fill the place of an Assistant-Moderator in which he ought to do and say much and by consequence could not be supplied by a Phantome Besides Monsieur Asimont who was the Secretary then living speaking and residing in France would have been able although he were a Minister and a persecuted Minister and had his mouth stoped to have returned upon him the injury of this Falshood for 't is known that single persons take these sort of matters more warmly than whole Bodies and Societies of men because the danger is more urgent and pressing upon them 'T is true that the Synod of Thonnins in the Month of December in the Year 1683 drew up the Act which we have seen above But the Priest Soulier says thereon Nevertheless these Gentlemen who had never taken this Resolution but the better to hide their Game staid there And some Pages after Did they proceed any farther in pursuit of this Resolution That is to say to carry their Complaints to the King and prosecute Soulier as a Calumniator All these threatnings says he are vanished into smoke and it was well seen that all this noise war nothing else but a pure effect of their Policy This is very wicked in the mouth of a man who knows as all the World doth that from the Synod of Thonnins unto the first Mission of the Dragoons there passed not above fifteen or sixteen Months that the ruin of the Reformed was sworn and determined to a stated time that for the space of four Years no Paper of Remonstrance Complaint Justification Request or thing of like nature would be received from them that the person of the King was inaccessible for them that all the Tribunals of the Kingdom had in like manner been shut upon them Soulier tells us that the Province of Guyenne had Monsieur Janicon for Deputy-General at Paris but he might very well have known also seeing he knows so many things that it was in the Synod of Thonnins in 1683 that Monsieur Janicon discharged himself of this Office because he knew that from thenceforth it would be to no advantage and that they would hear no man who had any thing to say for Justification of the Reformed 'T is true that the Synod named Monsieur Charron an Advocate and another Deputy to go and carry this Complaint to the King But who then dared to appear at the Court He must have a desire to see the Bastile and to understand what Bread men eat there This Villain knows all this and insults over poor oppressed persons because of their silence in a time when it was for them a Crime no less than Treason to dare to complain of any kind of Injustice whatever it was The Deputies of the Synod of Lower Guyenne would have been well received had they gone to complain of Soulier a man that the Clergy had purposely set up to Defame Injure and Destroy them in a time when the Court had already dispatched if I may so say Commissions to the Dragoons to treat the Reformed as Rebels and open declared Enemies The first Argument of Falshood and the Justifications thereof I pass the Reflections which Soulier makes use of to destroy the Arguments and Mediums which we have made use of to prove this Act of Montpazier to be a false Imposture First we have said That there never was a Synod more known and understood by our Enemies Besides an infinite number of Papists Monks and paltry Priests the Bishop of Cahors was there and especially Monsieur Soulier as he himself informs us This Circumstance may be of use to us to make very probable Conjectures concerning the Original of this Act. Besides all this the King had a Commissary there From all which we conclude that there was no likelihood that these Ministers should be such Fools to treat of an Affair of this nature in a place where there were so many persons their Enemies Soulier says thereon That the Catholicks were not admitted to their Assembly that we know well but we also know that the Clergy are at expence for Spies and that they never fail to know all that they please 'T is known that this Assembly was made up of about one hundred Pastors and well near as many Elders that among these men there were those which had no true Piety nor any Zeal for their Religion as it appears by their Revolt and Apostacy These men are indiscreet interested easie to be gained and the Agents of the Clergy know them very well Concerning the Commissary Soulier says things which the Providence of God hath permitted to confound these Impostures First he says That Monsieur of St. Blancard was the King's Man in this Synod and we shall see by and by from the Deposition of four Witnesses which were there present that it was Monsieur de Villefranche of Vivans who was Commissary This is say I an effect of the Vengeance of God for the Confusion of these Impostures For there was nothing so easie as to know who was the King's Agent there the Acts of all the Synods were sent to the Court the Commissaries were always named there and they even subscribed and made a particular mark on the Copy which they sent to the King. And these Copies are kept in the Office of Monsieur Chastean-neuf This makes it suspicious that this Imposture was not formed at Paris but in the Province in some place where not having sufficient Memorials they depended too much upon the treacherous Memory of the Contrivers Yea it appears that Soulier is a Lyer when he speaks as an absolute Disposer of all that was in the Office of Monsieur Chastean-neuf For if he had been admitted thither he would have rectified the Error that himself or other Authors of this Forgery had made And that Soulier may not deceive the Publick by saying that Monsieur St. Blancard and Monsieur de Villefranche de Vivans are two names but not two persons it must be known that Monsieur Blancard was a Gentleman of Agenois Uncle of the Chevalier Montand heretofore Captain in a Regiment of Dragoons and this Monsieur de St. Blancard hath been dead these six or seven years And Monsieur de Villefranche de Vivans was a Gentleman of Perigort Uncle to Monsieur the Count of Vivans Lieutenant-General in the Army of the King. He died not above three or four years since The second thing which he says is That Monsieur St. Blancard was of the Reformed Religion that he might be of Intelligence with the Synod in this Conspiracy and that so 't is not to be admired that he did not reveal it What a Prodigy is this That a Commissary of the King in our Synods should betray his Master and his Prince in a point of Conspiracie against the State without giving him any notice of it Although these Commissaries had been capable of shutting their eyes on some small thing hath there been any example in these last times of a man commissioned
Protector Richard by the Officers of the Army in which they complain 1. That they were not paid 2. That they blasted their Reputation by blaming all which they had done under Cromwell as faulty and against the Laws 3. That the Officers which had served the King had their Cabals and Assemblies in divers places of the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland from whence it may be judged say they that the publick Safety of the State is in such ill condition that 't is in danger of being destroyed Was not the Militia in very good state to be transported to make an Irruption into a foreign Kingdom beyond the Sea At the same time Richard being displeased with this Parliament who would have reduced his Authority to a very little thing dissolved them in the beginning of the Month of May and three days after on the fifth of the same Month he published a Proclamation by which he appointed all suspicious persons to go out of London in three days and to come no nearer to it that within twenty Miles Immediately after the Parliament which the Protector had assembled on the Month of February was dissolved on the second of May the old long Parliament assembled and began to sit on the seventeenth of the same Month This old Parliament pulled down Richard and appointed that Monarchical Government should be abolished together with the House of Lords It caused also the Effigies of Cromwell which was at Westminster to be taken away Fearing say they least it should give occasion to some popular Commotion in this Conjuncture and change of Affairs This is plainly the time when the Protestants of Guyenne promised to introduce the English into the Realm for the circumstance of Affairs was altogether favourable to them as they had nothing to do among themselves so they might succour their good Friends every-where else On the twenty second of May old Stile the Officers of the Army agreed with the old Parliament to abolish all Title of King and Protector and to establish the three Nations in a Government intirely Free. On the twenty fourth the Parliament appointed That no other Seal should be farther made use of but that on the two sides whereof were engraven the Arms of England and Ireland and caused the Seal which Oliver Cromwell made use of to be broken They named for the space of many days thirty one persons to make up a new Council of State 'T was at this very time i. e. upon the beginning of the Month of June in the Year 1659 that they forced the Protector Richard to remove from Whitehall Behold then the