Truth that in a word all who are Great Rational and Spiritual in the Kingdom would give their hearts and minds to the most just verity One may observe in the Debates of Religion that which falls out in all other quarrels One never yields to declared Enemies till after they have tryed the misfortune of Armes and then the Submission increaseth the rage of the Over-come and begets such grudges as are the Fathers or Children of desperate Actions but in a Cessation of Fight they speak together they hear one another they joyn their Interests and every one hath time to do Justice to himself and others If we could have in France so sweet a way to perfect Peace we should see a miraculous effect and sooner than one could believe of this desired Unity because every one being dis-engaged from the Authority of Strangers without fearing to be punished by the Kings Orders would bind himself willingly to his Natural Prince who is most Christian rather than to tye himself to the Roman Monarch who appears very jealous and hard to be served and so not parting their Hearts they would Unite their Souls If a French-man were in necessity of having a Dispensation for Marriage would he not be content rather to obtain it of the King than to buy it of Rome especially when in these days they cost four times more than ordinary to make war against Candia I believe not but that Pastors Ordained by the Kings Authority and Canonically received by the Churches would be as satisfactory and as fully Authorized as by the Power of Rome and when we shall have well thought upon the establishment of this sweet Agreement the Fruits which it will produce will be found to be the very things which the King desires for his People 28. This matter of Religion having been discoursed where there were many of both Religions one approved the thoughts of a person who maintained that the Roman-Catholiques whose minds are not cruelly inclined are more easily bent to the Reformed Piety than the Reformed to the Romish Religion The 1st Reason is that it is more easy to cease believing that which is uncertain than to begin to believe that which appears to be false for example I give you the Creed of the reality of the Body and Blood of Christ of the only and Supreme authority of the Pope of Purgatory and of the glory of the Saints departed whom they pray to The reality of Christs being carnally in the bread is so uncertain that it depends upon the well-making of the bread the right Ordination of the Priest upon the true Pronuciation of the Words upon the fixed attention of the Priest all these necessary conditions are only Supposed or believed by a Charitable Faith The Supream Authority of the Pope depends upon his lawful Election which is often so obscure and appears so clearly defective or so openly Criminal that many Decades of years have passed in which one knew not which Pope to obey if there were two chosen and where there is but one Simony is so ordinary that all Popes are Suspected of it Purgatory is proposed as a place in the hollow of the earth holy Authority speaks not a word of it the Ancients Creed speak nothing of it the Greek Church despiseth it eyes cannot see it reason cannot understand it the perfect grace of Christ doth not favour it The vision of Souls who come again cloathed in White or Red is much Suspected for a cheat and convicted of extravagancy this Mystery hath nothing more certain than the fear it gives the people and the good it brings to the Priests The glory of the souls departed to whom they pray cannot be known but by a popular opinion which hath but little discerning or by particular perswasions which may seduce by freindship or by Canonization of the Pope which may be deceived by a false report The mind of a Roman-Catholique finding in its self these proofs to be so uncertain as well in the Essentials as Circumstatials will have much less a do to deny his full consent than a Protestant to give his because Reason and Faith will fly uncertainties and cannot seek for them nor love them the second Reason is that Roman-Catholiques do believe all that which the Protestant do positively avow in respect of God of Jesus Christ of the blessed Virgin of the life and death eternal and generally of all mysteries universally received in all Churches where Christ is worshipped as God and known as a Redeemer In this common belief it is more easie for rational minds tolimit themselves to this Faith so ancient and general than to encrease it by Articles of humane faith which hath not the principles nor just Characters of divine Authority The third Reason is that the Roman Catholick may have the same comfort of Spirit by the Protestant Religion having laid aside the mysteries which are added to the Primitive Faith that which the Protestants may not do when they go to the Roman Communion A Christian soul may comfort it self without the reality of Flesh if it unites it self Spiritually to Jesus Christ by having respect to him knowledg of him and a sincere Love for him One is more satisfied to believe the grace of God capable to carry our souls to Heaven than to leave them at the bottom of a lake of fire The heart is more content to Establish its faith obedience and its good workes upon the Law and words of the Gospel then upon the Politiques of the Decretals