AN APOLOGY FOR THE Protestants of France In Reference to the PERSECUTIONS They are under at this day IN Six LETTERS The First Treats of the Priviledges they have by the Edict of Nantes The Second Gives an Account of some part of the injuries and outrages they do them whereby to force them to change their Religion The Third Proves that their Religion inspires no other principle into them but an unmoveable Loyalty to their Prince The Fourth Iustifies their innocence against the unjust charge of Monsieur Maimbourg The Fifth Defends them in relation to those troubles that fell out in Lewis XIII Reign and the Affair of Rochel The Last Shews that the Papists by the Principles of their Religion are Guilty of all the crimes they wrongfully lay to the Protestants in reference to Kings LONDON Printed for Iohn Holford at the Crown in the Pall-Mall 1683. TO THE READER SEveral accidents have till now hindred the compleating the number of these Letters thô such as make not to our present purpose to relate Only it is fit I should let you know that by the mouth of August last mentioned in the third Letter is to be understood August in the year 1681. But if you would know why I publish these Letters know that the implacable hatred the Persecutours of the French Protestants do pursue these poor people with who have taken Sanctuary under the protection of our good King has made it absolutely necessary For when by all imaginable ways of cruelty they have forced them to a resolution of abandoning their Country and all they have they not only make it the utmost penalty on this side life so much as to attempt a departure but after they are escaped endeavour to prevent their subsisting any where else especially in England Amongst some they are represented as Enemies to our Religion Established thô they desire to be esteemed as Brethren by professing the same Faith and submitting to the same discipline To others they are made appear as a mixt Multitude part Protestant part Papist whereas the strict Examination of their testimonials by the Churches here of their own Nation makes the suggestion impossible But that nothing may be wanting to add affliction to the misery of these poor Fugitives and render them at the same time worse than unprofitable to their Brethren It is suggested to the common people that they come to take the Bread out of their Mouths by over-stocking those populous Manufactures which seem already rather to be overcharged and by surfeiting the Land with people Which Objection if we consider strictly according to interest comes not up to any weight or consideration For many of the Manufactures they bring over are such as we had not before and by consequence of the greatest and most unexceptionable benefit to us Others tho not wholly new yet bring so great improvement to those we had already of the same kind that they do in a manner create a new Manufacture There are likewise that give help to a full Trade that wanted hands before to supply it And now if any are so unfortunate as to bring over such as we are more than fill'd with already I would beg that as men we would consider the common Laws of Humanity and let necessity take place of inconvenience and as Christians to have especial regard to those that are of the Houshold of Faith Now that we should be over-peopled I think there is no danger when no considering man but will allow that our Nation wants more than a Million of people and that no Country is rich but in proportion to its number But be the politick consideration what it will never was there greater objects of Christian Charity and Compassion than these poor people 1. If we look upon the privileges of mankind we shall find them here infringed to the scandal of our being Men not only forced to renounce their thoughts and say the contrary to what at the same time they declare themsevels to believe but having by violence Holy Water cast upon them and dragged at a Horse-tail to Mass they shall be pronounced Roman Catholicks and made to suffer as Relapse if they dare renounce what they never consented to They are neither permitted to live at home nor to go abroad The Holy and Religious Duty as the Papists account it of Confession is prostituted to Oppression and polluted with the intermixture of secular Concerns For the Confessors now in France conjure their Penitents upon pain of Damnation not to conceal any Debt they owe to a Protestant and when revealed immediately they attach it in the Debtors Hands under the same penalty 2. If we consider them as they are Protestants of France never had people greater privileges better settled nor upon juster grounds of which the first Letter will abundantly convince any reasonable person And yet it will appear by the second Letter that no people were ever reduced to a more miserable Estate and lived But that which ought to move an Englishman in all diversities of his passion at once is not only that they are of our Communion but that we are in a manner punished in them For a great inducement to this inhumane Usage not only seems to be but is really owned by Papists to be from the rage they have conceived against us for preventing their bloody and hellish Designs by the exemplary punishment of some Popish Traytors Nay if they durst for shame speak out I am sure they would tell us That since they could not execute their malice upon English Protestants they are resolved to wreak their Revenge upon the French and scourge them for our sakes The three next Letters make good by invincible proofs the innocence of these poor sufferers together with their affection and loyalty to their Soverains And the last shews plainly that the Papists themselves are