Embassadors they plainly saw that in the mind these People were there was no appearance of making them change their Resolution or of bringing them to Reason But however the Embassadors resolv'd to try once more to perswade them to accept the favour their Prince offer'd tho' it was not so advantageous as they wish'd and considering the only way to make some impression upon them was to make their Retreat less inconvenient and less troublesome than it would be if the Terms of the Edict were to be observed they fell to solliciting for an Answer to the Memoir they had presented to the Duke of Savoy that in case it were favourable they might send it to the Vaudois as the best Argument they could use to prevail with them But the Answer was not such as they desired for the Marquess St. Thomas told the Embassadors that his Royal Highness would not make a more ample or any other Declaration touching those things which were contained in his last Edict because his Subjects stood out so obstinately in their Rebellion and refus'd to lay down their Arms boasting they were in a Condition to resist him his R. H. therefore had resolv'd to part in two days and go in person to reduce those Rebels to their Duty but for those that would retire they should upon his word enjoy the benefit of his Edict and such as would not submit should receive the punishment they deserved As soon as the Embassadors had left the Marquess St. Thomas they dispatch'd a Currier to those of the Valleys and by the following Letter gave them notice what ill success they had in their Negotiation Sirs IN the Private Audience we have had of his R. H. your Prince we earnestly pray'd him to permit you to quit his Dominions upon better and more favourable Conditions than those which are exprest in his last Edict We represented to him as well Viva Voces as by a Memoir those Reasons which we thought might prevail with him to mitigate those Orders which were already publish'd against you We earnestly pray'd him to grant you longer time to prepare your selves for so sad a parting to sell your goods to augment the number of the Proctors who were to make the sale to suffer the Aged Sick and Weak Women very big with Child and those that lay in to stay in the Country free from ill usage and from quartering of Souldiers in fine to give orders that the Proctors should buy those goods which they did not sell within the time specified in the Edict but of all this we could obtain nothing from his R. Highness because he knew you were in Arms to hinder the Executions of his Orders We have also been with my Lord Marquess St. Thomas and have entreated him to use his Credit with his R. H. to dispose him to grant that which we demanded in your favour but he told us that so long as you had Arms in your hands you were to expect no favour His Highness goes this day for Precairos and we have had our Audience of leave with intent to return presently to our own Country unless Divine Providence give us an opportunity of being serviceable to you and seeing you will not follow the Advice of prudent Persons but leave the event of your Affairs to God's Will We pray that he will be pleas'd to support you in your Calamity and turn it to his own Glory and your Temporal and Eternal good recommending you to his Almighty Protection We remain c. At Turin Tho' the Embassadors now saw that the Affairs of the Vaudois were desperate and to remedy them was impossible they would not abandon those poor People thinking they might some way or other be serviceable to them if they follow'd his Royal Highness's Camp and that they might so do they prayed the Marquess St. Thomas to ask his Royal Highness's leave But the Marquess told them their presence might give some jealousie to the French Embassador and to the Pope therefore since his Royal Highness had great reason not to disoblige the most Christian King the Embassadors did not insist any more on that demand Things being in this condition had his Royal Highness been never so well dispos'd to shew how much esteem he had for the Embassadors yet he could not let them know how much he regarded their intercession When the Embassadors had their Audience of leave they were told if any occasion should hereafter bring them to Court all deference should be paid due to their Character They resolv'd to return to their Country according to an Order which within few days they had received from their Soveraigns in a Letter written to them from Zurich wherein the Protestant Cantons recalled them from their Negotiation if they thought it would prove ineffectual They supposing that the Marquess St. Thomas or some other Ministers might find some favourable opportunity to incline his Royal Highness to be merciful to his poor Subjects of the Valleys resolved to make them a Visit and intreat them to have compassion on those poor