and made publick by many and divers times in the Year 1586 and in 1597 until the end of the Month of August notwithstanding all Decrees and Judgements whatsoever to the contrary 10. In like manner the said Exercise may be Established and re-established in all the Cities and Places where it hath been established or ought to be by the Statute of Pacification made in the Year 1577 the particular Articles and Conferences of Nerat and Fleux without hindering the Establishment in places of Domain granted by the said Statutes Articles and Conferences for the Place of Bailiwicks or which shall be hereafter though they have been alienated to Catholicks or shall be in the future Not understanding nevertheless that the said Exercise may be re-established in the Places of the said Domain which have been heretofore possessed by those of the said Reformed Religion which hath been in consideration of their persons or because of the privilege of Fiefs if the said Fiefs are found at present possessed by persons of the said Catholick Religion 11. Furthermore in each ancient Bailiwick Jurisdiction and Government holding place of a Bailiwick with an immediate Appeal without mediation to the Parliament We ordain that in the Suburbs of a City besides that which hath been agreed to them by the said Statute particular Articles and Conferences and where it is not a City in a Burrough or Village the Exercise of the said Reformed Religion may be publickly held for all such as will come though the said Bailiwicks chief Jurisdictions and Governments have many places where the said Exercise is established except and be excepted the Bailiwick new created by the present Edict or Law the Cities in which are Arch-Bishops and Bishops where nevertheless those of the said Reformed Religion are not for that reason deprived of having power to demand and nominate for the said Exercise certain Borroughs and Villages near the said Cities except also the Signories belonging to the Ecclesiasticks in which we do not understand that the second place of Bailiwicks may be established those being excepted and reserved We understanding under the name of ancient Bailiwicks such as were in the time of the deceased King Henry our most Honoured Lord and Father in Law held for Bailiwicks chief Justice-ships and Governments appealing without intercession to our said Courts 12. We don't understand by this present Statute to derogate from the Laws and Agreements heretofore made for the Reduction of any Prince Lord Gentleman or Catholick City under our Obedience in that which concerns the Exercise of the said Religion the which Laws and Records shall be kept and observed upon that account according as shall be contained in the Instructions given the Commissioners for the execution of the present Edict or Law 13. We prohibit most expresly to all those of the said Religion to hold any Exercise of the same as well by Ministers preaching discipling of Pupils or publick instruction of Children as otherways in this our Kingdom or Countries under our Obedience in that which concerns Religion except in the places permitted and granted by the present Edict or Law 14. As also not to exercise the said Religion in our Court nor in our Territories and Countries beyond the Mountains nor in our City of Paris nor within five Leagues of the said City nevertheless those of the said Religion dwelling in the said Lands and Countries beyond the Mountains and in our said City and within five Leagues about the same shall not be searched after in their Houses nor constrained to do any thing in Religion against their Consciences comporting themselves in all other things according as is contained in our present Edict or Law 15. Nor also shall hold publick Exercise of the said Religion in the Armies except in the Quarters of the principal Commanders who make profession of the same except nevertheless where the Quarters of our person shall be 16. Following the second Article of the Conference of Nerat we grant to those of the said Religion power to build Places for the Exercise of the same in Cities and Places where it is granted them and that those shall be rendered to them which they have heretofore built or the Foundations of the same in the condition as they are at present even in places where the said Exercise was not permitted to them except they are converted into another nature of Building In which case there shall be given to them by the Possessors of the said Buildings other Houses and Places of the same value that they were before they were built or the just estimation of the same according to the Judgment of experienced persons saving to the said Proprietors and Possessors their Tryal at Law to whom they shall belong 17. We prohibit all Preachers Readers and others who speak in publick to use any words discourse or propositions tending to excite the People to Sedition and we injoin them to contain and comport themselves modestly and to say nothing which shall not be for the instruction and edification of the Auditors and maintaining the peace and tranquillity established by us in our said Kingdom upon the penalties mentioned in the precedent Statutes Expresly injoyning our Attourney Generals and their Substitutes to inform against them that are contrary hereunto upon the penalty of answering therefore and the loss of their Office 18. Forbidding also to our Subjects of what Quality and Condition soever they be to take away by force or inducement against the will of their Parents the Children of the said Religion to Baptize or Confirm them in the Catholick Church as also we forbid the same to those of the said Reformed Religion upon pain of being exemplarily punished 19. Those of the Reformed Religion shall not be at all constrained nor remain obliged by reason of Abjurations Promises and Oaths which they have heretofore made or by caution given concerning the practice of the said Religion nor shall therefore be molested or prosecuted in any sort whatsoever 20. They shall also be obliged to keep and observe the Festivals of the Catholick Church and shall not on the same dayes work sell or keep open shop nor likewise the Artisans shall not work out of their shops in their chambers or houses privately on the said Festivals and other dayes forbidden of any trade the noise whereof may be heard without by those that pass by or by the Neighbours the searching after which shall notwithstanding be made by none but by the Officers of Justice 21. Books concerning the said Reformed Religion shall not be printed or sold publickly save in the Cities and places where the publick exercise of the said Religion is permitted And for other Books which shall be printed in other Cities they shall be viewed and visited by our Theological Officers as is directed by our ordinances Forbidding most expresly the printing publishing and selling of all Books Libells and writings defamatory upon the penalties contained in our Ordinances injoyning all our
Courts of Aids Officers of the general Treasuries of France and other Officers of the Exchequer shall be examined and received in places where they have been accustomed and in case of refusal or denying of Justice they shall be appointed by our Privy Councel 55. The reception of our Officers made in the Chamber heretofore established at Castres shall remain valid notwithstanding all Decrees and Ordinances to the contrary And shall be also valid the reception of Judges Councellors Assistants and other Officers of the said Religion made in our Privy-Councill or by Commissioners by us ordained in case of the refusal of our Courts of Parliaments Courts of Aids and Chambers of Accompts even as if they were done in the said Courts and Chambers and by the other Judges to whom the reception belongeth And their Sallaries shall be allowed them by the Chambers of Accompt without difficulty and if any have been put out they shall be established without need of any other command than the present Edict and without that the said Officer shall be obliged to shew any other reception notwithstanding all Decrees given to the contrary which shall remain null and of none effect 56. In the mean time untill the charges of the Justice of the said Chambers can be defrayed by Amerciaments there shall be provided by us by valuable assignations sufficient for maintaining the said charges without expecting to do it by the Goods of the Condemned 57. The Presidents and Councellors of the Reformed Religion heretofore received in our Court of Parliament of Dauphine and in the Chamber of Edict incorporated in the same shall continue and have their Session and Orders for the same that is to say Presidents as they have injoyed and do injoy at present and the Councellors according to the Decrees and Provisions that they have heretofore obteined in our Privy Councel 58. We declare all Sentences Judgments Procedures Seisures Sales and Decrees made and given against those of the Reformed Religion as well living as dead from the death of the deceased King Henry the Second our most honoured Lord and Father in Law upon the occasion of the said Religion Tumults and Troubles since hapning as also the execution of the same Judgments and Decrees from henceforward cancelled revoked and anulled And we ordain that they shall be eased and taken out of the Registers Office of the Courts as well Soveraign as inferiour And we Will and Require also to be