the real Enemies to all Crowned Heads You will find that I use no Authority for the justification of the French Protestants but what I have taken out of Popish Authours who cannot be suspected of partiality Since the finishing of my last Letter I met with an ingenuous acknowledement of the Gunpowder-Treason-Plot by a Jesuite Who tho he seems to speak with some abhorrence of the Fact and would excuse Garnet and others of his Society does however acknowledge the thing in so Plain a manner as makes all his excuses frivolous You will find the story in a Book Entitled Historia Missionis Anglicanae Soc. Jesu Authore Henrico Moro lib. 7. n. XIX Printed at St. Omers Anno. 1660. THE Present State OF THE PROTESTANTS IN France LETTER I. YOu are not at all mistaken I can now easily satisfie you in what you desire to know concerning the Protestants of France One that is a Friend to us both who is lately come thence hath fully acquainted me with the condition they are in I saw him the day after his arrival and found him ordering his Books and loose Papers which were just
second Piece Here is a Declaration hath lain heavy upon them in reference to an infinite number of living Temples who are â—ar otherwise to be lamented for by reason of the rigor they are us'd with than the Temples of Stone that are demolish'd It is of the thirteenth of March 1679. Pray read it It forbids all Popish Clergy-men whatever desire they have to turn Protestants and even all those Protestants who have forsaken their Religion out of Lightness or Infirmity to return to it again upon better knowledge of the truth press'd to it by their Consciences and desiring to give glory to God This dreadful Edict will not suffer that any of them shall satisfie their Consciences in so important an Affair under any less penalty than that of the Amende Honorable perpetual banishment and consiscation of their Goods I beseech you said I what doth the Declaration intend by making Amende Honorable You have reason to ask replyed he it is that you ought not to be ignorant of Know then that for them to make Amende Honorable is to go into some publick place in their Shirt a Torch in their Hand a Rope about their Neck followed by the Hangman in this Equipage which is that of the most infamous Criminals to ask pardon of God the King and Justice for what they have done that is to say on this occasion for having dar'd to repâ—nt of sinning against God for having forsaken a Religion which they believ'd Heretical and Idolatrous and consequently the infallible way to eternal damnation and for being willing thence-forward to profess the Protestant Religion in which only they are perswaded they can be saved This is dear Friend what they inâ—lict upon all Popish Ecclesiasticks to whom God vouchsafes Grace to discern the true Religion and upon all Protestants who having been such Wretches as to forsake it are aâ—terwards so happy as to be convinc'd of their Sin and to repent They call the first Apostates and the other Relaps But Names do not change the nature of things the Misery is that all this is executed with the utmost rigor The Prisons of Poictiers and those of other places are at this present filled with this sort of pretended Relapsed Persons and it is not permitted to any one to relieve them What possibility is there then for such as are in like Circumstances and whose number every day increases to continue in France But the mischief is much increas'd since this Declaration What was particular to Ecclesiasticks and Relapse Protestants is now become universal to all Roman Catholicks I shewed you the Piece yesterday It is that very Edict of Iune 1680 wherein they pretend to confirm the Edict of Nantes A Blessed Confirmation The Edict of Nantes as I have shewed you allows the Liberty of Conscience to all them who were then Protestants and to all such as would be afterwards Inhabitants or others But what doth this new Edict declare Our Will and Pleasure is that our Subjects of what quality condition age or sex soever now making profession of the Catholick Apostolick Roman Religion may never forsake it to go over to the pretended Reformed Religion for what Cause Reason Pretence or Consideration soever We will that they who shall act contrary to this our Pleasure shall be condemned to make Amende Honorable to perpetual banishment out of our Kingdom and all their Goods to be confiscated We forbid all Ministers of the said pretended Reformed Religion hereafter to receive any Catholick to make profession of the pretended Reformed Religion and we forbid them and the Elders of â—heir Consistories to suâ—fer in their Churches or Assemblies any such under penalty to the Ministers of being deprived for ever of exercising any Function of their Ministry in our Kingdom and of suppression for ever of the Exercise of the said Religion in that place where any one Catholick shall be received to make profession of the said pretended Reformed Religion Lord what a horrible proceeding is this cryed I as soon as my Friend had read it do they call this confirming of Edicts in France what a Violence is this to the Consciences of Ministers and Elders to command them to shut the doors of the Church of Jesus Christ to all their Neighbours who come thither for admission and to have this done by them who are called by God to open the Door to all the World Is not this to force them to violate the most Essential and Sacred Duty of Christian Charity In truth if there were nothing else but this I do not see how they can stay there much longer with a safe Conscience They must swallow worse Potions than these said my Friend you shall see presently quite other Preparations What replyed I