more for some time but about the months of September and October last it was heard by most part of the people of Orthez and many others of the Country which tarried till night before they went home on market-Market-days those of the Suburbs as well as those of the City heard it every one in his Quarter ordinarily at the same hour viz. between eight and nine at night some heard the words others heard the Tune of the Psalms and there is not it may be a House in Orthez of which some one of the Family hath not heard it The said Lichiguray Bruneir went one night he and two others to that part where they heard this singing without the City and they all three heard the singing for a long time over their Heads the Tune of the 138. Psalm whereof they could not hear distinctly but these words Toward thy holy Temple I will look and worship thee and praised in my thankful mouth thy holy name shall be even for thy loving kindness sake and for thy truth withal for thou thy name hast by thy word advanced over all Du Faur a Physician and Magistrate of the City another Papist heard it divers times but their malice made them say they were Sorcerers and Devils A young Damosel of the Suburbs of Moncade which is near the Castle the ancient Habitation of the Lords of Bearn heard this singing being in her Bed she rose and caused more than fifty persons to go out who having heard it fell on their Knees and wept through the joy they conceived to hear so incomparable a Melody in the Air which continued more than half an hour And it must be known that it was in a place much raised above the City even as a very high Mountain and the people heard this singing over their Heads as if it had been in the Clouds I have heard an honest Man who was one of the Spectators make this relation who poured out Tears then when he spake of it the same thing I have heard from other places To conclude it is impossible to doubt of a truth which the far greatest part of the Inhabitants of Orthez are able to certifie The Parliament of Pau and the Intendent of Bearn have also given their Testimony thereto by a Decree which forbids Men to go hear these Psalms and to say they have heard it on the forfeiture of five hundred Crowns and by another Ordinance which forbids the same thing under the forfeiture of two thousand Crowns The Consuls of Orthez did publish these Ordinances in their City I do not as yet very well understand what can be opposed to the Testimony of Monsieur Brassalny Those that know him as we do know that he is not of a temper to impose upon any one nor to suffer himself to be imposed upon by any one whoever he be Those things which he reports are not hear-says at a great distance for
the Severity of Discipline which the Church granted at the request of the Martyrs At this day they call Indulgence the relaxation of the Justice of God which he grants as they suppose in considerations of the Merits and Sufferings of the Martyrs who suffered more than was necessary for themselves To conclude they have changed the Consideration and Respect which they had for the Intercessions of Confessors and Martyrs into Merits and Works of Supererogation The Church did retard the rigor of her Law against Sinners because of the esteem which she had for those that suffered for the Name of Jesus Christ At this day they grant Indulgences by the application of the Merit of those which have suffered too much either by involuntary Persecutions or by chosen and voluntary Mortifications But hear how the same S. Cyprian speaks very aptly concerning one of these Confessors named Lucian who carried himself too haughtily and desired too earnestly that they should have respect to his Letters of Intercession * Epist 34. The Lord Jesus Christ hath said that we must Baptize Nations in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and that all Sins past are forgiven in Baptism But this man that is to say the Confessor Lucian knowing neither the Law nor the Commandments commands that we give Peace and pardon Sins in the Name of S. Paul not considering that they are not the Martyrs who make the Gospel but that it is the Gospel which makes the Martyrs Therefore at that time they did not alledge the Threats of S. Paul S. Peter the Martyrs and Confessors as the reasons for which they granted Indulgences that is to say the relaxation of the Discipline of the Church In the same Age that is to say the third they will produce unto you the word Confession and the terms of being on their knees at the feet of their Priests And they will not fail to find for you there the Auricular Confession practised at this day but there is nothing more false For those which dazle your Eyes thereby do very well know that the Greek word which signifies Confession was not at that time any secret Confession But the whole Act or Actions of publick Penance were so called And if at that Age Penitents were seen at the feet of Papists this was not done in secret and in a place appointed for the receiving Confessions where they acknowledged all their Sins in the Ear of the Priest But in Churches and in publick that they might be admitted by Prayer and imposition of hands either to Penance or to the Peace of the Church It was so certainly a publick Action that the Pagans took occasion from thence to accuse the Christians of adoring the shameful parts of their Priests This Confession was made in publick with Sack-cloth Ashes and Tears begging the Prayers and Assistance of all Christians This may be seen fully explicated in the Ninth and Tenth Chapters of Tertullian's Book of Repentance A Point of Controversie Concerning the Vnity of the Church that it is not in the Church of Rome and that we are not departed from it WHen a City is besieged and assaulted of all sides those that have a desire to defend it would be every where at the same time but they cannot which is their trouble My Brethren we have the trouble at this day you are besieged you are attack'd at an hundred places they batter you by a thousand wicked Reasons we would be every where and defend you on all sides but whilst we endeavour to defend you on one side they deceive and ruine you on another The rash and bold adventure of the Bishop of Meaux who hath told you in his Pastoral Letter That from the Apostles days to his no alteration has happened in the Doctrine of the Church hath engaged us that we may confound him to make you perceive the essential Changes which have been introduced both in its Doctrine and Worship at least in the first five Ages to the end that from thence you may judg of all the rest But whilst we pursue this design which cannot presently be executed I understand that they seduce you by the Sophisms of the Church of its Unity Visibility and the horror of Schism And that which grieves us most is that by the Letters which come or are communicated to us we see that the most part of you who are willing at any rate whatsoever to be at ease and rest where they are do also endeavour to possess themselves of and obstinately to maintain these wicked Reasons and it may be that one of you will know himself in the following words All the World reasons concerning Religion agreeably to their own Light and Passions But the Questions which do most trouble and confound it are these 1. The positive separation which our Fathers made 'T is said that we ought to suffer without separating from the Communion of the Church that the Abuses introduced by Governors may not be imputed to Believers But the Scriptures that make mention of the Heresies that must arrive in the Church do not command Separation for the sake of them On the contrary they exhort us mutually to bear with one another they say that Wood Hay and Stubble may be built on that foundation which is Christ Jesus and that he alone will separate one from the other that the good Grain and the Chaff shall be separated at the last day but we must let them grow together till then Behold exactly the Religion 1. Of our revolted Ministers There has been sent unto us an Account of a Conference which Cheyron an Apostate Minister of the City of Nismes had with the famous Confessor called Mr. Matthew an Advocate of Duras who is in the Town of Constance at Aggues-Mortes that which this Wretch says is the same with what hath been written and you have read 2. 