Creatures and do them all the good Offices that were in their Power but the Court parting in great haste it was impossible for them to do what they intended and therefore they requested that by writing which they could not by word of Mouth A little while after they receiv'd an answer from the Marquess who assur'd them that upon any overtures from the Vaudois he would employ his utmost power to serve them Some few days before the Embassadors went a way they receiv'd two Letters from the Valleys one written by all the Communities of the Valley Inhabitants directed to the Evangelick Cantons Most High and Soveraign Lords OVR Churches have a long time had experience and especially in our present unhappy Troubles of your Excellencies unparallel'd Charity and fatherly Affection towards them and that very lately by sending the Lords Embassadors to his Royal Highness upon the Publication of his Highness's Edict against us of the 31 of January last past as appears by the Letter they have been pleas'd to send us we cannot sufficiently acknowledge the trouble care and pains our Lords the Embassadors have taken in our behalf and for our Preservation had they met with Hearts dispos'd to our Peace and Welfare their continual Intercessions could not have fail'd of being effectual but in that particular we confess we are in the Worlds opinion unhappy nevertheless we return all possible thanks to your Excellencies for the favours we have received from your kind pious and Christian good Will towards us we very well know and confess it with great Confusion that our Lords the Embassadors have not had from our People that satisfaction we could have wish'd by resigning themselves into their hands but we most humbly beseech them to Pity and support a People who think they are bound in Honour and Conscience to maintain their Religion in their Country where it hath been a long time miraculously preserved We
see as to this World our ruin is inevitable but we hope God will revenge his Quarrel and that good People will not quite forsake us Our confidence next under God is in your Excellencies we cast our selves into your arms and Fatherly Bosoms beseeching you by the Mercies of God and in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ our Common Father and Saviour that you will not withdraw from us your Charity and good Wishes but look with your Eyes of Compassion and Fatherly tenderness on so many poor Families little Children and other infirm and in this World miserable People and be pleased to make them feel the favourable effects of your Christian Bounty Praying the Lord will perpetually protect your Excellencies and abundantly reward your pious and Christian Charity We are most High Mighty and Soveraign Lords with all imaginable Veneration your Excellencies Most Humble most Obedient and most obliged Servants the Pastors Elders and other Directors of the Valley Churches of Piemont S. Bastie Moderator Gr. Malant Minister The Letter which the Ministers wrote to the Embassadors was Penn'd in these following terms My Lords WE will still Communicate your Excellencies Letter to our Communities it were to be wish'd they had given better ear to the wholsome Counsel given by your Excellencies to draw them out of a danger which in Humane probability seems unavoidable God grant against all appearances that their Resolution may succeed well and shew his power in their weakness and infirmity I belive all their Pastors are resolved to live and dye with them since your Excellencies are not against it it cannot certainly be honest or excusable to forsake them in such a conjuncture and it must infallibly be a reproach to us to leave them seeing the good Shepherd is call'd to lay down his Life for his Sheep We give your Excellencies all possible thanks for the indefatigable care and pains you have taken for our good and for our preservation and we beseech you by the Mercies of God and the Love of Jesus Christ not to forget us but during your stay at Turin and after your return to the most mighty Evangelick Cantons to testifie your Affection and Christian Chairty towards us by all good Offices We pray that our good God and Saviour will recompence your Excellencies Pains and Charity towards our Churches with his most Holy and Precious Blessings both of Heaven and Earth and cover your sacred Persons with his continual Protection which is the most fervent and sincere Wish of yours who are with a profound respect My Lords Your Excellencies most humble most obedient and most obliged Servants the Pastors of the Protestant Churches of the Valleys of Luzerne Angrogne Perouse St. Martin c. in Piedmont and in the name of all S. Bastie Minister at Angrogne the 17 th of April 1686. The Vaudois being resolved as we have told you and the Duke of Savoy gone to the Army the Embassadors thought they had no more to do at