taken away and defaced all Marks Foot-steps and Monuments of the said Executions Books and Acts defamatory against their Persons Memory and Posterity and that the places which have been for that occasion demolished or rased be rendred in such condition as now they are to the Proprietors of the same to enjoy and dispose at their pleasure And generally we cancell revoke and null all proceedings and informations made for any enterprize whatsoever pretended Crimes of high Treason and others notwithstanding the procedures decrees and judgments containing re-union incorporation and confiscation and we farther Will and Command that those of the Reformed Religion and others that have followed their party and their Heirs re-enter really and actually into the possession of all and each of their Goods 59. All Proceedings Judgments and Decrees given during the troubles against those of the Religion who have born Arms or are retired out of our Kingdom or within the same into Cities and Countries by them held or for any other cause as well as for Religion and the troubles together with all non-suiting of Causes Prescriptions as well Legal Conditional as Customary seizing of Fiefs fallen during the troubles by hindring Legitimate proceedings shall be esteemed as not done or happening and such we have declared and do declare and the same we have and do annihilate and make void without admitting any satisfaction therefore but they shall be restored to their former condition notwithstanding the decrees and execution of the same and the possession thereof shall be rendred to them out of which they were upon this account disseised And this as above shall have like place upon the account of those that have followed the party of those of the Religion or who have been absent from our Kingdom upon the occasion of the troubles And for the young children of persons of Quality abovesaid who died during the troubles We restore the parties into the same condition as they were formerly without refunding the expence or being obliged for the Amerciaments not understanding nevertheless that the Judgements given by the chief Judges or other inferiour Judges against those of the Religion or who have followed their Party shall remain null if they have been given by Judges sitting in Cities by them held which was to them of free access 60. The Decrees given in our Court of Parliament in matters whereof the Cognizance belongs to the Chambers or Courts ordained by the Edict in the Year 1577 and Articles of Nerac and Flex into which Courts the Parties have not proceeded voluntarily but have been forced to alledge and propose declinatory ends and which decrees have been given by default or foreclusion as well in Civil as Criminal matters notwithstanding which Allegations the said Parties have been constrained to go on shall be in like manner null and of no value And as to the decrees given against those of the Religion who have proceeded voluntarily and without having proposed ends declinatory those decrees shall remain without prejudice for the execution of the same Yet nevertheless permitting them if it seem good to them to bring by Petition their Cause before the Chamber ordained by the present Edict without that the elapsing the time appointed by the Ordinances shall be to their prejudice and untill the said Chambers and Chanceries for the same shall be established Verbal appellations or in writing interposed by those of the Religion before Judges Registers or Commissioners Executors of Decrees and Judgements shall have like effect as if they were by command from the King 61. In all inquiries which shall be made for what cause soever in matters Civil if the Inquisitor or Commissioner be a Catholick the Parties shall be obliged to convene an Assistant and where they will not do it there shall be taken from the Office by the said Inquisitor or Commissioner one who shall be of the Religion and the same shall be practised when the Commissioner or Inquisitor shall be of the said Religion for an Assistant who shall be a Catholick 62. We Will and Ordain That our Judges may take Cognizance of the validity of Testaments in which those of the Religion may have an interest if they require it and the appellations from the said Judgements may be brought to the said Chambers ordained for the Process of those of the Religion notwithstanding all Customs to the contrary even those of Bretagne 63. To obviate all differences which may arise betwixt our Courts of Parliaments and the Chambers of the same Courts ordained
by our present Edict there shall be made by us a good and ample Reglement betwixt the said Courts and Chambers and such as those of the Religion shall enjoy entirely from the said Edict the which Reglement shall be verified in our Courts of Parliaments and kept and observed without having regard to precedents 64. We inhibit and forbid all our Courts Soveraign and others of this Realm the taking Cognizance and judging the Civil or Criminal process of those of the Religion the Cognizance of which is attributed by our Edict to the Chambers of Edict provided that the Appeal thereunto be demanded as is said in the Fortieth Article going before 65. We also Will and Command for the present and untill we have otherwise therein ordained that in all Process commenced or to be commenced where those of the Religion are Plaintiff or Defendants Parties Principals or Guarrantees in matters Civil in which our Officers and chief Courts of Justice have powâ—â—… to judge without appeal that it shall be permitted to them to except against two of the Chamber where the Process ought to be Judged who shall forbear Judgement of the same and without having the cause expressed shall be obliged to withdraw notwithstanding the ordinance by which the Judges ought not to be excepted against without cause shown and shall have farther right to except against others upon shewing cause And in matters Criminal in which also the said Courts of Justice and others of the Kings subordinate Judges do Judge without appeal those of the Religion may except against three of the said Judges without showing Cause And the Provosts of the Mareschalsie of France vice-Bayliffs vice-Presidents Lievetenants of the short Robe and other Officers of the like Quality shall Judge according to the Ordinances and Reglements heretofore given upon the account of Vagabonds And as to the houshold charged and accused by the Provosts if they are of the said Religion they may require that three of the said judges who might have Cognizance thereof do abstain from the Judgement of their Process and they shall be obliged to abstain therefrom without having cause shewn except where the Process is to be judged there shall be found to the number of two in Civil and three in Criminal Causes of the Religion in which case it shall not be lawfull to except without Cause shewn and this shall be reciprocall in the like cases as above to the Catholicks upon the account of Appeals from the Judges where those of the Religion are the greater number not understanding nevertheless that the chief Justice Provosts of the Marshalsies vice-Bayliffs vice-Stewards and others who judge without appeal take by virtue of this that is said Cognizance of the past Troubles And as to crimes and excess happening by other occasions than the troubles since the beginning of March 1585. untill the end of 1597. in case they take Cognizance thereof We will that an appeal be suffered from their Judgement to the Chamber ordained by the present Edict as shall be practised in like manner for the Catholick and Confederates where those of the Religion are Parties 66. We Will and Ordain also that henceforward in all instructions other than informations of criminal Process in the chief Justices Court of Tholouse Carcassonne Roverque Loragais Beziers Montpellier and Nimes the Magistrate or Commissary deputed for the said instructions if he is a Catholick shall be obliged to take an Associate who is of the Religion whereof the Parties shall agree or where they cannot agree one of the Office of the said Religion shall be taken by the abovesaid Magistrate or Commissioner as in like manner if the said Magistrate or Commissioner is of the Religion he shall be obliged in the same manner as abovesaid to take and associate a Catholick 67. When it shall be a question of making a criminal Process by the Provosts of the Marshalsies or their Leivetenants against some of the Religion a house-keeper who is charged and accused of a crime belonging to the Provost or subject to the Jurisdiction of a Provost the said Provost or their Leivetenants if they are Catholicks shall be obliged to call to the instruction of the said Process an Associate of the Religion which Associate shall also assist at the Judgement of the difference and in the definitive Judgement of the said Process which difference shall not be judged otherwise than by the next Presidial Court assembled with the principal Officers of the said Court which shall be found upon the place upon penalty of nullity except the accused shall require to have the difference Judged in the Chambers ordained by the present Edict In which case upon the account of the house-keepers in the Provinces of Guyenne Languedoc Province and Dauphine the substitutes of our Procurators general in the said Chambers shall at the request of the said house-keepers cause to be brought