'T is also the Religion of all those which have any understanding or illuminations they cannot but see that the Church of Rome is extremely corrupt But the question is say they whether we ought to separate from it because of its Corruptions yea they say we ought to bear them and add further after all there is but one true Church and although it be corrupt it is nevertheless the Church and we must endure its Diseases and Imperfections The Poyson of this illusion is so eating and dangerous that we have reason to fear that it continues long upon your Minds it will penetrate into them and totally corrupt them and so whilst we are pursuing other Subjects your hearts will be poysoned by this mischievous Sophism in that manner and to that degree that you will never recover This is it which obliges us to return to the Bishop of Meaux's Letter sooner than we intended Nevertheless without forsaking the subject matter we are upon for we will endeavour to intermix things in such a manner that in every one of our following
the Woolf coming fled away and he alledging his own Exemple she said that she would not depart out of the State at least till the King commanded her and that she hoped that God would give her the Grace to surmount all and abide firm After that they had subverted all the Churches of that Country The Intendant Le Bret M. le Camus Bishop of Grenoble and at this time Cardinal the Marquess de la Trousse Commander of the Troops in Dauphine went to see her in her Castle du Monotier of Clermont they disputed against her they made Requests to her with Promise and Threats she defended her self vigorously against all their Attaques and in the end they left her Some days after they sent to take her away by the Dragoons to confine her in a Covent at Grenoble Seeing she was always the same they threatned to send her to Valence and to put her into the hands of Rapine she answered that she would go whether they pleased even to the Fire but not to the Mass In the end they executed one part of the said threatning upon her sending her to Valence but not to the Butchery of Rapine they put her into a Convent of the Religious with a prohibition to permit her to speak to any of them which they call the New Converts This Lady suffered her Removal and her Imprisonment in that Cloister with so much patience and sweetness that 't is said she abated the rage and fury of her Persecutors She entertained the Religious with so much Decency and spake to them such handsome things of our Religion that she won at first their Heart and almost perswaded them to be Christians The Intendant and the Bishop of Valence understanding that this Prisoner triumpht over her Goalers gave order that she should be fetcht from the Convent where she was put and be removed into another which was done and Madam de Bardonnanche behaved her self there after the same manner there she made also the same Progress upon the Spirits of her new Hostesses They took her also from that Convent and confined her in another in the same place with a Command not to speak to her nor to â—uffer her to speak to any body Since we have lâ—arnt by one of our Brethren well worthy of Credit who came lately from that Province that there hath been a new Order to remove her into another Convent at Vif a Town which is not above two leagues from Grenoble I could increase these Relations with divers Circumstances and with others like them as that of Monsieur de Sainct Cross the Son of a Counsellor of the Parliament of Grenoble who hath been at Pierre Size these five Months because he would not change that also if the three Pastors of Orange Mr. Chion Mr. Gondran Mr. Petit and Mr. Onet Pastor of Courteson near Orange who have long been kept in the Prisons of Valence and who are now at Pierre Size though they be not able to reproach them for having done any thing against the King in whose State they lived not and who testifie an admirable Constancy although very many did yield before their Eyes That of Monsieur de Beauregard Burgess of St. Anthony near to St. Marcelin in the same Province who after he had seen all his Goods devoured which were very great hath suffered the most cruel torments in his Body until they had hardened and shrunk up the Nerves of his Legs by the violence of the approaching Fire and had laid him upon a pile of wood saying unto him that he should be burnt alive in one word whom they had tormented till he lost his Reason who being at length set at liberty is happily retired out of the Kingdom into Switzerland That of Monsieur Delis a Gentleman of Trienes in Dauphine who chose rather to suffer Martyrdom and hath actually suffered it in the Month of January 1686 at Grenoble rather than change But of this enough for this time News from Nismes written June 17th 1687. EVery day they bring Prisoners from Lions into this City and once or twice in a Month they condemn to the Gallies those which had abjured and communicated and afterward were taken attempting to get out of the Kingdom As for them which neither have nor will abjure they condemn them to America The Prisons and the Tower of Vennatiere which is a kind of Prison are always full of these poor miserable Creatures They are very much relieved by those in this City which have done what they would never do it is not known why God has left them here without it be for the relief of those Confessors of Christ which would dye else by Famine in Prisons About eight days since they carried twenty one Persons some Women and some young Girls that were condemned to Marseille viz. nineteen for America and two for the Gallies on whom they bestowed great Charity Every Month we make a contribution for the General Hospital which is established in this City in the Church and in the Houses adjoyning which belong to the Consistory every one according to his Ability Since the eighth of May we have had the Regiment of Vivonne on which day they begun to work upon the Cittadel tho' that were ascension-Ascension-day and they take great pains therein They have enclosed from the form of Paulian unto the Wall of the City drawing a Line from the Tower of Corconne unto the Watch-Tower at the end of the Tennis-Court Two days since there was a Detachment of five Companies to go to Valeraube where there was a numerous Assembly in the Presence of the Priest of the place and before the Sermon the Priest would dispute with him that was to Preach and after that he would hear his Sermon We know not yet what was the issue of that Affair In this City whilst M. the Intendant was here they say there are Assemblies notwithstanding all the ill Treatment with which they have been continually exercised They say that the Daughters of Mr. Ducros and of Andemar are out of the hands of Rapine since their fall through their ill treatment But Mrs. Parelle persists with an incredible constancy When her cruel Hangman said to her Madam I am astonisht that you can suffer such Miseries She answered him again As for me I suffer nothing this is nothing Jesus Christ hath suffered much more for me Since the writing of this Letter we are informed of two faithful Persons which have suffered Martyrdom in the said City of Nismes the 26th of the last Month the name of the one is Mr. Manuel the other is called Iloque You shall have the History of their Martyrdom some other time We could also give you the News of our Brethren of Metz if this Pastoral Letter could contain the Copy of that which was written from that place In the mean time cease not to pour out your Prayers in the presence of the Great God for the Consolation of these afflicted Persons July