Court and therefore now might return home but because it might happen that the Valley-People seeing their danger near and the Troops ready to fall upon them might by the Mediation of the Embassadors have recourse to the Clemency of their Prince they resolved not to be far from them till they saw the Army entred into their Country and had heard what was the success of this Expedition But being informed that so soon as the French appear'd in the Valleys those of St. Martin ran quite away and that the Duke's Troops having forced the Passages on the side of Angrogne found resistance no where they plainly saw they had nothing more to do in Piedmont and therefore went away extremely griev'd that they could not hinder the desolation of the precious remainder of the Valley Churches And being come back to their own Countrey they gave an account of their Embassy to their Soveraigns who judging of their Negotiation not by the success it had but by the Embassadors Conduct after having declar'd they were satisfied with the Zeal and Address which they had made appear during the whole course of this nice Negotiation they thanked them for the care they had taken to discharge so worthily the Employment wherewith they had been honoured FINIS Some BOOKS Printed for R. Bentley Folio 1. BEaumont's and Fletcher's Plays in one Volume containing 51 Plays 2. Mr. William Shakespear's Plays in one Volume 3. Towerson's Works compleat in one Volume 4. Dr. Allestry's Sermons in one Volume 5. Dr. Comber's Works the four Parts in one Volume 6. The Council of Trent By Father Paolo 7. Toriano's Italian Dictionary 8. Mr. Milton's Paradise lost with 13 Copper Cuts finely engraven to express the whole Poem 9. Milton's Paradise regain'd in the same Volume Paper and Print to bind with it 10. Fodina Regalis or the History of the Laws of Mines By Sir John Pettus 11. Bishop Brownrig's Sermons Books in Quarto 1. The Burnt Child dreads the Fire 2. A Treatise of our Sanguinary Laws against Papists 3. Dr. Whitby's Answer to S. Cressy 4 Mr. Nathanael Lee's Plays in one Volume 5. Mr. Thomas Otway's Plays in one Volume 6. Panegyrick on His Grace the Duke of Schonberg 7. Mundus Muliebris or the Ladies Dressing-Room unlock'd and her Toilet spread Books in Octavo 1. Dr. Whitby Of Idolatry 2. Dr. Whitby of Host-Worship 3. The Life of the Marshal Turenne 4. The Secret History of the House of Medicis 5. Cornelius Agrippa of the Vanity of Arts and Sciences 6. Mauger's French Grammar Edit 13. 7. Lipsius of Constancy 8. Agiates Queen of Sparta 9. Nicorotis 10. Plurality of Worlds Translated by Mr. Glanvil 11. Boylo's Art of Poetry Translated by Mr. Soames 12. Poems and Songs By Mr. Cuts 13. Sir James Chamberlain's Poems 14. Mr. Coppinger's Poems 15. Madam Colonna's Memoirs 16. Hudibras compleat in Three Parts 17 Seneca's Morals By Sir Roger L'Estrange 18. Comber's Companion to the Altar 19. Godfrey of Boloign A Poem 20. Plato's Apology of Socrates 21. Natural History of the Passions 22. Mockclelia or Madam Quixote 23. Toriano's Italian Grammar with choice Dialogues and Phrases in Italian and English 24. Covent Garden Drollery Books in Duodecimo 1. Present State of England 2. Enter into thy Closet 3. Moral Essays in Four Volumes 4. A perfect School of Instructions for the Officers of the Mouth 5. A prospect of Humane Misery 6. Vaâ—ity of Honour Wealth and Pleasure 7. Bishop Andrew's Devotions 8. Zelinda A Romance 9. Happy Slavâ— 10. Hatige or the King of Tameran 11. Homais 〈◊〉 of Tunis 12. Triumpâ— of Love 13. Obliging Mâ—stress 14. Unfortunate Hero 15. Countess of Salisbury 16. Count Teckely 17. Essex and Elizabeth 18. The Pilgrim 19. The Emperor betray'd by whom and how 20. The Character of Love 21. Don Henrick 22. Princess of Fez. 23. M. Christianissimus 24. Gallant Ladies in two parts 25. Victorious Lovers 26. Love in a Nunnery 27. Duke of Lorain 28. Minority of St. Lewis 29. Queen of Majorca 30.
Religion under the aforesaid Penalties and that of incurring our displeasure to keep for the future any School Publick or Private that their Children may henceforth be instructed by Catholick Schoolmasters As concerning those Ministers who during the said term shall embrace the Catholick Religion our Will is that during their lives and after their death their Widows shall during their Widowhood enjoy the same Exemptions and Immunities which they before had during the Exercise of their Charge And our further Pleasure is That to those Ecclesiasticks who shall in this manner be converted there be paid during their life a Pension which shall be a third part greater than the Wages which they had as Ministers of the said Religion and that after their death their Widows shall receive the Moiety of that Pension so long as they continue sole For what concerns the Children that shall be born of Parents of the said pretended Reformed