THE Deplorable State AND CONDITION Of the POOR French Protestants COMMISERATED And humbly Represented to all Princes and People Of the TRUE Reformed Church With Reasons for a Protestant League LONDON Printed for Richard Janeway in Queens-Head-Alley in Pater-Noster-Row MDCLXXXI The Deplorable State and Condition of the Poor French Protestants Commiserated c. NO sooner have these Popish Hornets their Priests been Expel'd and Fired out of any Kingdom or Countrey but like the fallen Angels They use all means and endeavours to recover again their lost Dominions and accordingly leave no expedient unattempted whereby they might draw over the most Powerful Princes to their Party With the Emperour the King of Spain and others of weak Judgments they make a Religious account only and the Promotion of the Catholick Cause to be a sufficient ground for their assistance or at least to prevent their interruption of those more Vigorous Princes who help to carry on their Designs With the French King and others of more refined Politicks abandoning all motives of Religion they use the Perswasives of some temporal Interest engaging to assist him in the Design of his Universal Monarchy if he will as mutually promote their Universal Hierarchy and the extirpation of Heresie Thus as the Jesuits have given him many Tastes of their services in a Politick way So now they think it high time that his most Christian Majesty should present them with some Testimony of his Zeal for the Church service And as in order to his Universal Monarchy they have divided the English with Plots bred Jealousies between the States and Prince of Orange by the Lovaisten Faction exasperated and divided the Emperour and Princes of the Empire one against another and Betrayed the Counsels of all other Courts to the French So now in requital for all these Eminent State-services His Majesty though Impartial to all Religious in His Judgement yet on a Politick score hath thus begun the Extirpation of Heresie by this Barbarous Invasion of the Lives of some but Fortunes and Children of all his most Loyal though Protestant Subjects From hence it more plainly appears that the Plot for Introducing Popery into England was but one small part of their Designs who undoubtedly intended an Universal Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of all parts of the World Wherefore this is the time that all Protestant Princes and States ought Firmly and Unanimously to League and Confederate with the same zeal against the Papists and their false Religion as They do against the Protestants and the true Worship of God Whereto we are oblig'd both by the Law of God Law of Nature and Law of Nations as appears by many Presidents as well Sacred as Prophane which I shall here produce in behalf of these distressed and miserable People who by this Jesuitical Hector of France are reduced even to the extremity of Want and Misery expecting every hour in the Night to be Allarm'd with another St. Bartholomew's Massacre who like Herod Butchering the Innocents may serve to Warn all other Protestant Subjects what quarter they are like to meet with under a Popish King There are many Princes who hoping to advance their own ends and encroach on others Rights will rightly embrace the part of the afflicted and proclaim the Lawfulness of it but the hope of gain is the certain and only aim of their procecedings Thus the Romans Alexander the great and divers others pretending to suppress Tyrants have oftentimes enlarged their own Territories It is not long since Henry the second of France made Wars upon the Emperour Charles the first under Colour of defending and delivering the Protestant Princes As also Henry the eighth King of England was in like manner ready to assist the Germans if the Emperour Charles should molest them But if there be some appearance of Danger and little expectance of Profit then it is that most Princes dispute the Lawfulness of the Action And as the former cover their Ambition and Avarice with the evil of Charity and Piety So on the contrary do the others call their fear and Cowardise Integrity and Justice Therefore without leaning either to the one side or the other let us Impartially examine those rules in such cases which Piety and Justice trace us out in matter of Religion First All accord in this That there is one only Church whereof Jesus Christ is the Head the members whereof are so united and conjoyned together that if the least of them be offended or wronged they all participate both in Harm and Sorrow as throughout the Holy Scripture plainly appears Wherefore the Church is compared to a Body Now it many tims happens that the Body is not only overthrown by a Wound in the Arm or Thigh but also sometimes endanger'd and killed even by a small hurt in the little Finger Vainly therefore doth any Man boast of the safe custody of his Body if he suffers that to be Dismembred and Pulled in pieces which he might have preserved whole and entire The Church also is compared to an Edifice on which side soever the Building is undermined it often happens that the whole tumbles