answered to all these people with firmness and an admirable presence of mind which touched them with admiration and compassion a sentiment which is not ordinary with persons of this Character when they are Persecuting true Christians They saw well that seeing the Monks were touched with his Discourses they might produce the same effect upon others for which reason they forbad all persons to see him A few days after they took him from the Prison of Alez to remove him to that of Nismes Those that had been hindred from seeing him when he was in Prison were willing to recompence the loss which they had sustained an incredible multitude of people of all Ages and Sexes pouring out tears followed him on the Road accompanying him with their Prayers and good wishes he returned them blessings and added vehement Exhortations to rise speedily from their fall and to glorifie God as he did by their Sufferings Whilst he was in Prison at Alez there were no ways imaginable which were not employed to oblige him to change his Religion The Ecclesiasticks served themselves of ways of Seduction the Judges with that of Authority They promised him not only impunity for what was past but all kinds of Favours and Advantages He equally resisted all and with the same courage surmounted these different temptations Whilst they carried him From the Prison of Alez to that of Nismes approaching the place of his Nativity and that where his Father and Kindred dwelt he felt some movings of his Bowels which made him fear lest that should be the place where he was to endure the strongest temptations through the softness and tenderness of nature He earnestly desired of the Judges that they would not let him see neither his Father nor his Relations Therefore he did not see them but was content to let them know that they might be assured of his stability of his constancy and perfect resignation to the will of God. They kept him but a few days in the Prison of Nismes the Monks and Ecclesiasticks of that City engaged him in new Combats but 't was with as little success as those that went before They had no intention to put him to death at Nismes because that City was full of Men of the Reformed Religion They feared either some emotion or at least that the beholding the Martyrdom of this young Man and his Constancy should waken the Conscience of a great many People who preserving the truth in their Heart hid it under the veil of Dissimulation They carried him therefore from Nismes to Beaucaire a Village where all the People are of the Roman Religion 'T was there his Process was to be made and he to receive the Crown of Martyâ—dom 'T was there also he was to sustain the most terrible Assaults The Intendent was present who began by Engines of Sweetness and Promises adding thereunto all that which is most terrible in death But to his Promises he answered I love not the world nor the things of the world I esteem all those advantages whereof you speak as dung I tread them under my feet Unto the threatnings of punishment he said My life is not at all dear to me if so be I may finish my course with joy and gain Jesus Christ whatsoever death is prepared for me it will be always glorious if I suffer it for God and for the same cause for the which my Saviour died An incredible company of other people came to see him in the Prison all to the same end and nothing was forgotten of all that which might soften the mind and weaken the firmness of his courage All these means being unsuccessful in conclusion the Intendent proceeded to his condemnation He appeared at the Bar when he was there the Intendent said to him Mr. Rey there is yet time for your preservation Yea my Lord answered he and for that reason I will employ the time that remains in endeavouring my salvation He replyed to him But you must change and you shall have life Yea saith he I must change but 't is to go from this miserable world and go to the Kingdom of Heaven where a happy life attends me which I shall speedily enjoy don 't promise me the present life I am intirely disengaged from it death is much more eligible If I had been afraid of death you had not seen me here God hath caused me to understand his truth and does me the honor to die for it Speak no more to me of the good things of the world they have no savour or taste with me for all the Treasures of the Earth I will not renounce that which I expect in Heaven When the Judges saw him thus firm and stedfast they gave over vexing him about his Religion and proceeded to make his Process He answered to all their Questions with a respect sweetness and moderation which melted all the Auditors When they were ready to pronounce his Sentence they solicited him anew to have pity on himself and not by an unhappy obstinacy sacrifice a Life which was given him to preserve I am no more says he in condition to advise about what I am to do I have made my choice here is no farther place for bargains I am ready to die if God hath so appointed it All the promises which can be made will never be able to shake me nor hinder me from rendering what I owe to my God. Therefore they read his Sentence by which he was condemned to be hanged and put to the Rack before he was led to the Gibbet He heard his Sentence read without any commotion and when it was ended he said They treat me more gently than they treated my Saviour in condemning me to so easie a death I had prepared my self to be broken on the wheel or be burnt And lifting up his eyes to Heaven he added I give thee thanks Lord of Heaven and Earth for all the Blessings that thou hast bestowed upon me I give thee thanks that thou hast found me worthy to suffer for thy Gospel and die for thee I give thee thanks also for that thou hast called me to suffer so easie a death after I had prepared my Heart to suffer the most cruel death for thee In execution of the Sentence he was put upon the Rack he suffered it without any complaint or one word of murmuring answering no other thing but that he had said all and had nothing more to answer And when he was taken from the Rack turning to the Judges he told them I have not suffered the pain which you would have made me suffer I believe that you have suffered more than I I have had no sense of pain I do profess before you 'T is an extraordinary effect of Grace for altho we should not give credit to those relations which tell us that the Rack was so violent that it was believed that he could not have made use of his Legs to go to execution it is nevertheless certain that