Religion our Pleasure is That after the publication of this present Edict they be baptis'd by the Priests of the Parishes which are already established in the said Vallies or which shall be established hereafter We therefore Command their Fathers and Mothers that they either send or bring their Children to the Churches under the Penalty of the Father's serving Five years in the Gallies and the Mothers being publickly whipp'd and the said Children shall henceforward be brought up in the Roman Catholick Apostolick Religion We expresly Command all Judges Provosts Chatelains and other Officers to see that these Presents be duly executed We also confirm the Edict which we caused to be Publish'd the 4th of November last past concerning the Subjects of his Most Christian Majesty who profess the pretended Reformed Religion who are now in our Dominions or who have left in them any Merchandise Money or other Effects and for what concerns other Strangers of the said Religion who contrary to the tenour of our Predecessors Edicts have settled themselves in the Vallies without their consent shew'd in writing comprehending also their Descendants who have been born in it We Command that in case they do not within Fifteen days after the Publication of this Edict declare they will embrace the Roman Catholick Apostolick Religion they shall be obliged that term being expired to depart out of our Territories under pain of Death and Confiscation of their Goods And tho' by virtue of our Predecessors Edicts the Goods which such Strangers have gotten in our Dominions ought of right to be applyed to our Publick Treasury nevertheless intending in this case to shew our wonted Clemency we permit them to sell their Goods within the said term and to dispose of them as they please yet always with this condition that there shall be no sale of their Lands but to Roman Catholicks and if no such Buyers can be found the Goods shall be prized sold and annexed to our Demeans at a reasonable price Lastly we command all Magistrates establish'd by us all Ministers of State Officers Counsellors of Justice and War and all others who are concern'd to see that this Edict be inviolably observed and cause the Council of Piemont to Register it and give their entire approbation to every thing therein contain'd· And moreover our Will is That the Publication which shall be made of this Edict in all Places according to the usual form shall have the same force and virtue as if it had been notified to every particular Person and that as much credit be given to the Copy Printed by Sinibal our Printer as to the Original it self for such is our Will and Pleasure Given at Turin the 31 th of January 1686. Victor Amadeo V. Simione de St. Thomas By the Command of his Royal Highness The Evangelique Cantons having heard of this Edict a while after also knew that the Vaudois had in vain sought relief against it for they had presented Two Petitions to their Prince which were never answer'd By the First they desir'd a Revocation of this Edict and by the Second leave to depart out of his Dominions within such a term as might be necessary to find a settlement elsewhere The Cantons seeing that the ordinary means which had been used to stop the execution of this Edict had not been effectual they thought some extraordinary course was to be tryed They therefore at first wrote to the Duke of Savoy Praying that he would make good to his Subjects of the Vallies those Concessions which had been granted to them by his Predecessors But when they saw the Duke delay'd to give them any answer and that they knew he prepar'd to execute his Edict by force they resolv'd in a Diet held at Baden in the Month of February 1686 to dispatch two Ambassadours to him to endeavour the obtaining by their Representations that which they could not procure by their Letters The Persons pitched upon for this Embassie were Gaspard de Muralt and Bernard de Muralt both Councellours of State the First of the Republick of Zurich the other of Berne who had all qualities necessary to fit them for such an Employ either in respect of their Virtue and Piety or of their Prudence and Personal Abilities These Ambassadours were charged to use their best endeavours to oblige the Duke of Savoy to revoke the Edict which he had published against the Valley Churches And because they had reason to fear that his Royal Highness would continue firm in his Resolution of causing it to be executed in all points the Protestant Cantons after having maturely considered the state of the People that compos'd the Churches and the Alliances and Forces of the Prince who resolv'd totally to extirpate them if they refus'd to submit to his Will they thought in case their Ambassadours could not obtain a Revocation of the Edict that then it would be expedient for them to endeavour the procuring of liberty