Liberties and Laws are too slight a Bulwark to secure Protestant Subjects the exercise of their Religion and enjoyment of their Civil Rights under a Prince of the Romish Perswasion These Persecuted Protestants the daily objects of your Charity are the Successors and Descendants of those of the last Age to whose Loyalty and Valour Henry the fourth of France acknowledged himself much a Debtor for the Diadem of that Kingdom which the Monarch now Regnant there wears with so much Glory and the Catholick Liguers labour'd so vigorously and scandalously to rend away from the Family of Bourbon It was in consideration of that Fidelity and as a Princely Mark of his favour and acceptance of the eminent service they had done him that Prince no less truly than nominally great confirm'd to them the free exercise of their Religion with ample Immunities and Priviledges ratified with all solemnity of Law requisite in such cases All Europe is witness the present Protestants of France have not degenerated from the Loyalty of their Ancestors but have serv'd their Prince with all imaginable Fidelity and Zeal for the Glory of his Crown The World admires the Royal qualities of their Monarch his Conduct proves him a Prince every way great He is particularly fam'd for strictness of Justice and profoundness of Wisdom His Protestant Subjects who are lash'd so severely by the rod of his Authority declare him a person of a generous Temper and sweet Disposition a Man that abhors Cruelty and Violence and is one of the best natur'd Princes under Heaven Rome to her sorrow finds him no Bigot though a Roman Catholick yet the Protestants of France are persecuted with that rigour and extremity they think it a happiness to purchase with the loss of all secular enjoyments the freedom of their Conscience and by a voluntary exile to find in strange Countries that Justice and Peace they cannot have in their own Poor Hugonots What can be a sufficient Guarranty for the exercise of your Religion which Edicts in its favour obtain'd on weighty and just Considerations and ratified with all the solemnity of Law the loyalty of its Professors the merit of your Ancestors the innate goodness and wisdom of your Soveraign cannot secure If Persecution be your Lot under the Reign of a Monarch so Generous and Sagacious so free from Superstition and so full of Heroick Qualities as your Lewis the 14th cease to complain of the Murders and Massacres under Charles the 9th and Henry the 3d and arm your selves with a Christian expectation of greater Sufferings and more fiery tryals of your Patience and Loyalty when it shall be your misfortune to see the French Crown on the head of a weak ill-natur'd or Bigotted Prince Your present King hath bravely defy'd the Thunderbolts of Rome and vigorously attack'd its usurp d Supremacy yet permits you to be rigorously handled what usage must you expect from a Superstitious Soul that will receive the Dictates of the Pope as Oracles of Heaven and hazard Crowns to merit the title of a true Son of the Church in executing Commands the most dishonourable and bloudy the malice of Priests or interest of the Papacy shall impose upon him Impute it singly to the good nature of your King that Fires are not kindled and Gibbets set up to destroy you as in former Ages the malice of your Enemies is not abated and your Religion the cause of your Sufferings is the same as then but your King hath a Soul too noble and tender to command Innocents to be tortur'd and burnt a Spectacle Charles the 9th made his Divertisement and Pleasure How miserable must you be under a Prince that shall delight in your Sufferings and think it not just only but meritorious to extirpate you when you are thus sharply persecuted under so great a Monarch who had the goodness to declare he would willingly sacrifice his right hand for what he calls your Conversion Had your sage and wise Prince so much tenderness for you that he would have sacrific'd the instrument of so many glorious Atchievements the Darling of his noble and ambitious soul for that which conceives your good and yet is impos'd upon by the arts of your Enemies to connive at your ruine and permit his authority to be abus'd to warrant and countenance those Violences and Outrages his Soul abhors and his eyes cannot endure a sight of Preserve as you do your Loyalty to your Soveraign admire his Vertues and extol his Goodness Triumph in the clearness of your Innocence that the Enemies of your Religion own not any cause of your present Persecution but your King's Pleasure that there shall be but one Religion in his Kingdom But lament the unhappiest of his Education in a Religion of Principles so unnatural it would take away that variety God and Nature have unalterably established no less in the Opinions and Judgments than in the Tempers and Faces of Men so tyrannically it would enslave all Mankind to its Tenets though never so absur'd so wildly ambitious it would usurp that Soveraignty God hath reserved to himself over the judgment and conscience and force Men contrary to both to comply with its Superstitions and become Traytors to God by a prophane Hypocrisie that they may appear good Subjects to the Pope by an outward Conformity to his Impositions so irrational it would perswade men to put out their eyes to be guided by it to abjure their Senses and renounce their Reason to be governed by its Dictates Bewail the malice and subtilty of your Enemies that hath perverted your Prince from a Father of his faithful Subjects into a Persecutor of Protestants an Oppressor of the Reformed Church inspired him with a Cruelty it found not in his Nature and surprized him to permit Violences and Outrages to be committed upon you which are no less contrary to his judgment than they are to his goodness But the Moon hath her spots Solomon and Alexander were not free from miscarriages and the sagacious malice of the enemies of Protestants quickly finds out those weaknesses in the Souls of the best Princes they have access to which they impose upon and manage to the prejudice of the Reformed Religion They knew the French King of too good a nature to permit general Massacres or delight in Cruelty exercised on his Subjects they were sensible he is not a Bigot to be perswaded to yield up the Lives of his Subjects to the pleasure of the Pope or the interest of his Church nor so silly to believe the God of the Christians can be pleased as some of the pretended Vicars of Christ have been with slaughter of men They observed so much Justice and Equity in his nature he would be scandalized at a proposal that would have engaged him contrary to Law and without colour of Justice to violate the rights of a loyal and numerous party of his Subjects they apprehended him too sensible of the interest of his Crown to approve of a
own Cause and imploying Provosts Assessors and others of his Train with Promises and Threats Money and ill usage to prevail with Men to retract the Complaints they had made of his Exorbitances and the Outrages he had done them and were still done by his Order in Poitou 'T is a proceeding I never saw practis'd or approv'd in any Court of Justice Much less will you approve his imploying as he does in making his Converts no other for the most part than Blasphemers Men branded by Justice and of a scandalous Life I am oblig'd to tell you farther that since the last Orders he receiv'd he appears with more Courage and acts more vigorously than ever He banishes whom he pleases and shews those who have access to him Letters he says of a great Minister who commands him to carry on things to what points he thinks fit and promises all he does shall be justified at Court He shews also Warrants under the Signet which he says have been sent him with Blanks to put in what names he pleases Yet we scarce believe all this to be true though we see some Gentlemen Imprison'd others Banish'd and particularly I am forc'd to absent my self to avoid the farther effects of his anger having already had my House plunder'd and my House of Husbandry made a place of Debauchery And by express Order of an Assessor of Poitiers this Assessor having lately obtain'd the Conduct of Troops and march'd in the head of them hath taken into his Train Robbers and Out-laws who come with Carts to take away all that the Horse-men have not consum'd in the Houses they have been quarter'd in They drive away our Beeves and all our Cattel and sell for twenty times less than they are really worth the Corn the Hay and generally all that belongs to those of the Reform'd Religion Yet these poor People are forc'd to maintain the Souldiers in all their Excesses and extravagant Expences and they in recompence without the least formality of Justice possess themselves not only of the Goods of those who are frightned away from their Houses but of those who stay at home to maintain them and having seiz'd the Goods they sell them publickly and give discharges to the buyers This Sir is the lamentable Condition of the Province of Poitou which all things are now in a fearful Confusion I am very well assur'd such courses as these are directly contrary to his Majesties Intentions and that he will not approve of them Yet because we cannot inform his Majesty of our Grievances but by your Ministry I take the Liberty to promise my self Sir that you will be pleas'd to take the pains to speak of them to the King and to the Marquess de Louvois and to desire his Majesty to take my Family into his special Protection without which it cannot be safe I must also intreat you Sir to procure from his Majesty an Order to what Judge he shall think fit to inquire into and inform of the Plunder and Robberies committed on my House and Lands His Majesty will not deny me the Justice of his special Protection without which my Family cannot longer subsist in this Province after the terrible menaces of Monsieur de Marillac which have already taken effect If you will be so kind as to desire it for me and my Son we may continue with safety in our Houses in the Province