we first heard any speech concerning it and they told us that these Singings had been heard in Bearne the first Province whither the Dragoons were sent Behold our Witnesses every one will judge of what worth they are Monsieur Magendie Pastor of the Church of Orthez having been questioned concerning this Affair hath interrogated divers persons according as it appears by his Certificate I do declare that Monsieur de Bazin a younger Brother and an Inhabitant of Orthez in Bearne hath told me that walking with some of his Friends after mid-day near the City of Orthez he heard Voices which sung Psalms and as he imagined that it might be some Women that washed Linnen in a certain River which passed through Orthez he ran to them to demand of them whether it were they that sung they told him that it was not they and that they themselves for a long time had heard the same singing of Psalms This happened some months before the Interdiction of our Church The said Monsieur Bazin is a very honest Man very judicious and of great integrity 2. I add that Mademoiselle de Casenaue of Orthez said to persons worthy of credit that being not able to believe that which was said concerning this singing of Psalms a Woman said to her that if she had the curiosity to hear them sing she would come and take her at her own House at a time convenient which she did for this Woman being at eleven of the clock at night in the uttermost part of the City with multitudes of other persons to hear these Voices which sung in the Air the Praises of God having heard this singing of Psalms she ran to Mademoiselle de Casenaue who immediately gets out of her Bed causes one of her Neigbours to rise and they ran to that quarter of the City which was far removed from her House where they found multitudes of persons who were ravished with that pleasant Melody which they heard in the Air they themselves returned to their Houses with this great consolation to have heard those Psalms sung in the Air which they could no more sing in their Church which had been interdicted for some months past and they added that it seemed to them that they heard them sing after the same manner which they used to sing in their Church and that after the singing had ceased there was a Voice which spake but after a manner inarticulate and confused so that they could not distinguish what was said This Gentlewoman is very well worthy of Credit 3. I say moreover that an infinite number of the persons of Orthez do say that they have heard the singing of Psalms which they call the singing of Angels and that they exhorted each other on the day to be present in the night in certain places of the City to satisfie this holy Curiosity which was the reason that the Magistrates of Orthez published an Ordinance whereby they forbad all persons from going out of their Houses or assembling themselves by night for hearing these Voices which filled this poor afflicted people with joy and extraordinary consolation This is it which has been told me concerning this singing of Psalms to which In find no difficulty to give a full consent because the persons that have reported it are of great sincerity Given at Amsterdam Novemb. 23 1686. Signed Magendie heretofore Minister of Orthez in Bearne M. Garsin another Minister of the said Church of Orthez declares this which follows concerning the singing of Psalms which had been heard at Orthez for a long time I whose Name is underwritten heretofore Pastor of the Reformed Church of Orthez in Bearne do certifie to all those whom it may concern that my Brother-in-law De Roux a Lawyer told me that between the hours of eleven and twelve at night being on the back side of his House in the City of Orthez he heard a singing of Psalms above him and that a little after he heard the same singing come from a place at a greater distance After that he was fully convinced of the truth of this singing of Psalms so much discoursed of all the World over Moreover he thought that sometimes during the whole night when his Gout hindered him from sleeping that he heard the same singing after a manner less distinct and intelligible I am informed by Monsieur Clavier a Lawyer of the same City of Orthez that the Curate of the place and a certain Priest called Dufau and Monsieur Lichigarai another Lawyer as also a Brother of the Curate called Monsieur De la Roque sent to search out a certain Popish Damosel of Moncade to know of her if it were true that she had said that she had heard this singing of Psalms and that she told them yea And having demanded of her how she knew it was the singing of Psalms she told them it was because she had heard the same thing at such time as they sung in the Church of those of the Reformed Religion And having further asked her how she had heard the singing of Psalms in the Church she answered them she had been once there at a Baptism but that going to a certain Fountain she had often heard this singing as she passed by the Church at the hours of Preaching and Prayer After this Monsieur Clavier told me that the Curate and others strictly forbad her to say any more that she had heard the said singing of Psalms Given at Amsterdam September 23. 1686. Signed Garsin Minister I whose Name is underwritten certifie to all whom it may concern that in the year 1685 about the Month of August or September I heard in the Air the singing of Psalms with different Voices and very melodious and this at two several times the first time before the House of Poey where I was lying upon a Bank half asleep I was awakened by this singing of Psalms which continued almost half an hour Afterwards I went into the House of Monsieur du Poey a Merchant Draper with whom I wrought at that Employment Having told this to Mademoiselle du Poey and her Daughters they were much offended at me that I had not given them notice of it at the time I heard the said singing The second time I and many others about an hour after midnight having gone on purpose to a place most high and raised in the City near to Moncade named the Posterle I heard many Voices in the Air sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other withdrawing my self a little I found Mademoiselle des Pagnou Daughter of Monsieur Dombideau Merchant of Oleron Wife to Monsieur des Pagnou Merchant-Tanner accompanied with many other Women of the Neighborhood I asked them from whence they came They told me they came from the Bank of a River called Le Gaur which passes by the City near a Mill which they call the New Mill. I asked them if they had heard the singing of Psalms They answered me Yea. I asked them from what side they
it was known by themselves that he never ceased to praise God and to bless him that he died in and for the Defence of his Truth and Gospel his Soul was always raised towards Heaven his Discourses were full of Piety Disingagement from the World and of ardent Desires for the Kingdom of Heaven I have told you already that I do not believe that we ought to refuse the Glory of Martyrdom to those who through weakness made their Subscriptions Nevertheless without partaking in any Idolatrous Worship did afterwards recover and die between the fear of being sent to the Gallies if they returned to health and the horror of being dragged all naked upon a Hurdle after their Death This Fear and the Horror are true Punishments so that I reckon those Women which surmount the horror of nakedness to which their dead Bodies were to be exposed after death as dying in the midst of Torments for the Faith. Nothing makes a more violent impression on the Spirit of a modest Woman And all the World knows the History of the Christian Damosels which were cured of a certain melancholick Distemper which put them upon hanging themselves Nothing could give check to this rage In conclusion they thought it adviseable to draw some of them stark naked through the Streets in the view of the People The fear of being thus prostituted to the Eyes of Men staid others and hindered them from being their own Executioners Of this sort of Martyrs we have an infinite number For of all the new Converts which are dead in great numbers within a year past particularly in Poytou where by a just Judgment of God Death hath made such Spoils that great Parishes are intirely depopulated of all these new Converts I say there are not it may be one of an hundred which have given way to their Threatnings and permitted themselves to communicate after the Roman Manner Thus 't is also in Languedoc there have been Women which they have affrighted with this punishment