three Kingdoms in a perfect Anarchy Without doubt it was in this happy and tranquil Estate that the English made offer to the Protestants of Guyenne to succour them provided they would deliver to them all the places whereof they could dispose To speak seriously 't is unavoidable that the Forgers of this Piece were the most ignorant Bruits that were in the World or that their Brains were disordered to that degree that there was never any thing like it Let not Monsieur Soulier be displeased at all this He hath neither Science nor Knowledge of the matters of the World nor common Sense for if he had one grain of Understanding or good Knowledge he would never have engaged in so durty a Business Let us go on for this is not all After we have considered the State of Affairs in England let us consider those of France This Kingdom was in an Estate of Prosperity with respect to Affairs abroad which would have taken away all thoughts from troublesome persons of making any Commotions at home although there should be such which had it in design and purpose 'T is the very Year of the Peace of the Pyreneans and of the Marriage of the King. In the beginning of the Summer in the Year 1659 a Suspension of War by Sea and Land was signed that nothing might cross the Negotiations of Peace which were already advanced very far Marshal Turenne was gone to execute the Orders of the King on the subject of this Suspension Cardinal Mazarine at the same time that this pretended Conspiracy was made in Guyenne passed through the Province to go to the place where the Peace was to be concluded He arrived the twelfth of July at Libourne on the nineteenth at Cadillac and at the same time their Majesties parted from Fountainbleau to begin their Journey towards the Frontiers of Spain Must it not be confessed that the Ministers and Elders of Guyenne are very cunning at Confederations and Conspiracies that they know admirably well how to take their time and that no circumstances could be chosen more favourable to Embroil a Kingdom within than a time of general Peace which leaves the King in a condition to fall with all his power upon the Conspirators To conclude Hath Soulier no Shame and will he never cover himself with wholsome and salutary Confusion If you don't think him sufficiently sunk and overwhelmed take pains to follow me a little farther The fourth Argument of Falshood Soulier convinced of Jugling in his Answers We brought for a fourth Argument the evident Falshood that is in the name and in the person of Daret This is the man says the Act of Soulier which negotiated this Affair and treated with the English to engage them to enter into France This Daret is a man unknown a phantasm and if without saying any thing else we had obliged Soulier to find out his Monsieur Daret we had reduced him to the utmost difficulties but happily for this Historian-Priest a Conjecture was made which was thought sure that the Impostors having heard say that there was in the Province a Minister born a Subject of the English named Monsieur Durel they might very well choose this person to make of him a Negotiator with those of his own Nation Soulier ravished to find this passage open to go out of this dirty place hath stooped thereto Yes says he 't is Durel the Copy which was taken from the Original was ill transcribed they took an a for an u and a t for an l and whereas Daret in the first Act was nothing else but a Negotiator between the Ministers and Elders of Guyenne and the English in the second Edition he becomes Assistant-Moderator and is subscribed E. Durel Here is a heap of Juggles and Lies so pressed uppon each other that 't is a difficulty to rang them into order first 't is certain by the Table of the Synod of Montpazier the Acts whereof ought to be in the Office of Monsieur Chastean-neuf that Monsieur Durel was not Assistant-Moderator at this Synod 't was one named Monsieur Dorde Minister of Montpazier itself And we do intreat the honest men of Paris that they may be assured hereof to go and consult the Original hereof in the Office if they will not believe four living and speaking Witnesses which were at the said Synod
Persecutors could no more distinguish the Conduct of this day from that of Charles IX and Henry II. They said that never did any Persecution proceed further than blood and that there was no further pretence to say that they served themselves with moderate ways for our Conversion but this Declaration of the month of July is nothing in comparison of that of the month of April for I dare say that Hell never produced any thing more horrible I impute not this to the Supream Powers who have suffered themselves to be surprised to publish such an Edict A spirit so imployed with designs of finishing his Work as is that of our King is not capable of giving attention to any thing else But I impure it to the Counsel of Conscience to the Bishops and Jesuits which draw up the Decrees and cause them to be signed with blinded Eyes I do maintain that never was there any Society gave so great marks and signs of reprobation as that which forms and executes these projects After that Monsieur de Meaux hath said that that which is done at present is an exercise of the right Fidelity and Justice that Princes have to imploy the Sword for the punishment of Malefactors Let us see how he goes on And although you will not permit to Christian Princes to revenge great Crimes because they are injurious to God may they not revenge them because they cause trouble and Sedition in the State Without doubt those that trouble the State of what Religion soever they be be they Orthodox or otherwise may be punished But who are these that trouble the State are they those which Kill which Massacre and Plunder or those which live peaceably and demand nothing but liberty to worship God according to their Consciences and agreeably to the Edicts which have been granted them with all sorts of promises and securities What trouble do we make in the State What evil have we done in putting the Crown in the Family of Bourbon and in hindering it from falling from the Head of Lewis XIV during his minority Where are our Seditions and Revolts Europe knows and sees who they are which trouble the State whether we or they which lay wast the Provinces which diminish the Revenues of the King which weaken and abolish Trade and force more than a million of souls to search out ways to get out of the Kingdom The Bishop of Meaux adds Do you not clearly see that you build upon a false Principle If it were true they were the Arrians the Nestorians and the Pelagians that had reason to complain of the Church seeing they were those which were Banished and Persecuted and Catholick Princes were those that did Persecute and Banish them First of all I say that they rendered to the Arrians no more but what they had done to the Church They had removed and chased away the Orthodox from their Churches they had Banished the Orthodox and they Banished them Secondly I answer that it is false that Catholick Princes ever did that against the Arrians the Nestorians and Pelagians that is this day done against us Let Monsieur de Meaux a little unfold his skill in History and let him make us see that the Emperors did send Armies into the Arrian Villages and by the most cruel treatments force Abjuration Let him make us see that they did exact subscriptions that they did beat imprison send to the Mines or Gallies those that refused it To conclude I say that there is a great deal of difference between Banishing and Tormenting of Hereticks A Prince that will preserve his State clean may send Hereticks whose Doctrine he would not have dispersed with their Families and Goods elsewhere If the King had been contented to have Banished us with our Families and Goods we had had subject of complaint because of the false opinion that they have entertained concerning us that we are Hereticks doth not give them any right to treat us as such and to break the Confederations made with us and our Ancestors But nevertheless we would have suffered this injustice patiently because it would have been nothing in comparison of what is done against us at this day And at present also the Catholicks which are punished with death in Sueden and so many other Kingdoms would have reason of complaint against those that call themselves Reformed and every one in his turn would have right and wrong right in one place and wrong in another and Religion would depend upon uncertainties Let not Monsieur de Meaux be displeased it is not honest to advance matters of Fact so barbarous as these without any proof yea matters of Fact the falsity whereof are notorious They punish the Catholicks in Sueden and many other Countries with death I demand for the Publick in the Age present and in the Age to come Justice for this Calumny Nothing is more false and more known to be so for there is not a Protestant State where the Papists have not permission to live and live according to their Conscience although in some places they have not the publick exercise of their Religion and they are very few I know not whether Sueden be one of them The rest of that