down and on what Rafter or piece of Timber soever the Flame takes hold it endangers the whole House of Burning He must needs be therefore very ridiculous who should defer to quench the Fire which had seized on his House-top because he dwells most in the Celler Again the Church is resembled to a Ship which as it Sails together so doth it Sink together insomuch that in a tempest those who be in the Fore-castle or in the Keel are no more secure then those who remain at the Stearn or on the Lower Deck they both venture in one Bottom This being granted questionless whosoever hath not a fellow-feeling in Commiserating the Trouble Danger and Distress of the Church is no Member of that Body nor Domestick in the Family of Jesus Christ nor hath any place in the Ark of the Covenant of Grace He who hath any sense of Religion in his heart ought no more to doubt whether he be obliged to aid the afflicted Members of the Church than whether he would be assisting to himself in the like distress for the Union of the Church Unites us all into one Body and therefore every one in his calling must be ready to assist the Needy Now as this Church is one so is she recommended and given in charge to all Christian Princes in general and to every one of them in particular for in as much as it was dangerous to leave the care to one alone and the Unity of it would not by any means permit that she should be divided into pieces and every portion assigned unto one particular God hath Committed it all entire to particulars and all the parts of it to all in general not only to preserve and defend it but also to amplifie and increase it as much as might be insomuch that if a Prince who hath undertaken the
into anothers Harvest Neither am I also of that opinion that it is Lawful upon any such presence to encraoch upon anothers Jurisdiction or Right or upon that occasion to Vsurp anothers Countrey as many have taken such shadows to do Ciâ—er 2. Offic. I would not I say that after the manner of those Arbitrators whom Cicero speaks of thou Adjudge the things in controversie to thy self I require only that you repress the Prince who invades the Kingdom of Christ that you take out the Serpents Sting that you raise up a Church that lies groveling on the Ground as it were at her last Gasp that you stretch forth your hand of Compassion to an Afflicted People and that you so discharge your self of this duty that all men may see your principal end was the Publick benefit of Humane society and not any private advantage of your own which must ever give place to Publick Interests Briefly to Epitomize what hath been formerly said If a Prince outragiously surpass the bounds of Piety and Justice a Neighbouring Prince may Justly and Religiously leave his own Country not to Invade and Vsurp anothers but to contain the other within the Limits of Justice and Equity Nay he is obliged in Honour and Conscience so to do If a Prince Tyranize over the People a Neighour Prince ought to yield succour as freely and willingly to the People as he would do to the King his Brother if the People mutinied against him If Porsenna brought Tarquinius Superbus back to Rome much more justly might Constantine requested by the Senate and Roman People expel Maxentius the Tyrant from Rome The commendation due to this sort of Courtesie hath wrought so strange effects in the Hearts of many Princes that some have received their profest Enemies And others have fallen out with their dearest friends rather than Restore a Prince being fled unto them for succour when he was demanded at their Hands Some have been offerred great Rewards which have been offered for the Restitution of such Exiles as lived within their Territories others have entertain'd them with large yearly Pensions and presently aided them for the recovery of their Kingdoms Some have given them whole Cities to dwell in and others have been so forward in relieving such as implored their help that they have lost their onw Kingdomes in defending them But as the case now stands nothing can be a greater Security to us than a League defensive against the growing power of the Papist Du Hailian lib. 24 Vis unitafortior In the Histories of France it is written that Charles the seventh having upon some displeasure conceiv'd against the Dauphin who was his eldest Son banish't him out of his Realm and commanded that none of his Subjects harbour or receive him The Duke of Burgundy who was then Vassal to the French King and mortal enemy to the Dauphin did nevertheless not only receive him but also gave him leave to choose what Castle Hold or City of his soever he pleased to dwell in and sent presently Embassadors to his Father to make his excuse for receiving him Piero Mexias Vid. de Hen. 3. in his Book of the Lives of the Roman Emperours reporteth That the Emperour Henry the third when as Peter King of Hungary was for his evil Government driven out of his Kingdom by the Rebellion of his own Subjects did not only receive and entertain him but also restored him again to his own Kingdom although the same Peter not long before had favoured the