But they answered courageously that what they threatened as an evil they desired as an advantage and that they would offer this shame which they prepared for them to their Saviour as an Expiation of their Crime This great Resignator has not at all mollified the rage of their Persecutors At Montpellier hath been seen the Body of a venerable Woman named Mademoiselle Cauquet Wife of M. Samuel Cauquet a Physician exposed all naked through the Streets besmearing the Pavement with her Blood and Entrails poured out thereon And when she was left at the Dunghil there came two Dragoons which caused their Horses to pass and repass over this poor body an hundred times But that which is most edifying is to know that during her Sickness the Answers that this holy Woman made to her Judges and which are mentioned in her process bear the marks of a profound humility and of an extraordinary goodness It may be they may be found one day in the Registers if the malice of the Devil does not cause those precious Monuments to be suppressed as they have almost intirely blotted out the Procedures against the ancient Waldenses to the end that the proofs of their Innocency might be all made void We have seen the Carcase of one named Peter Crousel the Son of a Merchant of Clermont of Lodeve dying a Confessor in the City of Montpellier dragged at a Horses Tail and a Prisoner taken from the same Prison where the Martyr died leading the Horse and a Hangman striking the Body of the living person more frequently than the Horse which dragged the dead The number of this kind of Martyrs being so great we cannot make a Catalogue of them without the assistance of those which are scattered in divers places in France and have been eye-witnesses thereof I will only report here two which are more particularly come to my knowledge and which have something peculiar in them because of the Quality of the Persons The first is M. Robert d' Ully Vicount d' Nouion of the Church of Couci in Picardy an old Gentleman of about eighty years of age who had been Master of Camp to a Regiment of Infantry and Governor of a place called La Motte au Bois all covered with Wounds and Scars that he had received in the Service of the King during forty years space and having yet a Bullet in his Knee which could not be taken thence This old Man was so weak as to make his Subscription as many others did but he had also the courage to retract it not only by word of mouth but also by a Writing signed with his own hand They caused a Hangman with a Hurdle to come before his door and told him he must be dragged M. de Novion told them that they should not tarry for him for he was ready to go to the place of Execution He arose from his Bed altho he had not been able to walk for many years the Provost being astonished at this constancy paid the Hangman and others for their Journey and sent them back This Gentleman a few days after was dragged from his House and put into a Convent of the Order of the Premonstrants where the Monks discharged themselves so well of the Commission that they killed him by harassing him without ceasing They made him lose his Voice many days before he lost his Life by speaking eagerly to him and he repelling them with vehemence He died continually thrusting them from him with his hand and lifting up his Hands and Eyes to Heaven when he was no longer able to lift his Voice thither As soon as he was dead the Monks caused his Body to be cast into a Dog's Kennel and gave notice thereof to the chief Magistrate of Couci he came and caused his Body without so much as a Shirt to be laid upon a Cart to carry it to that City A frightful Spectacle was there seen the Head of this poor Man hung out of the Cart all bloody All the Wounds that he had formerly received reopened all at once and became so many mouths which vomited Blood and demanded Vengeance that after so long Services they were so rewarded When the Body was arrived at Couci they cast it in this condition into the Sink of the Prison they caused his Bowels to be torn out by a Chirurgeon they threw them to Dogs upon the Walls of the City This Body lying in the dirt continued some weeks expecting that his Process would be made At the end of fifteen days Sentence was pronounced and executed the Carcase was drawn through all the Streets of the City and in conclusion thrown into the Ditch whither the Rabble went and pelted it with Stones till they left not one whole Bone and for fear lest any one should take him by night and bury him they set a Sentinel upon the Wall of the City for many nights together near the place where they had cast him And they added a Prohibition upon pain of death
that no Body should bury him so that there he is to be eaten of Dogs if it be not done already To this Martyr so famous in the Wars we will joyn M. Paul Cheneuix famous in the long Robe Dean of the Counsellors of the Parliament of Metts more than eighty years of age and who had sate upon the Flower de Luces from the 35 th year of his age This venerable old Man died about the end of November without ever having communicated begging pardon of God for his weakness confounding the Priests and the Bishop of Metts the Governor the Procurator of the King and the principal Members of Parliament which urged him vehemently by Threatnings lewd Reasonings and Argumentations When he was dead his Body was carried to the Prison in his own Coach and condemned by the chief Magistrate to be drawn upon a Hurdle The Parliament who had some horror to see the most ancient Member of their Body thus treated suspended the execution of the Sentence But an Order came from the Court to execute it and 't was done the 28th of the last month This venerable Body was stripped stark naked without the least covering for its shameful parts they dragged it with the utmost reproach all the Militia was put in Arms and the Hangman himself was armed The People at this Spectacle sent forth Cryes that pierced the Heavens and the Reformed of Metts did an Action of Courage which ought to be immortalized when the Body was on the Dunghil they took it thence and interred it honorably with a train of 400 persons they did the same to a little Coffin wherein they had inclosed his Bowels upon the Dunghil they sang Psalm 79.2 The bodies of thy saints most dear Abroad to birds they cast The flesh of them that do thee fear The beasts devour and waste A few days before they exercised the same cruelty in the same City of Metts upon the Body of a Man named Robert a Knacker a poor Man for his quality but whose Courage appeared heroical during a sickness of many days in which he rejected with very great constancy and stability all those temptations which without ceasing were offered to him I do not report this with intent to introduce horror upon your minds for inhumanities so prosecuted but to the end that you may learn that without doubt God has given the Crown of Martyrdom to Souls whose Bodies have suffered so many reproaches and to have opportunity to conjure you to despise the like outrages which are prepared for your Bodies provided you take care to put your Souls in a state of Security and in the way to Glory by a holy and serious Repentance December 15. 