into the same the Charges and Informations made against them to know and judge if the Causes are tryable before the Provost or not that according to the quality of the crimes they may by the Chamber be sent back to the Ordinary or judged tryable by the Provost as shall be found reasonable by the contents of our present Edict and the Presidial Judges Provosts of Mareschalsie vice-Bayliffs vice-Stewards and others who Judge without Appeal shall be obliged respectively to obey and satisfie the commands of the said Chambers as they use to do to the said Parliaments upon Penalty of the loss of their Estates 67. The outcries for sale of Inheritances and giving notice thereof by warning passed or chalked according to order shall be done in places and at hours usual if possible following our Ordinances or else in publick Markets if in the place where the Land lies there is a Market-place and where there shall be none in the next Market within the jurisdiction of the Court where Judgement ought to be given and the fixing of the notice shall be upon the posts of the said Market-place and at the entry of the Assembly of the said place and this order being observed the notice shall be valid and pass beyond the interposition of the sentence or decree as to any nullity which might be alledged upon this account 69. All Title and papers instructions and documents which have been taken shall be restored by both parties to those to whom they belong though the said Papers or the Castles and houses in which they were kept have been taken and seized by special Commission from the last deceased King our most honoured Lord and Brother in Law or from us or by the command of the Governors and Lievetenant Generals of our Provinces or by the authority of the heads of the other party or under what pretext soever it shall be 70. The children of those that are retired out of our Kingdom since the death of Henry the Second our Father-in-Law by reason of Religion and Troubles though the said Children are born out
take Cognizance or to Judge of the Criminal Process of them of the P. R. R. And this Ordinance reversing it wills that all guilty and accused af the Crime of Relapse Apostasie or Blasphemies uttered against the Mysteries of the Catholick Religion shall be judged by the Parliaments every one in his Precinct with Prohibition to the Chambers of the Edict to take Cognizance thereof directly or indirectly under what pretext or occasion soever upon pain of nullity evacuation of proceedings Expenses Charges Damages and Interests of the Parties and greatter if need require The Ecclesiasticks then can never attempt any thing more highly against the Edict then in suggesting this Declaration and it is clear that they had not pursued thus far but to the end their Prey might not escape them because the animosity of the Parliaments is so great against them of the P. R. R. that they are infallibly lost if they be left in their power There have been infinite vexatious experiences had of this and that we may not pass from the matter that is here in question a Decree was made by the Parliament of Tolouse Feb. 23 1665. against one named John Gayrard who had forsaken his Religion and was returned on the second of April 1662. a year before the first Declaration against the pretended Relapsed Notwithstanding by this Decree he was condemned to be delivered into the hands of the Executioner of the Haut Justice to be led with a Halter ahout his Neck in his Shirt his Head and Feet bare on a Lords day before the Cathedral Church of Montauban at the close of the great Mass where being on his knees he should ask Pardon of God the King and Justice for his misdeeds be banished the Town and Shrievalty of Montauban for three years and condemned in a hundred Livers for a Fine and in the Charges and sent back to the Consuls of Montauban to cause this Decree to be put in Execution In pursuit whereof having been re-closed three Months in the Prisons of Tolouse he was led to that of Montauban where he hath been ever since and there he is at present So it comes to pass that this Parliament gives it self all license not only to surpass the rigour of the Declarations in turning one part of his Banishment into a reparation much more infamous and insupportable but which is more they have condemned a man who according to the Decree of the Council of Estate of the 18th of September 1664. ought to have been absolved and discharged of all penalties because he was re-entred into his Religion a Year before the first of the Declarations by which they would prevail against him But we need not be surprised at this proceeding of the Parliament of Tholouse For in all times it hath made appear in all sorts of occasions and excessive hate against them of the P. R. R. So far that King Charles the IX having ordained by his Edict of 1570. that untill such times as the Chambers of the Edict should be Established they of the said Religion might refuse in the Parliaments four Judges of the Chamber wherein their Process were depending without expressing any cause and without prejudice to the ordinary right of Chalenges but as for the Parliament of Tholouse it was declared to be wholly refusable in process wherein they of that Religion were interested And in case they could not agree of another Parliament it was ordered that the Parties should be sent back to the Court of Requests to be there Judged with final determination Afterward in the Year 1573. when the Towns of the P. R. R. gave Hostages to the same King it was Decreed that they might be sent to any Town of the Kingdom which it pleased him saving that of Tholouse the Royal authority the publick Faith and the Law of Nations being not judged a sufficient warrant from the violence of that Parliament Also in the Edict of 1577. which in the 32 and 33. Articles did import that the Catholick Officers serving the Chambers of the Edict were to be taken from the Parliaments that of Tholouse was excepted and it was ordained that the Catholick Commissioners of the Chamber of the Edict in Languedoc should be taken from other Parliaments or from the Grand Council which was executed in that sort till the Parliament being displeased to see themselves so Chastized promised to moderate it self and to do Justice But they have not observed their Promise and have alwayes continued to give such great proofs of their ill will that there is now no more cause to trust them than heretofore The grief is that the other Parliaments have imitated their example and a certain spirit of fierceness and aversion hath so pre-possessed them for some time that they of the P. R. R. can well say that they and their Liberties are at an end if they must abide under a Jurisdiction so contrary and averse Witness the Decree of the Parliament of Remes against James Caillion Seiur de la Touche and the Parliaments of Pau Bordeaux and Rouen have done of late things which render them no less formidable The King therefore who will not see his Subjects to perish miserably of whom he knows himself that he hath no cause to complain will be pleased to revoke this rigorous Declaration which subjects them unto Parliaments in many of which there are not so much as any Counsellors of the P. R. R. for to defend their innocence He will maintain of his Justice and equitable Goodness the Chambers of the Edict in their power without permitting any breach to be made upon their Jurisdiction He will remove the Prohibitions gotten by surprize against those who are painted out under the name of Relapsed Apostates and Blasphemers leaving to all his Subjects full liberty of Conscience which the Edicts confirmed by his Majesty have established throughout the Realm and for that person named Gayrard in particular your Majesty is besought to cause him to be freed from Prison by evacuating the Decree made against him by the Parliament of Tolouse and ordaining that the warrant of his imprisonment be cancelled and the Gaoler constrained by all sorts of means and even arrest of his body it self to suffer him to depart A brief Table of the Estate of those of the P. R. R. After all these several observations which a hard necessity hath in a manner haled from the breast of those of the P. R. R. It is now easie to judge unto what extremity they are reduced and how deplorable their condition is if the King to whom they look as their only support on Earth do not suffer himself to be touched with their supplications and their Tears For at length what can be thought of their Estate They behold the most part of their Temples to be condemned and demolished in all the Provinces of the Realm so that a possession of threescore and ten years and titles authentick could not save them They dare no more