and shall be infinitely oblig'd to you When you undertake it I humbly beg your pardon for the trouble I put you to and am SIR Your most humble and most obedient Servant c. But to acquaint you with something yet more horrible they begin to degrade those Gentlemen that refuse to turn Roman-Catholicks and strip them of all the priviledges of Nobility There is in the Neighbourhood of Niort a considerable Family which came off very well in all the actions brought for twenty years past against the Nobility to shew by what Right they held the Priviledges and Exemptions they pretended to This Family having obtain'd several Arrests in confirmation of their Nobility and the Priviledges annex'd to it the Informer thought fit to appeal from a Sentence of the Intendant given in favour of the Family It was observ'd at the Council to which the Appeal was made that the Family was numerous and had so many Branches it fill'd the Countrey This was look'd upon as a favourable opportunity to gain at once many considerable Persons to their Party The Gentlemen were all solicited to turn Catholicks and promises made to some of them of full Companies in Service besides Money and Favour The eldest of the Family had the baseness to yield and obtain'd an Arrest in these Terms Having seen the Evidences and Abjuration of made before Father la Chaise we confirm him in his Nobility and discharge him of all Taxes And we allow a months time to the rest of the same Name and Family to make the like Abjuration After which time they shall be foreclos'd c. and made to pay the Taxes asses'd on them with all Charges The proceedings of this Suit were all shew'd me by a Gentleman of two or three thousand Livers a year who is now reduc'd to extremity his Estate seiz'd himself degraded and depriv'd of the Priviledges of Nobility because he abjur'd not his Religion as requir'd by the Arrest I will acquaint you with another very special sort of Persecution The last year an Arrest pass'd whereby the King prohibited the Catholicks to embrace the Protestant Religion and forbad the Protestants to receive any Abjuration of the Catholicks under pain of being interdicted the Ministry and having the Church demolish'd wherein any Catholick should have been receiv'd into the Profession of the Reformed Religion At a place in Poitou called la Mott a Servant Maid a Roman-Catholick was perswaded by some Rascals to go with the Protestants to receive the Sacrament in their Church The Intendant upon notice sends for the Minister and Elders and tells them that though it appear'd not that Servant Maid had abjur'd yet there could not be a more certain sign she had been receiv'd amongst them than that she had receiv'd the Sacrament with them Hereupon he made a great noise interdicted and expell'd the Minister and threatned to have the Church pull'd down And if such Courses be allow'd what Church can be safe How easie a matter is it for the Curates the Monks and the Intendants to send Rascals to receive the Sacrament among us without our being able to hinder them They durst not for some time commit these horrible Outrages in the great Towns where the Protestants were numerous for fear of provoking them to some desperate Act But now they resolve all places shall fare alike Niort Chatellheraut and Rochelle have already felt the effects of their Fury There is not any kind of Outrage but hath been and is done to the Inhabitants of those Towns They write from that Province that there is not a Protestant
appear'd under that name for the preservation of the Catholick Faith You will see how they observ'd this Maxim The first honour Monsieur Mezeray does them Mez. Abr. 1576. is to call them a great Faction and the first Atchievement he attributes to them is that they had supprest the Royal Authority In a short time says he it was evident this Faction having taken root in almost all the Provinces put forth Branches so high it cover'd and almost stifl'd the Authority Royal 'T was this League engag'd the whole Kingdom into a Party whereof the King of Spain was the Head and made the French sign a Treaty of Union against the Authority of their lawful Prince 'T was this League forc'd Henry the 3d to sign at the States of Blois this Holy Vnion So that from King says Mezeray he became the head of a Cabal and instead of being the common Father declar'd himself an Enemy of one part of his Subjects 'T was this League which in derogation of the Royal Authority went to stab the Favorites of Henry the 3d almost in his bosome And that poor Prince disarm'd of his authority took pleasure and comfort in erecting Statues and setting up Monuments for those they had robb'd him of by their barbarous assassinations 'T was this League endeavour'd by all means to render Henry the 3d odious by insolent Sermons by Confessions wherein the Monks inspir'd their Penitents with an aversion against their Prince and impos'd on them for Penance a necessity to hate him 'T was this League 1584. says Mezeray which having heated the Zealous stirred the Factious and perswaded the Princes began to rise to List Soldiers to make Assemblies to choose Chiefs at whose Summons by Billet though they own'd not themselves Heads of the Party those who were Listed were oblig'd to repair to several places of Rendezvouz 'T was this Holy Vnion treated the same year with the Spaniard and made a League Offensive and Defensive to Exclude from the Crown its Lawful Heirs 'T was this League seiz'd against the Kings Authority all the Towns it could take in the Kingdom And not content with that would have had permission from Rome to attempt the King's Life and for that end made Fa. Matthew the Jesuit take so many Journeys that he was commonly call'd the Courier of the League Compare this design with the Enterprizes of Amboise and Meaux and see which is the more Criminal Our Protestants are accus'd for having endeavour'd to free our Kings from the slavery they were kept in by Princes Strangers yet you are well pleas'd that the same Princes Strangers should attempt their Lives 'T was this League brought the Rheiters into France in 1585. 1588. 'T was this League unworthily chas'd away their King from his Capital City at the Barricade of Paris and obliged him to save himself by night in great disorder that he might escape being shut up in a Closter shorn a Monk perpetually Imprison'd and perhaps Murder'd 'T was this League call'd their Prince Tyrant excommunicated him blotted his Name out of the publick Prayers and caus'd Arms to be taken up against him on all sides after the death of the Princes of Guise In fine 't was this Holy League made for the preservation of the Catholick Faith that assassinated the King at St. Clou by the hands of a Jacobin Monk Shall I proceed to expose other horrible actions of this Holy League and what they did to hinder Henry the 4th from enjoying the Crown that belong'd to him 'T is not necessary the memory of it is fresh and all the World knows it When you have recollected what you have heard I cannot tell whether you will think it prudent in a Roman Catholick to hit us so confidently in the teeth with that Maxim that Religion ought not to be defended by Arms and that under pretence of Religion nothing ought to be done that may any way hurt the Royal Authority Par. Sir give me leave to tell you this Invective is unjust You charge our Religion with the Crimes of particular men Do you believe the actions of the League were agreeable to the Principles of the Catholick Religion Hug. Law If I did you injustice in that point I did but requite you in kind for the like injustice you had done us For you would make our Religion answerable for all the disorders happen'd forty years together in the Civil Wars of France the last Age. Were it true that Motives of Religion only had engag'd the Reformed in those Wars yet those Disorders ought not to be imputed to the Reformed Religion whose Doctrine perswades not nor inclines men to Revolt But I affirm it Sir I do your Religion no wrong if I lay to its charge all the Disorders and furious Enormities of the League Because the Pope the Head and Author of your Religion was the Author and Promoter of that League because there were publick Rejoyceings at Rome and Te Deum sung for the Bartholomaean Massacre The Sieur du Maurier Author of the Memoirs of Holland will inform you that there is to be seen this day at Rome a piece of Picture wherein is drawn the Massacre of the Admiral with these words Pontifex probat Colinij necem the Pope approves of the killing of Coligny This Massacre was committed before the League was hatch'd and openly own'd though it was then form'd and acted with a furious vigor The assassinate of Henry the 3d was approv'd by the Court of Rome Publick Elogies were made in praise of him who committed the Assassinate and publick Invectives against him that was murdered this Prince as well as Henry the 4th his Successor was Excommunicated by the Pope Their Subjects were absolv'd from their Oaths of Allegiance and all the Powers of Europe rais'd against them All this Sir may we justly impute to your Religion because the Religion of Rome and the Italian Divinity spread throughout Europe authorize these Rebellions against Princes when the great Article of your Religion is concern'd which is Obedience to the Pope 'T is the Pope assumes a power to deprive Kings of their Crowns and to transfer their Estates to others 'T is the Pope authorizes the assassinates of Kings and sacred Persons when these facts are perpetrated pursuant to their Bulls of Deposition 't is the Pope usurps the temporal Estate of the Emperour in Italy and under pretence that the Emperours had lost their Right by Heresy made himself Soveraign of the City of Rome 'T is the Pope stiles himself Superiour to Kings and makes Crown'd heads stoop to kiss his feet 't is the Pope trod on the necks of Emperors applying to himself those words The young Lion and the Adder shalt thou tread under thy feet 't is the Pope hath drown'd Germany with bloud arming the Father against the Son and the Son against the Father to force from the Emperours the right of Investiture into the great Benefices The times are much altered