and upon the Engin du droit Canon Prayers have much more justice and confiance when they are addressed to God who sees understands and fathoms all things than if they are carried at randome by the Imagination to get the favour of a Saint whose state is unknown to us These three Reasons which I set down amongst many of the same force prove that the Roman-Catholiques not being corrupted by the advantage of the World nor upheld by the power of a Soveraign or animated by violent passions are easily carried to the Approbation of that Faith Piety with which the Protestants content themselves But the Protestant cannot without violence or without interest submit to all the particulars of the Roman Faith because they make the Spiritual adoration carnall the Spirit of God the material Body of Christ Faith in God Fear Certainty Dubious Divinity humanity Pure and Efficacious grace a defective and weak merit 29. Let us not trouble our selves to dispute to which way pious Reason would turn if it were at full liberty whatsoever inspiration one might pretend to have to presage it is the event that must make the Prophecy known But to see some effects in favour of this desired Unity The intire liberty of the two Religions will make the only overture to this Royal design and then considering no body but the King next to the Majesty of God they will lose the fears which the thunder of the Vatican
Le Tombeau des Controverses A GRAVE FOR Controversies Between the ROMANIST PROTESTANT Lately Presented to the KING of France Englished by M. M. With Allowance London Printed by T. Milbourn for Dorman Newman at the Kings-Armes in the Poultry 1673. Reader EXperience hath taught me that Authors are commonly injured by Translators which proceeds from their Ignorance somtimes and somtimes from their Carelesness and Neglect how guilty soever I am of the first I have made it my business to avoyd the latter The Author has Writ in a generous and smooth Style what you find rough and unpolished in this Version I must own I have given you the true Sence and Meaning of this French Author the Idiom and Propriety of the Language would not suffer me to turn it Verbatim in many places I am sensible that I run the risk of being examined and censured by every one that will take the pains to read both and compare them and I am as sensible that it is but common Charity to pardon my faults and escapes if he finds any since every ingenious man does so almost to every Authour he reads I rest in the Confidence of your Candor M. M. Le Tombeau des Controverses A GRAVE for CONTROVERSIES Between the Romanist and Protestant Lately presented to the King of France Englished by M. M. SIR I Know you love the frankness of your friends and to give you a Testimony of mine I beseech you send me your free thoughts of the Union of the two Religions in France which has been and is still so much discoursed I make no excuses for the trouble I am bold to give you since I phancy you are in some sort obliged to me for the task I impose upon you Your mind which cannot live lazily and asleep in all it's operations applys it self so cheerfully and to such noble Subjects that those who busie you think they oblige you since by it they doe service to Vertue and Piety both which you love They talk that the King will no more suffer two Religions in his Empire that he hath often said One King one Faith one Law That he will order a Conference of some Doctors of each Religion that he will command them to agree and find an expedient for it and when he has seen their Conclusions will command Peace by an Act of Union set forth by his Majesty That the King will send an express to Rome to obtain a liberty for this Conference That he is an enemy to soveraign Arbitration and in short that he is resolved to see all his Subjects live in the practice of one and the same Religion This news hath given an Allarme to both parties the Roman-Catholiques and the Reformed or Protestants are almost equally frighted at it The Reformed fear lest the King should force them to follow those things which they abhor as some superstitions so frightful to their Consciences and some errors so despised by their Reasons that t' is impossible they could ever consent to them and being constrained to mask their faith with the figures of hypocrysie their Souls would suffer mortal sadness and horrible inquietudes The Romans are tied by custom to the external practice of their Devotion and make it as well the glory of Religion as the comfort of their Souls They fear lest the King should banish with scorn many customes to which they are besotted and reject them as actions very useless to that real Piety which consists in the true light of the mind and righteous affections of the heart The wiser sort have less terrour but are not less troubled with the thoughts of this Design and because they believe not this enterprise fully resolved upon by his Majesty every one imagines some way how to break or bring it to pass as if the two parties were already upon the point of finding their satisfaction or destruction As for me I profess to you my mind cannot find one thought which is fixed upon a Subject of so high importance hope and fear equally share me I beseech you therefore to contribute towards the calming of these motions by