naked forc'd them to seek a lively-hood in forraign Regions and live on the Alms of people unknown endeavour to rob them of their sole support the reputation of their Innocence by perswading the World they are men of Rebellious Principles Enemies to Government particularly Monarchy This of all their Sufferings is the only one they are impatient of and could not submit to without a Defence My Lord The Sufferings of the French Protestants the injustice of their Persecution the ill consequences that may attend it and the clearing of their Loyalty are the principal Subjects of the following Discourses The three first particulars are peculiar to those of the Reformed Religion in France The last so far concerns the whole Protestant Party of Europe as the common Enemy charges them all with Principles of Rebellion The Author though he apply himself chiefly to vindicate the Reformed of France hath not forgot to add somewhat in justification of other Protestants and by a just Translation of the Crime laid the Guilt of Rebellious Principles and Practises at the doors of their Enemies The sight of misery especially undeserv'd melts a generous soul into pity and compassion but of all the Sufferings our nature is subject to those undergone for Conscience and Religion are the most glorious and best deserve Commiseration when out of sence of Duty to the Soveraign of the World for an inward and innocent satisfaction of mind and hopes of pleasure purely spiritual invisible and fature men slight all the pleasures of sence and with true Magnanimity not only contemn worldly advantages but chearfully endure the smartest Afflictions and Tortures Criminals have that benefit of the Laws they offend they are allow'd to plead for themselves An Innocent Sufferer hath right to Compassion and Favour especially a Sufferer on the account of Religion and who on that account hath been forc'd to seek in strange Countries the right deny'd him in his own Such My Lord are these Protestant Exiles who barr'd access to the French King their Lord fled for refuge to the Throne of our most Gracious Prince who in Commiseration to the distressed Protestants hath made his Kingdoms a general Sanctuary where they who could not have justice quiet or security at home find safety protection and favour with the benefit of Laws and kind influences of a Government infinitely more Gentle than those they were born under My Lord 'T is the Glory of the Mighty to protect the Innocent Nothing makes power look so venerable and divine as imploying it aright The highest pleasure and best fruit of greatness is the conscience to have used it well That excellent Prince who esteemed the day lost wherein he had not obliged some of his Inferiors was the Darling of Mankind His memory is blest to this day when others who mov'd in the same Sphear but made ill use of their greatness are mentioned with abhorrence Persons of eminent dignity and power draw the eyes of inferiour mankind as those Luminous bodies that move in the upper Regions which all look at but with aspects different as the Apprehensions they have of them Those they conceive of a malignant nature they look on with horrour but those they apprehend benign and good they behold with pleasure and delight with hope and confidence with respect and veneration My Lord Allow me the liberty to tell your Lordship that among the Stars of the greater magnitude in our Horizon the Distressed Protestants fix their Eyes on you as one of no less Propitious than Powerful Influence Their envious Enemies have endeavoured to blast their Reputation and by Calumny and unjust aspersions to rob them of the benefit of that justice they might pretend to at home and to represent them unworthy any favour abroad This oblig'd them to a Vindication of themselves in their own Language But that being not universally understood in this Kingdom where they are so neerly concern'd to stand right in the opinion of the most loyal and best Reformed Church of the World I thought it not altogether unuseful to them to have their Defence publish'd in English for general satisfaction The same malice that assaulted their Innocence by unjust Aspersions will be too apt to cavil at their Vindication and cry down their defence The Justice of their Cause without the assistance of a powerful patronage may be too weak to protect them And for The last Efforts of Afflicted Innocence The just Vindication of Persecuted Protestants what Patronage more suitable what Protection more agreeable than His whose noble Extraction and generous Temper naturally incline to pity the miserable to protect the Innocent and succour the injur'd Whose integrity and soundness in the Protestant Religion have render'd him eminent for piety vertue and worth and whose ample fortune dignity and honour no less justly than signally distinguish him from other Men And for that this Character belongs peculiarly to your Lordship be pleas'd to excuse the liberty I take to beg these Discourses may appear in English under your Lordships Auspicious Name and that you will believe nothing but the lustre of your great Qualities and the glory of your Name appearing so proper to protect and grace a Tract of this nature and the opinion of your goodness and condescension to vouchsafe it that honour could have inspir'd me with this presumption For which I humbly beg pardon who am My Lord Your Lordships most humble and most Devoted Servant W. Vaughan TO THE PROTESTANT ENGLISH READER Suave mari magno jactantibus aequora ventis Eterrâ magnum alterius spectare Laborem Sed tua res agitur Paries ubi proximus ardet Reader I Presume you sensible of your happiness in being born and bred a Member of a Protestant Church wherein Piety is consistent with sound reasoning and a Man may be Religious without forfeiting his Senses or renouncing his Judgment I doubt not but you esteem it a Blessing to be subject to a Government the best constituted of any and Laws so equally tender of the Prerogative of the Soveraign and Priviledge of the Subject as best conduces to the common welfare of both and you must be unworthy the Name I address'd you by if you do not value it as the greatest Blessing on Earth that the Church and State are under the Protection and Government of a most Gracious and Excellent Prince But that which the Subject of the following Discourses prompts me particularly to mind you of is the immediate source of our envy'd felicity that our Prince is not only most gracious most wise and most just but that he is a sincerely Protestant Prince A favour of Heaven to which we principally owe the preservation of our Rights sacred and civil the exercise of our Religion and benefit of our Laws The miserable condition of the Protestants in France who sigh forth their just but fruitless Complaints in the following sheets are an Evidence too clear and too sad That Edicts and Arrests Priviledges and Immunities
I say he hath written like a man of sense and consider'd well what he said And to tell you my mind I look not on this Author as an Author without Mission and without Call as a private Person who of his own head publish'd a Libel against the Hugonots 't was a business design'd That unknown Writer was put on by the same persons that constantly solicit the King to ruine the Hugonots or by the Agents of the Clergy Pro. If I may be allowed to add to the Judgment you have given I could wish that Writer had in some particulars weighed better what he said and dealt more ingenuously For instance where the Hugonots complain That in ten years three hundred of their Churches have been demolished that Author answers This is quickly said but hard to prove Pag. 6. for we aver that there have not been forty of their Churches demolish'd within these ten years If we are call'd to justifie this we cannot do it I know that in the Province of Poitou alone near forty Churches have been demolish'd And if that Paper was written by Order of the Clergy as you conjecture I wish they had taken care not to contradict themselves In the Assembly of the Clergy at Paris in May last where the Bishops at Court had Order to debate the affair of the Regale and the matter in Controversie between the King and the Pope The Agent of the Clergy who open'd the Assembly said in his Harangue that the King had demolish'd an infinite of Churches Infinite according to Mr. Churchman is confin'd in very narrow bounds being reduc'd to forty But I heard a knocking at the door and am much mistaken if it be not by our Gentlemen they are the very Men. The Hugonot Gentlemen I know not Sir what you may think of us who strangers as we are come boldly into a house so considerable as yours without having asked your leave especially since we are come with a set design to quarrel the Master of the House and oppose his sentiments We have reason to fear we shall not be very welcome But there stands a Gentleman by you hath undertaken we shall if we have presum'd too far he is to bear the blame Par. Persons of your Civility are welcome in any place And as to the Declaration of War you have made against me at your entrance I am not afraid of it there is no danger Sir of any blood to be lost in our Quarrel I am of Opinion whoever is vanquish'd will not be troubled at it I apprehend your meaning from the Discourse I have had with this Gentleman who hath given me an account of what pass'd betwixt you and him Pro. My dear Friend I am resolv'd to be even with you to day You have taken a second who is abler than I. And I shall engage you with a man too hard for you both God grant your Defeat be so happy as to dispose both of you to Conversion You shall have no more to do with me you are in good hands take my word for it I will henceforward be only a hearer The Hugonot Lawyer Since the Gentleman accepts the Challenge with so good a Grace he will not be displeas'd if I pray we may go into his Study which doubtless is well furnish'd for I foresee we shall have occasion in our Discourse to have recourse to some Books Par. With all my heart Gentlemen we will go where you please my Study is but indifferent but I believe we shall find there all the Books we shall need They go into the Parisians Study and after a turn or two take their seats and proceed in their Discourse By what I have heard from this Gentleman who hath procur'd me the pleasure of seeing you I conceive Gentlemen you approve not of the Design the King hath to reunite the Religions in his Kingdom and are not pleas'd with the Means he makes use of Hug. Law Sir We have more respect for the King then to presume to judge of his Conduct and condemn it But we cannot but see that those who give his Majesty the Counsels on which the Conduct against us is grounded are the greatest Enemies of the State All the Jealousie of the House of Austria all the Forces of Spain and of Germany will never do France so much mischief as these Politick Bigots Par. You have an ill opinion of our zealous Catholicks Methinks the name you give them is not suitable to them Besides it hath something of Contradiction in it you call them Politick Bigots Devotion is seldom joyn'd with Policy The Politicians of all ages have been always opposite to the Bigot and Devout Hug. Law Really sir they may very well be call'd Bigotted Politicians when their Devotion and Zeal for the Ruine of the poor Protestants is a meer piece of Policy their lives and their manners prove it clearly There are some among 'em to whom we do too great an Honour if we think they believe there is a God I have known some Intendants of the Provinces who had no Religion at Paris but became on the sudden in their several jurisdictions very zealous Persecutors of the Hugonots May there not be found among those of the Councel of Conscience some Persons for whose Piety you Sir would scarce pass your word I mean Bishops that keep Concubines Monks that are become Courtiers and Effeminate and these Complacent directors of Conscience who approve of all Actions so the Protestants be destroy'd the Protestants the light of whose Doctrine is too piercing and clear and exposes too much the vileness of the Actions of their Persecutors reproaches their Conduct and torments them in the very use of their pleasures Is true Devotion consistent with maxims of Morality so loose as those of our greatest Persecutors But so runs the stream thus men make their Court 't is the Mode and all the World follows it Par. I easily believe there are men of the Character you have given But I am perswaded there are of those Saints or Bigots as you call them who are really devout And I am clear of opinion they are not Enemies of the State as you say They conceive unity of Religion the greatest good imaginable and that it would be the Glory of the King to procure this good to France And this I take to be the Principle they build upon and the ground of their Actions Hug. Law I am of Opinion Sir those men may very well be call'd Enemies of the State whose Conduct tends directly to its ruin who inspire into his Majesties Subjects a mutual hatred which obliges them to look on one another as Enemies After that the late King Lewis the 13th of glorious Memory had by the Method he took to appease the late Troubles taken away the fear the Protestants were under that there were designs not only against their Liberties but their Lives it may be affirm'd the hearts of those of either Religion were so perfectly reunited