period every one has right and wrong c. is a Riddle which-covers at the bottom the most frightful Doctrine that ever was published It is that every Prince in his Dominions hath right to exterminate by Fire and Sword all those which are not of his Religion It is the established Law which according to Monsieur de Meaux ought to be the same every where to the end that it be not exposed to uncertainties It is I say the most horrible Doctrine that a Christian can teach For according to it the Turks have right to cut the Throats of Christians in all places where they are Masters Behold the argument of Monsieur de Meaux weakned and overturned if I do not mistake nevertheless it is certain that it comprehends in brief the best of all which these Gentlemen have to say on that behalf I had designed to leave the rest of Monsieur de Meaux his Letter because the Chapter concerning the Adoration of the Eucharist and that of the Judge of Controversies which he touches transiently will have their place in the following Letters and there be handled somthing at large But I have thought that the Readers love to find an Antidote wherever they find Poison for which reason we will say something thereon that the weakness of what he doth advance may appear to the end that they may not be imposed upon by these appearances of demonstration He touches the Adoration of the Bread and says The fear that you have that they will make you adore Bread hath some appearance of truth according to your prejudice I am well pleased that they do acknowledge that our fear hath some appearance of truth at least If the real presence were engravers in the Scripture as with a beam
about three Leagues from Nismes that sung Psalms he ran thither and finds this poor Man at the foot of a Tree reading in his Psalm Book having no other company but another poor Man sleeping by him He caused this to Hang the other upon the â—â—ot The Intendant and Marquess of Trousse publickly commended this action A little before this a barbarous action was committed upon a Gentleman of five or six thousand Crowns Annual Rent at the Bridge of Montvert in Gevaudan This Gentleman that he might avoid the temptation of Abjuring his Religion had passed seven or eight months in Caves At last being forced from thence being able to subsist there no longer he returned to his House As soon as the Commander of the Dragoons had notice of it he sent a Detachment of eight or ten Dragoons who having found him at one of his Houses wounded him in the presence of his Wife Plundered the House threatned to cut off her Fingers because she refused to give them the Rings that were on them The Gentleman at the end of five days dyed of his wounds and being about to expire he called the Villain that wounded him for he never stirred from his House he took him by the Hand and assured him that he forgave him with all his Heart and in this disposition of mind gave up his Soul to God. The Widow with three Children that she had was carried to Nismes the Children were taken from her and sent to Beaucaire and she had liberty to go whether she pleased upon her word All these cruelties have nothing abated the Zeal of the Reformed in this Country They continue their Assemblies although they have taken from them one of their principal Guides under whosâ— Conduct they held and observed them It is Monsieur Fulcran Rey a Native of Nismes and a Student in Theology who was hanged at Beaucaire on the seventh of the month of July I promised you an exact relation concerning him but it hath been Printed since that time it is worth your search and inquiry that you may know the acts of the passion of this Martyr we shall content our selves to observe here the principal passages thereof to the end that if these Letters go further than the intire relation thereof those which shall not be able to read that may know at least something thereof here This young Man was not above twenty four years of age when he suffered Martyrdom He had been Consecrated from his childhood to Divinity by his Father and Mother By the Declaration of October in the year past he was obliged to go out of the Kingdom in fifteen days as well as the other Ministers of the Gospel he either could not or would not go out in the time appointed insomuch that he was found and imprisoned in the Kingdom and exposed to the penalty of the Gallies according to the terms of the Declaration in case he were taken God put it into his Heart to use no endeavours to go out which without doubt he might have found as well as so many others who had that advantage As yet he was only Student in Theology the malignancy of the times hindering him from Ordination but an extraordinary Call supplied that defect He understood that when the House was on fire all the World ought put to their hand for the extinguishing thereof and that God who derives Praise from Children that suck may very well serve himself of him to edifie his Servants notwithstanding his Youth and meanness of Learning He traversed the whole Province of Languedoc He went from Montaub to Milhaw from thence to St. Affrique from thence to the Bridge of Cammares from thence to Nismes and to Montpellier every where searching out persons that were willing to be edified But the fear was then so great that it had stifled all other Thoughts and Sentiments Nevertheless they recovered a little and this young Man found opportunity to gather some Assemblies in the Neighbourhood of Nismes which cost liberty or life to many persons for of them some were Hanged Massacred and Imprisoned and others sent to the Gallies And this put a stop to the course of these Assemblies and our Martyr himself ran a great hazard by the treachery of one named Audoyer which made profession of friendship to him He escaped this danger because his hour was not yet come and God would yet make use of him some time for his Work. After he had made some Journeys to and fro on the borders of Castres at last he returned to Cevennes where he found a great many people disposed to hear him and he resolved to fix himself to the edification of that part of the Country because he believed he should there do most good Nevertheless well understanding that he could not long escape the vigilance of Persecutors who had filled that Country with Dragoons and Spies he wrote to his Father a Letter of fare â—â—l by which he declared he was perfectly ready to offer himself in Sacrifice to God and suffer Martyrdom and prepared his Father to hear soon the News of his being taken and consequently of his death This presage was not false for it was not two months wherein he had edified the Faithful by his Sermons by his Visits and his private Discourses before he was apprehended at Auduze by the falseness of one Almeras an Inhabitant of that Village This wretch had accompanied our Martyr in all the places of Cevennes where he had been insomuch that he believed he had reason to confide absolutely in him Nevertheless it was he that delivered him into the hands of the Dragoons He was then at a House out of the Village they took him on a Saturday night whilst he was employed in Meditation One of the Ministers of the fury of the Persecutors took him by the Hair cast him to the ground and cruelly beat him Our Martyr complained thereof with great moderation adding that God would punish him for an outrage so unjust This Prophesie had its accomplishment for the Soldier was slain two days after by one of his Companions with whom he engaged in a quarrel The Martyr was put in the Prison of Anduze where he was loaden with Chains and treated with all the severity they use to exercise towards the greatest Criminals It was there he was first examined they asked him whether he had Preached He confessed it and gloried therein and declared that he had done his duty and that he would yet do the same thing if he were in condition They endeavoured to learn from him the places where he had Preached and what persons had been present at his Sermons But to that he would say nothing because he would bring no person to hazard After he had undergone this interrogatory they put him into the hands of thirty Dragoons which carried him to the Prison of Alez where he was to undergo the Persecution of the Monks of all Orders besides the severity of the Judges But he