for those miserable People to retire into some other Country to sell their Goods and to carry with them all that they could get together of their shipwrack'd Fortune The Lords who were present in this Diet were too prudent and judicious to take any other course but this they saw on the one hand how few they were who could bear Arms in the Vallies for they were at most but Two Thousand Five Hundred Men the greatest part of them ill armed and had neither Commanders Provision or Ammunition and could not from any place expect Succours that they likewise who had Commanded in the Wars of 1655 and 1664 were now all dead But on the other hand when they considered the Prince's Forces who had resolved to abolish their Religion they saw that they infinitely exceeded those of his Subjects who were of a Religion contrary to his for the Duke had enjoy'd a long Peace he had a great many good Troops brave Captains and experienc'd Generals he had nothing to fear either from his Neighbours or any Prince in Europe More than all this the Duke of Savoy's
which could be urged were not able to prevail with them so that after having debated the question almost a whole day they separated without being able to agree in one opinion Those of the Valley of St Martin of Perouse of St. Bartholomew of Parastin of Rocheplatte of Villard of Roras and one part of de la Tour were willing to make the submissions required of them and having deputed for that purpose six Persons who had order to go to the Court of Turin they gave them Procurations in due form whereby they promised to do all that they thought fit in the Negotiation which they had undertaken for the Interest of the Valley Churches But those of Boby of St. John and part of those of Angrogne flattering themselves with the hope of imaginary Succours resolved with Swords in their hands to defend the exercise of their Religion and sent to the Ambassadors their Deputy named Bianchis who delivered to them the following Letter Most High Mighty and Soveraign Lords PVrsuant to the Letter which your Excellencies have been pleased to write to the Vallies some days ago our Churches of St. John Angrogne and Boby throw themselves at your feet to assure you of their most humble respects and of the due sence they have of all those favours which your Excellencies endeavour to obtain and procure for them from his Royal Highness our Soveraign for the continuance of the exercise of our Religion in these places and as for the proposition now in question seeing our People cannot agree in the same opinion with other Churches We cannot send to your Excellencies the consent we desire and therefore have charged the Sieur Daniel Bianchis Syndich of the Community of St. John to tell you by word of mouth our thoughts and most humbly to beseech you that you will be pleased to continue to us the effects of your Extraordinary and Paternal Charity especially by your powerful Intercessions with his Royal Highness for the above-mention'd Exercise of our Religion earnestly praying that the Lord will bless your Negotiation and bountifully reward all your care pains and travels which your Excellencies have had the goodness to take for our poor Flocks in whose names with all imaginable respect and due submission we are proud to bear the Title of your Excellencies Most Humble most Obedient and most Obliged Servants the Deputies of the Churches Deputies of the Church of St. John Michel Purise Jean Muston Jean Putta for Angrogne Of the Church of Boâ—y Marque de Daniel Negrin N. Sindic Francis Dane Counsellor Stephan Pertin Deputy The Sieur de la Bastie Minister of St. John troubled at the division of these unfortunate Churches wrote to the Embassadors in the following Terms My Lords I Take the liberty to present my most humble duty to your Excellencies by the Deputies who are going to Turin to make the submission to his Royal Highness and to present to him the Petition which your Excellencies have thought fit I am with my Collegues in very great consternation and affliction to see our People so much divided about our leaving the Country fearing that this will prejudice your Excellencies Negotiation with his Royal Highness in our favour and render your pains unsuccessful We have not fail'd to do all we could to make them understand that in this present juncture of time it was the safest course could be taken but we have not been happy enough to succeed and satisfie all if we did not know your Excellencies unparrallel'd Charity we should have cause to fear this indiscreet conduct might lessen your Friendship and Zeal for our good We most humbly beseech your Excellencies to shew in this occasion so much goodness and clemency as not to slacken the indefatigable pains you take and I humbly beg your Excellencies Pardon for the Liberty I take and with all reverence respect and submission