into a condition I dread to imagine for if they Arm the hand of our Soveraign against us and perswade him to spill the Blood of his Subjects the State must be weakned by having drawn from it the most faithful and truest French Blood in its Veins Par. I am a Catholick but none of those who are for Monks and Clergymens intermedling in Civil Affairs Their business is to pray to God for the prosperity of the Kingdom 't is certain that matters are but very little mended since these good men wriggled themselves so deeply into Courts Hug. Law But do you not admire Sir the boldness of the Jesuits and the use they make of it at Court by the man they have there at his Majesties Elbow They were banish'd France by Arrest of the Parliament of Paris being clearly convinc'd they had by the hands of John Chatell attempted to murder Henry the 4th This Prince fearing a stab from them call'd them in again by an Edict in January 1604. One Clause of the Edict was They should be oblig'd to keep one of their Society a French man Born and sufficiently Authoriz'd to attend the King to serve him for a Preacher and to be answerable for the Actions of the Society that is That there should always be a Jesuit attending at Court as an evidence that all those of his Society were look'd upon as disturbers of the publick Peace as Murderers of Kings and Enemies of the State one of whose Chiefs the Court would have always in its Power that he might be responsible for the attempts of his Fellows and remain as an Hostage to receive such Punishments as the Criminal enterprizes of his Society should deserve This is the natural Character which from Father Cotton to Father Le Chaise ought to be given according to the intention of the Edict of all the Jesuits that follow the Court. A Character that ought to make them asham'd and keep them continually humble Instead of which they are become Masters of the Consciences of our Kings the Tyrants of the Church and we may say of all France This gave occasion to Monsieur de Mezeray to make this judicious Remark That this Condition annex'd to the Edict Tom. 6. Hen. 4. An. 1604. instead of branding them as they imagin'd who got it inserted procur'd them the greatest Honour they could desire Philip of Macedon was awak'd every Morning by a Page who told him Remember you are a man I wish our cruel Enemy were awak'd every Morning with these words Remember you are here to be answerable for the Doctrine and Actions of those who teach that Kings may be assassinated when disobedient to the Pope and inspir'd these detestable Sentiments into John Chatel and Clement and Ravaillac and William Parry Robert Catesby Thomas Percy and other Murtherers of our Kings the Kings of England and the Princes of Orange in the last Age and this Par. I see you are no Friend of that good Father and it must be confess'd he is not much yours Hug. Law We find by experience he is not much our Friend And the more unhappy we he hath as much Credit with the King as Hatred for our Party It seems the King cannot refuse him any thing Was any thing ever seen more terrible than the Arrest he had obtain'd whereby our Ministers and Elders were prohibited on pain of Corporal Punishment to go into any House by night or by day on any occasion but to visit the sick By this Arrest as soon as a man was an Elder he was excluded from the Company of all those of his Religion His Majesty look'd on this as so strange a surprize that he thought fit by another Arrest to explain this and declare it was not his intention to hinder the Ministers and Elders to visit their Flocks I will give you another instance how this man abuses his Credit The King upon the Complaint of his Subjects of the Religion of divers Violences burning of Churches and other Outrages done them pass'd an Arrest in May 1681. Prohibiting any Violence by Word or Action to be done to the Reformed A poor Minister of Poitou in one of his Sermons gave God thanks for having inspir'd the King with this Equity and Clemency Father Le Chaise had news of it by Letter and presently obtain'd another Arrest which orders those to be inform'd against who in their Interpretations of this Arrest should say That the Exhortations made in the Kings name to the People to change their Religion are not according to his intention You are to observe Sir that the Exhortations made in the Kings Name in Poitou are no other than strange Menaces and extraordinary Outrages And to prevent their being stopp'd by his Majesties Arrest the Sieur de Marillac and Father le Chaise thought fit to annul it by another Arrest which will give way to all the Exorbitances his Majesty design'd to hinder by this Par. It hath been observ'd there hath been for some months past an extraordinary Emotion amongst you What 's the Reason of it Hug. Law The Reason Sir 'T is because we see things hurryed on faster than we imagin'd To tell you the truth we have been long sensible of a Design laid to ruine us but fancy'd they would not have gone so roundly to work with us We lull'd our selves asleep in hopes the Affairs of the State might occasion a change in ours But ever since last Summer we look'd upon our selves to be very near Destruction The suppressing our Colledges and Academies convinces us effectually we have not long to continue in the Kingdom for if the King were willing we should stay he would allow us our Ministers and permit us to enjoy places necessary for Instruction Hug. Gent. Now you mind me of it have you seen the Arrest against the Academy of Sedan if you have you cannot but think them out of their Wits who draw those Arrests making one of the wisest Princes of the World speak so ridiculously They make the King say he had granted the Hugonots of Sedan an Academy for instruction of their Children and that they had abus'd his Grant by receiving strangers into their Academy Have you ever seen an Academy strangers were deny'd access to I admir'd at the confidence of these Penners of Arrests in publishing falsities so gross I was wishing to see the Edict of Reunion of the Principality of Sedan to the Crown I find it repeated there five or six times that the King Confirm'd to them their Academy with all Rights and Priviledges they enjoy'd under their Princes Is not the King Master of it Is not his Pleasure reason enough Why then are such notorious falshoods impos'd on the World Hug. Law I was more astonish'd at the Declaration that gives all Hugonots who will turn Catholicks three years respit for payment of their Debts It will be easily granted they have not in this been very tender of the Honour of the King or of their
Religion Can any thing be more shameful than to invite People to Conversion by turning Bankrupts and solicit them to turn Bankrupts by promising that the Catholick Religion shall serve for a Sanctuary to protect them in their Cheats There is not a dishonest Tradesman in France who having three years respit cannot in that time make over his Estate abscond or run away a little before the three years are expir'd and cheat all his Creditors This open's a gap to all those frauds that destroy Commerce and lay Families desolate These are the Nets the Fisher of the Gospel casts into the Sea to catch men for Jesus Christ But I return to the Gentlemans Question who ask'd whence proceeded that strange fright we appear to be in for some months past Besides the suppression of our Academies Besides the Declaration that gives Children liberty at seven years of Age to change their Religion we know it too well that those Bigots press'd for four or five more and hop'd to obtain them before the end of the year One to force us to kneel before the Host Another to forbid us using any Trade or Mystery A third to oblige us to permit our Children to be baptiz'd and our Marriages bless'd by the Priests under pretence of acknowledging your Baptism and Marriages effectual This is the fatal Blow the total Revocation of the Edicts of Pacification This Alarm was spread all over France The Protestants thought themselves at their last Prayers Every one considered how to get away They were all upon the Wing and are ready to depart as soon as the Blow is given Hug. Gent. The Declaration which gives Children liberty at seven years of Age to choose their Religion hath made the King lose in three months time above fifty thousand Subjects A Declaration that shall forbid us the exercise of Trades and Mysterier will empty the Kingdom of near a Million and one that shall impose on us a necessity to kneel before the Host will send all the rest packing And so the State will be soon rid of the Hugonots Whether this be suitable to the Kings intentions I know not but know very well 't is not for his interest If we had not the courage voluntarily to leave our Country a Declaration that shall force us to kneel before the Sacrament will make us abandon all And it shall be in the power of a Priest to make all the Reformed in his Parish run away You know what happen'd at St. Hippolite The like will be done every where else Par. I do not very well know that story but have heard something of it Hug. Gent. I am not exactly acquainted with the Circumstances the Substance is this St. Hippolyte is the capital Town of Cevennes inhabited wholly by People of our Religion Those of yours being so few there that the Priest in his Pulpit cannot sometimes without a solicism address in the usual Phrase my Brethren The Clergy resolv'd to ruine this Church of the Reformed The Priest took the Sacrament to be carryed to a sick Person in the very moment that the Reformed were coming out of their Church on a day of Devotion He rushes into the midst of the Croud lays hold on the first he met and forces him to kneel the rest slip away some on one side some on the other The Priest continues bawling and requires them to kneel He stays as many as he can to hinder their escape and strikes some with the Cross he had in the other hand This at last procur'd him some blows and it was the thing he desir'd He informs and it being a business concerted had his Witnesses ready Upon these Informations the Court orders the Church of St. Hippolyte to be rac'd never to be rebuilt and to weaken the Party banish'd twenty or five and twenty of the most considerable Families of the Town That which is remarkable is that the Priests who rais'd this Sedition is as I am told expell'd the Town By this it is acknowledged he was the first Author of the disorder Yet the Reformed are punish'd as if they alone were guilty I have not met with so rigorous a punishment for such an Offence When the Arrest for adoring the Sacrament shall be past the like will happen in all other places as did at St. Hippolyte You will hear of nothing but Outrages and Blood shed and Imprisonments and Proscriptions and Punishments A forc'd adoration of the Sacrament hath not any precedent in Christianity 'T was the Pagan only would have compell'd the Christian to adore what he did not believe to be God This is to usurp a Power over Conscience to require us formally to abjure our Religion and to exercise the cruellest of Tyrannies over men 'T is making them Idolaters Profane and Hypocritical all at a time Idolaters by forcing them to adore what they esteem not to be God Profane in kneeling by way of Adoration to that which in their hearts they despise and scoff at Hypocrites in worshipping outwardly what they do not inwardly In a word it justifies all the Violences of the Infidels against the Christians A great Minister said not long since to one of our Party who told him of this Arrest we were threatned with does it not become the Piety of the King to cause all his Subjects to adore the God he adores A Turk may use the same Argument in Turkâ— And would not such a proceeding utterly extirpate the poor sâ—atter'd Churches that groan in the East under the power of the Infidels We see we are within an inch of destruction The wisest course in my opinion will be to withdraw before the Blow is given What think you Sir will all this come to What are we to hope What are we to fear Par. To deal freely with you I believe you have not long to subsist there is a settled design for extirpating your Religion All the Edicts in your favour will be in a short time revok'd Some of you will leave the Kingdom and the King will not be much concerned at it The rest will stay and return into the Bosom of the Church in few years You see what Progress hath been made in Poitou in few months Fifteen or twenty thousand Persons are already converted And when the Edicts are all revok'd there is no doubt but the business will be perfected with greater Expedition Hug. Law Ah Sir Methinks you might have spar'd speaking of your Converts of Poitou The Subject is matter of Terror to our Religion and of small Credit to yours If you design to have the Hugonots converted as they were in that Province 't is no other than composing a Church of Rogues and Villains and reviving in our days the age of Persecution In a word never were so much baseness and cruelty mix'd in one Action as in the Practise made use of for those numerous Conversions Hug. Gent. That Sir if you please shall be my task You will not deny me the pleasure of