persevere in the Confession of the Truth the most part of whom never appeared so zealous as some of those who are fallen and flatter themselves because God has given them the opportunity of going out of the Kingdom and recovering themselves in a Country of Liberty and Freedom I do not call this Perseverance I commend the prudence of those which secure themselves but to account it their honour and reputation I cannot They sacrifice their Country their Wives their Children their Goods and their Ease I confess it and 't is true that is much But what will not a man give for his life Every one will give skin for skin and all that he has for his life but put forth thine hand and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face He who hath not suffered thus far hath not as yet given sufficient proof of his love for the Truth What shame and abatement of glory do these weak ones bring to our glorious Confessors who reckon their lapse and fall for a thing of naught According to them our Martyrs are fools and obstinate persons who suffer for a trifle for a signature and subscription which is required of them which when they have given they may save themselves by going out of the Kingdom Alas if this fault be so small a thing why do the holy Champions of God suffer so many Evils to avoid it Is it the Spirit of God which inspires them with this Courage If it be God that is the cause of this Holy Perseverance to what Spirit may we attribute this cowardize of refusing to Jesus Christ our Bodies to glorifie his Name and do honour to his Truth All that these poor Wretches say to us is this If you had been in our place it may be you would have done no better than we have done This may be true but is it a lawful Excuse Is the Crime the less because we are all capable of committing it I complain therefore but do not rigorously condemn those who have been so weak as to yield by Persecution provided they sigh and lament in the secret of their own Souls acknowledging and confessing their fault and their sin But I confess I am not able to bear those who after they have received much have returned so little and who being persons of great understanding have had so little stability and courage and cannot yet confess the fault they have committed is verâ— great and hainous The first of May 1687. The Eighteenth PASTORAL LETTER A. M. D. J. Vpon occasion of an Act falsely ascribed to the Synod of Montpazier in Perigort by which they would prove that in the year 1659. the Reformed of Lower Guyenne did Treat with the English about their entring into France and delivering several Places in the Kingdom into their hands Monsieur YOU have thought that the Accusation which Soulier the Priest hath renewed against the Protestants of France does deserve that we interrupt the course of our Pastoral Letters to give the Publick a small Apology concerning it And indeed seeing we do employ our selves in refuting errors in matters of Right for the justification of our holy Religion we maâ— and ought to confute errours in matters of Fact for the justification of persons who make profession of this Religion So that I yield to your Reasons and at this time shall make an Apology for our selves against this barbarous and inhumane Accusation And first I advertise the Publick that they give attention to the business about which we are now to treat for they will see one of the most famous Impostures that the eyes of him who seeth all things ever did behold they will see what is the Spirit of the Religion which for so long time we have opposed they will know what our Persecutors are capable of I Know not what cheating Priests and Apostate Ministers did forge some years since an Act in the Name of the Synod of Lower Guyenne which was held at Montpazier in the year 1659. on the first of July and some days following that they might perswade that the Reformed of that Province did at that time treat with the English about giving them entrance into the Kingdom and delivering into their Hands all those places of which they could make themselves Masters This piece of Forgery appeared at that time when they laboured with an incredible Heat to thrust the Reformed of France with all the speed they could to their utmost Ruine 'T was all this time that all the World to please the Court thought it a Duty to endeavour by all sorts of Accusations to render them Odious All places were full of Books and Libels against Calvinism endeavouring to shew the Impurities of its Birth the Horrors of its Life the Furies of its Conduct the Civil Wars that it did occasion the Spirit of Rebellion wherewithal it is animated the Dangers in which it engaged the Crown the Precipices to the very borders whereof it carried the Realm its divers attempts against the Persons of our Kings and the State. All then was well received which promoted the principal end of the Clergy and Court of France And 't was to animate the King to a speedy execution of his Design that this piece was forged This Conspiracy of the Synod of Monpazier which was sufficiently new was the most proper means in the World to swell and inlarge the Libels which were made against the Reformed Nevertheless no Writer would own or assert this Villainous Piece because 't was visible to be bad Mettal Mr. Maimbourg was not a person scrupulous in the value and worth of his Testimonies when he endeavoured to support what he had advanced and this pretended Conspiracy of Montpazier was a Testimony sufficiently good it seems to me to prove the Thesis which he had endeavoured to defend in his History of Calvinism 't is that the Spirit of Violence Fury and Rebellion is the Soul of our Religion Nevertheless neither he nor Mr. Arnald in his Apology for the Catholicks nor Mr. Feure who came sine did ever dare to hazard their Reputation on a Calumny so evident and an Accusation so ill proved and established I intreat you judge whether it be true as they pretend that the Court had the Act and the Proof of this Conspiracy in their hands that the resolution of Montpazier in its Original had been put into the hands of the King by Mr. Joly Bishop of Agen and by the Cardinal Bouillon and that the Court had judged the piece true Consider say I whether Mr. Maimbourgh who writ by the Order of the Court and on purpose to make Calvinism Odious would have had no knowledge or cognizance of it And in case he had known or understood it is it not plain and clear that he would have made use of it if he had thought it good and valuable But at last a Person is found fit to serve as a Godfather to this Reprobate and Bastard-Child
't is Soulier the Priest a man the most given up to the Spirit of Calumny that ever was in the World the most desperate and frontless Lyer that Popery ever bred up and to make his Elogy in one word Bipedum nequissimus the greatest of Knaves This man publishes in the year 1682. a furious Libel against the Reformed under the Title of The History of the Edicts of Pacification in which amongst other Proofs of our lewd and Criminal Conduct prosecuted and carried on to the end he makes use of this Act drawn up says he by the Synod of Montpazier in the form and words in which it is here seen The Pastors and Elders of the Churches of Lower Guyenne Assembled in the Synod at Montpazier the first of July 1659 and some days following UPON the report made by Mr. Ricottier The first was the Minister of Clairac the other of Nerac of the Care that he hath taken with Mr. Vignier now absent at the desire of some of the Society to obtain that our Brethren of England should concern themselves in the preservation of our Liberties which they endeavour every day to destroy wherein they think he hath laboured happily by the interposition and assistance of Mr. Daret And having learnt from the Mouth of Mr. Daret and seen by Letters which have been written to him and whereof he had given a Copy to the said Mr. Ricottier that to maintain us in our Priviledges and prevent the dissipation of our Flocks they offer not only to interceed for us but also in case of refusal to bear Arms into this Province if we promise them Cromwell was yet alive and give them assurance to put into their hands all the Cities and places whereof we can dispose The Society approving the Care of the said Messieurs Ricottier and Vignier after having all promised by Oath made to God not to reveal a Secret of this importance return Thanks to the said Mr. Daret for what he had already done to make it successful and do intreat him to go assoon as he can and know what assurances they desire and promise on our part that we shall give all those that are possible and as a Pledge thereof they have drawn up the present Act which shall be dispatcht to him to this end and purpose and the Original put into the hands of the said Vignier to be secretly and faithfully kept there until the business can be executed to the Glory of God and the Comfort of our poor Afflicted Flocks c. The Original is Signed by the President the Assistants and the Register of the Synod This Imposture caused all those that saw it to tremble and the Reformed stirred all that they could to justifie themselves from this Calumny but this was no time to succeed in an Enterprise of Justification for Persons whom they had resolved to destroy after the most cruel manner in the World and whom by consequence they would look upon as Criminals Nevertheless the Synod of the Province of Guyennâ— did what they could and took the Resolution expressed in the Act of the last Synod held in the Province and I think she last Synod that was held in France Behold the Act faithfully printed according to the Copy Signed by the Secretary himself An Extract from the Legier Book of the Acts of the Synod of the Reformed Churches of Lower Guyenne held in the City of the upper Thonneins by the Permission of the King the ninth of December and some days following in the year 1683. ARTICLE the Sixth THE Deputies of the Church of Burdeaux having represented to the Society that in a