I assure your Lordships that I am your Excellencies Most Humble most Obedient and most Obliged Servant Sydrac Bastie Minister at Angrogne April the 4 th 1686. This diversity of Opinions made the Embassadors fear that the Enemies of their Religion taking advantage of the Vaudois Division would prevail with his Highness to destroy the innocent with the guilty and to suffer none at all to go out of the Country They therefore sent back to the Vallies the Deputy of Boby with a Letter which they wrote to those that resolved to take Arms conjuring him to use all his Power to make them agree in opinion with the other Churches The Letter was penn'd in this manner Sirs IT is true that a Man 's own Country hath very great Charms and the greatest part of Mankind have a natural desire to live and dye in it but yet the Children of God ought not to set their Hearts upon it seeing they are strangers upon Earth Heaven being their proper Country so that you will be guilty of distrusting Divine Providence if you fear you shall not be able to find another Country where you may conveniently live and adore your Heavenly Father In what part of the World soever a Man is he ought to think himself happy if he there have liberty to serve God according to the Dictates of his own Conscience You ought to follow the Example of the Patriarchs who drew down God's Blessing on themselves by relying on his Promises and by abandoning their Houses and Lands when he commanded them to go and dwell in a strange Country The like Confidence cannot but be acceptable to God and it is without doubt more conformable to the mind of the Gospel to forsake a Man's Country than to take Arms against his Soveraign Christians are called to suffer and not to resist and we do not find that the Apostles or the Primitive Church made use of any other defence but Prayers and Patience against their Persecutors These are the Considerations which obliged our Soveraign Lords the Evangelick Cantons to give us order to procure from his Royal Highness your lawful Prince free leave for you to depart with permission to dispose of your Goods in case he will not any longer suffer the Exercise of your Religion And tho' you look on this retreat as an intollerable Mischief yet our Soveraign Lords consider it as a favour when they reflect on the sad Condition whereto you are reduced they also think it will be very difficult to obtain it from his Royal Highness If he grant it at their intercession You ought not only to accept it with submission but also to be very thankful for it After this you cannot doubt but that we have been very much surprised to hear that you have resolved not to take this Course but intend to resist two mighty Potentates who have oblig'd themselves to extirpate you in case you do not submit to their will And herein you do not only act against your Duty against Christian Prudence and against your own Interest but you give us just cause to complain of you seeing
Louis Odin Angrogne the 9th of April 1686. Most High Mighty and Soveraign Lords WE with all humility cast our selves at your Excellencies feet to testify how extreamly sorry we are to see that a great part of our People have not sense enough to consider with Christian prudence the favour which your Excellencies endeavour to obtain for us by procuring free leave for our going out of this Countrey with body and goods and will not with holy joy embrace it as a Present from Heaven and a Favour for which they will another time sigh in vain this makes our hearts bleed and the more because the Letter which your Excellencies were pleased to write to them should immediately have obliged to a resolution in a business of this nature we presume nevertheless most humbly to beseech your Excellencies to be so good as to pass by these Considerations knowing that when men have to do with a multitude 't is very difficult to bring them to any conclusion and without a great deal of time spent to make them understand the reason and state of things especially when the business in question is forsaking a Native Countrey of which the possession hath been so long and so carefully kept yet there is a great number even of the best Quality who entirely resign themselves to your Excellencies Council Charity and Prudence and will never refuse to do that which they think most expedient for the glory of God and for their own safety and preservation the Pastors also are all of this Opinion and we will punctually follow the Counsel which your Excellencies shall please to give us and we most humbly beseech you to have pity on us and our Families to deliver us from a mischief which in appearance is inevitable this is the favour which we promise our selves from your Excellencies upon whom we pray that the Lord will power down his most precious blessings we are with all possible submission and