more weight than what is said by an Author without Merit and without a Name Hug. Law The Charge is the same though the Accusers are different By answering either we answer both Save that Dr. Arnaud aims farther than the Anonymus Church-man and lays his Accusation general against all the Reformed of Europe as if they had kindled a War and alter'd the Government where-ever the Reformation was introduc'd The generality of this Charge deserves a particular Consideration and if these Gentlemen please I will let them see how unjust it is Par. We shall gladly give you the hearing 'T is a thing we had to say to you in Justification of the Conduct of the Ministers against you and of the design the King hath to destroy you And I explain it thus You are naturally inclin'd to a Republican Government you hate Monarchy and your Sect hath not made appear that Spirit of Rebellion that animates it in France alone but in the Low-Countries in Germany in England And generally in all places where it is establish'd you have shaken off the Yoke of your Lawful Princes and setled your Religion by taking up Arms against your Soveraigns Hug. Law If a Gentleman so clear-sighted as you can charge us so unjustly what Equity can we expect from those ordinary understandings which are guided wholly by prejudice To hear you speak one would think we had in every place set up the Standard of Rebellion And that like Mahomet we had establish'd our Sect by force of Arms. The ground of all this is no other but that in the time of our Reformation the Low-Countries withdrew themselves from under the Dominion of Spain and the Protestants of Germany had some engagements with Charles the 5th To let you see the injustice of this Complaint I must intreat you to take a short view of the States where our Reformation is establish'd and you will see whether it hath entred every where by Arms and Rebellion As to England all the World knows the Reformation was introduc'd there by Authority of the Soveraign not by popular Sedition Henry the 8th shook off the Yoke of the Pope and enfranchis'd his Kingdom from the Tyranny of the Court of Rome Edward the 6th his Son and Successor finished what he began Mary the Daughter of Henry destroy'd all her Father and Brother had done and brought the Kingdom again under the Dominion of the Roman Church Elizabeth her Sister overthrew all Mary had done restablish'd the Reformation of the Protestants in all her Dominions and strengthned it by a Raign of above forty years Swede was reform'd under the Authority of Gustavus Erikson whom your most Catholick Writers cannot reproach with any thing but his banishing the Roman Religion out of his Countries He was descended of the Ancient Gothish Kings and Grandchild to Charles Chanut King of Swede He was chosen King of Swede by all the States of that Kingdom with universal joy and great acclamation as having merited that Honour by the great Service he had done his Countrey in delivering it from the tyranny of the Danes This then was no usurper but a Lawful King A Prince of so much goodness and wisdom as Swede ever had He Raign'd happily thirty seven years and in acknowledgment of his Merit the Swedes made their Crown hereditary in favour of his Children which had before been Elective This Prince reform'd Religion in his Countries without Violence without Threats but by fair and gentle Means without a Sword drawn or drop of Blood shed Denmark receiv'd the Reformation the same time under Frederick and Christiern the 3 d. his Son without Violence and only by the Authority of these two Princes The last Roman-Catholick King of Denmark was Christiern the 2 d. whom F. Maimburg in his History of Lutheranism describes as a Monster He assur'd himself the Conquest of Swede by the most inhumane and barbarous Action History ever mention'd That is by Massacring the Senate and all the flower of the Nobility of the Kingdom at a Feast he invited them to This Tyrant was driven out of Denmark by his Subjects there who call'd in Frederick Duke of Holstein and plac'd him on the Throne This Frederick was a Prince as eminent for wisdom and renowned for goodness as Christern the last who made profession there of the Roman-Catholick Religion was infamous for his Wickedness Treachery and Cruelty For proof of this truth I rely not on a Witness lyable to suspition but on Father Maimbourg in his first Book of the History of Lutheranism I have already made out a considerable number of the Reformed Countries where it appears the Reformation was not introduc'd by revolt of the Subject but establish'd by Authority of the Soveraign The Swisses were a free State before the Reformation and therefore at liberty to make choice of their Religion and may be added to the number of Countries reform'd without Rebellion Par. Let me advise you Sir to stop there For if you step but a little further you will come to Geneva your Metropolis and your Rome And I believe you will find it a hard task to justifie their manner of changing the Ancient Religion there They expell'd their Bishop depriv'd the Dukes of Savoy of the ancient Rights they had in the City erected themselves into a soveraign Republick against all sorts of Right Humane and Divine Hug. Law I think Gentlemen you have no cause to suspect the History of Geneva lately published by Monsieur Spon He affects a sincerity not very pleasing to the Protestants They of Geneva have judg'd it so little favourable to them they have prohibited the sale of the Book in their City And it has pleas'd the Enemies of the Protestants so well they have given it high Elogies and magnificent Approbations However I will rely on what that Author says If you read that History Sir you will find the Bishop of Geneva was not in any Age Soveraign of the City true it is he had some rights over the temporalties of it as some Bishops of France particularly those who are Dukes Earls and Peers of the Kingdom have over their Sees and Episcopal Cities as the Bishop of Strasbourg had there as the Elector and Arch-bishop of Cologne hath over that City But these are not rights of Soveraignty The Bishop of Geneva never was a Soveraign Prince but the Syndic and Councel of the City have always been Soveraign Magistrates in Civil Affairs The Historian tells you further the Duke of Savoy never had any lawful right over the City of Geneva They have had Judges who were called Vidons but the Judges had jurisdiction over no other but Savoyards settled in the Territory of Geneva And 't was by meer sufferance of the Genevois the Dukes of Savoy had a right of Jurisdiction over the Savoyards in their City 'T is confess'd the Dukes of Savoy have sometimes kept their Court in Geneva but without any Authority other than the permission of the Syndics and
appear'd under that name for the preservation of the Catholick Faith You will see how they observ'd this Maxim The first honour Monsieur Mezeray does them Mez. Abr. 1576. is to call them a great Faction and the first Atchievement he attributes to them is that they had supprest the Royal Authority In a short time says he it was evident this Faction having taken root in almost all the Provinces put forth Branches so high it cover'd and almost stifl'd the Authority Royal 'T was this League engag'd the whole Kingdom into a Party whereof the King of Spain was the Head and made the French sign a Treaty of Union against the Authority of their lawful Prince 'T was this League forc'd Henry the 3d to sign at the States of Blois this Holy Vnion So that from King says Mezeray he became the head of a Cabal and instead of being the common Father declar'd himself an Enemy of one part of his Subjects 'T was this League which in derogation of the Royal Authority went to stab the Favorites of Henry the 3d almost in his bosome And that poor Prince disarm'd of his authority took pleasure and comfort in erecting Statues and setting up Monuments for those they had robb'd him of by their barbarous assassinations 'T was this League endeavour'd by all means to render Henry the 3d odious by insolent Sermons by Confessions wherein the Monks inspir'd their Penitents with an aversion against their Prince and impos'd on them for Penance a necessity to hate him 'T was this League 1584. says Mezeray which having heated the Zealous stirred the Factious and perswaded the Princes began to rise to List Soldiers to make Assemblies to choose Chiefs at whose Summons by Billet though they own'd not themselves Heads of the Party those who were Listed were oblig'd to repair to several places of Rendezvouz 'T was this Holy Vnion treated the same year with the Spaniard and made a League Offensive and Defensive to Exclude from the Crown its Lawful Heirs 'T was this League seiz'd against the Kings Authority all the Towns it could take in the Kingdom And not content with that would have had permission from Rome to attempt the King's Life and for that end made Fa. Matthew the Jesuit take so many Journeys that he was commonly call'd the Courier of the League Compare this design with the Enterprizes of Amboise and Meaux and see which is the more Criminal Our Protestants are accus'd for having endeavour'd to free our Kings from the slavery they were kept in by Princes Strangers yet you are well pleas'd that the same Princes Strangers should attempt their Lives 'T was this League brought the Rheiters into France in 1585. 1588. 'T was this League unworthily chas'd away their King from his Capital City at the Barricade of Paris and obliged him to save himself by night in great disorder that he might escape being shut up in a Closter shorn a Monk perpetually Imprison'd and perhaps Murder'd 'T was this League call'd their Prince Tyrant excommunicated him blotted his Name out of the publick Prayers and caus'd Arms to be taken up against him on all sides after the death of the Princes of Guise In fine 't was this Holy League made for the preservation of the Catholick Faith that assassinated the King at St. Clou by the hands of a Jacobin Monk Shall I proceed to expose other horrible actions of this Holy League and what they did to hinder Henry the 4th from enjoying the Crown that belong'd to him 'T is not necessary the memory of it is fresh and all the World knows it When you have recollected what you have heard I cannot tell whether you will think it prudent in a Roman Catholick to hit us so confidently in the teeth with that Maxim that Religion ought not to be defended by Arms and that under pretence of Religion nothing ought to be done that may any way hurt the Royal Authority Par. Sir give me leave to tell you this Invective is unjust You charge our Religion with the Crimes of particular men Do you believe the actions of the League were agreeable to the Principles of the Catholick Religion Hug. Law If I did you injustice in that point I did but requite you in kind for the like injustice you had done us For you would make our Religion answerable for all the disorders happen'd forty years together in the Civil Wars of France the last Age. Were it true that Motives of Religion only had engag'd the Reformed in those Wars yet those Disorders ought not to be imputed to the Reformed Religion whose Doctrine perswades not nor inclines men to Revolt But I affirm it Sir I do your Religion no wrong if I lay to its charge all the Disorders and furious Enormities of the League Because the Pope the Head and Author of your Religion was the Author and Promoter of that League because there were publick Rejoyceings at Rome and Te Deum sung for the Bartholomaean Massacre The Sieur du Maurier Author of the Memoirs of Holland will inform you that there is to be seen this day at Rome a piece of Picture wherein is drawn the Massacre of the Admiral with these words Pontifex probat Colinij necem the Pope approves of the killing of Coligny This Massacre was committed before the League was hatch'd and openly own'd though it was then form'd and acted with a furious vigor The assassinate of Henry the 3d was approv'd by the Court of Rome Publick Elogies were made in praise of him who committed the Assassinate and publick Invectives against him that was murdered this Prince as well as Henry the 4th his Successor was Excommunicated by the Pope Their Subjects were absolv'd from their Oaths of Allegiance and all the Powers of Europe rais'd against them All this Sir may we justly impute to your Religion because the Religion of Rome and the Italian Divinity spread throughout Europe authorize these Rebellions against Princes when the great Article of your Religion is concern'd which is Obedience to the Pope 'T is the Pope assumes a power to deprive Kings of their Crowns and to transfer their Estates to others 'T is the Pope authorizes the assassinates of Kings and sacred Persons when these facts are perpetrated pursuant to their Bulls of Deposition 't is the Pope usurps the temporal Estate of the Emperour in Italy and under pretence that the Emperours had lost their Right by Heresy made himself Soveraign of the City of Rome 'T is the Pope stiles himself Superiour to Kings and makes Crown'd heads stoop to kiss his feet 't is the Pope trod on the necks of Emperors applying to himself those words The young Lion and the Adder shalt thou tread under thy feet 't is the Pope hath drown'd Germany with bloud arming the Father against the Son and the Son against the Father to force from the Emperours the right of Investiture into the great Benefices The times are much altered