Book made by Mr. Soulier the Priest printed at Paris 1682 Intituled A History of the Edicts of Pacification the said Soulier in the 393 page of that Book and in that which follows it hath reported an Act which he pretends to be made by the Synod of Monpazier to give thanks to Mr. Ricottier and Vignier both Ministers for the Care they had taken to engage the English in the Interests of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom with these two Circumstances noted in the Margin of that Book the one that the said Mr. Ricottier was Minister of Clairac the other that Cromwel was yet alive then and at the time of the said Act adding that the Original thereof had been put into the hands of the said Vignier and taken in his Closet after his Death by Mr. Monier Minister of Nerac that this Act was put into the hands of Monsieur the late Bishop of Agen and whereas this Act is a suppositious piece and injurious to the Honour of the Synod and to the Memory of the said Ricottier who was then Minister of the Church of Burdeaux they account themselves particularly concerned to make the Calumny of this Act appear and also their inviolable Fidelity to the Service of the King therefore they represented the said Book and likewise the said Legier Book of the Synod held at Montpazier the first of July 1659 desiring the Commissioners to view the said Book in the page marked and quoted and likewise the Legier Book of the Synod of Montpazier but the Gentlemen the Commissaries said it was no part of their Commission to examine Books or Papers of preceeding Synods that it appertained to the Society to look to their justification where and as they should think good that for their parts they pretended not to take any cognizance thereof Whereupon the Society after they had reflected upon the Importance and meaning of the said Act and having examined it together with the Legier Book of the Synod held at Montpazier the first of July 1659 it appeared by comparing these two pieces that the aforesaid Act printed in the Book of Soulier is not in the said Papers of the Synod and moreover that the falseness of this pretended Act is clearly proved by two Circumstances in matter of Fact one whereof is that by the Table of the said Legier Book of the Synod of Montpazier it appears that the late Mr. Ricottier was not Minister of the Church of Clairac the other Circumstance is this that 't is certain that Oliver Cromwel died the thirteenth of September 1658 and so it was impossible that the Churches of this Province could have any Correspondence with him in the year 1659. After which the Society resolved that humble Remonstrances should be made to his Majesty to assure him of the inviolable Fidelity that the said Churches had preserved and should always preserve for his Service and to desire that he would be pleased to appoint that the said Soulier should be Condemned to make them such satisfaction as he should judge fit with prohibition both to him and all others that for the time to come they injure them no more by Calumnies of that nature The present Extract is taken from the Papers of the Act of the Synod held at the City of the Upper Thonniens the ninth of September and some days
given a Copy to the said Monsieur Ricottier that to maintain us in our Priviledges and prevent the Dissipation of our Flocks they offer not only to Interceed for us but also in case of Refusal to bear Arms into this Province if we promise them and give them assurance to put into their hands all the Cities and places whereof we can dispose The Society approving the care of the said Messieurs Ricottier and Vignier After having all promised by Oath made to GOD not to reveal a Secret of this importance return Thanks to the said Monsieur Durel for what be had already done to make it successful and do intreat him to go a soon as he can and know what Assurances they desire and promise on our part that we shall give all those that are possible and as a Pledge thereof they have drawn up the present Act which shall be dispatcht to him to this end and purpose and the Original put into the hands of the said Vignier to be secretly and faithfully kept there until the business can be executed to the Glory of GOD and the Comfort of our poor afflicted Congregations c. Signed Ricottier Moderator E. Durel Assistant J. Asimont Chosen to Collect the Acts. J. Meysonnet Secretary There are no attempts imaginable which the Priest Soulier doth not make to defend this false Piece But we see that God doth strike these Impostors with a Spirit of Blindness so that they stumble in places where it were easie for them to be upon their guard The Work hath appeared in publick a long time since and we were advertised from France that this part thereof was envenomed leud and worthy that we should make the Injury and Reproach thereof fall upon its Author But the Calvinists of Holland of whom Monsieur Soulier speaks with so much contempt have so little esteem for his Works that they did not put themselves to the trouble of obtaining this And the Printers of Holland who print all things at are saleable did not think that the Sale of the History of Calvinism would pay the charge of the Press The reason therefore why we Anwer to it so late is because we could not recover any Copy thereof at last we resolved to obtain it by an Express otherwise it had never passed our Frontiers We have therefore seen and read it and have judged that the Conspiracy of Montpazier did indeed deserve that we should reply to it But before we defend our Arguments for the Falshood thereof and produce new ones 't is necessary once more that you know who the Priest Soulier is that you may also know of what weight his Authority is but I choose rather that you know it from the mouth of one of his Brethren than from ours for which reason we shall here produce a Letter which Monsieur Le Feure a Doctor of the Sorbonne did write to one of his Friends concerning this Gentleman and this since the History of the Birth Progress Decay and Ruine of Calvinism appeared in the World. A Letter of Monsieur Le Ferre Doctor of the Sorbonne to Monsieur de M. concerning Monsieur Soulier the Priest. I Must confess faithfully Monsieur that I have always believed that a politick Dissimulation of those Resentments which a man cannot discover without prejudice to his interest was not the Vice of our Nation and that it ought to be the horrour of men of the Character which we bear I speak of Resentments which are believed just and whose end is the Defence of Truth and not a Chimera of Reputation or false worldly Honour I have been hitherto and am yet perswaded that 't is to be an Enemy to Truth to suffer it to be oppressed then when there is reason to fear that a man shall draw upon himself the Persecution of those which oppose it for I have made to myself a Rule of that ancient Maxim of the Fathers of the Church Let us be Banished so the Truth be Preached Behold Monsieur the only reason why I have had so few Contests with persons of eminent Merit so that the Priest Soulier had passed in silence if he had not observed a quite opposite conduct Judge thereof Monsieur by the following History in the Year 1681 the learned Jesuit Father Mesnier being chosen by the Clergy for their Agent-General and Counsel to the Syndicks of the Diocess of this Kingdom prosecuting the Destruction of the Temples of those of the Reformed Religion built contrary to the Edicts published a Collection about those matters printed at Paris by Monsieur Leonard Bookseller to the Clergy In the time of this Impression Monsieur Soulier published a little Work where by way of Essary he accuses the Syndecks of Ignorance as having suffered the Preservation of many Churches which ought to have been destroyed The Father Mesnier seeing that this blow would fall directly upon him thought himself obliged to refute this Dream of Monsieur Soulier he therefore employs about twenty of the last Pages of his Book to convince this Monsieur of Ignorance He concludes them by accusing him of Falshood of Calumnie and of being a person that at most knew no more than to Read and Write and sending him to the exercise of his first Trade and Employment Monsieur Soulier saw and dissembled the thing from 1681 until the end of this Year 1686 that is to say near six Years Why did he keep silence so long and why speaks he now after he had been so long dumb Think of it what you please Monsieur but behold that which I think most reasonable concerning it The Father Mesnier was alive and is now dead Soulier owed to him what he knew in the matter of Edicts against those of the Reformed Protestant Religion which he hath dressed over again to give a tast of them to the World. The Father Mesnier made use of him to be a Servant and a Scribe and he is not the first who from the Servant of an Author is become an Author himself The Servants of Physitians do every day steal the Secrets of their Masters The Father Mesnier is therefore dead and Monsieur Soulier hath filled up his place in a very short space of time The Revocation of the Edict of Nants followed by the Destruction of the Churches of those of the Reformed Protestant Religion having rendered his pretended Employment much more unprofitable than the Work which he reproaches me for sending into the World a little too late nevertheless being puffed up with his new Place and Preferment he was not able to endure any longer to be accused of Ignorance But why does he fall upon me 'T is because I being necessarily engaged to take part in the business contested by Father Mesnier and him I put myself on the side of the Master against the Servant and to save myself the labour of confuting Soulier I said that it had been done by Father Mesnier Yea I had the Charity not to name Soulier when I said as