THE GREAT PRESSURES AND GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS IN FRANCE AND THEIR Apology to the Late Ordinances made against them both out of the Edict of Nantes and several other Fundamental Laws of France and that these new Illegalities and their Miseries are Contrived by the Pop. Bishops Arbitrary Power Gathered and Digested by E. E. of Grays-Inn sometime Under-Secretary to the French King Humbly Dedicated to his MAJESTY of Great Britain in Parliament LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. for T. Cockeril at the Three Legs over against the Stocks-Market and R. Hartford at the Angel in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange 1681. TO THE KING IN PARLIAMENT GREAT SIR IT is for the amplyfying of your Name and Dignity for the Patronizing and Securing of true Religion at home and abroad and in special gratitude to my Masters in the Faith that I introduce these undone French Supplicants to Petition and Appeal to your Majesty and your Grand Council for your Mediation or some other Redress which they with all possible submission and reiterated Applications nay with tears of Blood and with broken Hearts and Backs have long sought in vain of that incroaching Monarch that rules and tramples over them as may appear by these following Sheets That which makes them conceive the greater Trust and Confidence is certain Titles of your Majesties and that particularly of Defender of the Faith which they hope you will think to fulfil according as occasion at home will suffer your Prudence to turn your eyes to their Exigencies and the present Opportunities abroad The Solemn Embassies that your Majesties Protestant Predecessors sent thither for to expostulate with the French Kings concerning the illegal oppressions of the Huguenots contrary to the Edict of Nantes whereof the Kings of England were held the Guaranties were allowed and are found Recorded in their own Memoires and Registers of State without the least animadversion or disclaim it being a Privilege that the Kings of this Realm had used as their right to practise and insist upon and which we in our days ought by no means to lose by Prescription Now if that King should go about to huff at any Forraign Princes concerning himself in this Nature with the State of his Subjects besides the premised reasons his mouth may be stopped with this argumentum ad hominem That he himself took the same liberty in writing to the Duke of Savoy in favour of his oppressed Protestant Subjects of the Valleys of Piedmont at that time when not only England but Sweadland Denmark and most of the Protestant Princes of Europe had done the same But this Patronizing Spirit for the Protestant Interest which was so conspicuously famous even in a Woman a Princess of this Nation was not suffered to decay in the hearts of the English People it self during that unhappy absence of your Majesty from your Kingdom for amidst their Civil Distractions they forgot not the right our Nation had to Mediate and succour their French Brethren of the Reformed Religion For besides Letters and Messages they sent for their present solid Relief twenty thousand two hundred thirty three pounds by Sir Samuel Morland as part of a General Collection made for them throughout England whereof remained in ready Cash sixteen thousand three hundred thirty three pound ten shillings to be improved for them and we know in whose hands this Sum was deposited at your Majesties happy Restoration but since it is so scattered that few knows what is become of it which is a thing that we humbly beg your Majesty and Parliament to give order to inquire into who they were that laid Sacrilegious hands on such an holy offering of the Nations to the indigent members of Christ in Foraign Churches The French Church in London have a Procuration to receive it for the Piedmontoes In Fine both divine and Humane Reasons do clearly demonstrate That whatever temporizing Pseudo-Polititians may insinuate nothing would as it is presumed so much strengthen your Majesty at home and abroad as to give all possible proofs to your Neighbours that you roundly and vigorously intend to shew your self The Head of the Protestant Religion and that you will appear to be Defender of the Faith indeed And certainly the opposite Interest God be thanked does so visibly decay according to his unsurmountable Decree That the Protestants are and shall be found to be the best friends and strongest supporters your Majesty may have did worldly Prudence it self lead one to make a Choice Now the matter of this Book will afford sufficient matter for your Royal Compassion and Protection and though you see here but a rough draught of their Miseries and a few of the very many Decrees which I have by me that were made against them yet here is as much as may satisfy your Majesty and the World that they suffer not as evil Doers as 't is plain by the Edict of Nantes here inserted and their Plea out of it and other French Laws France was sadly distracted and disjoynted within it self for many ages upon this account of Religion when the Popes Emissaries would never suffer the poor Huguenots to live as peaceable Subjects among them striving though in vain utterly to extirpate and root them out But all their Devices turned to their own shame and all their other attempts for the sâ—tling the Peace of that Nation in any other way still proved unsuccessful till this healing Edict called of Nantes was Enacted by Henry the Fourth at that City whereby the free exercise of Religion in determined fixed Places throughout the Nation with sundry other Priviledges were allowed to those of the Reformed Religion This wrought such a general Unity and Harmony and such a blessing from God upon that Kingdom that both Popish Bishops and Presbyterian Professors lived quietly together for about a whole Century till now of late those proud Prelates not induring any Fellows in the Ministry and not content with the whole Fleece will have all the room to dilate their Phylacteries and so upon several superstitious pretences and jealousies they drew that King to grant those Decrees against Protestants as oft as he would require Money of their Convocated Clergy Thus they first of all break the Bonds of Charity and Christian Unity and afterwards that of the Civil Concord of the Nation by incroaching upon the Civil Magistrates Power of making and executing of Penal Laws in their Courts against their Fellow Christians wherein they are Antichrists Successors not Christs nor his Apostles For his Kingdom was not of this World But may it not then be hoped and humbly offered that the ordaining of such another Edict of Nantes here in England would in allowing some limited Privileges to the Non-conformists conforming in Fundamentals whose Principles are not destructive to Monarchy nor Morality work the same good effects here as it did in that Country and prevent those further growing Divisions and Distractions in Church and State In sine both
Reign the ninth signed HENRY And underneath the King being in Council FORGET And on the other side VISA This Visa signifies the Lord Chancellors perusal Sealed with the Great Seal of Green-wax upon a red and green string of Silk Read Published and Registred the Kings Procurator or Attorney-General Hearing and Consenting to it in the Parliament of Paris the 25th of February 1599. Signed VOYSIN Read Published and in-Registred the Chamber of Accompts the Kings Procurator-General Hearing and Consenting the last day of May 1599. Signed De la FONTAINE Read Published and Registred the Kings Procurator-General hearing and consenting at Paris in the Court of Aids the 30th of April 1599. Signed BERNARD OBSERVATIONS Upon the KINGS TWO DECLARATIONS Given at St. GERMAINS In Laye the Second of April 1666. The one concerning the Affairs of those of the pretended Reformed Religion The other Entituled against the Relapsed and Blasphemers The Preface of the First Declaration LEWIS By the Grace of God King of France and Navarr To all those to whom these Presents shall come Greeting Our greatest care since we came unto the Crown hath been to maintain our Catholick Subjects and those that be of the pretended Reformed Religion in perfect Peace and Tranquility observing exactly the Edict of Nantes and that of the Year 1629. But although the Laws foresee those Cases which happen more ordinarily so as to apply thereto necessary pre-cautions yet seeing a multiplicity of Actions which daily occurr cannot be reduced to one certain rule It was therefore necessary to make particular provisions assoon as difficulties of any sort did occasionally arise and therein to make Judgement and Decision by the ordinary Rules and Forms of Justice Which thing hath made way for many Decrees made in our Council and sundry others passed in our Chambers of the Edict of which there having been no publick notice given our Subjects have found themselves often ingaged in Suites and Contestations which they might have then avoided if they had known that the like questions had been already decided by former Judgements Insomuch that for preventing the like inconveniencies and to nourish Peace and Amity amongst our Subjects as well Catholicks as those of the pretended Reformed Religion the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Ecclesiastick Deputies in the General Assembly of the Clergy which is held at present by our permission in our good City of Paris have very instantly besought us to reduce the said Decisions into one single declaration adjoyning thereunto certain Articles touching some Actions thereupon occuring to the end that the whole may be made more notorious and publick to all our Subjects and that by this means they having no cause to pretend Ignorance may conform themselves thereto and cause to cease the discords and altercations which may arise on such like actions and that what hath been Judged and decided by the said Decrees may be for ever confirmed and established and may be put in Execution as a Law inviolable For these causes with the advice of our Counsel and of our