Conduct that would oblige him to oppress millions of Subjects to whom he ought to be and had often declared himself a Father and by Persecution of Innocents to depopulate his Kingdom which he found too thin planted to serve his great designs They considered him too jealous of his Authority to allow any subject or party how great soever to attempt without permission from him upon any priviledge or right of their fellow-Subjects But they knew that Achilles impenetrable in all other parts was vulnerable in one that the Fort is not impregnable which has one weakness by which it may be mastered They were at a fault but pursued their Game and at last hit the Scent They considered the French King an Ambitious Prince jealous of his authority and as impatient of a Traytor as of a Superiour They confess it inhumane as well as unchristian to murder Innocents and Massacre men for differences in opinion which they could no more help than those of their constitution They admit the Popes invading the Liberties of the Gallican Church an Usurpation not to be tolerated by so great a Monarch they own it unworthy the Justice of so excellent a Prince to violate the Priviledges granted his Subjects by his Ancestors they grant it to be against the interest of the State to lay waste his Provinces and depopulate his Countries by forcing his Subjects into forreign parts But they conceive it just to punish Criminals they think it both expedient and necessary to root out Traytors and extirpate Rebels to destroy Vipers which eat out their way through the Bowels of their Mother to exterminate those Subjects who to support a Faction and maintain a particular interest of Religion would ruine their Countrey and while he carries the terrour of his Arms into Forreign Regions would put all the Provinces of his Kingdom into a Combustion and oblige him to withdraw his Forces from prosecuting his Rights and advancing his Glory by Conquests abroad to quench with the bloud of Civil War the flames that would be kindled in the heart of France That their zeal for his Service and Glory had discovered in his Kingdom a Seminary of such Monsters which must be suppressed That they were numerous and powerful and they durst not attack them without particular Commission and the favour of his Authority That they were a Race of Traytors who envyed the glorious success of his Arms and malign'd his Triumphs men of Rebellious Principles that sucked in Treason with their Milk that were Enemies to Government especially Monarchy that insisted on Rights and pretended to Priviledges independent of his pleasure That presumed to think his Authority bounded by Laws and that his Will is to be controll'd by Edicts and directed by Councels That those upstart Innovators of the pretended Reformed Religion were the men they meant That Seed of Hereticks that Hydra of Apostates the Glory of whose ruine was reserved for his Reign That the Rights they pretend to by Law may by Law be destroyed That the illness of their Principles hath forfeited their Priviledges That the Roman Catholicks had a Law and by that Law the Hugonots ought to be destroyed That a Monarch without Dispotical Authority cannot be great That blind obedience in the Church is a preparative absolutely necessary for Arbitrary Government in the State That those Innovators allow the use of private judgment presume to censure the actions of their Superiors and dispute the Commands they ought to obey Talibus insidiis By such Delusions as these by such artifice and cunning was that Prince impos'd upon to permit them to be persecuted as dissaffected to the State whom he loved as his best Subjects And the same time he opposes the Usurpations of the Pope and shakes off his yoke he is perswaded to deliver up to the fury of Papists his Protestant Subjects whose greatest Crime is their having renounced the pretended Supremacy of the Roman See And to prevent the redress they might expect for their Grievances from the Justice and Clemency of their Prince when rightly informed by their humble Addresses their Enemies have so prepossessed him to their prejudice they are barred access to his Throne denyed Justice in his Courts and their Petitions of Right rejected as Criminal and stigmatized with the odious Title of insolent Remonstrances The Defence of the French Protestants against the Charge of Rebellious Principles and Practices is partly the Subject of the subsequent Discourses I pretend not to anticipate their Apology by saying any thing for them but desire the Reader to peruse what they say for themselves and that he will learn by their Misfortunes to value the happiness of being subject to a Protestant Prince and wish and endeavour as far as is consistent with Piety Loyalty and Justice to render that Happiness perpetual Modern Rome pretends no less than the Ancient to Empire and Soveraignty This pretended to Empire over the Body and Estate that sets up a claim to a spiritual Soveraignty over Souls to serve the design of exercising a Temporal Dominion over Persons and Possessions Modern Rome impatient of a Rival in Authority hath long considered the Reformed Church as old Rome did Carthage an Enemy without whose extirpation it could not safely subsist and hath Decreed an irreconcileable and eternal Hostility against it And where Hostility is Decreed the Maxim is currant Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat Fraud and Force are equally allowed for the Destruction of an Enemy Carthage might more reasonably have expected sincere and perpetual Amity from Rome than those of the Reformed Religion may expect from the Papacy which looks upon them not only as Enemies but Rebels and Apostates and solemnly devotes them to Destruction here and Damnation hereafter If these Inferences seem ill grounded or uncharitable and inconsistent with the Principles of Christianity allowed by those of the Roman Religion let it be considered whether that Religion hath not long degenerated from a Guide to eternity into a meer instrument of State and is not principally made use of to support the Grandeur of the Papal Chair and the Luxury of his Court That it thinks not it self sufficiently supported without an Inquisition to root out Dissenters under the title of Hereticks and where the prudence of Princes hath kept out the Inquisition and denyed the Popâ—â— that colour of Law to exterminate their Subjects the Protestants have been murdered by whole-sale in general Massacres since they could not be re-tail'd to Death by Information and Process That it makes subjection to the Pope necessary to Salvation that it declares Protestants Hereticks and reputes Hereticks Outlaws and Enemies of Mankind with whom no Faith is to be kept These are the genuine causes of the Miseries of Protestants under Princes infected with the Doctrine of Rome hence proceed those Violations of Priviledges breach of Edicts and Laws in their favour denyal of Justice and ruine of their Fortunes and Lives What Law can bind a
State it attacks the Principles by which it subsists For the bond of Love between the King and his Subjects is that which unites all the parts of this great and vast Body But 't is fit I represent to you those horrible Calamities these Enemies of France would plunge the Kingdom in They would bring back again the last Age and revive the Reigns of Henry the 2d and Charles the 9th In a word they would set up new Gibbets and kindle new Fires against the Reformed Can France expect a great Mischief Par. Y' are much mistaken Sir there 's no such intention Some Zealots may desire such a thing but the King hath not any such Design Hug. Law I believe you Sir We know the Goodness and Clemency of the King and that he naturally hates all Violence We see every day the Prudence of his Ministers But men are led where they never had intention to go they are mov'd by degrees to revoke all the Edicts of Pacification If Matters be carryed on with that Violence they have been for some years and especially within few months past the Business will be quickly at an end they will shortly perswade the King three fourths of the Hugonots of his Kingdom are converted They will tell him the residue is nothing or not worth the thinking of And so prevail with him to suppress the Edicts Thus shall near two millions of Souls remain debarr'd the exercise of their Religion 'T is a violent State in which Consciences cannot stay long The Ministers shall be forbidden to Preach on pain of death Yet they will Preach as before in the like case in Caves and Woods and Cellars and Darkness And instead of preaching in a few places they will preach in every place It cannot be but they will be discover'd exercising a Religion prohibited by the State and incur the Penalties to be inflicted by the late Edicts And according to the Severity of those Penalties they will be Imprison'd Banish'd Hang'd Consider how much it will grate the good nature of the King to see himself oblig'd to permit his Subjects to be put to a thousand Tortures for no other reason but having a desire to serve God I foresee Matters may be carryed yet farther Among two or three hundred thousand Persons able to bear Arms remaining still of that Religion 't is impossible but there is a great number of Fools impatient and desperate In plurality of Voyces Fools are always too hard for the Wise who are often oblig'd to permit themselves to be carryed away with the stream of the major Vote Such heady and impatient People instead of Submitting will Mutiny make Parties take up Arms. And then will the King be forc'd to draw Rivers of Blood out of the hearts of his Subjects Par. Ay Ay Sir there is great cause to fear you you are in a powerful and formidable Condition Where are your Chiefs where your strong Towns Where your Money Where your Forraign Allyances You have nothing to support you but the indulgence of our Kings Hug. Law Pardon me if I tell you you do not apprehend me my design is not to put you in fear but move you to pity I do not say but the King may with all the ease imaginable dissipate the Forces of any Faction that should rebel against him I am fully convinc'd of it not only by your Reasons but some stronger Arguments You say the Reformed have neither Chiefs nor Towns nor Money Have you forgot that saying of the Poet Furor arma ministrat Fury never wants Weapons they who have no Towns may take some Those who want Money may Rob and Plunder Despair can effect what Valour and Courage never durst undertake A State that has lying close in its Bowels two millions of Male-contents though but Women and Children and the dregs of Mankind is in danger of suffering terrible Revolutions After the Massacre of St. Bartholomew the Hugonots had none to head them Dandelot was dead the Admiral assassinated all the Flower of their Nobility murther'd and the Princes of the Blood Prisoners yet they never spoke bigger never insisted on higher Terms than then But I expect not any benefit to the Reformed from such Revolutions because God never blesses the designs of defending a Religion by Arms of Rebelling against our Prince and making War under pretences of Piety The furies of Civil War being absolutely inconsistent with Charity Such heady and impatient people by taking Arms will act against the Principles of Religion and I aver it particularly against the Principles of the Reformed They are to expect no other success but to be massacred by the People and the Arms of their Soveraign They would occasion as heretofore millions of Innocents to perish with them The King would certainly master them but would be griev'd to see his Countreys drown'd with the Blood of his Subjects What greater misfortune than this to a Prince so good-natur'd as ours Besides a State busied in reducing rebellious Subjects is in a manner abandon'd to strangers who fill and tear it in pieces with Factions foment Divisions take advantage of Disorders and draw Blood from all parts of it while it self opens the Veins on every side Those Gentlemen who constantly solicit the King to Rigor against us are certainly weary of the prosperity of the State they have no mind to see France any longer the most flourishing Kingdom of Europe They would bring back that Age wherein the Realm divided against it self call'd in the Duke of Parma the Flemings and Spaniards to enrich themselves with the pillages of the Towns and desolation of the Provinces Par. I see Gentlemen the alarm you have taken hath stirr'd your fancy and put you in a heat You go on too far and too fast there is a design to Ruine you 't is confest but 't is by undermining you by degrees Those very men you call Enemies of the State have no mind to see the effusion of your Blood Hug. Law Were those men guilty of no other mischief but a design to deprive the King of such a multitude of faithful Subjects they very well deserved to be call'd Enemies of the State I hope those of the Reformed Religion will never permit themselves to run into the Extremities I spoke of But they will do all they can to go seek in other Countreys the peace and the quiet they are denyed in their own I have told you already their Consternation is great and universal And all the considerable persons of our body seek only a Gate to go out at and a means to remove out of his Majesties sight the Objects that displease him Par. I cannot think they would be much troubled at your departure out of the Kingdom Hug. Law Whether they would be troubled I know not but I very well know they would have cause enough to be troubled The Count de los Balbazes during his stay at Paris being in company of several Ministers of forraign Princes they