letting me know your thoughts concerning it SIR YOur freedome would have appeared more pleasing if less presuming but I have no advice to give you you will receive as little of that in the most abstruse matters as in things of lesser moment since you expect light from my darkness for your freedome with me in matters so curious Your mind will be surprised if you find any and if you find none you will be justly punished for your imprudent hopes and for my self I shall be highly revenged of you My Answer will have many distinct Articles to make you apprehend my thoughts with the clearer distinctions and in the same order which I have conceived them 1. The Uniting of all minds to believe the same Truths is an effect which proceeds but only from the first cause God only is the Father of Spirits not only in respect of his Creation but in regard also of his Soveraign Government He is as well the absolute master of it as of the Will not to do violence to it but to perswade and make it free It 's true then that he only is able to make all men have the same thoughts of Piety as the Sun is only able to give Splendour to the Universe when all the several torches make diverse lights in diverse places without ever produceing one day 2. I know that there are some unquestionable Truths which all men know and none can dispute In the first rank of these general Truths is placed the Idea of a Sovereign Being worthy Respect and Love But to come to this point which properly makes the centre of Piety the Circumference of minds is so wide and stretched out they have drawn so many crossed and confused lines that they have produced an infinity of distances figures and oppositions In this multitude one may discern many lines which being drawn from the same point carry the eye and apprehension just to the Centre which is sought for all justly leading to an Union with God they are different they seem opposite but all are united by the production of the same effect They seem to represent the the Plat-form of a very regular Town all whose streets lead to the Church But the corruption of men which consists of malice and ignorance have drawn lines so foolish and irregular that they can never meet one another nor lead to that quietude which right reason requires and which joynes mankind to God these lines touch regular lines but only in crossing them and they even cross one another so that t' is impossible that they should meet in the same point or should lead to that which is the only just and true one The dread of Soveraign Power the consideration of the weakness of mankind the love of the goodness of God the esteem of his justice the admiration of his wise conduct the meditation of
his admirable providences the hatred of our own wickednesses the aversion from or abhorrence of our faults the grief for our past errours the fears of approaching judgment are divers reasons all which brings or leads us to God directly But the adoration of Jdols or of creatures under pretence that they represent or that they contain the grandeur of Divinity the Sacrifice of things stolen or of humane blood the affected ceremonies which pass as a law although little beloved by the people customary words or praises of God not joyned with a holy love the practices which are established and protected by the interest of some Authority the gorgeous Ornaments to draw aside and divert the thoughts of the people and all the inventions which busie the mind about sensual and material things are irregularities which make us stray from true Pietie though some people have been governed quietly by them 3. One cannot easily Imagine a humane Power capable to recal Men from the straying Paths which they have taken or will take the design of reducing them into a way that is good is certainly the task of one that must be both wise and absolute and for the execution of it 'T is necessary methinks that the understanding of that man should be without any Clouds and Darkness and his Authority without Limits Private men have words to explain themselves Reason to enlighten others Arguments to convince and Demonstrations sufficient to perswade Soveraignes have Authority to command and Power to force people but yet with all their Engines 't is very difficult or rather impossible to lead or drive men to Heaven by one and the Same Way the difference of Natures the disposition of the Genius Customes Interests and Concerns outward Shews Fears the engagements of Honour and Friends cause such strange differences and diversities in humane Souls that all cannot be perswaded into the same thoughts nor touched with the same Reason I know that the grand diversity which we see in Nature which we know only by its Accidents may be also found in Morality and much more in Piety because but few know the true Essence of it We cannot deny but all people apprehend and seek after the same God but who can hinder that one and the same Figure should represent several objects according to its diverse positions and the several places in which the beholders are or who shall hinder the Sun from framing that diversity of representation according to the diverse Climates upon which it shineth Many have shewed me their holy extravagancies speaking confidently of the condition of the World before sin had made it miserable they