have they the heart to use thus cruelly those poor Churches within whose Walls any Roman Catholick changes his Religion Don't doubt it said he they make no conscience at all to exceed their Commission whensoever they are enjoyn'd to execute any penalty I will give you an Example which will amaze you There is a great Town in Poitou called La Motthe where the Protestants have a Church consisting of between three and four thousand Communicants a young Maid of about seventeen years old who from a Protestant had turned Papist had stole her self into the Congregation upon a Communion-day Now you must observe that the Protestant Churches are full on those days For they would believe themselves very much to blame if they lost any Opportunity of partaking at the Lord's Supper Nevertheless without considering how easie it was for that young Maid not to be discovered by the Consistory in such a Crowd and tho those poor people were not at all within the Letter of that rigorous Edict they have made them undergo all the penalty The Exercise of their Religion is wholly suppress'd there and their Minister not allowed to preach in France This is very cruel said I to our Friend and tho it were true that those Ministers and those Elders were guilty upon such an account why should the whole flock be punished Those poor Sheep what have they done That is very usual for those Gentlemen answered he I have a hundred Stories to instance in I cannot forbear telling you one which many of their own Devotees were scandalized at S. Hippolyte is a place in where all the Inhabitants are Protestants except the Curate and it may be two or three poor wretches who are not Natives of the place neither A fancy took the Curate to put a Trick upon the Protestants for this he chose a Sunday and the very moment that they came out of the Church he came and presented himself before them with his Sacrament as they were almost all come out You must know that the Church is on the farther side of a Bridge which must be pass'd over going and coming Several of them were upon the Bridge others had pass'd it and part were yet on the other side when the
his might and makes such heavy Reflections upon those same Roman Catholicks whom he makes the Pillars of his Church and the greatest enemies to the Protestant Relâ—gion I make no doubt replyed I but I draw the same Consequences from hence as â—ou do that Monsieur Maimboâ—rg plainly shews by this that he ought noâ— to be believed when elsewhere he charges so many faults upon thâ— first Protestants of France and imputes all the great Exploits to their enemies the Papists and that the true Protestants or the good Huguenots being so pious and having the fear of God before their eyes for which he commâ—nds them could not be the causes of Disorders though very likely their Adversaries might have been whom the Historian represents as the most wicked ambitious ungodly and cruel of men By this he likewise convinces us that his Book ought not to be regarded and that we ought not to look upon his accusations against that which he calls Calvinism otherwise then as railing and aspersions invented at will to make way for his better reception at Court or some other by end that is not worth enquiring after It is that which prejudices his Book with all Ingenious Persons and renders it unworthy the least consideration Yet since the enemies of the French Protestants make such a noise with it let me intreat you Sir to clear the matters of Fact to me which he produces with so much confidence to raise a jealousie in Princes upon these poor Men as if they were the Authors of those Troubles and Disorders in the last Age which came within a very little of ruining France First he charges their Religion with being a mortal enemy to Monarchy I confess you have made the contrary appear beyond dispute in our former Conference But he lays his Charge upon matters of Fact whereof I have not knowledge enough to clear the Objections One shall hardly see says he more dreadful Conspiracies than those which the Huguenots have made against our Kings For instance that cruel business of Amboise and that of Meaux not to mention their terrible Rebellions which have cost France so much Blood and the unhappy Intelligences they have held with the enemy to withdraw themselves from their Allegiance and set up openly for a Commonwealth as they have done more than once I beg of you to give me all the light you can to deliver Innocence from so black an Aspersion With all my heart says our Friend and besides when I have taken off this reproach I promise to make it as clear as the Sun at Noon-day that they are Father Maimbourgs Catholicks who are guilty of all these desperate Conspiracies against the persons of Kings which he so unjustly and fasly lays to the Protestants His first proof of the dreadful Conspiracies of the Huguenots against that of their Kings is the business of Amboise and Meaux But before I enter into Particulars I set against him an unexceptionable Witness who openly declares That the Huguenots entred not into any Conspiracy against their Kings in either of those places My Witness is one of the same Religion with Monsieur Maimbourg and what is more a Cardinal and one so knowing and of so extraordinary worth that Monsieur Sainte-marthe is not afraid to stile him The Flower of the Colledge of Cardinals the Light of France and the New Star of his Age Sacrati ordinis aureum Florem Ocellum nostrae Galliae sui denique seculi novum Sidus He had over and above this advantage of Monsieur Maimbourg that he lived in the time of the businesses of Amboise and of Meaux He was above twenty years old at the time of the â—irst and he was