Given at Our Court at Windsor the 22d. day of July 1681. In the Three and Thirtieth year of Our Reign By his Majesties Command L. Jenkins To Our Right trusty and Well-beloved Sir Patience Ward Knight Lord Mayor of Our City of London CHARLES R. RIght Trusty and Well-beloved We greet you well Being given to understand that very many Protestants and even whole Families finding themselves under great Pressures and Persecutions in the Kingdom of France for the sake of their Religion have chosen rather to leave their native Country and Conveniences than to hazard the Ruine of their Consciences and therefore great numbers of them are come and more are endeavouring every day to come into this Kingdom for Shelter and Security We are very desirous that here they should not only meet with all kind Reception but also with that Benevolence and Charity which may in some reasonable measure contribute towards their present Relief and Comfort in this their Affliction To which end We have signified Our Pleasure to the Bishop of London requiring him to give Directions unto the Clergy of that Our City and places adjacent to represent the sad Condition of these poor People in their solemn Congregations and also to excite their Parishioners to the free and chearful Relief of their distressed Brethren But as we cannot have too many hands employed in so good a work so We have thought fit to recommend the same unto you also that by your encouragement and endeavour Our good Subjects inhabiting in that Our City may be induced and obliged to a more than ordinary demonstration of their compassion and liberality on this Occasion And so We bid you heartily farewell Given at Our Court at Windsor the 22d. day of July 1681. in the Three and Thirtieth year of Our Reign By his Majesties Command L. Jenkins The Hugonot Gentlemen YOU know without doubt that the King of England proceeded further in our favour declaring all the persecuted Protestants who should come into England Denizens of his Kingdom And that all those who should transport their effects thither in Merchandise should import them Custom-free and whereas the Collection for the French Protestants in England was at first made only in the City and Suburbs of London the King hath commanded it should be made throughout the Kingdom Nor is it England alone opens its arms to receive the distressed Protestants of France They are entertained in all places of Europe The Duke of Hanan hath offer'd to receive four hundred Families Swede and Denmark tho very remote declare themselves ready to embrace the scatter'd Remains of the Protestant Churches of France The Charity of England towards them is very edifying yet I confess I am not equally satisfied with all other Protestants who might afford Refuge to their persecuted Brethren I have seen some of them return'd as Persons in despair from places where they had promised themselves support resolv'd to hazard all and run again into the temptation they had fled from being so scandaliz'd with the cold reception and hard usage they had found that they were ready to hearken to the solicitations of the Missionaries Hug. Law I confess the carriage of some strangers towards our persecuted Protestants appear'd to me quite contrary to the spirit of Christianity And if it continue what will become of so many poor Peasants and Tradesmen who groan at this day in search of the means to have liberty of Conscience What will become of so many eminent Persons who will be oblig'd to quit their Countrey naked and destitute to follow Jesus Christ and can carry nothing with them but their Lives and their Consciences What can be more Lamentable than to see how cold mens Charity and Zeal is 'T is more deplorable than the Persecution What is become of that spirit of our Ancestors that made them have all things common among them That render'd every private Person sensible of the publick Calamity In the beginning of the Reformation if those Protestants who were in peace and safety had done nothing for those who were under Persecution the Light of the Reformation had been long since put out in most places of Germany the Low-Countries and France Hug. Gent. Mens Charity I hope will be awaken'd again to do something for God and themselves For in truth the Compassion the Protestants in safety should express for their afflicted Brethren of France is but a good Office done to themselves There is not a Protestant State Neighbouring on France but is under apprehension of its Arms and hath cause to fear it may one day feel the miseries the Reformed of this Kingdom groan under now Where-ever the King carries his Arms those wicked Councellors who perswade him to ruine our Religion will carry their Counsels and make use of the Fortune of this great Monarch to accomplish their designs This may give them who at present are in safety cause enough to fear they may not always continue so It would become them to merit a Compassion they may one day stand in need of by exercising Compassion towards those who are actually in misery But above all they ought by Works of Mercy and the Exercise of fervent Charity and strict Union among themselves to divert the Wrath of God that threatens them and to endeavour to escape the greatest of Misfortunes the loss of Liberty and oppression of their Consciences I cannot forbear adding that the Children of this World are wiser in their Generation than the Children of Light and that their Zeal not only upbraids but may justly make us asham'd of our coldness 'T is difficult to express the great pains the Roman Catholicks take they spare no cost to make Converts as they call them There are very considerable Funds assign'd for the Maintenance and Encouragement of those they have perswaded to change their Religion The King allows out of his Revenue vast sums for gaining and recompencing these new Converts We have known lewd Women converted big with Bastard Children who had Pensions of four or five hundred Livers allow'd them 'T is a Prodigy to me that we are not willing for the support of poor distressed Protestants to be at that expence they of the other Party are at for perverting of Souls I wish all Protestant States would imitate the principal Towns of the Low Countreys which give Lodging in a manner gratis to all those who fly thither for Refuge besides immunity from Parish-Duties and Charges levyed for the use of the Town and furnish with Money and Goods those that have none till they are in a Condition to subsist by themselves and make great Collections in their Towns for that purpose Hug. Law Though all that could be wish'd is not every where done for those who leave their Countrey to save their Souls yet sufficient is done to make it appear that the Kings Protestant Allyes and Neighbours are much grieved at the ill usage of their Brethren and that disgusted with the present Conduct of
themselves by retiring out of the Kingdom though it were sure they should perish in the Attempt Good God! What a spectacle will it be to see the Children violently taken away from their Parents What Cannibal heart can be hard enough to endure the sight of Mothers bath'd in Tears cover'd with their own Blood scratching their Faces tearing their Hair beating their Breasts Sighing and Groaning and making hideous outcryes after those who rob them of their Children calling them Hangmen Robbers Villains and other opprobrious Names dictated by extremity of Fury raging in the tender Soul of a Mother Par. I cannot deny but the Catholicks themselves were surpriz'd at this Declaration and that it hath in it something repugnant to the Laws of Nature But great designs how just soever cannot be executed without using some unjust means The wisest Politicians are often oblig'd to do some ill that the may attain a greater good The King hath a mind to have all his Subjects reunited in one Religion The design is excellent but cannot be compass'd without use of violent means Hug. Law Pray Sir tell me Had not the Christian Emperors a design to have their Subjects all of a Religion Did not they wish Paganism destroy'd This sure was as excellent a design as the ruining of Calvinism But did they take the like Course to attain the design Before and in the Reign of Theodosius the Great the Empire had embrac'd Christianity almost an Age. The Provinces the Cities the Armies Rome it self was full of Christians Yet the Senate of Rome was almost all Pagan and by the Mouth of Symmachus pleaded before the Emperor to disswade him from demolishing the Altar of Victory that stood at the Gate of the Senate-house Yet these Senators were not turn'd out nor did any lose his Office for being a Pagan Symmachus as zealous as he was for Paganism received from Theodosius the honour of the Consulship the highest Office of the Empire We do not read that the Children of Pagans were taken from them in those days or had Liberty given them at seven years old to turn Christians against the will of their Parents The Piety of the Theodosij and the Constantines never mov'd them to act in favour of the true Religion such a violence against nature They did not in that Age understand it lawful to do ill that good might come of it The Impiety and Fury of the Persecutors of the Church never suggested such a thought The Councellors of that Apostate Emperor who went so dextrously about destroying the Christian Religion were but bunglers to our Clergymen of the Councel of Conscience who surprize in a manner so ruinous to us the greatest Prince of the World Julian destroy'd the Schools of the Christians and shut up their Churches but it never entred his thoughts to take away their Children at seven years old to be brought up in Paganism Every rational man holds it a Maxim that Religion is not to be impos'd by Command but taught by perswasion You have read the Book of Father Nicolai the Jacopin intituled De Baptismi antiquo usu Dissertatio duplex In the second Dissertation he tells us some Schoolmen hold that Jews and Infidels may be compell'd to be baptiz'd But 't is hellish Divinity a Maxim of Executioners and Inquisitors These sottish Divines ground their Doctrine on some Examples as that of Chilperic who commanded the Jews to get themselves baptiz'd and imprison'd one of them to compel him thereto as Gregory of Tours reports Aimoyn writes that Dagobert oblig'd them to it upon pain of Banishment The Capitulars of Charlemain tell us that Prince punish'd with death the Saxons who refus'd to turn Christians But Father Nicolai makes it appear Conc. Tolet. 4. Can. 57. de Judaeis Ann. Christi 633. these were particular actions never approv'd by the Church He quotes the Councel of Toledo which disapprov'd the Violence us'd by Sisebut in Spain against the Jews in obliging them to be baptiz'd on pain of Whipping and Banishment He shews further that the Penalties ordain'd against Jews and Infidels were not so much to force them to turn Christians as to punish them for Crimes otherwise committed At last he proves there is not in the Primitive Church any president for this Practise of compelling Jews or Infidels into Christianity Much less may you find an Example of the new kind of Cruelty exercis'd against us If you meet with some Ordinances that command Infidels to turn Christians yet you will never find any Christian Prince made a Law for taking from Jews and Infidels their Children and hindring them to be instructed in their Religion Hug. Gent. Yet Sir if I mistake not I have read in the Memoires and Petition you mention'd that a King of Portugal call'd Emmanuel order'd all Male Children of Jews under fourteen years of Age to be taken from them and instructed in the Christian Religion Hug. Law 'T is true but you are to observe the Example is single that it is modern being a President but of the last Age when the Church was very corrupt and that it proceeds from the infernal source of the Spanish and Portuguess Inquisitions In a word he that reports it though a Bishop had not the power to forbear saying it was a Jewish Course and unjust in the Execution that it had not any foundation of Law or of Religion though it seem'd to proceed from a good intention and had an appearance of Piety 'T is Ozorius Bishop of Algarves who wrote a great Volume in twelve Books of the Life of Emmanuel the second King of Portugal The Story is so pat and the Reflexions of this Bishop so proper for the present Conjuncture I cannot forbear reading to you a Translation I made yesterday of the whole passage though somewhat long This Historian having repeated at large the reasons of those who were for permitting the Jews to live peaceably in Portugal Ozorius lib. 1. rerum Emmanualis Anno. 1497. and the contrary Arguments goes on thus Emmanuel approving the latter Opinion order'd all Jews and Moors who would not embrace Christianity to quit the Kingdom and appointed a day after which those who should be found within the Realm should be made Slaves c. The day drew near The Jews with great diligence prepar'd for Embarquing Emmanuel troubled to see so many thousands persist obstinate to Damnation that he might at least be instrumental for the Salvation of their Children bethought himself of a Course good in the Intention but unjust in the Execution He order'd all the Jews Children of fourteen years and under to be taken from their Parents and secur'd at a distance to be brought up in the Christian Religion This could not be done without terrible agitation and trouble of mens minds 'T was a horrible spectacle to see Children forc'd out of the Bosoms of their Mother and wrench'd out of their Fathers Arms in which they were lock'd The Parents were ill us'd and