before our general Banishment Is it credible he would have permitted a Minister convinced of Rebellion against his Majesty and of Conspiracy against the State to go out of his Kingdom He who had kept in Prison other Ministers of Guyenne for Preaching or Praying after the Prohibitions would he have given the Keys of the Gates to a Minister known guilty not only of the same faults but of a crime worthy of the severest Punishment Certainly there is nothing could have protected me and I must have expected to have been condemned to Prison or to the Gallies for ever Seeing therefore that after the sight of this Act he gave me my Pass-port and was content with my Banishment as well as with that of others 't is an indisputable proof that he gave no credit to it and knew the Falshood thereof only he thought fit to leave Soulier at liberty to fight us with the Weapons of his Tongue and Pen. To conclude though we have to do with a King who hath condemned his Faithful Subjects to Banishment even those who exposed their Goods their Lives and Liberties to his Service yet I do not repent the performance of my Duty 't is matter of Confidence to me and gives me the boldness to implore the Protection of GOD against the Cruelty of Men. Two things are considerable in this Testimony of Monsieur Asimont the first is That he is a man of great Age and of whom it may be said that he expects the moment in which he must go and appear before God. Can any one believe that a man so near to leave the World should be willing to keep measures with it for the preservation of I know not what trifle of Honour and Reputation and that being so near his appearance before God should dare to prophane his holy Name by so many Falshoods and Perjuries The other thing observable is The Circumstance which he observes in his Letter concerning the suspicion though unjust under which he fell in the minds of some of his Brethren by reason of a certain Letter of Favour and Thanks which the King caused to be written to him as an Acknowledgment of his Fidelity to his Service This is notorious and all the World knows it Is there any probability that they would trust such a man with a Conspiracy which they knew to have been so faithful and so perfectly in the Interests of the Court But is there any probability that a man who had been so faithful to the King and so fast and sure to his Service would have any part in such a Confederacy and Conspiracy I do acknowledge that I have no more to say after this and that if the Priest Soulier does continue to maintain his Act and Conspiracy of Montpazier he may very well boast that he hath the gift of Impudence to the highest degree and measure For never had Romance and Fiction so many marks of Falshood Let us see them a little altogether 1. Ricottier is here Minister of Clairac and in truth he was Minister of the Reformed Church of Burdeaux 2. Saint Blancard is here Commissary for the King but in truth 't was Monsieur Vivans of Vilefranche 3. Daret is he by whose Mediation they treated with the English this Daret is a Phantome who never was in the World. 4. Durel Minister of the Duke de la Force substituted in the place of Daret was not Assistant to the Synod 't was Dorde Minister of Montpazier itself 5. To Durel who treated with the English they give the name of Elijah or Estienne or Esay or some such name beginning with an E and yet his name was John. 6. Durel is present he receives the Act and nevertheless he was not so much as deputed to the Synod 7. Durel treated with Cromewell who even had been dead ten Months 8. Durel treated with the Parliamentarians to whom he was a mortal Enemy and by whom he was mortally hated 9. The English offer to enter France with their Arms in a time when they were in the greatest Confusion among themselves in an Anarchy and by consequence in a state of the utmost weakness 10. A Conspiracy is discovered to the Court part of the Authors are living and the Court says nothing thereof 11. Asimont one of the principal Conspirators begs leave for himself and his two Sons to depart the Kingdom 't is granted him without any difficulty 12. They suppress the Edict of Nantes they Persecute the Reformed even to death without objecting this Conspiracy as a fault unto them 13. Men enterprize and attempt to deliver places to an Enemy which they have not had in their hands these fifty Years 14. Men attempt to raise a Civil War in the time of the Peace of the Pyreneans at a season when the Kingdom remained without any trouble from abroad 15. They are four or five Ministers and it may be as many Elders which make this Conspiracy and pretend to execute this great Design without communicating it to any one 16. Or they did communicate a Secret on which the Lives of an infinite number of persons depended to an hundred and fifty Deputies yea to all the Consistories 17. To conclude the Reformed attempted to trouble a Kingdom and themselves in a time when they enjoyed a very great Peace I do maintain that here are a heap of Falshoods Contradictions and Follies so plain and sensible that a man must have a head and heart made like those of Soulier the Priest to be able to digest them To conclude let us see a little the Channels by which this Piece hath passed and Providence will therein shew us new Indications of Falshood As to its source 't is sufficiently difficult to discover it according to Soulier this Act made by the Synod of Montpazier is put into the hands of the Minister Vignier Vignier died in the Year 1666 and dying committed this Piece in trust into the hands of Mounier Minister of Nerac also and his Colleague the Minister Mounier turns Catholick in the Year 1675 and dies in the Year 1677 at Paris in an Inn near the House of Soissons Monsieur de Quesne Arch-Deacon and Vicar-General of Condom goes to see him in the time of his Sickness he gives him this Act of Montpazier Monsieur de Quesne gives it Monsieur Joly then Bishop of Agen Joly gives it to Monsieur the Cardinal of Bouillion the Cardinal of Bouillion gives it to the King and at last the King gives it to Monsieur Chasteau-neuf who puts it in his Office where it is sealed up and joyned to the Acts of the Synod of Montpazier Behold a great many hands which are either unknown to us or suspected by us As to the Minister Mounier we do continue to say he was a man wounded in his Reputation by Suspension from his Ministry he was besides an Apostate from the Truth and had the Character of all voluntary Apostates i. e. hatred for the Truth and for those which do
the Woolf coming fled away and he alledging his own Exemple she said that she would not depart out of the State at least till the King commanded her and that she hoped that God would give her the Grace to surmount all and abide firm After that they had subverted all the Churches of that Country The Intendant Le Bret M. le Camus Bishop of Grenoble and at this time Cardinal the Marquess de la Trousse Commander of the Troops in Dauphine went to see her in her Castle du Monotier of Clermont they disputed against her they made Requests to her with Promise and Threats she defended her self vigorously against all their Attaques and in the end they left her Some days after they sent to take her away by the Dragoons to confine her in a Covent at Grenoble Seeing she was always the same they threatned to send her to Valence and to put her into the hands of Rapine she answered that she would go whether they pleased even to the Fire but not to the Mass In the end they executed one part of the said threatning upon her sending her to Valence but not to the Butchery of Rapine they put her into a Convent of the Religious with a prohibition to permit her to speak to any of them which they call the New Converts This Lady suffered her Removal and her Imprisonment in that Cloister with so much patience and sweetness that 't is said she abated the rage and fury of her Persecutors She entertained the Religious with so much Decency and spake to them such handsome things of our Religion that she won at first their Heart and almost perswaded them to be Christians The Intendant and the Bishop of Valence understanding that this Prisoner triumpht over her Goalers gave order that she should be fetcht from the Convent where she was put and be removed into another which was done and Madam de Bardonnanche behaved her self there after the same manner there she made also the same Progress upon the Spirits of her new Hostesses They took her also from that Convent and confined her