too exact and too knowing not to have throughly examined the Causes and Motives of two Occurrences that made such a noise all over Europe You shall hear what he says in his eighth Letter of the â—irst Book upon the occasion of an attempt against the Life of Henry the Fourth You had it already but I cannot forbear reading it again to you for it deserves to be writ in Letters of Gold upon the Front of all the French Kings Palaces To a Prince turned Catholick who should have been encouraged and confirmed by all means possible it was to give him great offence and distaste at the Catholicks when they that call themselves the support of the Catholick Religion should go about to have him Assassinated that which if there were any pretence for the Hereticks ought to have procured or done it themselves because he had quitted and forsaken them and they had therefore reason to fear him and yet they attempted no such thing either against him or any of the five Kings his Predecessors whatever Butchery they had made among them These remarkable words And yet they attempted no such thing either against him or any of the five Kings his Predecessors are a manifest confutation of all that Monsieur Maimbourg's Libel sets forth against the Loyalty of the French Protestants from the beginning of the Reformation which was under Francis the first to the Reign of Henry the fourth The businesses of Amboise and of Meaux happened the one under Francis the second the other under Charles the ninth two of the five Kings Predecessors to Henry the fourth of whom Cardinal d'Ossaâ— speaks Assuring us therefore as he does That the Protestants never attempted any thing against the life of these five Kings he positively denies what Monsieur Maimbourg asserts That in 〈◊〉 two affairs the Huguenots had entred into terrible Conspiracies against their Kings Now in the presence of God which of these two ought we rather to give credit to the Cardinal a man of an unspotted Reputation and who was an Eye-witness of these two passages now in dispute or Monsieur Maimbourg who writ his Libel sixscore years after the business of Meaux and whom the Pope himself has turned out of the Jesuites Order for an untoward reason For every body knows it was for being detected of falsehood in his Writings that the Pope put this high Affront upon him But to come to our present purpose and to be short we will stick to the account Monsieur Maimbourg himself gives of that he calls the business of Amboise This is that he says That at a very close meeting at la Fertè sous Ioûare they determined a high point of Conscience by the advice of Divines Canonists and Lawyers who all agreed That during the present State of affairs men might take up Arms to seize in any manner the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorrain his Brother to bring them to Tryal provided a Prince of the Blood who is in this case a lawful Magistrate would head the Party That all this having been allowed of by a general Consent the Prince of Condé resolved to head them upon condition that they attempted nothing against the King and the Royal Family nor against the State That
for a pretence to â—ish in troubled Waters But if there happened to be any sincere Protestants who were drawn in by these Hypocrites to take up Arms with them as it is not to be doubted they did it not in pursuit of the Principles of their Religion which is point-blanck against such proceedings but out of too great a fear of Death or something worse through a usual Infirmity of Nature from which the best of Christians are not wholly exempt The first need no defence the second deserve it not and the third sort plead their fear the rather because just as it were easie to prove as well as their repentance As the first are they that held to the true Principles of their Religion it is but reasonble that we should make our judgment of the French Protestants from their behaviour The second as they did but act a part and were Impostors there is no reason their Extravagancies and Rebellions should be charged upon the true Protestants who disown their Fraternity And because the third falled out of weakness it is the duty of a Christian Compassion and the sense of our own Infirmities to forget and forgive their Failures I propose nothing in all this but upon the most authentick Authority that could be wished for upon such an occasion it is a Declaration of Lewis XIII given at Bourdeaux the 10th of November 1615. upon the joyning of the Protestants with the Prince of Condè Many says this King speaking of the Protestants of his Kingdom have taken up Arms against us to assist the Commotion begun by our Cousin the Prince of Condè amongst which there are that use Religion only for a better Pretence to conceal their Ambition and extream thirst of bettering themselves by the disturbance and ruine of the State and the rest have been Cheated and Imposed upon by false suggestions and vain fears that the former sort have put into their heads as if there were no avoiding Persecution but presently to take up Arms with them in their own defence making them believe the better to work upon their easiness That in the private Article upon the Match with Spain it was agreed and covenanted to drive them out of the Kingdom or wholly to destroy them which they being too forward to believe have run into this Engagement out of a conceit that they are forced to it in their own defence which makes their Fault pardonable and worthy rather of Pity than Punishment But these tricks have not prevailed or seduced the wiser and better sort who profess the same Religion purely out of Conscience as expecting to be Saved by it and not to promote