told me that the several motions of the Sun would have produced neither Winter Darkness nor Death that untill'd ground would have produced neither Brambles nor Thorns nor any noisome Plants they had imaginations so finely ordered that I could not deny giveing their Idea the Image of a world made of Miracles I must believe that but for the weakness fantasticalness and wickedness of Man we had known no defect in any Religion But if we would re-establish this happy Unity which is the consequence of perfect innocency there must follow two Miracles an expulsion of Darkness and Malice from the mindes of all Men. The true Worship which is in Spirit and Truth we commonly find to be laid aside by ignorant Teachers or malicious Builders if we see Truth in the most considerable place of the Building and if Truth does unite the two Walls at the point of the Angle which is the most regular then we may sing with the Prophet God alone Almighty and only Wise hath done this thing before our Eyes his hand alone hath done this work by this strong and glorious Armes The Princes who do or shall see this happiness in their Lands ought to say this is the day which the Lord hath made 4. If it be true that our King and Monarch desires that there be but one Religion in his Kingdom he desires a very good thing and no doubt the excellency of his disposition will make him propound and follow that way of Piety which is most agreeable to Reason and most Spiritual and which the most generous and Christian Soul would chuse to unite it self with God mean fortunes are aimed at only by mean people but the most Illustrious reach after Perfection 5. All the Kings subjects who have rational Ingenuities and Souls truly Pious ought to approve follow and cherish this Design of his Majesties all ought to contribute to this heavenly Peace a house must needs be full of trouble if its inhabitants treat one another with censuring and fury and look upon one another with the Eyes of Enmity I find nothing so troublesome in life as the necessity of liveing with those men who Reproach one another with equal Fierceness as if their different thoughts in matters of Religion were abominable Crimes and who look upon one another as Reprobates enemies of God servants of Satan and destined to Damnation These sad Emotions produce such hellish Hatreds and such pressing Sadnesses in the weaker Party they bring forth such bloody Violences and cruel Inhumanities in the most powerful Party that these infernal Reproaches make a kind of Hell which torments the inhabitants of the same Countrey the subjects of the same Prince the children of the same Father the nearest relations in the same Family the friendships of the most sacred Alliances every one sets himself to curse his Brother and would willingly take the satisfaction of ruining him I cannot think of this barbarous Zeal without sighing and without some Horror for these inhumane Men who cease to be Rational when they would be esteemed Pious must our cruelty pass for a mystery of Religion our infamous Vices for the height of Vertue must we our selves believe and perswade others that to become good Angels we must act like Brutes Sure if men would follow right Reason they would resolve to bear these different Opinions which gives Piety so many and so various Shapes without Fury Hatred and Violence certainly they would suffer with a prudent Patience the errors of the Night still expecting that the Morning-star or the Sun it self should in due time discover all things with a true light But who can hinder the furious madness of these bitter Spirits who run down and consume all that opposeth their Opinions who can fix Notions in the weak Vulgar who having nothing but a spirit of chaffe or vapour are hurried by the little winde that puffeth them Minds so ill managed make in the same Family of which the King is the Master and Father an army of Midianites who destroy each other animating themselves one against another whil'st the darkness hinders them from knowing themselves and in a tumult too which will not permit them to be able to know one another There is no need Dear Eutimius to prove to you that which you already know nor to represent to you what you
resemblance of being the Principles of good Morality and Piety they know that Divine Will ought to Govern and Rule these Vertues and then they may believe and conclude that all practices established by Humour or by the Interest of Men are Ambiguous Incertain Indifferent or Criminal And that Prince who bears a good Mind as well as a good Sword may as well judg of Religion as of War St. Paul himself tells us that the Spiritual man discerns all things But without going to spiritual exactness I have seen Peasants brought up in the labour of the fields who being born with good Wit despise many Grotesque Devotions and could distinguish with a solid judgment There is much reason to believe that if his Majesty would imploy his excellent Wit about the two Religions exercised in his Kingdom he would discern with an exact clearness the Good from the Evil the Necessary from the Superfluous Divine from Humane the True from the Dubious the Hypocritical from the Sincere the Dangerous from the Useful the Material from the Spiritual and the Rational from the Brutal A regular mind easily seeth