in another in the same place with a Command not to speak to her nor to â—uffer her to speak to any body Since we have lâ—arnt by one of our Brethren well worthy of Credit who came lately from that Province that there hath been a new Order to remove her into another Convent at Vif a Town which is not above two leagues from Grenoble I could increase these Relations with divers Circumstances and with others like them as that of Monsieur de Sainct Cross the Son of a Counsellor of the Parliament of Grenoble who hath been at Pierre Size these five Months because he would not change that also if the three Pastors of Orange Mr. Chion Mr. Gondran Mr. Petit and Mr. Onet Pastor of Courteson near Orange who have long been kept in the Prisons of Valence and who are now at Pierre Size though they be not able to reproach them for having done any thing against the King in whose State they lived not and who testifie an admirable Constancy although very many did yield before their Eyes That of Monsieur de Beauregard Burgess of St. Anthony near to St. Marcelin in the same Province who after he had seen all his Goods devoured which were very great hath suffered the most cruel torments in his Body until they had hardened and shrunk up the Nerves of his Legs by the violence of the approaching Fire and had laid him upon a pile of wood saying unto him that he should be burnt alive in one word whom they had tormented till he lost his Reason who being at length set at liberty is happily retired out of the Kingdom into Switzerland That of Monsieur Delis a Gentleman of Trienes in Dauphine who chose rather to suffer Martyrdom and hath actually suffered it in the Month of January 1686 at Grenoble rather than change But of this enough for this time News from Nismes written June 17th 1687. EVery day they bring Prisoners from Lions into this City and once or twice in a Month they condemn to the Gallies those which had abjured and communicated and afterward were taken attempting to get out of the Kingdom As for them which neither have nor will abjure they condemn them to America The Prisons and the Tower of Vennatiere which is a kind of Prison are always full of these poor miserable Creatures They are very much relieved by those in this City which have done what they would never do it is not known why God has left them here without it be for the relief of those Confessors of Christ which would dye else by Famine in Prisons About eight days since they carried twenty one Persons some Women and some young Girls that were condemned to Marseille viz. nineteen for America and two for the Gallies on whom they bestowed great Charity Every Month we make a contribution for the General Hospital which is established in this City in the Church and in the Houses adjoyning which belong to the Consistory every one according to his Ability Since the eighth of May we have had the Regiment of Vivonne on which day they begun to work upon the Cittadel tho' that were Ascension-day and they take great pains therein They have enclosed from the form of Paulian unto the Wall of the City drawing a Line from the Tower of Corconne unto the Watch-Tower at the end of the Tennis-Court Two days since there was a Detachment of five Companies to go to Valeraube where there was a numerous Assembly in the Presence of the Priest of the place and before the Sermon the Priest would dispute with him that was to Preach and after that he would hear his Sermon We know not yet what was the issue of that Affair In this City whilst M. the Intendant was here they say there are Assemblies notwithstanding all the ill Treatment with which they have been continually exercised They say that the Daughters of Mr. Ducros and of Andemar are out of the hands of Rapine since their fall through their ill treatment But Mrs. Parelle persists with an incredible constancy When her cruel Hangman said to her Madam I am astonisht that you can suffer such Miseries She answered him again As for me I suffer nothing this is nothing Jesus Christ hath suffered much more for me Since the writing of this Letter we are informed of two faithful Persons which have suffered Martyrdom in the said City of Nismes the 26th of the last Month the name of the one is Mr. Manuel the other is called Iloque You shall have the History of their Martyrdom some other time We could also give you the News of our Brethren of Metz if this Pastoral Letter could contain the Copy of that which was written from that place In the mean time cease not to pour out your Prayers in the presence of the Great God for the Consolation of these afflicted Persons July
advantage upon the Abyssines because they were very ignorant But King Claudias interposing therein had almost as much advantage on the Missionaries of Portugal as they had on the Ecclesiasticks of Aethiopia because he was without comparison the most able man of his Kingdom as well in Divinity as in the Art of Government Oviedo seeing that he got nothing by these ways resolved to employ those which were more violent He left the Court to testifie his displeasure and published a Writing injurious to the Abyssine Church in which he accused it of many Heresies and forbad the Portugese to have any Communion with it The King was angry also on his part but a little while after he was slain in a Battel and left his Brother Adamus Saghed Successor to his Realm This Prince used more rigour against Oviedo and his Companions he revoked all those Acts of Grace which his Predecessors had granted to them He forbad them upon pain of death to trouble his Estates by their new Gospel The Bishop withdrew to Fremone upon the Frontiers of the Kingdom and there abode thirty years with the Portugese under the Title of the Patriarch of the Abyssines which he took after the death of John Barrett Adam Saghed died and his Son Malec Saghed succeeded him He treated the Portugese more kindly and they being reformed by the correction they had received acted more wisely and with greater moderation Nevertheless this Mission was extinct because they had no way of sending Successors the Turks having possessed the Ports of the Red-Sea which gave admission into Aethiopia And the Portugese which would have converted all the Nation were found without Priests to give them the Communion But in the beginning of this Age in the year 1604. a Jesuit named Peter Pais was more happy than all those who had preceded them He entered into Aethiopia and made himself admired by an Ability which although it were but very indifferent seemed extraordinary among people which knew nothing He came to the Court of Zadengel who was then King of Aethiopia and managed him so well that he obtained an express Promise from him that he would submit to the Pope and the Religion of the Romans This Prince began with an Ordinance which forbad the observation of Saturday or the Sabbath which the Abyssines venerate as the Lord's Day The Great Men of the Realm being provoked by this Enterprize conspired against him and slew him after a Battel in which he was not successful Behold already the death of one King which Papery caused in Aethiopia This death cost the Jesuit Converters nothing on the contrary they found in Susneus the Successor of Zadengel a Protector much more proper to make the Minister of their Violence Susneus permitted himself to be managed by these Missionaries of Portugal in such a manner that they prevailed with him to declare openly that he would change the Religion of the Country and submit the Abyssine Church to the Pope He wrote concerning it to Clement the Eighth and to Philip King of Spain who was then also King of Portugal Many Great Lords of the Court and Officers of the Army out of complaisance to their King embraced the Religion of the Romans and communicated with them Susneus having received many kind Letters from Paul the Fifth writ to him again another Letter dated the 31th of January 1613. by which he acknowledges him for Pastor of the Universal Church and desires his assistance to confirm his Religion This Prince guided by the Jesuits to the end that they might do things a little in form caused many Conferences to be held upon the Question of the two Natures in Christ Jesus For the Aethiopians following the Schism of Eutyches acknowledge in him but one But the truth is there is at this day nothing but a dispute of words thereon for the Eutychians acknowledge the Divinity and Humanity in Christ Jesus but it pleases them to say this Union makes but one Nature compounded of two as the Body and Soul in Man make but one Compound so that 't is certain that we may very well give our selves indulgence therein but 't is not of the Spirit of Popery to tollerate any thing The King at the sollicitations of the Jesuits made an Edict by which he ordained That henceforward they should believe two Natures in Christ Jesus The Abyssine Monks which fell in the Dispute sustained themselves in their ignorance with obstinacy in their Opinion but one of them having spoken a little too freely was brought before the King and was beaten with a stirrup-leather Behold the Spirit of Popery which began to discover it self without disguise This