Prince who thinks it not only lawful but meritorious to break it How hardly shall a Subject have that benefit of Law which his Soveraign holds himself obliged to deny him But if Princes would consider that the Religion of Rome hath Pardon in store for the greatest Crimes but none for that of denying the Roman Supremacy that Sin against the Holy See not to be forgiven That it allows service done that See not only an Attonement to expiate the Guilt of the greatest Villany but meritorious to gain him a Crown in Heaven who will expose himself by the blackest of Crimes to support the Popes temporal Crown in an exigence That the Profession and Practice of the Roman Religion by Roman Catholick Princes hath not been able to secure their Lives from being made a Sacrifice to the Pleasure of the Pope and the interest of his Church by the hands of Roman Catholick Assassins Did Princes consider this neither those who have been bred up in that perswasion could think themselves safe in the Possession of their Crowns without a dependance on the Pope and a submission unbecoming a Prince to his Dictates and interest Nor could any Prince bred up in a Reformed Religion which owns the Supremacy of Kings immediate under God and makes Loyalty an indispensable duty from the Subject to the Soveraign be ever seduced to change it for a Religion which hath furnished a Monk to murder Henry the third of France not only a Popish Prince but a Persecutor of Protestants and a Ravillac to assassinate Henry the fourth who having escaped the fury of the Catholick Arms while he continued a Protestant fell by the hands of a Popish Villain after his Perversion to the Popish Religion THE LAST EFFORTS OF AFFLICTED INNOCENCE The First Discourse Between two Gentlemen the one of Provence the other of Paris c. The Provincial YOU will not deny Sir but 't is my fate to surprize you I cannot imagine this second Enterview less surprizing than the former A years absence had given you hope you were rid of a troublesome Companion But he is come again The Parisian Persons of your Merit and charming Conversation are not to be call'd troublesom Surprizes of this kind are always agreeable But where have you been since our last sight of you Prov. Soon after our second Discourse I had advice by Letter of urgent affairs hasten'd me into Provence where I spent near a twelve-month But my business in Provence could not make me so forget the Charms of Paris but I am come again to take a second taste of the pleasures of it though perhaps to your trouble I have found again my Hugonot Gentleman who hath staid all this while at Paris and probably takes more delight in it than I. Par. I perceive he hath not fail'd to entertain you afresh with the state of his Religion the Subject he was so full of the last year And generally the Gentlemen of his perswasion when at liberty can hardly speak of any thing else every day affording them new matter of Discourse Pro. I confess my Hugonot never meets me but he speaks to me of it and with such Triumph and Joy as if he had stopt your mouth and mine and that we had nothing to answer the Reasons he brought to prove That the Conduct now used against the Hugonots is not only contrary to the Rules of Morality and that Integrity we ought to practise in observing our promises but destructive of the true interest of State And Sir to your misfortune I remember very well you concluded our last Discourse with these words These Gentlemen said you have taken time to think of their Objestions 't is fit we should take time to think of our Answers 't is enough for this day that we have given them a hearing This Sir is a formal engagement you cannot recede from You must furnish me with Weapons to defend my self or rather resolve to engage them without a second For I find my self not able to bear any longer a part in the Action I have a treacherous memory and forget half what is said to me Every one pleads his Cause in Person with more Vigor and Success than by Proxy You will be pleas'd to hear them speak and I beg it of you Par. You have by your Merit gain'd so absolute an Empire over me you may command any thing in my Power I am easily perswaded to enter into Discourse with Persons for whom I have entertain'd an Esteem upon the Character you have given of them Pro. Since you have been pleas'd to receive my proposal in so obliging a Manner I will confess the whole truth and let you see I had that Confidence in your kindness I have taken the Liberty to appoint my Gentleman and his Lawyer their Rendesvouz at your house they will be here in half an hour I knew this to be your day of repose and came before to see if you would receive us and if I found you not at leisure to hear and to speak to us I could have perswaded my Gentlemen to take a turn in the Thuilleryes Par. They shall be very welcome and so shall any that comes with you assoon as they are come a Lacquay shall have order to stand at the door and tell all that ask for me I am not within But Sir since you will engage me to day in a formal Combat I will deal freely with you I am not of opinion we should engage our selves to answer particularly all they have said to you and you reported to me That Method is fit only for the Schools and would turn our Discourse into Wrangling and Pedantry If you will be advis'd by me we will raise a Counter-battery Let us put them on the Defensive and see how these Gentlemen who would prove the safety of the state depends on their preservation can reconcile with this Maxim the danger they have heretofore put this Monarchy in for I aver it that in threescore or fourscore years they have ten times brought the State to the brink of destruction by the disorders they have caus'd and the Wars they have rais'd in it Pro. You say well Sir that 's their weak side and I joyn in opinion with you they are to be attaqu'd there Par. But to the Business of our Answer have you not seen a Writing published not long after our last Discourse intituled A Letter from a Churchman to a Friend It was Printed at Brussels by Francis Foppery 'T is the very thing you want being a full and pertinent Answer to all the Complaints contain'd in the Petition they intended to present to the King Pro. You may believe that having had a design these twelve Months past to be perfectly informed of this great Affair I have not fail'd to furnish my self with that Piece I have read and brought it with me believing it might be of use in the Subject we are to examine But what is your judgment of it Par.
themselves by retiring out of the Kingdom though it were sure they should perish in the Attempt Good God! What a spectacle will it be to see the Children violently taken away from their Parents What Cannibal heart can be hard enough to endure the sight of Mothers bath'd in Tears cover'd with their own Blood scratching their Faces tearing their Hair beating their Breasts Sighing and Groaning and making hideous outcryes after those who rob them of their Children calling them Hangmen Robbers Villains and other opprobrious Names dictated by extremity of Fury raging in the tender Soul of a Mother Par. I cannot deny but the Catholicks themselves were surpriz'd at this Declaration and that it hath in it something repugnant to the Laws of Nature But great designs how just soever cannot be executed without using some unjust means The wisest Politicians are often oblig'd to do some ill that the may attain a greater good The King hath a mind to have all his Subjects reunited in one Religion The design is excellent but cannot be compass'd without use of violent means Hug. Law Pray Sir tell me Had not the Christian Emperors a design to have their Subjects all of a Religion Did not they wish Paganism destroy'd This sure was as excellent a design as the ruining of Calvinism But did they take the like Course to attain the design Before and in the Reign of Theodosius the Great the Empire had embrac'd Christianity almost an Age. The Provinces the Cities the Armies Rome it self was full of Christians Yet the Senate of Rome was almost all Pagan and by the Mouth of Symmachus pleaded before the Emperor to disswade him from demolishing the Altar of Victory that stood at the Gate of the Senate-house Yet these Senators were not turn'd out nor did any lose his Office for being a Pagan Symmachus as zealous as he was for Paganism received from Theodosius the honour of the Consulship the highest Office of the Empire We do not read that the Children of Pagans were taken from them in those days or had Liberty given them at seven years old to turn Christians against the will of their Parents The Piety of the Theodosij and the Constantines never mov'd them to act in favour of the true Religion such a violence against nature They did not in that Age understand it lawful to do ill that good might come of it The Impiety and Fury of the Persecutors of the Church never suggested such a thought The Councellors of that Apostate Emperor who went so dextrously about destroying the Christian Religion were but bunglers to our Clergymen of the Councel of Conscience who surprize in a manner so ruinous to us the greatest Prince of the World Julian destroy'd the Schools of the Christians and shut up their Churches but it never entred his thoughts to take away their Children at seven years old to be brought up in Paganism Every rational man holds it a Maxim that Religion is not to be impos'd by Command but taught by perswasion You have read the Book of Father Nicolai the Jacopin intituled De Baptismi antiquo usu Dissertatio duplex In the second Dissertation he tells us some Schoolmen hold that Jews and Infidels may be compell'd to be baptiz'd But 't is hellish Divinity a Maxim of Executioners and Inquisitors These sottish Divines ground their Doctrine on some Examples as that of Chilperic who commanded the Jews to get themselves baptiz'd and imprison'd one of them to compel him thereto as Gregory of Tours reports Aimoyn writes that Dagobert oblig'd them to it upon pain of Banishment The Capitulars of Charlemain tell us that Prince punish'd with death the Saxons who refus'd to turn Christians But Father Nicolai makes it appear Conc. Tolet. 