respect Most High Mighty and Soveraign Lords Your Excellencies must Humble and most Obedient Servants Sidrac Bastie Guillaume Malanot From Angrogne the 9th of April 1686. It hath been certify'd from a good hand that certainly his Royal Highness will not suffer the carrying away of our goods but that he will detain them to defray the charge he hath already been at Secondly that he positively resolves to have the Ministers and Strangers put into his hands Thirdly that our Arms must be laid down and put into the hands of the Governour Fourthly that the Troops shall be let into the Vallies to pull down the Churches and that there shall be no more exercise of our Religion Fifthly We hear that the Council will by no means suffer the French Troops to come against us The Ambassadors had no sooner read these Letters but they sent back the Deputies with another Letter whereof two Copies were taken and one of them sent to those of St. John and Boby the other to those of Angrogne and de la Tour. This Letter shew'd them the vanity and little solidity of those Reasons upon which they grounded their Resolution not to accept of the Grace which was offer'd them The Letter told them it was not to be deny'd but that the Law which oblig'd men to forsake their Countrey was very severe yet at the same time the Law is much more rigorous which forces men to forsake the Eternal God and renounce the true Religion that they ought to think themselves happy that of these two sad extremities they were left to their choice which happiness was denyed in France to People of great Birth and known Merit who were kept by force in their Countrey and compelled to give themselves up to Idolatry That the things of this World are subject to continual Changes that Kings and Princes are often forced to quit their Crowns and give up their Dominions to their Enemies and therefore private persons ought without murmuring to be subject to this common Fate and submit with resignation to the Decrees of Gods Providence who by his chastisements tryes the faith of his Children and takes off their hearts from this World to make them the more earnestly seek after their Celestial Country They had indeed reason to believe that God's arm which had supported them in former Wars was not shortned but that they ought to consider God then had raised up their Neighbours to assist them with Men Money and Officers then they had none but friends about them whereas now they were compassed with Enemies on all sides Heretofore there were a great number of People among them able to bear Arms but at present they were deprived of all those advantages their Prince alone was able to extirpate them and yet his Forces were not the only Troops they had to encounter That those of France were ready to fall upon them and though they might be so fortunate to have the better in some of their first engagements yet in the end they must needs be totally overthrown by the multitude of those that would supply the places of the vanquished That the division which was among them would be very prejudicial to them That the refusing to accept the offer made by their Soveraign would make all the Protestant Princes to forsake them because they chose rashly to take up Arms rather than to follow the good Counsel which was given them That they ought not to flatter themselves with the hope of some miraculous Deliverance as was that which God gave the Jews when he destroy'd all the Army of Zenacherib That in the Age wherein we live God doth not work Miracles in favour of his Church as he did in the time of the Israelites The Holy Scripture telleth us that to cast our selves into dangers out of which we foresee 't is impossible to deliver our selves is to tempt God who forsakes those that wilfully run headlong into danger That Christian Prudence the Charity due to their Wives and Children and that love they ought to have for themselves did oblige them to follow the Example of other Inhabitants of the Vallies That their Prince looking upon them as Criminals would seize their Goods and make them suffer ignominious punishment if they persisted in their resolutions That seeing Divine Providence had blest their endeavours who interceded for them it was plain that God would not have them proceed any further in the way they were going That seeing a mitigation of the rigour of the Edict had been obtained for them they ought to accept it it was not the fault of those who had mediated that their Condition was no better and they might be assur'd the Ambassadors would zealously endeavour to obtain for them somewhat of greater advantage but if that should be impossible yet they ought to accept of that which was offer'd seeing in the state wherein they were they could not capitulate with their Prince who had Forces enough to compel them to obey him That if they refus'd to submit to