first Violence awakened their sleeping Spirits Simeon the Metropolitan of the Abyssines came to Court he complains That without consulting him they had done such things upon Religion The King answered That for his satisfaction there should yet be a Conference on that subject The consequence was that after the Conference the Jesuits obtained an Edict by which it was forbidden on pain of death to say there was but one Nature in Christ Jesus This frightful Decree was a clap of Thunder which seemed to reduce the whole Empire of the Abyssines into powder and Aethiopia knew then by experience what Evils the Spirit of Popery drew along with it all the Realm was alarmed and the most moderate lost their moderation and considered that in truth the Controversie about two Natures in Christ in the estate in which now it was was of no importance but that such a severity was unheard of in Aethiopia since the times of the Apostles and that it was wholly opposite to the nature of the Christian Religion for which Religion they concluded they must not suffer such Violence Jamanaxus Brother by the Mothers side of the Emperour puts himself at the head of a very powerful Confederation into which many great Lords entered with all the Church-men and a great part of the People The Metropolitan Simeon who strove less against the two Natures in Jesus Christ than for his Dignity which they would have taken from him in favour of him whom it should please the Pope to name excommunicated all those which followed the Religion of the Franks for so they call the Religion of the Romans This boldness caused some fear to the Emperour he grew a little moderate and made another Edict in which he gave Liberty of Conscience to all his Subjects and in all appearance he had continued so to do if he had followed his own Inclinations But at the instigation of the Jesuits he returned to more violent Counsels The Queen-Mother the Metropolitan the Church-men and the Monks threw themselves at his feet in favour of the ancient Religion but he rejected them all with violence so that there was no more hopes of Peace Jamanaxus the King's Brother Elias his Son-in-Law Governour of the Province of Tygris with a great Party resolved to oppose the Violence by force The Metropolitan
renews his Excommunications the Sword-men take Arms Aelius commands all the Portugese to go out of the Province whereof he was Governour they came to blows The Party of the King and the Jesuits was the stronger Aelius was slain Simeon the Metropolitan was taken whom they beheaded they made a great Butchery among the People but Jamanaxus was pardoned Behold already how much Bloud hath been shed by Popery But things will not continue there The Jesuits and their King puft up with the success of their Victory proceed to a new Reformation The Prince forbad them the observation of the Saturday-Sabbath and commanded that they should labour on that day upon the penalty of confiscating their Goods for the second Offence 'T is indeed an affair sufficiently small about which it were very possible to have given a tolleration but Popery understands not the meaning of that word they severely chastised for an Example one named Buc a person very eminent in the Kingdom for his Military Employments This new severity gave occasion of a revolt to one named Jonael Vice-Roy of Bageindra All the Court the women and the Favourites interposed in this affair a little to soften and bend the Spirit of the King but the Jesuits prevailed upon him He would not comply with their Perswasions So they came a second time to war Jonael was beaten many times and withdrew from the Kingdom This did not affright others Those of the Province of Damos took Arms for the ancient Religion The Hermites which are there in great abundance were willing to signalize themselves in this Holy War. Nevertheless their Party was beaten but there was great effusion of Bloud on both sides Behold the ordinary Methods by which Popery arrives at Empire After these repeated Victories which cost the King of Aethiopia great part of his Subjects he accomplished his design The Jesuites by his Authority intirely overturned the Religion and Church of the Abyssines all gave way either to seduction or violence They swore Fidelity and Obedience to Urban the Eighth the Pope sent there a Roman Patriarch all those who would not obey were severely chastised The new Patriarch passed through the Kingdom baptizing and confirming an infinite number of persons They established Seminaries of the Children of the Abyssines and Portuguese In one word Popery by its ordinary ways which are violence and the sword became master of all Abyssinia One named Tecla Georgius another Son-in-law of the King put himself at the head of the Malecontents which were in great number but the fortune of the Jesuites did yet accompany the King in this Affair Tecla Georgius was slain and his Sister hanged on a Tree because she had spoken a little too freely against the Rites of the Latine Church The Patriarch Alphonsus Mendez a Jesuit knew not how to use his good Fortune but believing that henceforward he might abandon himself without constraint to that spirit of Tyranny which hath its seat at Rome ill intreated all the great Men of the Court excommunicated the prime Officers of the Kingdom for things which were not Ecclesiastical he domineer'd over all with so much insolence that at length the King himself and all the Courtiers opened their eyes upon the conduct of these new Tyrants Rebellions were renewed in most part of the Provinces Battels were fought and blood spilt under the Authority of the King who was still abused by Popery But a certain person called Ras Seelax a great Favourite of the King 's and a great Protecter of Popery having lost his Reputation the Affairs of the Jesuites and Popery sunk and fell into decay thereby The King being tired by the Troubles which these new Evangelists brought to him every day by their Rigours and seeing that the Hydra of Rebellion after it lost one head found a hundred began very much to abate of his rigour and granted liberty to whosoever would use it to preserve and observe the ancient Religion This goodness of the Prince which agreed very well with natural Equity displeased these imperious Masters they made violent opposition thereunto but favour continued no longer on their side the same Prince which had abolished the ancient Religion doth re-establish it or rather permits that it should be re-established after ten or twelve years interruption Susneus dies a little while after This Protector of the Religion newly established being dead Popery tumbled with haste and violence towards ruine They repaid to the Jesuites the cruelty they had used they took away their Churches and Goods and drove them out of the Kingdom They tried all ways they set their Friends and Creatures on work they intreated they desired the help of Arms and Souldiers from Goa for their Defence but all to no purpose The Patriarch Alphonsus Mendez was put into the hands of the Turks from whence he was redeemed with Money but his Companions the Jesuites Almeyda Father Hyacynthus Lewis Cardyra and many others were hanged as Disturbers of the publick Peace The Congregation for the Propagation of Faith were willing to attempt the Recovery of this brave Kingdom which they had lost they send six Capuchines to try if they could pass once again into Aethiopia but two of them died by the hand of the Cafres two were stoned in Aethiopia the other two returned without doing any thing In conclusion three other Capuchines were willing to make another attempt they came ashore at Suaquene a Port of the Red-sea possessed by the Turks from thence they wrote to the King of Aethiopia as if it had been a thing grateful to him that they were there ready to pass into his Country as soon as he should furnish them with necessary Accommodations For answer Basilides who was then King of Aethiopia after his Father Susneus writ to the Turkish Bassa who commanded the place that he would do him the kindness to send him the Heads of those three Franks This was done they cut off their heads they flead off their skins which they filled with Hay and sent them to Basilides So these poor miserable Wretches bore the punishment of all the Blood which the Jesuites and Popery had shed in the Kingdom of the Abyssines This History as it seems to me is very proper to shew that in all places as well as in all Ages the spirit of Popery is the occasion of Trouble Confusion Tyranny and Persecution and God did permit that Popery should prosecute its usual methods in Aethiopia as elsewhere to hinder the Abyssine Church from continuing under the Papal Tyranny For if these Emissaries of the Court of Rome had proceeded with more Moderation and spared Blood and offered no Violence to the Consciences of men without doubt Popery had this day been regnant among the Abyssines The Liberty of the Reformed Churches of Hungary was established upon very good Foundations the Kings of that Country had granted to the Protestants divers Declarations by which the exercise of the Reformed Religion was permitted in all places On