4. Can. 57. de Judaeis Ann. Christi 633. these were particular actions never approv'd by the Church He quotes the Councel of Toledo which disapprov'd the Violence us'd by Sisebut in Spain against the Jews in obliging them to be baptiz'd on pain of Whipping and Banishment He shews further that the Penalties ordain'd against Jews and Infidels were not so much to force them to turn Christians as to punish them for Crimes otherwise committed At last he proves there is not in the Primitive Church any president for this Practise of compelling Jews or Infidels into Christianity Much less may you find an Example of the new kind of Cruelty exercis'd against us If you meet with some Ordinances that command Infidels to turn Christians yet you will never find any Christian Prince made a Law for taking from Jews and Infidels their Children and hindring them to be instructed in their Religion Hug. Gent. Yet Sir if I mistake not I have read in the Memoires and Petition you mention'd that a King of Portugal call'd Emmanuel order'd all Male Children of Jews under fourteen years of Age to be taken from them and instructed in the Christian Religion Hug. Law 'T is true but you are to observe the Example is single that it is modern being a President but of the last Age when the Church was very corrupt and that it proceeds from the infernal source of the Spanish and Portuguess Inquisitions In a word he that reports it though a Bishop had not the power to forbear saying it was a Jewish Course and unjust in the Execution that it had not any foundation of Law or of Religion though it seem'd to proceed from a good intention and had an appearance of Piety 'T is Ozorius Bishop of Algarves who wrote a great Volume in twelve Books of the Life of Emmanuel the second King of Portugal The Story is so pat and the Reflexions of this Bishop so proper for the present Conjuncture I cannot forbear reading to you a Translation I made yesterday of the whole passage though somewhat long This Historian having repeated at large the reasons of those who were for permitting the Jews to live peaceably in Portugal Ozorius lib. 1. rerum Emmanualis Anno. 1497. and the contrary Arguments goes on thus Emmanuel approving the latter Opinion order'd all Jews and Moors who would not embrace Christianity to quit the Kingdom and appointed a day after which those who should be found within the Realm should be made Slaves c. The day drew near The Jews with great diligence prepar'd for Embarquing Emmanuel troubled to see so many thousands persist obstinate to Damnation that he might at least be instrumental for the Salvation of their Children bethought himself of a Course good in the Intention but unjust in the Execution He order'd all the Jews Children of fourteen years and under to be taken from their Parents and secur'd at a distance to be brought up in the Christian Religion This could not be done without terrible agitation and trouble of mens minds 'T was a horrible spectacle to see Children forc'd out of the Bosoms of their Mother and wrench'd out of their Fathers Arms in which they were lock'd The Parents were ill us'd and
you that they are dealt with as declar'd Enemies that their Goods and their Houses are pillag'd their Persons assaulted and 't is publish'd aloud the Sieur Marillac will have it so that he commands it and that it is to oblige your Petitioners to change their Religion Your Souldiers Sir whom your Laws require to observe the strictest Discipline are made choice of to execute all these Enormities Instead of Quartering them indifferently upon all your Subjects they are Quarter'd on those only of the Religion P. R. And when they are so Quarter'd not content with ruining their Landlords by the excessive Charges they put tem to for maintaining them not content with large Contributions of Money exacted from them not content with frightning them with execrable Oaths and horrible Blasphemies when they refuse going to Mass or hearing the Sermons of the Capucins Quarter'd by Order on those of the Religion they are soundly Beaten they are Bang'd and Cudgell'd Women have been dragg'd by the Hair with Ropes about their Necks Others have been Tortur'd Old men of fourscore years have been fast bound on Benches Their Children who would have comforted them have been abus'd before their Faces The most moderate of these Souldiers hinder the Tradesmen from working at their Trades they rob the poor Labourers of what should maintain them and make publick Sale of their Goods that being reduc'd to beggary they may be sorc'd to change their Religion Others of them seeing neither Threats nor Bastonades nor the horror of a violent Death presented every hour to their Hosts by naked Swords and Pistols ready charg'd laid to their Breasts could prevail with them to quit their Religion put them in Sheets carryed them to Church and having sprinkled them with Holy-water pretend they are Roman-Catholicks and that in case they return to their former Religion they shall be guilty of the Crime of Relapse and which is yet more strange and unparallel'd in any Age these poor Wretches are not allow'd the liberty to complain If they apply themselves to the Sieur Marillac he stops their mouths without hearing them They are presently imprison'd without Warrant fil'd and without any form of Justice and are kept Prisoners without being proceeded against And to frustrate the Complaints exhibited to your Majesty the Provosts and Serjeants have gone from House to House and forc'd the Complainants to withdraw their Complaints If any Gentlemen take upon them to speak of these disorders of which they have been eye-witnesses they are answered haughtily they are to meddle with their own Business Otherwise they will be put into a place of safety So that this miserable People would think themselves utterly undone if they were not perswaded that a Conduct so contrary to your Laws and the Rules of Christianity will not be approv'd by your Majesty Prostrate therefore at your Majesties fiet they pray with a profound respect that you will look upon them with a favourable Eye and hearken to their just Complaints the truth whereof they offer at the peril of their Lives to prove before any Judge it shall please your Majesty to nominate 'T is from the sole Protection of your Majesty your Petitioners can expect an end of so many Outrages and an enjoyment of that Tranquility they presume to promise themselves under the Raign of the Greatest and most glorious Monarch of the World May it therefore please your Majesty to appoint Commissioners before whom your Petitioners may prove the Matters of Fact abovementioned with their Circumstances and Dependances And in the mean time to Order that the Souldiers be dislodg'd to the end your Petitioners may be at liberty to get in their Harvest Or if it be your Majesties Pleasure that they remain in the Province that they may in that Case be Quarter'd indifferently on your Subjects of both Religions that the strong may support the weak and those who are most able may bear the Burden as those that are least That you will injoyn them to live in the Order of Discipline and require their Officers to see it done on pain of being accountable for all the Disorders their Souldiers shall commit that you will prohibit the Souldiers and all others to exercise any Violence against your Subjects of the Religion P. R. under pretence of making them change their Religion upon pain of being punished as disturbers of the publick Peace And that you will be pleased to Order that those of the Religion P. R. who are in Prison may be forthwith proceeded against or set at Liberty And your Retitioners shall continue their Prayers to God for the health and prosperity of your Majesty and the Royal Family If you have a mind to see other pieces as authentick as this I will read you two Petitions one intended to be presented to the King the other presented to the Parliament of Guienne To the King SIR YOur Subjects of the Religion P. R of Marennes Santonge and the Government of Broüage prostrate at your Majesties seet most humbly shew That although they have always behav'd themselves according to your Majesties Declarations and Edicts and are fully perswaded it is your intention that your Petitioners should live in Peace and not have any force put upon their Conscience Yet so it is that the Governor of Broüage ceases not with his Carrison to go from House to House and from Village to Village to compel all manner of ways those of the said Religion to go to Mass forceably dragging some of them to Church threat-ning to kill others if they refuse to abjure and Quartering Souldiers in their Houses which they plunder and sell your Petitioners Goods forcing them to abandon all to go seek elsewhere that quiet they cannot find in their Countrey This Sir was done in the Burrough of Dhier near Brüage they bound Blanchet a Ship-Carpenter to a Table forc'd stones into his Mouth and whetted his Teeth with Flint They carry several Persons to Church and having made them put their hands on a Book they pretend they are thereby become good Catholicks and oblige them to Sign an Abjuration of the Religion though no other means of Perswasion or Constraint have been us'd to reduce them to it They have acted extreme Outrages upon Chadenne Marinier Ardoüin and Rambert And one Voyer having fled for Refuge to Marennes was followed by a Serjeant and four Souldiers who publickly gave him several blows with the flat of their Swords and beat him on the Stomach with the But end of their Guns And having made him so weak he could not go carryed him to Prison in a Cart. In the Village of Breüil la Menardiex and others the Souldiers of the said Garrison and entred the Houses by force carryed away and sold openly the Goods of those who were fled thither for refuge to save themselves from the Outrages they had seen done to their Neighbours particularly to Ardoüin le Comte Hervy and Baudry At Peufeucié the Officers of the same Garrison put