1686. The Ninth PASTORAL LETTER A Continuation of the Alterations happening in the Christian Church during the Third Age. Concerning Masses for the Dead the communicating of Infants the Real Presence and Transubstantiation Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Savior Jesus Christ WE told you in the last of our Letters that we should divide the third Age at least into three parts to the end that we may not charge your Memories with too many things at once we have found some Additions made to the Ceremonies of Baptism and some in those of the Sacrament of the Eucharist The most notable Additions are Offerings and Prayers for the dead which are added in the Liturgy which concerns the celebration of this Sacrament Look to this point there is a snare laid for you In the Extracts which your Converters make for you from the Fathers of the third Age they will shew you some Passages of Tertullian and Cyprian where they speak of Oblations for the dead of performing Sacrifice for the dead and of desiring refreshment for the dead And upon this they cry boldly and say Behold the Sacrifice of the Mass and Purgatory at the same time for this Sacrifice is that of the Mass these dead for which they pray are the Souls in Purgatory and this refreshment which they beg for them is the deliverance of Souls out of that Fire But these Men which instruct you are either ignorant Sots which never saw the Fathers unless in little Extracts or else they are Knaves which cheat and deceive you For behold the Truth pure and entire as it is So it is that in the beginning of the third Age or just at the end of the second they began to pray for the dead the most ancient Writer which speaks thereof is Tertullian a Priest of Carthage who died in the year 217. Secondly 't is to be observed that the Prayers in favour of whomsoever made and for whatsoever it was were put into the Liturgy of the Celebration of the Eucharist because the Ancients were persuaded that Prayers joyned to this Sacrament which is the Commemoration of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ were much more efficacious and acceptable to Almighty God. So that those who recommended themselves to the Prayers of the Church did carry or cause to be carried their Names to the Pastors to the end that they might insert them into those places of the Liturgies where they prayed God on the behalf of particular persons And 't is from thence came the custom of saying Masses for all persons and all things Those that desire that they should pray for their dead did not fail to bring their Names and cause them to be inserted in their Liturgy Now it must be remembred that it was the custom of Christians from the first Age to bring their Alms and Offerings to the Holy Table Before the Celebration of the Eucharist they consecrated these Offerings by Prayer and the Names of those which had offered them were mentioned therein When the custom of praying for the dead was introduced the Kindred which desired that they should pray for their dead brought Offerings according to their appointment They declared that these Oblations or Alms were made by the order of the dead or that of their Relations to the end that they would pray for them and that mention might be made of them in their Liturgy and in their Prayers And those Oblations or Alms are called Oblations for the dead And as those Offerings which are made by the living have given the Name of Oblation to all the Action of the Sacrament so these Oblations made for the dead to the end they might pray for them give the name of Sacrifice for the dead to all the Prayers made for them in the Celebrations of the Mysteries To conclude it must be known that the Church of the first Age which had a respect it may be excessive for the memory of the Martyrs caused their Names to be registred in the Liturgy of the Sacrament of the Eucharist particularly in the Celebration of the Mysteries which were performed on the day of their Martyrdom which was called the Birth-Day of the Martyr and this was also called Oblations for the dead We offer every
a simple Historian in the 208th Page of the second Part of my Colection That this Father knowing what had been his first Employment counselled him to explain that Greek of Aristophanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is expressed by another Proverb Let not the Shooemaker go beyond his Last Nevertheless Monsieur Soulier fears not to advance by the blackest Calumnie which can be imagined in the 678th Page of his Book That I have exceeded in that which is most gross what all the Protestant Writers have published against him Where is Faith where is Conscience The Father Mesnier which I have transcribed in the Chapter concerning Monsieur Soulier doing him the same favour in a multitude of heads wherein he is accused by this Father Is he a Protestant I could sooner have pardoned him if he had only dissembled that the Father Mesnier is the Author of the Evil which I have done him Dogs bite the Staff wherewithal we strike them But that he makes me the Eccho of the Protestants in the contempt which they put upon him when I plaid the good Husband in what concerned his Reputation by treating him less ill than those of our Religion which know him better than I this is that which cannot be endured I do nevertheless affirm Monsieur that I find my self all at once disarmed when I think that there is nothing of Merit or Honour to be gotten by such an Adversary He boasts at this day that he hath studied the business of Edicts thirty Years and in his Work of 1681 he confesses as Father Mesnier reproaches to him that he had never seen those that Henry the Fourth had granted to the Cities of the League whereof nevertheless he was willing to make use against the Syndicks and the Censors of the Diocess of the Kingdom Who will not despise an Adversary which proves that I have not the least knowledge of the Affairs of those of the Protestant Reformed Religion because I have quoted a National Synod held at Loudun And to maintain this false Accusation he says Page the 681 of his Book That if I had only read the first leaf of the Ecclesiastical Discipline of those of the Reformed Religion I should have found in the Table of the National Synods of those of that Religion that there war never any held at Loudun For if there were never any held at Loudun why did he write in the 63 Page of his New Bernard this which follows in express terms The twelfth Article of the National Synod held at Loudun the 5th of April 1596 c This was pitty but there is more in the case This Doctor in point of Tables of Books this man conversant in the matter of Edicts for these thirty Years knows not that in the Year 1659 there was a National Synod of those of the Reformed Protestant Religion held at Loudun by the permission of his Majesty A man is therefore Ignorant according to this unlearned Author because he knows that which is arid is not ignorant of it or because he doth not fain himself ignorant thereof as he doth After this is he to be believed when he says I have transcribed or copied him My Work contains 800 Pages and he accuses me to have Abridged the biggest and the most considerable of his Books in the fifteen first Never was falshood published with so little colour I make the Publick Judge thereof and if I have any thing wherewith to reproach myself it will be that I was not willing to see the faults of his Works that I might not be obliged to reprove them I have said for example in the twelfth Page of my Work that Peter Mengin was burnt at Meaux with thirteen of his Companions by a Decree of the Parliament of Paris he says in the ninth Page of his History of Edicts of Pacification that he was burnt with fourteen of his Companions which is contrary to the Decree which takes notice of no more but thirteen and those mentioned by their Names and Sirnames I could produce a hundred faults of like nature but to what good purpose would It be An Author like him who fears not to give the Lie to the Clergy of France and to some of its illustrious Members bears so visible a Character of Malice in the opinion of all honest men that if they would pray for him it is that the Clergy might double his Pension to put him to sitlence Behold the proof of what I affirm