that which raiseth him to Heaven or that which amuseth him upon the Earth 24. It is certain that his Majesty may discern without any great difficulty the form of that Religion which falls under the knowledg of a good natural judgment but to satisfie himself more fully he may command experienced men who are capable of greater labours to represent to him chat which is Old and New Christian and Roman Apostolical and Pontifical to the end his Majesty may be able to discern what is established by the Antiquity of the Apostles and all that which is added by a Modern Antiquity This Representation cannot be done but by minds very laborious and knowing in both Religions and whose Souls are sincere and generous They ought also to consider the respect they owe to their Prince and repay his kindness with a solid sincerity by this means one shall find that nothing is more ancient than that which is most true and that which doth appear most true will be best maintained and defended 25. I consider in the Oeconomy of this Peace both Royal and Heavenly that the difficulty must be but mean upon the Propositions disputed in the Schools by Divines on either side as the mysteries of Justification the grace of Praedestination this Controversie may raise divers Opinions and yet leave men Friends But the worst Obstacle is of Practices Customs and outward Devotions which appear of great moment to the Vulgar when as they are looked upon but as low things and indeed but tricks by Wise men The Roman-Catholick doth not believe that there can be either Piety or Christianity where he finds not Images Ornaments Ceremonies Processions and Pompous Appearances He accounts nothing worthy enough for his Adoration nor real for his Salvation if one does not perswade him that Christ in the flesh is kept in a box in the Church He is much a slave to Custom and believes that the Sacraments and Service administred privately and in an unknown Language where they hear the voice only without understanding the words begets more Reverence His mind is so ill-dispos'd by this Custom that he imagines that all will be in a disorder if the King should declare himself next under God as well Protector of Religion as of Justice and because of the loud and continual bawlings of the Emissaries of Rome He imagins that God will not remain in France if the Pope should not be Mediator between Christ and the King to keep them Friends without thinking that St. Peter who writ plainly saith that he that honoureth the King sheweth his fear to God whereby he declareth the near Relation between God and the King for he writes Fear God and Honour the King Such is the disposition of the Roman-Catholick from whence follow such Practices Devotions and Customs which cannot be taken from it without its destruction and one feels as much pain when one plucks away an unprofitable and idle excrescence from the flesh as in cutting off a Member which is very serviceable to the body The Protestant hath a Soul inclined quite another way He seeks God with a Worship of Spirit and Truth He believes not his Faith divinely Established but by the Word of God nor the equity of his Conscience well regulated but only by the Law of God He seeks not the flesh of Jesus Christ upon the Earth but his Spirit and his Grace He Worships him as he is in Heaven not by the Image of his body but in respect of his Divinity he can easily pass by Images and Statues looking upon them as false Representations and very unprofitable to solid Pâ—etâ— If he esteems the Right of the Church and the Decency of it in the external practice of Religion he despises the multitude of Proud Ceremonies and the glittering of so many affected Ornaments He believes not that the Popes Authority is necessary for the French Church He saith confidently that the Gallique Church may stand without the Roman and that she can never render her self more just and happy than by banishing strange Power He looks upon the King as the Head of Justice which is principally established by the Divine Laws that Sovereigns who are according to Gods own heart ought to know and cause to be observed the Law of God without turning either to the right or to the left hand with this disposition of mind so different between the Roman-Catholiques and French Protestants if divers Opinions remained in the mind only without breaking forth they would not produce dreadful Enmities and those Obstacles which are so hard to be overcome but when one endeavours to draw a Roman-Catholick from his painted Devotions and oblige a Protestant to conform to them they suffer frightful Vexations if they be constrained and can hardly take any Resolutions except they are brought to them by Reasonings and Perswasions 26. I have known the thoughts of many rational minds even of the Roman-Catholiques who believe that the King would do an act of Wise Bounty if he would permit without any reserve the satisfaction of Consciences without shewing any aversion either to Protestants or Papists provided that all would dwell in a mutual Peace without malediction or quarelling This State of Cessation would be a principle of Peace and all the World would be contented if his Majesty would not permit that any one of his Subjects should be debarred from bearing Offices and Honours that those of either Religion may live without trouble and disquiet in the Service due to his Majesty By this Liberty we should all have a Peaceable Conversation and a Charming Commerce the heats of disputes animated by Hatreds would cease they would become Conferences of Friendship by which every one might be Instructed Aversion which disorders the blood should have no more force against the calme lights of our minds and all would be so agreeably disposed to