whence proceeds that terrible fright we are observ'd to be in for some time past We see coming towards us that Scourge which now Afflicts Santonge and Poitou We understand well enough they will not open a Persecution in all places at once this would make too great a noise But when they have laid these two Provinces desolate they will pass into another They scatter and lay wast all our Congregations in one end of the Kingdom and in the other tell us we shall be dealt with better far than we imagine that we are to blame to take the Alarm and ought not to think of leaving the Kingdom That is that we are a File of Wretched men mark'd out for death while those at the one end of the File are Hang'd or Shot to death those at the other end are spoken fair to and made drink to amuse them that they run not away but may when the rest are dispatch'd be Hang'd as the others They began with this poor Province of Poitou because it is bounded on one side by the Sea and on the other side borders on all the Provinces of France so that the wretched Inhabitants have no way to escape out of the Kingdom And it is certain those who will permit themselves to be surpriz'd and neglect the opportunity of getting into a place of safety will one day dearly pay for their Imprudence and Security Hug. Gent. Your Reflections have interrupted me in the Course of my story I have many things more to acquaint you with which will give you further Light into the Character of this Persecutor who Ravages Poitou He spreads and causes it to be spread abroad every where with inconceivable boldness that 't is the King's intention there shall be but one Religion in his Kingdom If any one chance to say any thing to the contrary what Religion soever he is of he is punish'd for 't It happen'd that three Roman-Catholicks said the King had not declar'd himself as fully in this particular as 't was reported he had they were all three Imprison'd for it A Man of the Religion having taken an occasion to raâ—ly these Conversions made for Money and having said the King was too wise to be at great expence to carry on an Action so base as that of Bribing People out of their Religion was Imprison'd and Condemn'd to go bare-head and bare-foot with a lighted Torch in his hand through the Street follow'd by the Executioner to the Court of Justice to beg Pardon for his fault But I have one thing more to tell you by which you may better know what a Person he is I am speaking of He went to Dinner at the Marquess of Verac's a Gentleman of note in the Province While they were at Dinner the Intendant gave Order the Inhabitants of the place should assemble at the Cross After Dinner he took his Coach got up on the streps of the Cross and said to the Peasants assembled Children you are to know 't is the King's intention there shall be henceforth but one Religion in France Turn Catholicks Whoever does so shall have cause upon all occasions to praise the King's Bounty Those who refuse shall experience his Severity To prove what I say see here your Lord the Marquess of Verac come along with me to change his Religion Whereupon the Marquess who is a very honest man and a very good Protestant stepping up immediately to the same Cross said to the Peasants Children The Intendant does but jest with you The King has no design to revoke his Edicts And it is not true that I am come along with him or have any design to change my Religion Hug. Law This is surprizing and sufficient of it self to make out the Character of the Man I cannot tell Sir what you think of these Conversions of Poitou But as for me I confess that assuming the Sentiments of a reasonable Catholick I could not forbear being of the Opinion of Ozorjus Bishop of the Algarues That nothing is more opposite to the Spirit of Christianity than a Conduct of this Nature that exposes so many Mysteries and holy things to men suspected and evidently prophane Can you choose but tremble Sir to think that at this day in Poitou thousands of those who are forc'd to go to Mass and prostrate themselves before that which you call Our Lord detest and look upon that as an Idol which they pretend to adore When they are sick they bring them the holy Oyl and make them take the Sacrament after your manner They obey with their bodies the Violence us'd but they think very Prophanely of those things you esteem so Holy 'T is in your Opinion an enormous Crime these Wretches commit yet 't is your Zealous Catholicks are the Cause of these horrible Prophanations of your Mysteries When Violence is us'd to force men to Lock up in the bottom of their Hearts their sentiments of Religion it produces the effect of that Violent and inconsiderate Zeal of Emmanuel the second King of Portugal who compell'd the Jews to turn Christians as I told you The Jews profess'd themselves Christians but continued Jews in their Hearts Their Children inherited their Dissimulation and Religion Hence it is that half those Portuguese who to avoid the Inquisition are Christians in Portugal no sooner set foot in Holland but they are Jews Those Hugonots who have been forc'd to turn Roman-Catholicks will inspire into their Children their Religion and the disquiet of their Spirit These Sentiments will be transmitted from Generation to Generation as a Seed of Rebellion that will always incline this People to shake off the Yoke impos'd on their Conscience as Soon as they have opportunity So that by the Course now taken instead of gaining Servants to God you raise Enemies to the State And I had reason to say that by the Method now us'd for Conversion you will make you a Church of Rogues and Villains of Atheistical and Prophane Rascals destitute both of Religion and Honour Conversion at this day is a Cloak to cover Debauches and the most abominable Enormities Let the most infamous of men profess himself a Catholick he is presently become a right honest man That Church which claims the title of Holy as proper to it self opens her Gates to Bankrupts and Cheats and exhorts men to become Bankrupts by turning Roman-Catholicks which is a sure Means of Pardon and Oblivion for all Sins and in a word a Salve for all Sores a Remedy for all Evils Hug. Gent. Give me leave to tell you a little story not impertinent to the Purpose which I had the other day from an Officer You know 't is now every ones business to make Converts 'T is the imployment of Gentlemen and Officers of War as well as of the Bigots A Souldier of the Garrison of Friburg having committed a considerable Robbery was imprison'd for it He had wit enough to know it would go very hard with him unless he could find Favour The
Councel of the City This Author informs you also that the Dukes of Savoy resolv'd at any rate to make themselves Masters of Geneva got a Creature of theirs Peter de la Baum to be made Bishop This man being a Traytor to the City he ought to have protected did all in his Power to bring it under the Tyranny of the Savoyards Those who most vigorously oppos'd this Enterprize and oblig'd him first to retire were very Zealous Roman-Catholicks They put themselves under the protection of the Canton of Fribourg which had been and was then of the Roman-Catholick perswasion The Doctrine of the Reformed was preach'd in the City many were converted the Bishop return'd to oppose them He had a great Contest with the Senate about some Prisoners he pretended belong'd to him in prejudice of the Councel of the City who was judicially possess'd of their Business The Councel carryed it against the Bishop and remain'd Masters of the Prisoners the subject of this Controversie was matter of Jurisdiction not of Religion The Bishop having lost the Cause withdrew out of the City He was so far from-being expell'd or driven away that his Authority was own'd there a long time after But discovery being made of several Conspiracies of this Bishop tending to an absolute suppression both of the Religion and Liberty of the City being then for the most part reform'd his Authority at last expir'd in a little State he was not able to manage the free People of it having made choice of a Religion contrary to his Par. 'T is easie in so short an Account as you give to cover truths with falshoods the matters of Fact are for the most part disguis'd And it would not be difficult to give them another Face which would represent this Enterprize a meer Rebellion But 't will be too long a digression to enter into particulars of this nature We had rather hear what you can say in favour of your Protestants of Germany Hug. Law I say Sir there 's no reason to accuse them of Rebellion against their Soveraigns 'T is perhaps the League of Smalcald you would lay to their Charge It was Sir a League defensive only F. Maimbourg shall witness it They concluded says he Hist Lutb lib. 3. An. 1531. their League of mutual defence against all those who would trouble them in the exercise of their Religion The same Author tells us that if the Protestant Princes had any design to prevent the Emperor and take up Arms before him Luther oppos'd it And the Letter he writ on that Subject to the Elector of Saxony may be seen at this day at the beginning of the first Tome of Luthers works Is there any thing more natural than to unite in order to common safety This League was not made by Rebels and seditious Subjects but by Soveraign Princes 'T is very well known the Emperor is not Master of the Empire which is a Confederation of several States united under one Head yet reserving to themselves-their Liberty and Soveraignty In matters of Peace and War Impositions raising Armies and all other Acts of Soveraignty the Princes and free Towns do what they please They make War one against another They end their differences as they please and enter when they think fit into Interests contrary to those of the