Duke of Bohemia who Rebelled against the said Emperour David distrusting the protection of God flyeth to Achib King of Goth 2. Kings who giveth him Siglag to dwell in And Jeroboam flying unto Shisack King of Egypt was honourably received of him and maintained there like a Prince till Rehoboam being deposed for his cruelty he was sent for out of Egypt and made King of Israel The King of Scots received Henry the sixth flying from the persecution of Edward the fourth Holinshed entertained him with a yearly Pension and aided him for the Recovery of his Kingdom Frederick King of Naples being oppressed by his Vncle the King of Spain fled unto the French King Lewis Illescas de Alexandor 6. who received him with great Honour and Civility made him Duke of Anjou and gave him 30000 Ducates of yearly Revenues Now whether it be lawful and commendable thus to receive and harbour another Prince who flyeth to him for Succour If Humanity deserves more commendation than Cruelty If it be true what the Poet sayeth Turpius ejicitur quam non Admittitur Hospes If Princes were first Ordained and Instituted to yield Relief to as many as were distressed If wiser Princes have oftner received than rejcted them And lastly if God most commonly Blessed them who yielded such Relief and contrariwise punished those who exercised no kind of Humanity towards them Then this doubt is easily and the difficulty quite taken away First that Humanity which is incident to Men is to be preferred before Cruelty which is proper to Beasts no Man is so sensless as to doubt Secondly that the Wisdome of those Princes who have Harâ—our'd their Neighbours and Allies T. Walsingh in his Neustia is commended beyond all measure by the Writers who mention them Whereas on the contrary for those Vnhospitable Princes all Histories shall sooner perish then their Infamy be forgotten And lastly all our Chronicles do sufficiently testifie how God Plagu'd the posterity of Henry the fifth for his extremity used to the poor distressed Prince of Scotland And French Histories do declare that God never prospered Lewis Sirnamed Oultremer King of France because he had dealt so unkindly with Richard Duke of Normandy an Infant whom he had received into his Protection Moreover since it hereby appears that every Prince ought to relieve his Royal Brother in distress so much more readily ought he to afford Succour to a distressed People by how much there is more just cause to pity many afflicted than one alone If a man becomes a Wolf to man who hinders that man according to the Proverb may not be instead of God to the needy And therefore the Antients have reckon'd Hercules amongst the Gods because he punish't and tam'd Procrustes Busiris and other Tyrants the Plagues of Mankind and Monsters of the Earth So whilst the Roman Empire retained her freedom she was truly accounted the Safeguard of all the World against the violence of Tyrants because the Senate was the Port and Refuges of Kings People and Nations In like manner Charlemain undertook to War against the Lombardy being requested to assist the Nobility of Italy although the Kingdom of Lombards had been of a long continuance and he had no just pretence of Right over them Also when Charles the Bald King of France had Tyranically put to death the Governour of the Country between the River Soyne and Loyre with Duke Lambert and another Nobleman called Jamitius and
care of a portion of the Church as that of Germany and Holland doth notwithstanding neglect and forsake another part that is oppressed and which he might succour He doubtless abandons the Church Christ having but one only Spouse which the Prince is so bound to preserve and defend that she be not violated or corrupted in any part if it be possible And in the same manner as every private Person is bound by his Humble and Ardent Prayers to God to desire the Restoring of the Church So likewise are the Magistrates tyed diligently to procure the same with the utmost of that Power and Means which God hath put into their Hands Now it were ridiculous and worthy of Punishment in the Church wardens who had care only of some small part of the Church and suffer'd all the rest to be spoil'd with Rain and Water In like manner all Christian Kings when they receive the Sword on the day of their Coronation solemnly Swear to maintain the Vniversal Church and the Ceremony then used doth fully express it for holding the Sword in their hands they turning to the East West North and South Brandish it to the end that it may be known that no part of the World is excepted And that this was accordingly the Practice of Ancient Princes we have their Examples to instruct us In the time of Ezechias King of Juda 2 Chro. 30. the Kingdom of Israel had been a long time before in Subjection to the Assyrians to wit ever since the King Osea's time And therefore if the Church of Juda only and not the whole Vniversal Church had been committed to the Custody of Ezechias and if in the preservation of the Church the same course were to be held as in the dividing of Lands or imposing of Tributes then questionless Ezechias would have contained himself within his own Limits especially when the Exhorbitant Power of the Assyrians Lorded it every where Now we read that he sent express Messengers throughout Israel to wit to the Subjects of the King of Assyria to invite them to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Paschal Feast and moreover he assisted the faithful Israelites of the Tribes of Ephraim and Manasses and others the Subjects of the Assyrians to ruin the High Places which were in their Quarters We read also that the good King Josias expell'd Idolatry not only out of his own Kingdom but also even out of the Kingdom of Israel 2 Kin. 22. 