Authors of the Reformed Protestant Religion having maintained in their Works that the Edict of Nantes was granted to their Fathers as an acknowledgment of the Service they had done for the State Monsieur Soulier in his History of Calvinism says That it was the strangest Paradox that ever was published it being not true that they had obtained this Edict by their Services Nevertheless the General Assembly of France held at Paris in the Years 1655 and 1656 in a Session where Cardinal Mazarine sat President did acknowledge that King Henry the Fourth coming out of the bosom of Heresie * * Page 152 of the Verbal Process of this Assembly and being willing to acknowledge the Services which had been done him by those of that Party granted them the Edict of Nantes And the late Monsieur de Perefixe ††History of Henry the Great p. 223. of the Paris Edition in 1662. Archbishop of Paris speaks of him in these words Henry the Fourth with all his Prudence had scarce enough to govern himself in such manner that the Catholicks and the Pope might be content with his Conduct and that the Hugenots might have no cause of Fear or Division his Duty and Conscience inclined him to the assistance of the former but Reason of State and the great Obligations he had to the latter would not permit him to make them desperate Therefore to keep a necessary temperament he granted them an Edict larger than those which went before which is called the Edict of Nantes After this Monsieur will you not think me dispensed withal for answering more at large to the Dreams and Dotages of Monsieur Soulier 'T was six Years since that Father Mesnier reproacht to him That he understood not Latine and that he had scarce wit enough to Write and Read He ought at least to have applied himself thereto sine that time but he hath neglected to do it and labours himself to revive the old French Proverb 'T is a brave thing for a Priest to know how to Read and Write Behold some proofs thereof He writes in Page the 632 of his last Book Je plaidè ces affaires it ought to have been written Je plaidai at the 678 J ' y âjoutè j'en donnè instead of saying J ' y ajoutai j'en donnai the same place he hath written Plagieres instead of Plagiaires you will find a hundred of this kind But behold enough to justifie me against so feeble an Enemy Let him write till Dooms-day
Clairac he could have no other Title seeing he appeared at the Synod on the behalf of the Church which he then served It must be confessed that never were there so many Falshoods heaped together For a Fifth Argument we produced the Marginal Note of Mr. Soulier A fifth Argument of Falshood Soulier's Impertinencies thereon Cromwel was yet alive Now he had been dead almost a year To this he answers that he might say that Cromwel was yet alive For that could not be referred to any one but his Son which succeeded him in the Government For this I remit him to the Letter of Mr. Le Feure which we have seen above This is curious and will give very fair advantage to the Learned to resolve the difficulties of History Such a one was yet alive 't is true he was dead some ten years since but that signifies nothing his Son was alive and reigned in his stead 'T is the same thing At the most says Mr. Soulier this can be no more than a mistake of the Historian which cannot prejudice the truth of the Act which speaks not of Cromwel or his Son but of the English in general By your favour Mr. Soulier 't is a great prejudice to the Act For if it had been made whilst Cromwel lived it would have been much more probable because 't is known that Cromwel did very much concern himself or appeared so to do in the preservation of the Reformed Churches of France Besides his Throne was so well established at home that he could attempt any thing abroad 'T is also known that France never feared any man so much as He. So that whilst he lived the English were in condition to attempt and it may be to execute the Project which they charge upon them but after his death it was no longer so the Scene changed from white to black If the Priest Soulier did put Cromwel in the Margin under this apprehension as it 's very probable he did this makes it appear that he was not altogether a Beast He thought it was much more reasonable to make the Ministers of Guyenne treat with Cromwel than with that Chaos of Government that came after him there was only this little difficulty in the way that Cromwel was dead But this is a small matter with these Gentlemen who have done in our days that which we thought impossible A sixth Argument of Falshood the leud Answer of Soulier Among the Arguments we said that it was to invent without judgement to suppose that an affair of this nature could be treated of in a Synod where there was a hundred and fifty Deputies that it was to put a Rope about all their necks and deliver their lives into the first Fool or Traytor To this he answers what he had already answered elsewhere 'T is that there is nothing more easie than to cause an Act to be signed by those who preside in these Assemblies without passing it by a plurality of Voices and above all then when the Moderator is in the Conspiracy as he was upon this occasion where Ricottier was one of the principal Instruments thereof But this is called reasoning like Soulier the Priest and like Doctor Shoemaker We are not disputing about signing an Act or causing it to be signed We know very well that nothing is more easie than to get Acts signed by the Presidents in a Chimney-corner That which is disputed is about the execution of an Act and of putting it into a condition to be executed For this 't is necessary not only that it pass all the Voices of the Synod but also that it be debated and considered in all the Consistories otherwise the Signatures of Ricottier and three others would serve as little to give assurance to the English for the pretended delivering up of places as the word of the poor men of the Hospital of Quinzevint in Paris Now we demand once more whether in such a time as this there were men foolish enough to make such a deliberation pass before a thousand or twelve hundred persons for there were not less in all the Consistories of Guyenne Surely this were to expose their lives at a very cheap price A seventh Argument of Falshood and the Fooleries that Soulier speaks thereon For a new Argument we had said that these men of Montpazier had lost their sense to engage to deliver places to the English in the year 1659. when for almost forty years they had had no places or Town which they could deliver to Strangers Soulier the Priest makes very judicious Reflections thereon First he saith that they make this Act speak what they please to render it ridiculous But the men of the Synod did not engage precisely by this Act to deliver places to the English We know not whether this man dotes or hath a design to make himself ridiculous The men of the Synod did not promise to deliver places what then do those words signifie The English require that we give them assurance to put into their possession all the Cities and Town whereof we can dispose What did the Synod thereupon It gave command to Mr. Durel to know what assurances they desired and of what of the delivery of places for there was nothing else under dispute At the same time they give order To promise on our part all the assurances that were possible I understand not the Language of the Synod of Montpazier if this be not in formal words to promise the delivering up of places so then in despite to the exceptions of Mr. Soulier behold four or five Ministers and it may be so many Elders promise to the English to deliver them Bourdeaux Blage c. and other places of Guyenne In truth this is so absurd that the Priest Soulier cannot