Emperor If the Emperor attempt any thing against the Priviledges of any Member of the Empire they remedy themselves by Arms without incurring the penalty or name of Rebels Who knows not this must be a stranger to the History of Germany The Golden Bull is express in it Declaring that if the Emperor violate any Right or Priviledge belonging by that Bull to the Members of the Empire the Princes Ecclesiastical and Secular have Power to oppose him and cannot on that account be charg'd with Rebellion Nor can the Protestants of Germany be charg'd with Rebellion for entring into the League of Smalcald Which was not more against the Emperor than against all other who should persecute them True it is these Confederates ten years after had War with Charles the 5th but were forc'd into it They did not take up Arms first the Emperor form'd a design to destroy them and they were oblig'd to defend themselves Besides there is nothing more false than that this was properly a War of Religion That was only a pretence by which Charles the 5th engag'd Pope Paul the 3d. in the League against the Confederates of Smalcald The Pope indeed would have it pass for a holy War undertaken for the destruction of Heresie The Emperor on the contrary publish'd a Manifesto wherein he professed That the War he was entring into was not a War of Religion That this appear'd clearly by his permitting liberty of Conscience to the Lutheran Princes and Souldiers who faithfully serv'd him in his Armies and that he had not entred into a League with the Pope otherwise than as a Prince who assisted him against the Common Enemy 'T is certain he had in his Army many Protestant Princes particularly Maurice and Angustus Dukes of Saxony and Albert and John Marquesses of Brandenbourg Charles whose Ambition knew no bounds had no other design but to destroy the liberty of the Empire and to make it Hereditary in his Family This appear'd by the consequence of the War wherein though he had all the good Fortune he could hope for he perform'd not a tittle of what he had promis'd the Pope He endeavour'd not the destruction of Lutheranism but having taken the Confederate Towns put them to great Ransoms and drew from them vast Sums of Money and huge quantities of Ammunition but left them at full liberty to profess what Religion they pleas'd The Pope perceiving himselfabus'd he call'd home his Nephew and his Troops which return'd miserably scatter'd into Italy All the Benefit he reap'd by this War was vexation at heart for having assisted Charles to oppress Germany and having open'd him a way for oppressing Italy But how can it be imagin'd Charles the fifth undertook this War out of Zeal to Religion when if he was of any Religion he was perhaps more a Lutheran than a Roman-Catholick Which there is just cause to believe because Ponce de Leon his Confessor and depositary of his most secret thoughts in whose Arms he expir'd was condemn'd to be burnt as an Heretick by Philip the Son of Charles I see on your Table the Abridgement of the History of France by Mezeray the first Edition Let us see what he says the last Age thought of it This Author is a Roman-Catholick and judicious He is read by all and you cannot suspect him Philip says he Ann. 1559. At his arrival into Spain caus'd to be burnt in his presence at Seville and Valladolid a great multitude of those they call Lutherans Men and Women Gentlemen and Church-men and the Effigies of Constantius Pontius Confessor to Charles the 5th who attended him to his death 'T is no wonder he was not
afraid to stain the Memory of his Father for if some may be credited he was about to have an information put in against him and to have his bones burnt as an Heretick And that he forbore this proceeding for no other reason than that his Father had been an Heretick he was thereby devested of his Estates and consequently had no right to resign them to his Son Philip indeed appear'd a great Zealot for his Religion But if you will believe the Germans the terrible hatred he had against the Protestants proceeded not so much from his love to the Catholick Church as from his violent resentment against the Lutheran Confederates who oppos'd the Design of Charles the 5th to make him associate of the Empire with Ferdinand his Brother whose Successor in the Empire Philip aspir'd to be But to return to our Subject I say the Germans fought for their Religion and Liberty by Power inherent in the Princes of the Empire who are as much Masters of their States as the Emperor of his Maurice of Saxony effected what Frederick could not He recovered the Liberty of Germany and broke the Yoke under which it groan'd Having thus justifi'd the Protestants of Germany I know of no other but the States of the United Provinces who are charg'd to have chang'd their Religion to set up and maintain a new form of Government Par. Ah! Sir as for them I advise you for your credit not to engage in their defence 'T is so publickly notorious they were Subjects of Spain and that in changing their Religion they chang'd their Master by as plain a Rebellion as ever was in the World I am so much your Friend I would not have you undertake their Cause Hug. Law No Sir I will not undertake it Grotius de antiquitate Reipublicae Batavicae 'T is done to my hand Read what the learned Grotius hath writ of the Original and Government of the Provinces of the Low-Countreys Read their Historians read ours You will find these People never were absolutely Subjects of Spain that the Earls of Holland never were their absolute Masters that the Government was mix'd partly Aristocratical partly Monarchick These Historians will tell you the Provinces of the Low-Countries were reform'd long before they took up Arms against the King of Spain that in the first Wars there was an equal if not a greater number of Roman-Catholick than of Protestant Lords and Towns engag'd against the Catholick King That the States chose the Duke of Alanson a Son of France a Roman-Catholick for their Master That before that Election they had submitted themselves to Arch-Duke Matthias a good Roman-Catholick You will see there that the horrible Cruelties of the Duke of Alva fore'd this poor People beyond the bounds of patience That Tyrant boasted he had destroy'd by the hands of the common Executioner eighteen thousand Persons and had made the Confiscations of the Condemn'd amount to eight millions of Gold yearly You may if you please read in Mezeray's Abridgement who is neither Hollander nor Hugonot Ann. 1557. That before the Duke of Alva left Spain they arrested the Marquess of Berguen and Floris de Mentmorency Montigny who were gone from the States of the Low-Countries to make their Remonstrances to King Philip The former dyed of grief or was poison'd the other was Beheaded though both were good Roman-Catholicks By which it appear'd the Councel of Spain had form'd their design against the Liberty of the Low-Countries as much at least as against their new Religion If you have a mind to hear any more of the Low-Country Wars let us read Mezeray in the same place This year said he They make the beginning of the Low-Country Wars which lasted till the Peace of Munster without intermission other than that of the Truce agreed by the mediation of Hen. 4th The fear of the Inquisition was the principal Cause of the War The Inquisition was extremely pernicious and insupportable to the Flemings for besides the two violent rigors it exercis'd against those who had embrac'd the new Opinions it broke off all Commerce c. The very Clergy was no less displeas'd at it for the seven newly erected Bishopricks taken out of the Metropolitan Diocesses of Rhemes Treves and Cologne and the Bishopricks of Liege and Munster because they had appropriated to these new erected Bishopricks the richest Abbies of the Low-Countries and bestow'd them on Prelates at the Devotion of the Councel of Spain So that under pretence of maintaining the ancient Religion the Spaniards labour'd to establish an absolute Dominion in Provinces which owe but a limited Obedience according to their Laws and their Priviledges This Sir was the true source of these Wars wherein not only the Lay-subjects of both Religions but the Roman-Catholick Clergy of the Low-Countries were engag'd against the King of Spain for the preservation of their Liberty Read Strada whom you cannot suspect of partiality in our favour and you will discover through all the Disguisements of that Author that it was not Religion but the Cruelty of the Spanish Government was the sole Cause of the revolt of those Provinces If all this will not satisfie you I will give you leave Sir to brand the memory of our Kings who maintain'd the Rights of these Provinces thought their Cause just and supported them against the enterprizes of a Master who had lost his just Rights of Lawful Soveraignty over them by endeavouring to be their Tyrant Par. I see we shall never agree in this point We were better return to our Civil Wars of France wherein those of your Religion have spilt so much Blood and appear'd always of a Spirit inclin'd to Rebellion Hug. Law If you think we have nothing to say for our selves you are very much mistaken Sir We have so many things to answer we know not what Method to put them in nor how to comprehend them in few words The Wars you would charge us with as a Crime have been Civil Wars of the same nature with others rais'd in the Bowels of a State by the discontent of the People and the jealousie of the great ones to which Religion was but an accidental ingredient This Sir I undertake to prove evidently by History But before I enter on that I beg leave to make some Reflections Is it not a great piece of injustice in those who read the History of the last Age to fix their eyes on those thirty years only which pass'd between the death of Henry the 2d and that of Henry the 3d. without taking notice of the forty years elaps'd during the Raign of Francis the 1st and Henry the 2d If they charge us with having been engag'd in the Civil Wars those thirty years ought they not to commend the patience we had for forty years before Admit it we were afterwards more impatient than we ought however 't is true that for almost half an Age we patiently endur'd unheard of Cruelties without seeking any