2 Chro. 22. and 35. which was then wholly in subjection to the King of Assyria And no wonder is it for where the Glory of God and Kingdom of Christ are in question certainly no Bounds or Limits should there confine the zeal and fervent Affection of Pious and Godly Princes Though the Opposition be great and power of the Opposers greater yet the more they fear God the less will they fear Men. These generous Examples of the aforesaid Godly Princes have since been imitated by sundry Christian Kings by whose means the Church which was heretofore restrain'd within the narrow Limits of Palestine hath since been dilated throughout most part of the Universe Constantine and Licinius Govern'd the Empire together one in the East the other in the West they were Associates of equal Power and Authority Nevertheless for as much as Licinius doth every where Banish Torment and put to Death the Christians under pretence of Religion Constantine makes War against him and by force compels him to give free Toleration of Religion to the Christians and because afterwards he broke his Faith and relapsed into his former Cruelties against them Constantine caused him to be Apprehended and put to Death in the City of Thessalonica Which Pious Action of this Emperours was with so great an Applause Celebrated by the Divines of those times that they suppose that saying of Isaiah to be meant by him that Kings should be Pastors and Nursing Fathers of the Church Again after Constantines Death the Roman Empire was divided equally between his Sons without any Priority or Advantage one more than the other Constance the Younger favour'd the Orthordex Christians and Constantius the Elder enclined to the Arrians for which reason he Banished the Learned Athanasius from Alexandria as being the greatest professed Adversary of the Arrians Here if any Consideration in matter of Conscience were absolutely requisite it would certainly be amongst Brethren But nevertheless Constance threatens to wage War on his Brother if he restore not Athanasius and had undoubtedly performed it if Constantius had not readily Complied with his desire Now if he proceeded so far for the Restauration of one single Bishop had there not been much more reason for him to have assisted a great part of the People if they should have implored his Aid against the Tyranny of Wicked Princes who refuse them to exercise the only True Worship of God Sozom. lib. 7. Ch. 18. In like manner at the Perswasion of Atticus the Bishop Theodosius made War upon Cosroes King of Persia to force him to deliver the Christians of his Kingdom from Persecution although they were but particular and private Persons which certainly those most Just Princes who instituted so many worthy Laws and had so great a regard to Justice would never have done if by so doing they had conceived any thing were Vsurped on another Mans right or the Law of Nations violated But to what end were so many Expeditions undertaken by Christian Princes into the Holy Land against the Sarracens Wherefore were demanded and raised so many of those Saladine Tenths To what purpose were so many Confederacies made and Croysadoes Proclaimed against the Turks if it were not lawful for Christian Princes yea those farthest remote to deliver the Church of God from the Oppression of Tyrants and to free Captive Christians from under the Yoke of Bondage What were the Motives that led them to those Wars And what were the Reasons that urged them to undergo those Dangers but only their care of the Church Vnion Christ Summoned every Man from all parts to undertake the defence thereof All Men are bound to repel Common dangers with a joynt and Common Opposition which hath a natural Consent and Relation with what we now treat of For if this were lawful in them against Mahomet and not only lawful but that the backward and Negligenti were ever made liable to all Infamous contempts and the forward Vndertakers always recompenced with all Honourable respect and reward according to the merit of their Vertues Wherefore not now against the Enemy to Peace and Righteousness If it be a lawful War to fight against the Greeks when they Assail our Troy wherefore is it unlawful to pursue and prevent that Incendiary Lewis the Fourteenth who hath set all the European World in a Flame for no other reason but pour sa Gloire Do we pray God to abate a Pestilence and to take away a Famine why should we not in the same manner Pray against