certain knowledge full power and authority Royal We have by these Presents signed with our hand said and declared say and declare We Will and it is our Pleasure that the said Decrees made in our Counsell be kept and observed according to their form and tenour in such manner Observations upon this Preface IF this Declaration which contains fifty nine Articles had hurt them of the pretended Reformed Religion only in points of Commodity and Convenience they have so much respect for whatsoever bears the August name of their Soveraign they would have contained themselves in silence and not have troubled by the importunity of their Complaints the satisfaction which this great Monarch doth injoy in the sweets of Peace and prosperities of his Estate But the deplorable extremity to which they see themselves to be reduced doth forcibly draw from them whether they will or no those groans which they would have stifled if their Sorrows had not been extreme For this Declaration which they esteem as the greatest and most rigorous blow by which they could be smitten like a clap of Thunder doth throw them into the greatest terrors and doth not suffer them to be silent And it seems to them that they should make themselves Criminals if upon this so pressing an occasion which threatens their Goods their Honours their Families their Lives and which is yet more and more dear unto them their Religion and the Liberty of their Consciences they should not cause their sad voice to be heard by his Majesty for that were no other than to testify an injurious distrust as if his Justice and his Royal protection could be wanting to his miserable Subjects who come to prostrate themselves at the feet of this extraordinary Prince given of God expresly for this end that he might do good unto men and that his Scepter no less Just than Puissant might be the Sanctuary of afflicted Innocence So that it is not only their necessity but their sence of their Duty it self which gives them of the pretended Reformed Religion the boldness to address themselves unto the King to demand of him with all profound Humility the revocation of an Ordinance which is not properly his own work but of them of the Clergy who have suggested it Kings have alwayes at the highest point of their Grandeur and of their Puissance made no difficulty to change their most absolute Oders when they have been caused to understand that they had been surprised And yet even from this also they have received Glory because to give Laws is only to rule over others but to revoke those which Persons interessed have imposed upon the Spirit of the Prince is to Reign over Himself and this is the means by which Soveraign Force may make it self to be acknowledged through all the World as truly worthy of Empire if the love of Justice be more powerfull in his heart than that of his Soveraign Authority There is then reason to hope for these generous sentiments from a King whose Soul is yet more noble than the Crown it self which he wears and whose resolution hath already begun to display it self in naming Commissioners of the highest dignity to review the Declaration now in debate Which is a Piece that appears so many strange wayes that they themselves who made it would confess it to be so if they could but for some moments of time devest themselves of their prejudice I. First of all the Declaration sets forth That it was granted at the request and upon the very instant supplications of the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Deputies in the Assembly of the Clergy Which had it not been so clearly expressed might nevertheless have been easily known by reading the Memoires of the Clergy those publick Memoires which were Printed in the Year one thousand six hundred and sixty six For all the same things which were remarkable and which the Clergy pretended to at that
time all the demands which they made all the Decrees they proposed to themselves to obtain are found in the Articles of this Declaration In regard whereof they can be looked upon no otherwise than as the Execution of those so destructive Memoires since therein may be seen all the pretentions of the Clergy turned into form of Rules and Ordinances II. Besides who else but the Ecclesiasticks that is to say most passionate Parties could ever have conceived that thought which they had and which they have by surprize caused to be set in the Preface of this Declaration where it is said that what hath been judged and decided by the Decrees of the Counsell should be confirmed and established for ever and be executed as a Law inviolable For to desire that the Decrees in generall made in Counsel that is to say Decrees whereof many were given upon a Petition only and without Cognisance of the Cause or upon particular Actions and upon circumstances extraordinary should pass into a Law inviolable throughout the Realm certainly is a thing that cannot easily be conceived There is no thing more common than to see the Decrees of the Counsel annulled by others subsequent because the King being better informed of the State and truth of things Wills that the Rights of Justice should be maintained on the same Tribunal where the artifice of the Parties would have given it some defeat Decrees being indeed no Rules of the Law but on the contrary the Law the true Rule of Decrees III. The Form and Tenure of the Articles makes it no less clear that the Declaration was a surprize For they are all prejudicial to the Pretended Reformed Religion And in the mean time the King in the beginning of the Preface doth say expresly that his greatest care since his coming to the Crown hath been to maintain his Catholick Subjects and those of the Petended Reformed Religion in perfect Peace and Tranquility And a few lines after that the design of this Declaration was to nourish Peace and Amity amongst his Majesties Subjects as well Catholicks as those of the Pretended Reformed Religion In pursuance of this design truly worthy the Justice and Goodness of the King the Declaration ought to have been conceived in such sort that in giving satisfaction to the one some regard might have been had at least of the weal and subsistence of the other and that not only they of the Roman Catholick Religion but they also of the Pretended Reformed Religion might have found therein some matter of contentment But contrary to this so just a Maxim this whole Declaration is to the disadvantage of the latter and so far from being proper to nourish Peace and Amity that it can serve for nothing else but to beget eternal troubles and divisions This is one manifest proof that it was neither the King nor his Counsell that formed this Declaration not only so partial but so openly contrary to so considerable a party of his Majesties Subjects For Kings have not been wont to deal after this manner in the Regulations which they make for the union and repose of the persons whose differences they would appease They do alwayes conserve the interest of the one part with the other betwixt whom they seek to establish Concord and good Understanding The Edict of Nantes hath been conceived by this true Spirit of Royalty For it propounds so to regulate the Affairs of those of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion and those of the pretended Reformed Religion that both the one and the other might find therein some cause to be contented And also for the composing thereof Henry the Great called unto his person the most prudent and best qualified of the two Religions that he might confer with them He received their Bills he hearkned to their Complaints and to their Remonstrances to the end he might not be surprized in any point But here they of the pretended Reformed Religion were neither heard nor called the Ecclesiasticks only in this rencounter had the honour to approach unto the person of the King and having disguised matters unto him according to the dictates of their passion they have imposed upon him sinister impressions to the prejudice of the truth to the end they might cause him to set forth a Declaration which they had a long time before framed in their own bosoms It is then the Clergy who have suggested it through the motives of their hatred against them of the pretended Reformed Religion and who were desirous therein to accumulate all things whatsoever their passion could enable them to imagine as most proper to atchieve their overthrow and ruine IV. But that which renders this surprize in every respect sensible and palpable is the pablick protestation which the King makes in the entrance of this Declaration that he will observe exactly the Edict of Nantes and that of 1629. for it will be found that this Declaration is so very far from exactly observing those Edicts so authorised that it repeals them in many of its Articles so that none can doubt but that it is contrary to the intention of his Majesty and that they who have obtained it have surprised him in the sincerity of his heart For where is the person so rash or so wicked as to dare to say that the King doth indeed protest that he will observe the Edict of Nantes but that notwithstanding it is not his intention They are none but the enemies of France and of the glory of our illustrious Monarch who can make such discourses They of the pretended Reformed Religion who are resolved to live and die in the respects which they owe unto his Sacred Majesty can never have such a suspicion of so admirable a Prince and the Grand-Child of Henry the Great For that great Heroe who hath transmitted unto him his Vertues with his Blood gives us very well to understand that his posterity are uncapable of any such procedure when he pronounces these generous words which the History hath preserved and he addressed in so firm a tone to them of the Parliament of Paris about the matter of the Edict of Nantes I find it not good saith he to intend one thing and write another and if any have done so I will not do the same Cousenage is altogether odious but most of all in a Prince whose word ought to be unchangeable The Successor then and worthy Imitator of Henry the Great having given his Royal word and willed himself that the Publick should be thereof both depositary and witness even of this his word by which he hath engaged to observe exactly the Edict of Nantes it cannot be denyed that all that whatsoever it be which clashes with this perpetual and irrevocable Edict is at the same time contrary unto the Will of his Royal Majesty Being then it is so that almost in all the Articles of the Declaration of 1666. there are contrarieties to the Edict we must needs conclude that