in the Holy Scriptures that one has no need of a Council to perswade or declare it But to follow the Decrees of the Council of Trent I must add to the Confession of Faith which I have Written these new Articles 1. I Beleive the Patriarch of Rome to be Soveraign Monarch and independent of all Christian People above all Lawes incapable to be judged either by a Council or any other Power 2. I Beleive the true Body of Christ made so by the Priest is Eaten Broken and sensibly bruised by the Teeth of the Faithful 3. I Believe a Purgatory under the Earth to Torment the Souls destined to Glory 4. I Beleive the Indulgences of the Bishop of Rome to draw Souls out of that Fire 5. I Believe the Efficacious Absolution of the Preists when one has confest all the Sins to them which they have Committed 6. I Believe the Canonizing of Saints ordered by the Pope 7. I Believe Images Reliques Processions the Agnus Dei the Medals the Service in an unknown Tongue the Rosaries the Girdle of St. Francis the Medals of the Fourth Sts. or Borromie the holy Water and Exorcisms with Salt 8. I Believe Dispensation for a certain Price the cruel Inquisition the giving of Kingdoms to the first Usurper the Massacre of all those who withstand the Court of Rome the Eternal Damnation of those who stray from his Commands and an infernal Curse upon all those who without any Reserve do not obey all his Orders 9. I Believe that if one shoud know that if the Pope did neglect his own Salvation and that of his Brethren if he should lead multitudes with him without Number to Damnation to be slaves of Hell no Mortal could without presumption reprehend his Faults because he who judges all others cannot be Judged by any one See the Decretals in 4. Distinct Canon 5. 10. I Believe generally that the Romane Church only and those who obey her in all things without Contradiction and reserve are Catholiques and Apostoliques 11. I Believe also the new Morality of the Jesuits favoured by the Pope and the Doctrine of Vernant and that of the Guimeneus whose Condemnation made by Sorbon hath been burnt as an Heretique by an express Bull from the Pope 12. I believe that there is as well Piety as justice in the crimes approved tolerated and allowed on by the Pope 13. I Believe generally that Christ and the Pope have but one and the same Power and Tribunal and that all Power is given to him in Heaven and Earth 14. In a Word I Believe that one ought to follow in spight of what ever can be said the sine conceits of the Cardinal of Perroon in respect of Pope Clement the Eighth of whom he held his Cardinalship I Have always Reverenc'd your Blessedness as a God upon Earth This Creed is very long and much more than that of which the first Christians made Profession If this Creed divides all Christianity if it hinders the Peace of our hearts in France Let us all beseech our Gracious King to Stand and make us Stand also to the Creed of that Generous Constantine and of so many Excellent Bishops the most part of whom bore the marks of Martyrdom which they received during the Persecution O how happy should we be if we had nothing else to do but to obey God and the King how contented would our lives be and how quiet our Consciences if the King would give us Power and Liberty not to change the Incorruptible Glory of God into the Image of Corruptible Man how Contented and Glorious would his Majesty be if he would Unite all of us by the Truth of God since that we are not divided but by the Vanity of Man 32. Although the Roman-Catholiques are tyed by Custom to their Ceremonies which makes Religion to be a shew although they glory much in their Profession seeing themselves upheld and the Protestants low in the present state of affairs although Custom makes them imagine the Religion of the Protestants in France at too far a distance from that which pleaseth the phancy sence of the People Yet it is certain if they had tasted the good Word and found without fear and prejudice the Essence of true Piety they would relish it with Pleasure and Comfort they would approve of that holy Truth which the Prophet spoke Tast see how sweet the Lord is they would rebuke with scorn an infinite company of Follies which they dare neither leave nor censure in their present condition I have seen more than a hundred persons of great Quality whose Souls were above the Vulgar laugh at or bemoan these Superstitious Actions and low Opinions which the Vulgar made their dear Devotions and which many Hypocritical Cheats would make go for considerable matters Mouns Abbot Marreau of Ville-Loing shews in all his writings that he had a great Soul when he speaks most generously of so many Heads attributed to St. John Baptist and of the Blood of Christ kept in glasses and of many other low things which stuff the Devotion and daub it with Mud or Ink so I call the Impostures of the Bablers of Fables