means of Revenge or Defence During the Raigns of Henry the 2d and Francis the 1st the Land was overflowed with our Blood the Prisons were full of our poor Captives the Executioners were imploy'd in nothing else but burning and quartering those poor Wretches who were not guilty of any other Crime but praying to God in a Language they understood and refusing to adore any thing but what they knew to be God There is no sort of Cruelty but was exercis'd upon them they were burnt they had their Members pluck'd off with hot Pinsers they were rack'd and put to all sorts of Tortures they were buried alive There were horrible Massacres committed upon them Such were those of Cabrieres and Merindol wherein they ras'd Houses and Towns laid waste a whole Country cut the Throats of several thousands of Persons and caus'd others to perish by Famine on the Mountains The Court made it a divertisement to see the horrible Torments these poor People suffer'd You shall hear the Account Mezeray gives of it There was says he a general Procession at Nostredame Mezeray's Abridgment c. Ann. 1548. where the King assisted to declare by this action the Zeal he had to maintain the Religion of his Ancestors and to punish those who would change it This he confirm'd by the horrible Torments of many miserable Protestants who were burnt at the place of Execution in Paris They were hoys'd up with a Pulley and an iron Chain and then let fall into a great fire This was often reiterated The King was so pleas'd with it that he fed his eyes with this Tragick Spectacle And 't is said the horrible Cryes of one of these Wretches affected him so that all his Life after he was from time to time haunted with a very troublesome remembrance of it I should scarce have reported this had the Relation been made by any Author not a Roman-Catholick for it would have been look'd upon as false and incredible Those horrible imaginations that from time to time persecuted Henry the 2d did not reform him His Raign was stain'd throughout with the Blood of his Protestant Subjects In all places of the Kingdom Fires were kindled and Gibbets set up to destroy them The Dutchess of Valentinois that King's Mistress making great advantage of the Confiscations of the Protestants serv'd as a fury to awaken his Cruelty every moment That lascivious she-Wolf thirsting after the blood of the Faithful and with a ravenous Appetite coveting their Estates demanded their death as a recompence for those criminal favours she was so liberal of to her King and her Pages If these poor People met at night in a private House for Instruction and Comfort they were surpriz'd and us'd as Sorcerers found at a Sabbath adoring the Devil To add a Persecution more cruel then the rest they publish'd Calumnies against them blacker then the Devil had ever invented they renew'd against them all the old Accusations of the Pagans against the Primitive Christians They charg'd them with strange Crimes says Mezeray it was said they rosted little Children Mez. Abr. An. 1557. and having made great Cheer put out the Lights and turned the place into a Brothel a great number of them was burnt In all this time did any one take up Arms Perhaps they were so weak you will say they durst not I am of Opinion the Reformed were as numerous about the end of the Reign of Henry the Second as at the beginning of the Reign of Francis the second when the first Troubles began 'T is not to be imagin'd that vast multitude of People was converted in five or six months there were at that time of the Reformed Religion some Princes several great Lords many principal Officers of the Crown and of the People an infinite number Mezeray tells us that in one of their Meetings they surpriz'd some of the Queens Maids of Honour yet not one of the Reformed thought of making any defence under the Reign of this Prince who persecuted them with Fire and Sword Can you wonder that having been driven to extremity by long and continual Violences they had no more patience but at last endeavour'd some means to save themselves from the fury of their Tormentors Par. You know the primitive Christians did not so they had no other Weapons but their Prayers and Tears to defend themselves against the Persecutions of the Pagan Emperors Hug. Law I wonder Sir how those of whom you have borrowed that Reflection dare produce the Example of the Primitive Christians 'T is true the Primitive Christians had not any Arms to defend themselves nor had they any to attack with They did not burn Hereticks but labour'd their Conversion There is not a more certain Character of a false Church or false Zeal then Persecution Violence and Fury There have sate on the Imperial Throne Constantines and Theodosii as well as Decij and Diocletians but a Constantine or a Theodosius never made use of Arms against the Pagan Religion which had made so many Martyrs 'T is not out of Charity alone that Christian Princes ought to forbear attacking a false Religion with punishment and torture but out of Prudence the Church only can have Martyrs and ought not to be robb'd of the Glory of that Priviledge and that powerful argument for proof of her Doctrine Nothing raises a greater prejudice against the constancy of true Martyrs then the obstinacy of Hereticks who persist in their Opinions to Death Our Accusers Sir are very unjust in their proceeding with us to have the Sword in one hand and the Faggot in the other to cover Towns and Countries with dead Bodies to destroy pell-mell the Innocent with the Guilty to shed the blood of Infants Women and old Men having one foot in the Grave to commit Massacres to drown France with the blood of its Inhabitants to Burn Quarter and invent new Torments This is laudable Zeal merit of the highest degree that raises men to be Saints equal with St. Dominick But if a poor Hugonot lift up his Arm to put by the blow that is made at him this is fury and rage and the fruit of a spirit opposite to that of the true Church I cannot forbear applying to this purpose what St. Athanasius said to them who reproach'd him with making his Escape If they think it a shame to me to have made my Escape let them be asham'd to have forc'd me to it by their Persecution When Men run away 't is an argument of the Cruelty of those they run from We fly not from the Gentle and Courteous but the Bloody and the Cruel There is no defence where there is no Persecution I confess it Men are Men the love of Life is strong and powerful the inclinations and Counsels of flesh and bloud prevail often over those of strict Piety Were it true that our Fathers took up Arms to save their Lives 't is a weakness they ought to be pardon'd for in an Age
true is it that the Ambition of the great ones was the cause of these Wars on the one side and the other Hath not the Duke of Alanson Brother of Charles the ninth and Henry the third been seen at the head of Thirty Thousand of these Male-Contents Yet he was no Hugonot nor ever favour'd them of the Religion Were not Marshal Danville and several other firm and profest Roman Catholicks engag'd for the same Party By which it appears all those Wars were the Wars of the Discontented in general whether Catholicks or Hugonots To Conclude Sir for justifying our Hugonots in these Wars I can prove they had not any design but to preserve themselves the State and the Illustrious Princes of the Family of Bourbon now Regnant On the contrary the opposite Party was a Spanish Faction who covered their Designs with the Specious Vail of Religion but were Enemies to the State and would have put the Crown upon the Heads of Strangers Par. As to the last Article I pray Sir ingage not in the proof of it Repetitions are troublesom to the Speaker and no less tedious and unpleasant to the hearer This Gentleman hath acquainted us with what you have to say on that Subject for he hath endeavor'd to prove the faction of the Guises would have taken away from the Branch of Bourbon their Lives and the Crown to bring France under the Dominion of a Stranger 'T is possible there might be some such design but the faults of others do not justify us If the faction of the Guises had Criminal designs are you therefore more innocent Hug. Law Sir that which hath been said by us on this Subject is not the hundredth part of what may be said to prove the faction of the house of Guise which call'd it self the Holy Union and went under the name of the League from the year 1576. to the year 1600. was altogether Spanish and an Enemy to the State and that our Party which was wholly opposite to the other was altogether French But I will comply with your desires and say no more of it provided you will in requital answer a question I am going to ask you What reason you Gentlemen of the Roman Catholick Religion have to Condemn the Protestants for their pretended Rebellions against their Princes on the account of Religion Par. 