they will without intermission make trouble to the Ministers for the tone of his voice They will pretend that he hath not spoken low enough and it will be in a manner impossible to find the just mean betwixt a voice too low which the Prisoner cannot hear and by which he cannot be comforted and a voice a little too high which may be understood by others It will be therefore necessary at the least to regulate this so that itmay be understood of a low voice that it is to be spoken in such a sense as it is used in the case of the noise of those that work on a Festival Day that it be such a voice as cannot be heard in the Street nor of the Neighbours It is also hard to conceive how the Ministers can observe that Clause which speaks of a Chamber apart for shall it be in their power to bring the Prisoners into a Chamber apart If the question were only of them that are condemned to death the matter would be easie for they do ordinarily put them in a place apart after their condemnation But the Article of the Declaration speaks of all Prisoners without distinction And shall the Minister have authority to cause to lead or carry into a Chamber apart a sick Prisoner whom they find in the same place with many others and if the Jaylor will not suffer it then what means shall the Ministers have to cause him to obey them And it may so fall out that an unfortunate person detained in Prison for his Debts or for any other cause may die there without consolation or exhortation to repentance for that he cannot be in a Chamber apart This Article being then impossible to be executed and tending to leave poor Prisoners to die miserably without being assisted in their Consciences his Majesty is most humbly besought to cause this Article to be put out and to be content in the affair of Prisoners with the regulation contained in the fourth Article of the particulars of Nantes ARTICLE V. To speak of the Catholick Religion with all respect That the Ministers shall not in their Sermons and elsewhere use any injurious or offensive terms against the Catholick Religion or the State but on the contrary shall carry themselves with that moderation which is ordained by the Edicts and speak of the Catholick Religion with all respect THey of the P. R. R. cannot behold without sensible grief that their Ministers are forbidden to use injurious terms against the Estate For this Prohibition seems to presuppose that they either have been guilty of this Crime or that they have some propensity to commit it And notwithstanding there is nothing that they abhor more and of which they are more incapable The love of the Estate and zeal of their Religion are inseparable in their hearts and mouths They never express themselves neither in their Sermons nor in their Discourses but as good French and faithful Subjects and they never ascend their Pulpits but they pray to God for the Sacred Person of the King for all the Royal Family and for the prosperity of his Estate As for what belongs to the Catholick Religion they always speak thereof with the moderation ordained by the Edicts But to make a Law which commands them to speak with all respect is to expose them to the uttermost misery and they can never assure themselves any longer neither of their Goods nor of their Liberty nor of their Lives if this Ordinance continue for whatsoever moderation they use in their Sermons whatsoever pains they take to chuse their terms when they are obliged to touch matters of controversie there will be found notwithstanding persons who will pretend that they have not spoken with all respect so will it come to pass that they shall see themselves every hour overwhelmed with Fines imprisoned and condemned to many kinds of punishments This is the reason wherefore his Majesty is instantly besought to give remedy to this mischief by expunging this Article which renders it inevitable and to be satisfied with that regulation which is found in the Edict of Nantes where in its seventeenth Article it forbids all Preachers Lecturers and others who speak in publick to use any Speeches Discourses or Propositions illuding to stir up the people to Sedition with a strict command to demean themselves modestly and to speak nothing which may not be for the instruction and comfort of their Hearers and for maintaining the tranquillity and repose of the Realm A Prohibition which of good right was made general and common to all sorts of Preachers as well of the one Religion as of the other notwithstanding that indeed the Ministers have less need of this injunction in this matter than the Preachers of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion amongst whom it is easie to find that they give themselves liberties apt to trouble the publick peace of all ART VI. Acts of Notaries That Notaries who receive the Testaments and other Acts of the P. R. R. shall not speak of them of the said Religion in other terms than such as the Edicts permit THey of the P. R. R. find not any thing of their concern in this Article and cannot divine upon what consideration the Ecclesiasticks have caused it to be put in this Declaration unless it be that they well fore-seeing that Justice would infallibly prevail with his Majesty to reform a piece wherein they had surprised his Royal Goodness in so many ways they have expresly for that end caused Articles unprofitable and to no purpose to be foisted therein to the end that when this Work comes to be examined they may have therein certain matters which they might remit to give pretence that afterwards the Declaration should be very moderate and could no more give cause of complaint to any person But our Monarch hath an understanding too much enlightned not to discover this Artifice and when this sixth Article of this Declaration and divers others of like nature which may be found therein are outed they of the P. R. R. cannot esteem their condition any thing the better nor more supportable if the other points which ruine their Liberties be maintained their subsistence being nevertheless in this Kingdom impossible This is the cause wherefore his Majesty is besought to keep this in mind to the end that this Observation may be applyed to many other Articles insignificant or of small consequence with which this Declaration is swoln apparently for some design worthy to be observed ART VII Books That those of the P. R. R. may not cause any Books to be Printed concerning the P. R. R. which are not attested and certified by approved Ministers for which they are to be responsible nor without the permission of the Magistrates and the consent of our Attourneys and that the said Books shall not be vended but in such places where the Exercise of the said Religion is permitted THere needs no Law to oblige them of the
therefore all ambiguity and that there may not be left any advantage for contentious Spirits to trouble those of the pretended Reformed Religion without cause This present Article had need to be explicated in such sort that his Majesty thereby doe declare that he intends not at all to deprive those of the said Religion of the liberty of calling into their Consistories those whom they shall think fit to cause to come thither because of scandal nor to assemble the Heads of Families for the calling of their Ministers nor to hold Assemblies permitted by the Edict for imposition of Monies for the entertainment of their Ministers and charges of their Synods ART XIII Donations and Legacies That the Elders of the Consistories may not be appointed Inheritours nor Legatees Universal in their said quality THe forty second Article of the Edict of Nantes is Repealed by this For it contains that the Donations or Legacies made or to be made whether it be by last Will in the case of Death or made by the Living for the entertainment of their Ministers Doctors Scholars or for the Poor of the pretended Reformed Religion or other matters of Piety should be valid and obtain their full and intire effect notwithstanding all Judgements Decrees or ether things to the contrary thereof whatsoever This settlement is general and absolute and it distinguisheth not betwixt the Universal and particular Donations And by consequent it respects the one as well