and the Writers of Prodigies I have heard many of the best sort of Ecclesiastiques say that they suffered much violence to comply with and follow such gross abuses to their Sense and Knowledg but because Contradiction or neglect passed for a Crime in regard of the received use they believed that they acted like wise men when they trifled and play'd the Fools like the Ignorant I can assure you Eutimius that the distance which I perceive for the particular Creed of the Pope which is explained here doth not come from a prejudiced mind but from a sincere heart which doth not suffer me to commit my Salvation and my Faith to Ideas where I remarque weakness incertitude I speak in respect of those who believe them for those who do not have spirit and understanding to manage their Interest laughing at these ridiculous Weaknesses Many generous Souls brought up in the Romish Communion have the same thoughts that I have although they have not the same which animate me they have too many knots to break or untye they are content only to slack them they see to cut them asunder is an offence against the publique Opinion Certain of my Friends speaking to me of this matter tell me that a Wise man seldom takes up that Resolution which his Master blames and his Companions hate In spite of the Custom of some and the Policy of others if his Majesty would determine to make the Star of Freedom shine he would quickly see the day of Unity all hearts and minds would willingly render themselves to the Truth of God Countenanced by the King and all eyes love light although they are not Prisoners so all that are Generous and Rational in France would joyn without noise and without trouble to true Reason and noble Piety no one can resist the
loving force of that which is Good Fair and True 33. When his Majesty testifies his desire of the Agreement of his Subjects he wishes first the Glory of God and then the happiness and honour of that Church which bears the title of the French Church are we not all obliged by the Zeal of our Salvation and for the Interest of our most dear Country to carry our Affections highly towards his Majesties design let us procure the Glory of God and the happiness of the Church of France For the first let us not be so weak and erroneous to believe that the Honour of God is increased when that of Rome is the Authority of the King who is a Sacred Majesty is sufficient to make us Preach Understand and Observe the Will of God for the second are we so base to seek after with an unnatural Zeal the glory of the Roman Court to the prejudice of the French Church The Gentlemen of Sorbon making their Censures or judicious Observations on Odoricus Renaldus Continuer of Baronius have branded as notable faults that which is writ against the French Church and its Liberty These Liberties are not Licentiousness but as the Wise learnedly explain an exact Observation of the Ancient Rules of the Christian Faith Would to God that all the Kings Subjects upon this occasion had the love to hold themselves to the Rules of that Faith which is called Canons and ten or twelve Persons of each Religion had the Command to search them not in Modern Antiquity but Apostolique and in that of the first Councils they would easily find the French Liberty well established and the Dependence on Rome very ill-founded I ask if our French Church can be unjust if she takes the Reformation demanded by 5 Embassadours of France in several Reductions of the Council of Trent Would she not be as holy when she Regulates her Faith upon Divine words and her Manners upon the Sacred Laws of God as though she served the Statues of the Grandeur of Rome The Cardinal of Lorain did not he do a greater Service to the French Church when he endeavoured a Reformation in the Council of Trent than by that base Compliance which he had afterwards to the Will of the Pope Are not the Gentlemen of Sorbon generous and Christian when speaking of the works of Renaldus they say that the French-Church hath done nothing more profitable than the Pragmatick Sanction which Sanction was made at Burges in the year 1438. The King Assembled Bishops Princes and the great Lords of his Kingdom but because it bound the Authority of the Pope it was looked upon as a black attempt and that was it which rendred it praise-worthy His Majesty may if he please do somthing better he may apply the great Remedy to the Malady which hath broken our bones and eaten our flesh whereas others have ordered nothing but Lenitives and applyed them with a trembling hand Let us desire my dear Eutimius let us desire this holy Unity of one and the same Religion his Majesty who wisheth it desires our common good 't is an evil thing to hate as 't is an unhappiness to be hated The thoughts which I have newly explained to you shall end with this we should be happy if we had but one God in Heaven and one Monarch upon Earth I beseech the Almighty to inspire the King not to permit in his Kingdom a Companion with God and that he would propose ways to us which are only drawn from the Law and Truth of God to be the Rule of our Devotions his Majesty will acquire Glory in giving us Peace France will have all the Properties of being the One the True and the Good and we shall have Goodness of Soul Truth in Spirit and Unity of hearts FINIS