left in Thoüars and generally the Inhabitants of the Towns as well as the Countrey declare aloud nothing but an absolute impossibility of getting out shall stay them in the Kingdom But such is their Cruelty the Ports are guarded with all strictness imaginable If any one embark and they know it presently they romage the Vessel take him and imprison him I have with me an Original Writing of those poor Fugitives who were lately taken and imprison'd which I will read to you WE whose Names are under-written Prisoners as well in the Prisons Royal of the City of Rochell as in the Tower of the Lantern not only in our own Names but the Names of those of us who cannot write being in all three and thirty Persons professing the Reformed Religion do hereby certifie that having been forc'd some weeks since to leave the Province of Poitou the place of our Nativity our Houses and all our Goods by the unheard of Cruelties and Outrages exercis'd by Order of the Intendant Marillac against all those of the said Religion who will not abandon it and turn Roman-Catholicks we retir'd destitute of all conveniences and necessaries for subsistence into the said City of Rochell in hopes to find there some relief in our distress and an easie passage into England Being arriv'd at Rochell with great pains and toil several of us having Wives and sucking Children after some days stay in the said City we treated with one Mesnier a Merchant of the same City who hir'd a Vessel of purpose to transport us into England and actually took on Board the said Vessel ever since the 20th of the last month above one hundred and fifty Persons of us who remain'd in the said Vessel two days ready to set Sayl. Which coming to the knowledge of the Judge and Attorney-General of the Admiralty they sent Guards aboard the Vessel riding within Musket shot of the Harbor Which Guards forc'd us all ashore having first plunder'd some of us of our Cloaths and made some of us Prisoners whom after their Confession taken they enlarg'd without entring their names in the Goalers Book Since which we continued at Rochell aforesaid as well for recovering the Money we had paid Mesiner for our passage which he absenting himself we could not obtain as for finding out some sure means to transport our selves into England our intention being not to return home where neither our Persons nor our Consciences can be in safety all things being there in ruin and desolation But accompanyed every where by our misfortune we were so unhappy that the Civil Magistrates and Lieutenant Criminal of the said City who could not endure us made diligent search for us in all their Houses who had had the Charity to harbour us and having found us they put us into Prison where we continue since All-Saints day and had been starv'd to death but for the Charitable relief of several good People who sent us Victuals to save us from perishing with hunger having two days lain on the Boards some of us half naked having been taken out of Bed and not allow'd time to put on all our Cloaths The said search having been made between the hours of nine and ten in the Evening when some of us were in Bed whom they forc'd to get up and go to Prison where we continue as Criminals What they will do with us we know not nor are we conscious to our selves of any Crime unless it be that we make not profession of the Roman-Catholick Religion for which we think they intend to trouble us Because every day and almost every hour we are vex'd and tormented with the visits of the King'd Advocate of this City and several Monks who make us the fairest and richest promises imaginable if we will change our Religion And on the contrary threaten us terribly if we persist in our Profession And though we are hoarse with telling them we will by the grace of God persevere in our Religion and that we will dye rather than forsake it yet they leave us not but torment us incessantly Therefore we conjure all good Christians not to forsake us in the miserable Condition we are in but that they will endeavour our enlargement as well as continue their Charity for our subsistence We pray God that he will every day pour on them greater measures of his choicest Blessings and we intreat them not to forget us in their Prayers and that they will joyn their Complaints to ours and lay them at his Majesties feet that we may obtain from his Clemency such Order as is requisite for our Liberty Dated at the Tower of the Lantern in the City of Rochell where we are Prisoners Nov. 4th 1681. Tousot M. Moussault aged sixty years Daniel Pivet Jean Coussemean Francis Bourcean Lewis Bomilet John Mentauban Peter Guery James Piron Peter Moinault J. Michau James Haullice John Gouriault Reyneere I confess this proceeding appears horrible to me and that it puts me in mind of what Ozorius told us of the Condition of those miserable Jews who had the Ports of Portugal shut against them and were constrain'd to remain slaves in that Countrey In the Age of Massacres every one was at liberty to go out of the Kingdom If this Course of retaining these persecuted Wretches be continued there is cause to fear they will break out at length into some desperate Action that they will burn their Houses and set fire on the Towns The Resolution I confess is violent and furious but Wretches in Extremity bid adieu to their Reason What think you in your Conscience is not this an open Persecution and equal in Cruelty to that of past Ages What difference will you make between the Raign of Charles the 9th and Lewis the 14th the greatest of our Kings Par. If Matters be thus why do you not complain 'T is very well known the King loves not Violence He will certainly do you Justice Hug. Law How Sir are you ignorant that we complain but cannot be heard Do not you know well enough that the Province of Poitou had Deputies here who represented to the World the lamentable Condition of the poor Hugonots there In a word Have you not seen the Petition they presented to the King I have it here and will read it to you To the King SIR YOur Subjects of the Religion P.R. of Poitou most humbly shew to your Majesty that they are in extreme desolation by the unheard of Violences exercis'd against them for their Religion by Order of the Sieur Marillac Intendant of the Province They have formerly exhibited their Complaints to your Majesty who was graciously pleased to declare it was not your intention any force should be us'd to deprive them of the Liberty of Conscience granted them by your Edicts But their Grievances and great Sufferings having since been infinitely augmented they are constrain'd to come again to cast themselves at your Majesties feet to implore your justice having begg'd leave to inform
escap'd miraculously by the death of Francis the second whose Authority the Princes of Guise had abus'd The King of Navarr redeem'd himself by yielding the Regency to the Queen The Constable Montmorency fell off from the Princes because they would have call'd him to account for the vast Guifts made him by Henry the second Then was form'd the famous Triumvirat between the Constable the Marshal de St. Andre and the Duke of Guise whose principal design was to efface the Name and Memory of the Family of Bourbon But if the Constable was against the Princes the Marshal Montmorency his Son and Governour of Paris was for them though a Catholick by which it appears that Religion was not the cause of those Troubles The Queen Mother ambitious to Reign absolutely and alone was weary of the Tyranny of the Princes of Guise And to ruine their Party she openly favour'd the Party of the Prince of Conde The Queen Mother says Mezeray to reward the Services the Admiral had done her granted or pretended to grant him assistance on several occasions She caus'd an Edict very favourable to the Hugonots to be publish'd in 1562. She proceeded yet further and caused the Prince of Conde to Arm. In this very Page Sir our Historian reports that the Duke of Guise being come to Paris with Twelve Hundred Horse entred the Town at the Gate of St. Denis through which the Kings make their solemn Entry The Queen perceiving his design to take the Government from her writ to the Prince of Conde then retired to his House recommending very affectionately to him her Son the Kingdom and her self If you look upon the following Page you will see she sent for the Prince who having got all his Friends together took his Journey to go to the Queen and pass'd the Seine at St. Clou. This Sir was the first taking up Arms and the beginning of the first War which was kindled by the Divisions of the great ones and the unhappy policy of Catherin de Medicis The Prince of Conde sent to the Princes of Germany the Original Letters of the Queen Mother wherein she pray'd him to deliver her and the King out of Captivity The Regent who put Arms into the Prince of Conde's hands reap'd not the benefit she expected from them but was retained in slavery with the young King by the Tyranny of the Guises and carried to Paris against her will Can you wonder that a Prince of the Bloud of great Courage and in Arms at the Request of the Queen should pursue his point and endeavour to be reveng'd of the Guises who had almost brought his Head to the Scaffold Can you think it strange The Protestants immediately made themselves of the Party of a Prince of the Bloud who had so justly taken up Arms to defend himself from the horrible Violences and Outrages of his Enemies for then was the time Sir when the Massacres of Vassy Seus Auxeure Cahoy Tours and a hundred other places were perpetrated Then it was that the Parliament of Paris pass'd an Arrest whereby they gave order the Hugonots should be kill'd whereever they were found It was not Henry the second commanded these Cruelties but the Tyrants who abused the Authority of an Infant King Christian Morality doth not Condemn a lawful defence against those who unjustly attack us Par. Your Party kept not within the bounds of meer defence They made violent Attacks they proceeded to Extremities in their fury beat down and profan'd Churches broke down Images kill'd and tormented Priests You are not ignorant what horrible Cruelties were exercis'd by your Baron of Adrets Hug. Law I pray remember Sir I am not obliged to justify any more then the first taking up of Arms. I will not justify any thing was afterwards done when men have once taken Arms in hand they become deaf to Piety and Reason The Prince of Conde did all he could to hinder these Disorders There is not one among us but Condems the Conduct of that time full of Exorbitance and Fury But I will undertake Sir to justify the Outrages committed by our Hugonots on your Churches Images and Priests when you shall have justified the Barbarous Inhumanities of your Catholicks against our Hugonots Can you approve of that action of the Provincial who finding at Briguoles a Sister of his that refused to go to Mass caused her to be Ravish'd by the Cordelier who carried the Cross and by all those who would take that Brutal Pleasure and afterwards caused her to be Burnt with flaming Lard which he procured to be dropt upon her Can you approve of what was done at Tours where three hundred Persons were flaid and then beaten to death young Women stript naked Ravish'd in the Face of the Sun then kill'd Men cut up alive under pretence of finding Money swallow'd into their Bellies Can you approve of what was done at Orange Where some were kill'd with many gentle blows of Ponyards that they might be the longer a dying others were Impall'd some Burnt others Saw'd Women were hang'd at the Windows and the Infants out of their Bosoms dash'd against the walls the old Men being drawn up in rank to see this horrible Spectacle before they were Massacred This is not the thousandth part of Actions I could relate like these The Answer of the Baron of Adrets to those of our Party who reproached him for his Cruelty was 'T is not Cruelty to be Cruel to them who have first been cruel to us the first is called Cruelty the second Justice And to clear himself of the Imputation he reckon'd up many thousands who had been kill'd in cold bloud and put to Tortures never heard of before When you have justify'd all this I will undertake the justification of our Breakers of Images and Profaners of Churches I have something more to say to you Be so kind to justify the Conduct of the Spaniards who are so Catholick and so devoted to the Holy See make us a little Apology for what they did at Rome when taken by Charles de Bourbon under the Command of Charles the fifth Let 's look into Fa. Maimbourgs History of Lutheranism which I see on your Table He will tell you Sir these good Catholicks were Cruel and Prophane beyond Example in History 'T is impossible says he to express all the Outrages committed in that lamentable Pillage It infinitly exceeds in all sort of Crimes what the Goths and Vandals heretofore did when they sack'd Rome nothing was spar'd but Deformity and Poverty All things else became the prey of a Conqueror the most brutish that ever was If you please to read on you will find that the Spaniards and Italians by the relation of their own Historians were more cruel and covetous then the German Lutherans To conclude if you will undertake to defend all that hath been done by your Catholicks in Wars for Religion I will intreat you to justify the horrible Enormities committed in the East by those