as the other For there where the Law distinguisheth not men are not to distinguish Also the King Lewis the Just your Majesties Father finding this Law to be indisputable confirmed it solemnly in 1616. by his Royal answer to the Paper of those of the pretended Reformed Religion in these terms The Forty Second of the private Articles made at Nantes concerning Donations and Testamentary Legacies let it be observed in favour of the poor of the pretended Reformed Religion notwithstanding any Judgements to the contrary And all the Decrees of the Counsell and Parliaments have been alwayes conformable to this Law This change is therefore surprizing and a notable breach of the Edict At the least we cannot doubt that the Kings Justice will make him find two things reasonable and necessary to which his Majesty is most humbly besought to have regard The one is that being no Ordinances have any power retroactive nor touch any thing that is past he would be pleased to ordain in the explication of this Article of the Declaration that it may not prejudice those Donations or Legacies Universal which were formerly made to the Consistories The other that it is not the intention of his Majesty to hinder particular Donations which may be given to Consistories It is very certain that the King's design is not to forbid them For being that in this Article he forbids only Donations universal it follows necessarily that he confirms the particular In the mean time they begin by an excessive transport to dispute the particular Gifts and Legacies and Parliaments have lately made some rigorous Decrees against which those of the said Religion demand Justice of his Majesty at whose Feet they seek their only Refuge beseeching him to authorise the particular Donations which have been or shall hereafter be made unto the Consistories conformable to the forty second Article of the particular of Nantes notwithstanding all Decrees and Judgments to the contrary ART XIV Preaching and Residence of Ministers in divers Places That those of the said P. R. R. assembled in their Synod National or Provincial permit not their Ministers to Preach or reside in divers places by turns but on the contrary do enjoyn them to reside and preach only in one place which is given them by the said Synods THis Article contains two parts the one regarding the Preaching and the other the Residing of Ministers in more than one place As for the Preaching by course in divers places it is true that there have been many Decrees pro and con about this matter so that indeed the business being at this day as it were suspended amongst many Decrees contrary to one another it belongs now unto his Majesty to determine of them by his Soveraign Authority And his Justice gives them of the P. R. R. to hope that he will maintain them in the liberty of their Annexes taking away the prohibitions which have been made against their Preaching in divers places That which gives them this hope is this that these prohibitions have been founded on no other thing than a Misinformation For they never had any other Foundation than from the Edict of the Month of January one thousand five hundred and sixty one by which it was forbidden Ministers to walk from place to place and from Village to Village to preach there by violence and without right But it doth not treat at all of this business of Annexes For it is agreed that Ministers ought not to be Vagabonds and wander from place to place of their own fancy Their Discipline it self doth sorbid this and the Maxims of a good Conscience as well as those of good Polity do oppose it Therefore the Edict of January is in this point altogether just But the Annexes suffer not the Ministers to be Vagabonds but on the contrary fix and settle them with certain flocks They do not give them liberty to go and preach in places where the Exercise is not permitted but on the contrary fix them in places where they have right to exercise according to the Edict What is it then that should hinder the Ministers that they may not preach in two or three places of this nature What pretence can the Ecclesiasticks find to give a colour to their Enterprise Will they alledge the Edict But that forbids not to preach in divers places when they have a right to exercise Besides there is found a Decree made in the Council in the Month of May 1652 by which the King doth formally declare that all the Decrees which have outed the Ministers of this liberty are contrary to the Edicts So that the intent of his Majesty's being to cause the Edict of Nantes to be exactly observed there is ground to believe that he will leave unto the Ministers this liberty the prohibition whereof he hath himself declared to be contrary to the Edicts Will they alledge the Declaration given at S. Germain the nineteenth of December 1634 which they will pretend to be so much the more available for that it was verified in the Chamber of the Edicts of Castres the first of January 1635 But this Declaration was founded upon this that the Ministers of Languedoc went to preach in divers places of that Province where that Exercise was not allowed them These are the proper words which are read in that Declaration which by consequence concerns not the Annexes where they have right to exercise Will they alledge Reason But what reason is there to hinder a Minister to preach in many places when
common for the re-edification of the Church of Saint Thomas notwithstanding that the Catholicks alledged that the said Church had been heretofore demolished by them of the P. R. R. during the Troubles As for the Chambers of the Edict they have given like Decrees in so great number that their multitude only hinders from citing them so that this question hath not been dubious in the Parliament of Normandy it self and the usage of the Palais of that Court hath been so constant to discharge them of the P. R. R. that they Condemned them also to pay costs who had the rashness to assail them in this matter of reparations of Churches and Parsonage-houses of which those of the said Religion have the Decrees in readiness to justifie the truth of their Allegation in case there be need What strang surprize then is this to see at this day a practice of Justice so well established to be changed all at one blow and to repeal a Possession founded on the Edict on the Answer-Royal On the Decrees of the Council and the Chambers of the Edict without any one appearing to the contrary to the time of this Declaration The Preface of this Declaration it self setting down That what hath been Judged and decided by the Decrees should be firm for ever and executed as a Law inviolable A Maxim surely which is one of the greatest surprises that the Clergy have made upon the Justice of the King as hath been shewn in the beginning But notwithstanding that this Maxim cannot be received in other things the exemption granted unto them of the P. R. R. in respect of the Churches and Parsonage houses ought to pass for a Law inviolable since it hath been judged and decided in all occurrences by the Decrees of the Council and Chambers of the Edict Decrees which are so much the more indisputable because they are founded on the Law which is the Edict of Nantes What can the Ecclesiasticks then alledge for to colour their pretensions All that they have in their mouths is a vain consequence which they draw by a false reasoning and which serves only to shew how ill founded they are They say that they of the P. R. R. do indeed pay Tythes to the Parsons and by consequence they ought also to contribute to the Charges of Churches and Parsonage-houses But there can be nothing less reasonable For there is found in the Edict one express Article which obligeth them of the said Religion to pay the Tythes But so far it is from having condemned them to contribute to the repaires of the Churches and building Parsonage-houses that on the contrary it hath one to exempt them They cannot then argue rightly from tenths to reparations And if one might draw a consequence from the one to the other they of the P. R. R. might as well have good grounds to maintain that because they are exempt from Reparations they ought not to be subject unto Tythes as the other think they have good ground to maintain that because those of the said Religion are subject to Tythes therefore they ought to contribute to reparations But the principal foundation of this affair is indeed that they of the P. R. R. were not made subject unto Tythes but by the pure and only authority of Henry the Great who would have it so that he might give that satisfaction to the Ecclesiasticks for at the bottom the Parish Priests are not the Pastors of them of the P. R. R. and do them no manner of service in Spiritual things they are not bound to entertain them but only their own Ministers who take care of their Souls which also King Henry the fourth knew so well that for to indemnify them in a thing from which their Religion did exempt them he was willing to pay them yearly the sum of 45000. Crowns for the subsistence of their Ministers to the intent that this sum might be in the place of the Tythes which they ought not to have paid With what appearance of Reason then can they draw a consequence from Tythes to Reparations being the payment of Tythes themselves is a charge to which they of the P. R. R. were so little subject that the King himself thought that it was Just for him to