hinder himself from seeing the absurdity thereof and for that reason he gives a ridiculous gloss to this Act. The second thing which Soulier answers is that we need not be amazed that this Act took no effect the Act says he was in the month of July in the years 1659. Now immediately after two things happened which hindered the execution the one was the Peace of the Pyreneans the other that the Minister Durel arriving in England found many differing Factions there But Mr. Soulier ought to remember that the two things which according to him hindered the execution ought to have hindered the project and the deliberation for they happened not after but before We have made it appear that these Factions happened in England immediately after the death of Cromwel and for the Peace of the Pyreneans it's true it was concluded after but the Negotiation thereof was begun and the success certain many months before the Synod of Montpazier The third Answer of Soulier is taken from a Book intituled The last Efforts of afflicted Innocency Where to that which the Author objects that the Hugenot party was in no condition to make themselves feared he answers Remember what
of Answering him This makes a man smile and he can hardly forbear to remember the Lesson which his Master Father Mesnier gave him Let every one meddle with his own Trade Ne Sutor ultra Crepidam Let not the Cobler go beyond his Last I never knew those Authors which took it for an Honour to have such an Antagonist First a Lacque secondly a sorry Mechanick thirdly a small Missionary though in the last place he be Monsieur the Abbot for men ascend by a criminal Ability more easily than by a true Merit But let us go on since we have begun and see what he says to prove the truth of his Act. If those saith he which are accused to have Signed this Act find themselves as Innocent as this Author would perswade us how comes it to pass that they have not attempted it since the time that my Book appeared in the World We have already answered to this How and before whom could they provide for the maintenance of their Innocencie seeing there was no Judge to receive their Complaints nor Notary who dared to receive their Protestations nor even a Bailiff that dare signifie the least thing on their behalf Soulier the Priest knows this the thing is of publick Notoriety and he hath the boldness to draw advantage from a Silence forced and which was impossible to be broken Therefore these Gentlemen speak when they can speak and I pray take the pains to hear them in the following Act UPon this day being the 24th of April 1687 the Gentlemen Joseph Asimont James Brun Isaac Goyon and James Philipot all Minsters fled to this City were personally present before me Henry Ram publick Notary admitted thereto by the Noble Court of Holland residing in the City of Amsterdam and in the prefence of the Witnesses under-named who at the desire of him to whom it appertains have said and do declare to be true and certain under Oath offered to them and made by them And first Monsieur Asimont alone saith That yesterday he received a Letter by which he is Summon'd and Adjur'd to speak the Truth on the subject of a pretended Act of the Synod held at Montpazier in Perigort in the Year 1659 which Monsieur Soulier has produced in his History of Calvinism at p. 552 of the Paris Edition containing in substance That the Ministers and Elders of Lower Guyenne assembled in Synod at the said Montpazier had made an Act to call the English to their Help and sollicite them to Arms for the Defence of their persecuted Churches Upon which Monsieur Joseph Asimont after he had read and considered exactly the Tenour of the said Act did say That indeed he remembers that he was chosen to draw up the Acts of the Synod of Montpazier but at the same time doth Protest and that with an Oath before GOD who searches the Hearts and as if he actually stood before the Tribunal of JESUS CHRIST who must Judge the Living and the Dead That he the first Deponent never drew up nor signed the said Act and that he never heard any thing spoken of it till since the said Soulier inserted it in his Writings and that therefore it is a Piece forged by a Spirit of Lies and he calls the GOD of Truth to be both Witness and Judge of this Imposture which bears in its own Characters the marks of its Falshood forasmuch as the said Act is said to be Signed by Durel Assistant which is notoriously false as may be seen by the Papers of the Acts of the Synod which were put into the hands of Monsieur de Villefranche de Vivans who assisted there on the behalf of the King and which Monsieur de Villefranche sent to the King's Council according to the Custom And afterwards the other Witnesses upon the same Summons did declare That they remembered that they assisted in the Synod of Montpazier in the Year 1659 from the beginning to the end that Monsieur de Villefranche was there sole Commissary of the King and that Monsieur Durel Minister to the Duke de la Force was not Assistant to the Moderator there but Monsieur Dorde Minister of the said Montpazier In this manner they did protest by Oath which they made to God That they heard nothing there of the Act alledged by Soulier in the said History of Calvinism in the 552 Page and that since that time they never heard any Minister or Elder speak of it nor any private person of the Reformed Religion but on the report which Monsieur Soulier hath made thereof alledging for reasons of their knowledge That they assisted at the Synod held at Montpazier from the beginning to the end and consequently what is above-said must be well known unto them This thus passed and done faithfully in the City of Amsterdam in the presence of John Hoekeback and Marcus Bauelaer called as Witnesses thereunto which I Testifie Henry Ram. WE Burgomasters and Governours of the City of Amsterdam do make known and certifie for Truth by these Presents That the Gentlemen Joseph Asimont James Brun Isaac Goyon and James Philipot all Ministers fled for Protection to this City did appear before us who at the desire of him to whom it appertains by solemn Oath have said declared affirmed and deposed the Contents of the Attestation and Affirmation abovesaid for all and every one of them did declare and affirm it to be true and certain after the reading of it unto them by the Secretary under-written So help them GOD. In Testimony whereof we have Sealed these Present by the Common Seal of this City the 25th of April 1687. The place of the Seal Pelters As to the Form nothing can be found to object against this Protestation It was received not only by Notaries but by the chief Magistrate of the most considerable City of the Country and is sealed with the Common Seal thereof As to the Sincerity of those who protest and attest it he must have renounced all Modesty ' who shall call it in doubt They are persons that are in a place of security who have almost nothing more to hope or fear from France it cannot be conceived that men would damn themselves by such an Oath as this for the maintenance of a Falshood If the Accusation were true why do they not permit Soulier and his Book to pass without saying any thing to it What great good can come to them hence forward when they shall have obliterated in the minds of the Publick the opinion that there was a true Conspiracy at Montpazier If the Affairs of the Reformed were in sound and good condition in France they might say That by this false Oath they have been desirous to prevent the Evils that such a thing if it were believed might draw upon the whole Body and also every single Member of it but at present when the business of our Ruine is consummate must he not have the Soul of a Devil and be willing to damn himself out of