Maxims than a time when they assur'd themselves and were fully perswaded they should find a King of their Religion in the Person of his Royal Highness 'T is true the King of England hath been favourable to them in tolerating them but they were notsatisfy'd with this and having lost all hopes of prevailing with him to turn Roman Catholick they look'd upon his Life as a great Obstacle to their Designs for it made them lose time and they had reason to fear the Protestants in the interim might discover the design so that it was their interest speedily to make away a King who possess'd the place of him from whom they promis'd themselves a full re-establishment of the Roman Catholick Religion in England Recollect the Evidence add to it the Letters and Memoirs that were seiz'd and the Murder of Godfrey and I will justify it a man must have the Forehead of a Jesuit to deny there was a Plot. The Memoirs and Letters are very numerous you may read them in the printed Tryals particularly you will find a great Collection of them printed with Stafford's Tryal But pray Sir remember Coleman's Letter I spoke to you of last year that alone is enough to stop the mouths of those who dare say this Plot is an invention of the Protestants To which Calumny we will constantly oppose as an impenetrable Buckler the words of that Letter acknowledg'd by Coleman to be his We have here a mighty work upon our hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the utter subduing of a Pestilent Heresy which has domineer'd over great part of this Northern World a long time Coleman 's Tryal pag. 69. I said not a word t' you of another Letter as plain as this which you may see in Ireland's and Grove's Tryals where you will find words to this effect Every one had notice not to make too much hast to London nor to be there long before the day appointed nor to appear much in the Town before the Congregation was ended for fear of giving cause to suspect the Design This Letter doth not tell us what was the design of this famous Assembly but it lets us see they had some great design in hand and the Plot being discover'd at the same time 't is not hard to guess what it was It hath been prov'd before the House of Commons that upon the first discovery of the Plot one of the Lords accus'd to have had a hand in it writ to another of the same Lords then in Staffordshire that their designs were discover'd and that he should use his best endeavours to conceal all such their Catholick Friends as were concern'd in that affair This Letter was found by a Justice of the Peace in the house of that Lord to whom it was directed upon the search made for Arms in Roman Catholick houses and was produc'd to the Commons in Parliament with all the Witnesses to whom it was shew'd the moment it was found Hug. Law You have reason to wish Gentlemen that my Friend here had not been any better instructed than formerly in these matters but had still continued under his mistake that Oates and Bedlow had not chang'd their Religion but remain'd Roman Catholicks after the Plot discover'd for the pains he hath taken to inform himself have made him acquainted with many particulars which cannot please you since they make it clearly appear there was a Plot. Par. We might have easily known all this already being taken all out of those Tryals printed in several Languages but since you make use of them you will allow me to do so and give me leave to ask you whether the clearing of Wakeman the Queen of England's Physitian be not an evident proof that all your Witnesses are false Witnesses For they are in effect no other Oates and Bedlow charg'd Wakeman to have treated for fifteen thousand pounds for poysoning the King Here are two Witnesses enough to Condemn a Man Here is in question one of the principal Crimes laid to the charge of the pretended Conspirators their design to make away the King yet this man is acquitted by his Judges It necessarily follows your two famous Witnesses were taken for false Witnesses and if they were not to be credited against Wakeman why should they be credited against the rest Hug. Law Do not say Sir that the clearing of Sir George Wakeman is a proof of his innocence or of the falshood of the Evidence say rather that the Chief Justice who sate at that Tryal hath been since impeach'd before the Peers of England in Parliament and had the Parliament continued sitting perhaps that Judge had smarted for it The King was not very well satisfy'd of Wakeman's innocence after his Acquittal For that Poyson Merchant having had the confidence to appear at Court after his enlargement the King caus'd him to be turn'd out with shame Par. There is one thing sticks still very hard with me as to this Plot that of twelve or fifteen Persons who have been executed for the pretended Conspiracy not one confest himself guilty in the least When Men are ready to appear before God the Mask falls off it self the fear of Hell softens the hardness of their hearts You shall not see a Malefactor but discharges his Conscience at his death if some of them were hardned enough to deny to the death yet sure one or other of them would have confess'd something but there hath not been one of them who did not protest to the last he was innocent Consider after what manner dy'd Stafford and Plunket the Primate of Ireland who were Persons of Honour and Quality Hug. Law It surprizes me Sir to hear you make their obstinate Silence an Argument of their innocence every day we see Criminals who to save their Credit and have the pleasure of saying they dye innonocent resist the most violent Tortures Yet you cannot comprehend how Men who have long fortify'd their Courage and prepar'd for an Enterprize the most dangerous that may be have the power to keep till death a Secret on which depends not only their Honour but the preservation of all the Roman Catholicks in England Had they confess'd themselves Guilty they must have named their Complices and in so doing they would have destroy'd an infinite number of People and render'd their Religion abominable in the World by making it appear it inspires into its Votaries such horrible Sentiments and gives Birth to such furious designs These Considerations are of weight and strength sufficient to keep the weakest of Men from revealing a Secret of this importance When the Powder-Plot was discover'd in 1605. not one of the Conspirators confest and nothing had ever been prov'd upon them out of their own mouths had not the Judges had the ingenuity to cause Garnet and Hall to be imprison'd in two Dungeons where they could speak to one another and in the Wall between the Dungeons there was a place they plac'd
and he never perceiv'd me I long extreamly to see what it is Let 's read it To the King SIR YOur Majesty may very well be surpriz'd to see at your feet an unknown Person who having made his way through the Crowds about your Majesty is come to expose himself to the splendour of Rays so glorious as yours The high State your Majesty is in deprives of course the greatest part of your Subjects of the Liberty to present themselves before you but the Sentiments endeavour'd to be inspir'd into your Majesty to the disadvantage of your Subjects of the Protestant Religion keep them at greater distance and absolutely take from them the advantage of appearing before you to present to your view the true pourtrait of their Miseries to prevent being dazl'd with the Lustre of your Throne they have put a vail between themselves and Your Majesty and have drawn a Curtain behind which they may make their Complaints by a voice out of the Ground If this voice have the good fortune to reach Your Majesties Ear be Graciously pleas'd to give it Audience and to look upon this private unknown Person as a poor Wretch who in the name of Millions of other Wretches is come to Expose to Your Majesties view their common Calamities and to have an end put to their Miseries by Your Majesties Justice and Mercy Their Miseries are extream had they been but ordinary we should have submitted with silence It will not be believ'd that under the Reign of the greatest of our Kings of him who was born for the Glory and Happiness of France there is so great a number of miserable Persons within an inch of Despair but 't is Your Goodness Sir is the cause of our Calamities by giving way to the malice of our Enemies by permitting it self to be surpriz'd by the Counsels of our Persecutors These ill Counsellors Sir forgetting or not knowing the true Interests of Your Majestie arm Your Majesty against the faithfullest of Your Subjects against People who by Birth by Inclination by Interest and by their Religion are obliged to adhere inseparably to Your Majesty The bloud which was heretofore spilt with so much joy to gain to Henry the 4th that Crown Your Majesty now wears with so much Glory circulates in our veins and burns with impatience to be shed in Your Service But our Enemies Sir who are in truth the Enemies of the State force us to cease to be Your Subjects to seek other Soveraigns to live in another Air and to people the Estates of Your Neighbours who perhaps will shortly be Your Enemies they hurry us out of our Country and labour to stifle in our hearts those Sentiments of Love and Respect for Your Majesty which Nature had so deeply rooted there they will pull down our Churches they rob us of our Liberty to serve God they take from us all means of Livelyhoood they plunder our Goods they force our Children from us they consume our Houses and in some Provinces abuse our Persons they Imprison us they put us to the Rack they Torture us they beat us to death they Hang they Burn us without course of Law The Instruments that Execute these Outrages are Your Soldiers who in the heart of Your Kingdom commit Enormities humane Nature would abhor if committed in an Enemies Country and in the fury of War They possess the Souls of Your Protestant Subjects with a Spirit of terrour and fear by shewing them Your Majesties Arm always lifted up for their ruine Thus they endeavour to make us hate him as a Tyrant whom by duty and inclination we love as the best of our Kings We know very well Sir that to surprize Your Majesty they make use of an apparent Piety and mind you of the Name Your Majesty bears of Most Christian to inspire into Your Majesty those Sentiments so disastrous and pernicious to us but in the Name of God we Conjure Your Majesty to consider that those Councels of breach of promise and of violence are absolutely contrary to the Spirit of true Religion Nothing can be more agreeable to Piety than Integrity in our actions and just performance of our promises We liv'd in a profound Peace under the shadow of those Edicts Your Majesty hath so often and so solemnly confirm'd to us these Councellors Sir engage you in a Conduct steer'd by that horrible Maxim all true Christians detest That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks They render Your Majesties Justice and Truth to Your Promises suspected to all Strangers who cannot but doubt the stability of any Treaty to be had with you seeing the Promises made to your Subjects violated in so cruel a manner The Declarations obtained every day by surprize from Your Majesty stain the most Glorious Reign France ever saw not only by the mortal Wounds they give to Your Majesties Justice and your truth to your Promises but by open violations of the most sacred Laws of God and Nature All Europe looks with astonishment on the Permission granted by the wisest of Kings to annul in his Kingdom Paternal Authority and to see Children arm'd to Revolt against their Parents in an Age they know not what Revolt is Your Majesty is too clear-sighted not to discern that Crimes and ill means are not the paths by which Souls ought to be led into the true Religion those who lay Siege to Your Majesty and make you take Resolutions so dismal to Your Subjects of the Protestant Religion carry all with a high hand without any regard to their honour or the glory of the greatest of Kings to induce them to that which they call Conversion they invite men to turn Bankrouts to rebel against their Superiors to falsify their words to be Hipocrites and profane for those they draw in by hopes of not paying their Debts or of Impunity for any Crime and those they force to turn by Bastonade fear of Poverty and other Violences exercis'd upon them cannot but become Hypocrites and profane detesting in their hearts those sacred things they are forc'd to reverence in appearance Your Majesty is told the Parents are ill Christians but their Children will be good Catholicks but we conjure Your Majesty to consider the false zeal of our Persecutors makes as many Criminals as it pretends to make Catholicks and that by the Law of God Children are punishable for the Crimes of their Parents the unhappy Parents look upon them as Tyrants who fetter their Consciences they are Rebels in their hearts and will never let slip any opportunity to be reveng'd for the Oppression they are under how can it be hop'd God will bless the posterity of those base Wretches who for fear of some Temporal Punishment or hope of some inconsiderable advantage Renounce a Religion they believe to be true and harbour in their hearts Rebellion against their Soveraigns These Sentiments will be transmitted to their posterity for it is natural for Parents to inspire their thoughts into their