'T is on this Ground That Subjects owe absolute obedience to their Soveraign's in all things That the Soveraign is Master of the Religion of his Countrey And that Subjects have no right to demand toleration of a Religion different from that of the State Hug. Law You have answered just as I expected And according to these Maxims you argue very right For if a Prince is absolute Master of the Religion of his People as of other their Concerns if Subjects are obliged to follow always the Religion of their Soveraign doubtless there is reason to charge them with Rebellion who with Arms in their hands desire to be tolerated in the Exercise of a Religion different from that of the State But Sir have you thought well of the Maxim you propos'd Do you remember 't is the Maxim of Hobbs in his Politicks You know how famous Spinosa was for Impiety He was for allowing every one Liberty to think and speak what he pleas'd concerning Religion yet attributes to the Soveraign an absolute Authority over the Religion of the State You know these two men are an Object of Execration to all Divines and that they are generally look'd upon as great Enemies of Religion And amongst all their Maxims this in particular hath been look'd upon as one of the most Pernicious Consider a little how far it may be carry'd If the Prince be Master of Religion you Catholicks must be Reformed in England and Holland and so must the Lutherans in Denmark and Swede and the Christians of the East must turn Mahometans in Persia and Turkey If therefore this may peradventure be a false Maxim as certainly it is is it so great a Crime to be of a Religion different from that of the State And if you are of a Religion different from that of your Prince is it a Crime to obtain from him a toleration to exercise it in private or publick Par. Either you misapprehend me or I have not well express'd my self I design not to assert the Empire of Kings extends to the Conscience or that they are Masters of the Religion of the heart I know very well we are to obey God rather than Men I coufess it allowable and frequently necessary to be of a Religion different from that of our Prince In a word 't is no Crime to desire permission of the Prince to make publick profession of a Religion different from his My meaning was that the Prince is Master of the External part of Religion That if he will not permit any Religion but his when we cannot obey we may die patiently without making other defence than our Sufferings Because true Religion ought not to make use of force and Arms for its establishment Princes are infinitely to blame when they violently oppose the Establishment of the true Religion but they are answerable only to God for it Hug. Law In this sence I confess your Maxim is pious and bears the Character of the Primitive Christian Morality And now Sir I have you where I wish'd you I ask you with confidence what ground you Roman Catholicks have to charge us with the violation of this Maxim If you think it good why d' you not observe it If you observe it not why make you such ado why clamour you so much against others who do not observe it You may very well be allow'd Gentlemen to make the like Objection against the Reformed You who are of a Religion whose History if written would be a continual Series of Rebellion against Soveraigns of Attempts against their Authority Conspiracies against their Lives and Assassinations committed upon their Persons for the sake of Religion and under pretence of maintaining it You know the History of past Ages and the present and cannot be ignorant that when a Prince meddles never so little with what you call the Estate the Immunities and Priviledges of the Church though these things concern not the grounds of Religion he is call'd impious an Heretick and a favourer of Hereticks and permission is given to rebel against him For an Abby for the Revenues of a Bishoprick taken into the hands of a Prince for the Rights of Regale for Nomination to some Benefices what a bustle is made what extravagant Insolences are not committed According to that pious Maxim upon which you ground your Charge against us and so cruelly prosecute it those who labour for the maintenance of Religion are to be meerly patient and ought not to make use of any means that may diminish or indanger the Authority of the Prince But will you cast your eye upon the Conduct of the League that Holy Vnion which in 1576.
since the Popes call'd themselves the Emperours most humble Servants and said they were but dust and ashes in their presence I see there the Works of Gregory the Great and could let you see in them the Style of the Popes in those days when they writ to the Emperours but I had rather let you see it in the Margin of Father Maimbourgh's History of Lutheranism You will allow me who am a Hugonot the pleasure which is not small to take out of the Margin of a Jesuits Book those words of St. Gregory which the Ministers have so often quoted Hist Luth. lib. 11. Ann. 1530. Ego verò haec Dominis loquens quid sum nisi pulvis vermis ego indignus famulus vester I that take the Liberty to speak thus to my Lords what am I but dust and a Worm your unworthy Servant You will do us a pleasure to read the Text of Fa. Maimbourgh This holy Bishop forbore not to execute what had been commanded him having remain'd satisfy'd with making a most humble Remonstrance to the Emperour his Master in a Letter extreamly submissive This vexes you Sir as it pleases us I confess our joy may be tax'd of some malice but 't is a matter so rare and so singular to hear a profest Jesuit and one under the fourth vow speak thus of a Pope you will pardon us for being pleas'd with it but the days are long since gone when they spoke thus at Rome The Popes have since those days assum'd and exercis'd a Power to Depose Emperours and Kings to declare them Tyrants to raise their Subjects against them when they do any thing the Popes pretend to be contrary to Religion This is a matter so publickly notorious it hath been prov'd a hundred times Now Sir I will dare your Roman Catholicks to charge us with our pretended Rebellions and having maintain'd our Religion by Arms and give me leave to tell you I wonder the prudence of your Churchman and the interest of his Party permitted him to renew the memory of our Wars for Religion for he might have easily foreseen we would not fail to expose to publick view so many horrible Conspiracies those of his Character and Religion every day plot and carry on in those Countreys where the Supremacy of the Pope is not acknowledg'd If we acted a part in the Civil Wars of France they cannot reproach us with having design'd the murder of our Princes and actually assassinated them We have never been charg'd with having design'd and endeavored to blow up with powder a whole State in a moment not only the head but all its principal Members We are now under great Sufferings in France but amidst all our Sufferings we glory that our very Enemies bear witness of our Fidelity and Innocence but the Martyrs of your Church-man those poor Catholicks he laments and bewails that they are cruelly put to death in England under pretence of a pretended Conspiracy are sufficiently convicted to have been tampering with as horrible an Enterprize as any hath been design'd this Age. Par. We have done with that Sir let 's hear no more of it I pray whether the English Catholicks be guilty or not let not us inquire further this Gentleman hath said as much on that Subject as you can do not attack us you will find work enough to defend your selves you think you have said enough but you have not spoken a word of the last Wars you rais'd in the Kingdom the Wars of Montauban of Rochel c. Hug. Law As to the Plot in England you shall not scape so you shall hear a great deal more of it if you please I know all this Gentleman said to you of it he told you what he knew but not all that may be known of it such order is taken to hinder the transportation of authentick Copies of the Tryals of those Criminals into Foreign parts we scarce know any thing of them so that you are not to admire this Gentleman seem'd not throughly instructed But because that formidable Pamphlet you took out of your pocket charges us to have occasion'd a Persecution against the Catholicks in England under pretence of a pretended Conspiracy you must allow us to justify our selves a little more fully and to add to what we have said what is since come to our knowledge but If you please I will first speak a word or two to the last Wars of Religion in France about the beginning of this Age I am for plain dealing I will never call evil good nor good evil I am of their number who cannot approve of these Wars nor make it their business to justify them The places of safety which had been given us were the seeds of this War the King was desirous to have them put into his hands the Hugonots were obstinately bent to retain them It was ill done without doubt they ought to have restor'd them and to have rely'd on the Providence of God and the King's Justice Yet this we have to say for our selves First 'T is not just to charge a whole body of men with that which was done but by a part Perhaps three fourths of all the Protestants of France were for a Submission These doubtless would have carry'd it both for Number and Prudence but they were the weakest of the Party The turbulent Spirits were Masters of all their Forces and Arms. Secondly We say the Religion of great men keeps them not from being ambitious They reign in Confusions and make themselves formidable by raising Troubles they abuse the simplicity of the People and make them pay for the Follies and Crimes of those who abuse them This was one cause of the last Wars we had great men of our perswasion who being in the head of a great Party made themselves formidable at Court for the strong places they were Masters of These men foresaw that by the change of Affairs design'd at Court their Credit and their Pensions would be lost they did all they could to bear up themselves and engag'd in their Quarrel the people whose Zeal is always sufficiently ignorant and ill enough guided Methinks some charity ought to be had for people who have no ill intention but only the misfortune to permit themselves to be seduc'd by mistaking interests of Religion It must be considered also that most of those who took Arms were frightned into it Our Enemies who desir'd nothing more than to see us rise that they might take that occasion to destroy us caus'd Rumors to be spread that there was a design to massacre all the Hugonots that it was agreed by a secret Article in the Treaty of Spain and of the Marriages lately made The pressing so earnestly to have again into the King's hands the places of strength given by his Father to the Protestants heightned our suspicion The horrible Image of the Massacres and Torments of the last Age was fresh in memory many had been Spectators and some had been