Indemnify them in that particular Would it not be a case very deplorable that the money being taken away which was expresly allowed them to mitigate their payment of Tythes yet notwithstanding nevertheless the Tythes should obtain to oblige them to Reparations And doth it not seem rather to be Justice to restore their Pension of 45000 Crowns for to recompense the Tythes which they pay in consideration of that sum than to will that they be charged with new payments for Reparations from which they are exempt by all manner of Reason It were in vain to pretend to make that limitation valid which is found in the end of this Article where it is said that they may not be Cottized rated by the Poll i.e. that they may not be obliged to contribute with respect to their Persons but only according to the proportion of their Lands and Inheritances which they possess in their Parishes so that they who have neither houses nor Lands should pay nothing This is a very sad consolation which regards only those miserable persons that have neither house nor home And which is more this sort of rating is not ordinarily set save only on Inheritances so that to allow this exemption only to those that have no estate in Lands is to allow nothing in effect The Edict it self will not suffer a thought of this fruitless exemption For can it be said that when the Edict of Nantes exempts them of the P. R. R. from contributing to the Reparation of Churches and Parsonage-houses that its intention was only to discharge Persons and not Lands There is no appearance that any person would propose a thing so unreasonable For the Decrees of the Council and of the Chambers of the Edict alledged above do fully evince the contrary by authentick decisions which have been made in this matter during the term of more than threescorâ— years alwayes discharging those of the P. R. R. which possessed Lands purely and wholly of these Ecclesiastick Reparations Being then the Edict exempts the inheritances as well as the Persons it follows clearly that this new Declaration in pronouncing that they of the said Religion should not be rated in regard of their heads makes nothing at all for them and that it cannot be otherwise looked on than as the ruine of the Article of the Edict A ruine which infallibly draws after it that of his Majesties Subjects who profess the P. R. R. For this will be a sure means for the Ecclesiasticks to spoil them of their Estates because that out of hate to their Religion the Parsons Treasurers and Guardians of Parishes will make them bear almost all the Charges of these Reparations as is seen of late by experience They
Declaration on the contrary Banisheth them from all places of the whole Realm one part of them of that Religion i. e. those who return thereto after some slight change The first Article of the Particulars is also more considerable and more express For it gives such an extent to this liberty of Conscience that no person is therefrom excluded making use of these words The sixth Article of the said Edict touching liberty of Conscience and permission to all his Majesties Subjects to live and abide in this Realm shall take place and be observed according to its form and tenure as well for Ministers and Schoolmasters as for all others who are or shall be of the said R. whether they be Inhabitants of this Kingdom or others It cannot be doubted that this Settlement doth comprize those whom they call Relapsed since it speaks not only those which are but those also which shall be of the P. R. R. authorizing also those persons that may return thereunto hereafter as well as those who have not departed from it at all This hath been so constant from the time of the Edict that the Edict it self wills that this Liberty of Conscience should be extended unto those who before were returned to the P. R. R and that it hath in it one Article to hinder all inquiry after them notwithstanding any security that they might have given for assurance of the contrary This is in the ninth Article which imports That those of the P. R. R. should not be any ways constrained nor continue obliged by reason of any abjurations promises or Oaths which they have made heretofore or securities that they had given concerning any matter of Religion and that they might not be molested or troubled therefore in any sort whatsoever It is therefore without all reason that any one should make use of this Article against them who after the Edict re-assume the Religion which they had abjured as if the intention of the Law-giver had respected that only which was past For before the Edict the Liberty of Conscience not well established throughout the Realm and the Records being full of Decrees of Arrests against the Bodies and other rigorous sentences against those who notwithstanding their abjurations and securities had changed once more it was therefore necessary to provide for that But by the Edict this liberty being so plainly and generally granted to all people as is seen by the Articles already rehearsed the thing was not afterwards any more in question and there were no more Sureties to be taken of those who after their abjuration should change in the future for that they were comprised in the common liberty of all persons within the Realm It is not possible to have any doubt of this matter when it is considered that until the Declaration 1663 there was never any inquiry nor pursuit made against those who returned in this manner An indubitable proof that they were within the terms of the benefit of the Edict Otherwise we must accuse all the Attourney-Generals and all their Substitutes to have been ignorant of their duty or not to have executed their Office for so long a space of time And how come the Ecclesiasticks that are so active and so vigilant against those who depart from their Communion to enter into another which they hate to have slept so many years without enterprising to disquiet them by Justice That Decree it self given by the Council of Estate September 18 1664 to declare that the Ordinance of the King against the Relapsed might have no effect retroactive against them who before were returned from the P. R. R. is an evident testimony that this is a new Law contrary to the intention of the Edict that since the Edict until then there had been no pursuit made against these persons and that they had not pretended only so much as to have right to do For he that hath acted against the Law is a debtor to the Law Being then they have let pass sixty five years without demanding any thing against the pretended Relapsed it is concluded that they were not Debtors and that they had not transgressed the Edict Satis est argumenti nihil esse debitum Naevio quod tam diu nihil petivit Orat. pro Quinctio It is argument enough that there is nothing due unto Naevius because of so long time he hath demanded nothing As the Roman Orator speaks Of Apostates The same reasons which have been alledged for those whom they named Relapsed serve equally for those whom they qualifie as Apostates For the liberty of Conscience is acquired by the Edict to all sorts of persons whether Ecclesiasticks or Laicks Where the question was of regulating the Interests of the Ecclesiasticks who before the Edict changed their Religion there was nothing at all touched concerning their Subsistence or abode within the Realm because that was presupposed as certain and assured by the Liberty of Conscience given universally unto all but provision was only made for their Marriages to declare them good and valid and the succession to their Moveables Purchases and Acquisitions were confirmed to their Children by the thirty ninth Article of the Particulars Is it possible that the condition of these Persons is made worse by the Edict which is the foundation of the publick Liberty This is a thing not conceivable and notwithstanding that would come to pass if the Marriages of the Ecclesiastick and Religious Persons which were before the Edict being authorized it were not permitted to others who would imitate them at this day to live only in France and to continue in the possession of their Goods This were to bring them back to be under the Yoak of the Edict of Charles the Ninth That Edict which was made in 1563. in the midst of the height of the Wars and in the greatest aversation of Spirits For in the twelfth Article it is ordained that the Professed Religious Men and Women who had liberty given them to depart out of their Monasteries during and since the Troubles should return to their Monasteries to live there according to the Constitutions of the C. A. R. C. Otherwise they should be obliged to depart the Kingdom It s known that this Edict and all those that followed were abrogated by that of Nantes in the ninety first Article so that this were to bring back the settlement of the Edict 1663. and to evacuate that of Nantes which had annulled the other The Ecclesiasticks themselves ought to hinder them of their Orders from being thus handled by the Maxim which they teach That the intention of the Priest is necessary to the Sacraments For what intention can they have who are retained by constraint in a Religion which they believe not to be Orthodox For this cause it is to be hoped that his Majesty seeing things by Lights much clearer than those of passionate Persons will re-establish that Liberty which they inforce themselves to very ill purpose to destroy and