Children Thus Your Majesty shall see continued in Your Kingdom a Generation of Male-Contents of Dissmblers of Profane Rebellious and ill Christians such will be the good Catholicks begot of those Parents who are at this day forc'd to change their Religion Among this wretched Multitude there will doubtless be some who totally forgetting their duty will take desperate Resolutions and choose rather to die in a violent manner than to live reduc'd to a condition wherein they betray their Conscience and suffer a thousand Calamities and it cannot but infinitely grieve Your Majesties good Nature and Clemency to see your self forc'd to revive the Age of Massacres Our zeal for Your Majesties Service holds out hitherto against the sence of our present Sufferings and the fear of future ills Your Majesty hath not in Your Armies by Sea or Land an Hugonot Officer who is not ready to sacrifice his Life in Your Service There is not Your Kingdom a Protestant who doth not venerate I may say adore Your Majesty as the brightest Image God hath given of himself to the World we hope they will always look upon the Thunderbolts that come from your hand with that respect and fear they regard those that fall from Heaven but we hope also Your Majesty in imitation of that Divinity whose Image you are will pity so many miserable Persons who groan under their Sufferings without murmuring against the hand that causes them Especially when you consider these Wretches have all Europe to witness their faithfulness to Your Service and the World sees them free from the least stain of Rebellion Your Majesty will not permit us to be persecuted any longer for no other reason but because as 't is suppos'd we are not illuminated Alas Sir 't is a Grace that depends not upon our selves 't is not a thing within the power of Man nor is it an effect of fear punishments and tortures We doubt not but if Your Majesty would take the pains to cast Your Eye upon the Arrests and Orders exhorted from Your Majesty against us and the Consequences of them they would appear dreadful and horrible Your Majesty should see Trade interrupted and spoil'd Your Towns desolate by the desertion of the Inhabitants and a great breach in Your State by the loss of so many considerable Members of it ready to fly out of it you should see your Neighbours enrich'd and fortify'd by the spoils of Your Kingdom France in many places become a vast Desart and a considerable number of unhappy Consciences groaning under a cruel Servitude they are reduc'd to You should see a People in despair capable of the most violent Resolutions against themselves We hope Sir that God the Protector of Afflicted Innocents will lay open all these Considerations to Your Majesties Eyes that you may act as the common Father of Your Subjects We remember Sir that kind and excellent Expression of Your Majesty not long since That You consider'd us all as Your Children and would have given Your Right Hand for our Conversion Here we see Your Majesty in Your Natural state and admire the genuine goodness of Your temper and are perswaded 't is not without violence you are obliged to arm Your self against us as if we were Your Enemies When Children have attain'd the age of discretion their Parents use only the ways of perswasion to reduce them to Duty because the heart is not won but by fair and gentle means and our Spirits naturally abhor and resist force We hope therefore Your Majesty will again awaken Your Paternal Compassions towards those Children whom you look upon as gone astray and that you will leave it to Heaven and it's Grace to reduce them into the right way if out of it and that You will not permit our Consciences to be dragg'd into Paths which we are not perswaded are right 'T is this hope alone Sir keeps us from falling into despair this only supports us this will ever make us most earnest Petitioners to Heaven for the preservation of Your Royal Person for Your Glory and the good Success of all Your Designs Prov. What think you of it Sir Par. I am not surpriz'd at it these poor People are so restless in their misery 't is no wonder they toss and tumble themselves every way but they are very simple if they think they can find a way to convey such a Paper to His Majesty the Avenues are all block'd up And should it come to the Kings Hands he is beset round with those shall take effectual order he shall not alter his Mind I should think it best to let them have it again but that if you restore it they will bevex'd we have seen it 'T is better pretend we know nothing of it nor say a word of it to them they will think they have lost it elsewhere Prov. I will be advis'd by you Farewel Sir 't is high time to leave you to your Repose The Printer to the Reader The Copy of the following Letter being come to my hands I thought it not improper to be communicated to the Publick because it concerns the present State of the Religion in France the Subject of this Work SIR YOu desire I would inform you what you are to believe of the Reports spread in the Province you are in of the great Mitigations lately happen'd as 't is said in the Affairs of our Religion A Man cannot write with much certainty of these matters yet I will venture to comply with your desires never were Reports more groundless than those for matters are so far from being mitigated they begin to be worse than ever The business between the Bayliff of Charanton and the Gentlemen of the Consistory is reviv'd You know without doubt that the King upon the Petition they presented him had order'd the Bayliff not to proceed any further and gave them leave in the mean time to apply themselves if they saw cause to the Parliament for Remedy but within these five or six days the Chancellor said to the Deputy-General it was much wondred the Consistory had not sued forth an Appeal from the Sentence of the Bayliff that they must look to it for if they would not appeal the King would take off the Prohibition and give the Bayliff leave to proceed What is the meaning of this but to let us see they intend to Exterminate us for questionless you remember one Article of that Sentence was that we should pay the Sacrament such respect as is due to it Whether what was said to Monsieur Ruvigny will take effect I know not but you know well enough that in what concerns us they do not their business by half but go through with their work The Provinces of Poitou and Aunix are in a condition that deserves all manner of Compassion all acts of the most Barbarous Cruelty are exercis'd in those Countries the Relations we have thence would break your heart 'T is true the Troops are drawn out which is the only ground
I know for the reports of mitigation but the Forces were drawn out of Poitou for no other reason but because there was business to imploy them elsewhere or to lay the noise the violence of their proceedings rais'd in those parts In all other points the Persecution in those Provinces is not at all abated from Poitiers to Rochelle there is not a Minister to be seen and in all that Province formerly full of places for Religious Worship there are not six places but the Churches are shut up or the Ministers silenced all those Churches which were appendants of Mannors the tenure whereof gave Right to the Lords to have Religious Worship perform'd there were all shut up on the sudden The Ministers of other Churches yet standing are some confin'd others banished others silenc'd and most imprison'd Monsieur Bossatran Minister of Niort and seven of his Elders are Prisoners at Rochelle The Sieurs Paumier D'Isle Champion Le Pain Du Son Loquet Ministers of St. Maixaut de la Motte de Mougon de Fontenay de Marennes and many others have had Sentence pronounc'd against them that their Goods shall be sold or are imprison'd or fled or banish'd one is confin'd to Vezelay another to Bezomson others to other places so that in all these Provinces you can hardly find one officiating Minister this new kind of Persecution is exercis'd upon pretence that the Ministers gave Certificates to those who are gone out of the Kingdom they Prosecute with that Cruely those who give relief to these miserable Fugitives that Burgesses of Rochell have been imprison'd and fined for giving them a glass of water The Marquess of Dompierre a Gentleman of Note hath been a long time Prisoner for harbouring forty or fifty poor men who were in search of means to set themselves at Liberty from the tyranny exercis'd upon their Consciences 'T is true the Intendant Marillac hath not any Soldiers left but he stirs not abroad without his Deputies and his Guards who act the same Out-rages the Soldiers did He sends before him his Harbingers into the Villages to frighten them when arriv'd he calls before him the Inhabitants of the Protestant Profession exhorts them to obey the King's Orders and embrace his Religion those who carry his Orders about observe no Measures Menaces Promises Troubles newly rais'd or reviv'd Discharges Officers pay easing those who have been over-rated in Assessements and money distributed have made an infinite number of Revolters The Shepherds are smitten that the flocks maybe scatter'd The Ministers of all Churches held by right of Tenure are tax'd in assessments to the King that they may be forc'd to desert The violence is so terrible and excessive by the Taxes they assess for payment of Offices as they call them that the Country is not eas'd in the least by the Soldiers being drawn out those who the last year were tax'd but at thirty Livers have this year been tax'd by the Intendant at five or six hundred Thus all are obliged to desert and if any one leave his house he is carried to Prison under pretence he was going out of the Kingdom 'T is certain that nothing but an inability of getting out hath retain'd in the Provinces any Person of the Protestant Religion and you may be assur'd that the next Spring Millions will follow you into strange Countries they who cannot go out at the Door will leap out at the Window and trust the mercy of the Waves to convey them to some Vessel at Sea God grant the poor Wretches may in forreign parts meet with tender Hearts and Compassionate Souls these reports of mitigation are rais'd by our Enemies on design to cool the fervor of that Charity those Protestant Countries which injoy the Peace God hath taken from us exercis'd toward our fugitive Brethren and those Enemies are in the midst of us as well as among our Adversaries We have among us some wretched Traytors who spread a Report that we shall shortly see a great change of Affairs that there shall be a Reformation in France not of us but a Reformation of far greater value and importance and therefore we are not to think of leaving the Kingdom These Men catch new hold when others let go theirs and fancy grounds of fresh hopes where others see nothing but cause of Despair You understand well enough what such Persons think and what is to be expected from them This Sir you are to believe of the mitigations you have heard of What I have now told you is truth of which I have been an Ocular Witness being lately return'd out of the places where the Facts have been committed you see there is cause to wish your Gazetteers had better Information or better Intentions and would not Stuff their Gazettes with News grounded on intelligence altogether false We have had a flying Report that Marillac will be recall'd but 't is as true as the rest Expect not he shall be Revok'd till he hath compleated our ruine in the Province of Poitou the design of this Letter was only to inform you of the particulars you desir'd to know I will not make it longer but Conclude with assuring you I am Sir Your most humble and obedient Servant Paris Jan. 20. 1682. A Catalogue of Plays Printed for R. Bently and M. Magnes 1. FArtus or the French Puritan 2. Forc'd Marriage or the Jealous Bride-groom 3. English Monsieur 4. All mistaken or the Mad Couple 5. Generous Enemies or the Rediculous Lovers 6. The Plain-Dealer 7. Sertorions a Tragedy 8. Nero a Tragedy 9. Sophomisba or Hannibal's overthrow 10. Gloriana or the Certe of Augusta Caesar 11. Alexander the Great 12. Methridates King of Pontus 13. Oedipus King of Thebes 14. Ceasar Borgia 15. Theodocious or the force of Love 16. Madam Fickle or the witty false one 17. The Fond Husband or the Plotting Sisters 18. Esquire Old Sap or the Night Adventures 19. Fool turn'd Critick 20. Virtuous Wife or God luck at last 21. The Fatal Wager 22. Andromecha 23. Country Wit 24. Calesto or the Chast Nun. 25. Destruction of Jerusalem in 2 parts 26. Ambitious States-Man or the Loyal Favourite 27. Misery of Civil War 28. The Murder of the D. of Gloucester 29. Thestis a Tragedy 30. Hamblet Prince of Denmark a Tragedy 31. The Orphan or the Unhappy Marriage 32. The Souldiers Fortune 33. Tamberlain the Great 34. Mr. Limberham or the kind Keeper 35. Mistaken Husband 36. Notes of marrow by the Wits 37. Essex and Elizabeth or the Unhappy Favourite 38. Vertue Betray'd or Anna Boloyn 39. King Leare 40. Abdellazor or the Mares Revenge 41. Town Fop or Sir Timothy Tawdery 42. Rare an tout a French Comedy 43. Moor of Venice FINIS