a Faction who to a considerable number as well Lords Gentlemen Towns Corporations as other private persons of all qualities condemn and abhor the wickedness and rashness of their attempt and have publickly declared by word of mouth and writing That it ought to be esteemed as neither more nor less than a down-right Rebellion c. We have declared and ordained and do declare and ordain upon Consideration and in favour to the Loyalty which has been observed towards us by an infinite number of our good Subjects of the said Religion amongst which there are of the chiefest and best Quality who deserve a special Proof of our Good-Will That what has been committed by those of the same Religion who have taken up Arms against us or that have in any manner aided or assisted them have likewise the favour of our Edicts and that they share in this Grace as if they had always continued in their Duty c. This same King would by no means have the least Reproach lie upon those Protestants whose Fault he had declared Pardonable though they had joined with the Prince of Condè For when they came to consider ' all things for appeasing these first troubles he owns them for his faithful Subjects and maintains all they had done as done for his Service It is in Article XVII of the Edict of Blois in the Year 1616. and by your leave I will read you the Article That there may be no question of the good intention of our dearest Couâ—in the Prince of Condè and of those that joyned with him we declare That we hold and esteem our said Cousin the Prince of Condè to be our good Kinsman and faithful Subject and Servant as likewise the other Princes Dukâ—s Peers Oâ—ficers of our Crown Lords Gentlemen Towns Communalties and others as well Catholicks as those of the pretended Reformed Religion of what quality or condition soever that have assisted joined and united themselves with him either before or during the Cessation of Arms understanding also thereby the Deputies of the prâ—tended Reformed Religion lately assembled at Nismes and now at our City of Rochel to be our good and Loyal Subjects and Servants And having seen the Declaration addressed to us by our said Cousin the Prince of Condè We believe and look upon what was done by him and the aforenamed to have been done for a good end and purpose and for our Service In all the following troubles the same distinction is to be made The whole Body of Protestants was never engaged in them the greater and more sober part always kept to their Obedience and Duty in despite of all the Injuries that were done them They were contented to encounter God and their â—ing with Tears and Prayers or if they were seen in Arms it was in the Armies and under the Standards of their King whil'st they that were not Protestants but in shew made all the stirs which they unjustly impute to the true Protestants of which if any were drawn in by the insinuation of several disaffected persons and through impatience of the unjust Severities they were treated with against the Engagement of the Edicts to defend themselves by force of Arms their Religion which is from Jesus Christ never allowed it in opposition to their Superiors But after all it was but a small number of the Protestants that gave in to those rough Provocations they then lay under In so doing they departed from the Principles of the Protestant Religion Their own Brethren an inâ—inite number of them have condemned them for it true Christians are pardon'd daily for faults committed upon far more flight motives The King himself that then Reigned has determined That the cause of their taking up Arms which was undoubtedly a very just grievance as well as a sudden terror made their Crime pardonable and rather deserving Pity than Punishment However to lay the fault of particular Men upon the whole Body or the Protestant Religion it self as their Enemies do every day is as if we should charge the whole Church and Romish Religion with the Faults of those Papists who to a very great number followed either the late Prince of Condè in the troubles of the year 1615. or the Queen-Mother Mary de Medicis in those of the year 1620. or the present Prince
Pope has declared a Prince deprived of his Sâ—ates his Subjects may set up the Standard of Rebellion declare War against him refuse him Obedience and kill him if they can meet with him provided it be with arms in their hand and by the ordinary course of War I cannot comprehend how one â—an be secured of the Fidelity of those who hold such like Maxims For in fine Kings are not infallible and if they happen to do any thing that the Court of Rome judges worthy of Excommunication and Intâ—rdiction they are Kings without Kingdoms and Subjects accoâ—ding to our Clergy of France as well as according to the Divines of Italy But perhaps the Sorbonne which is the Depository of the Frenâ—h Divinity does not receive these Maxims so fatal to the safety of Kiâ—gs Let us see what it has done In the Month of December 1587 because Henry the Third for the security of his Person and of his State made a Treaty with the Rütres or the German Protestants the Sorboâ—ne without staying for the Decisions of Rome made a private determination which said That the Government might be taken from Princes who were not found such as they ought to be as the adminiâ—tration from a suspected Tutor This was known by the King he sent for the Sorbonne some days after and complained of it After the death of the Princes of Guise which happen'd at Blois the Sorbonne did much worse they declared and caused to be published in all parts of Paris That all the People of that Kingdom were Absolved from the Oaths of Fidelity that they had sworn to Henry of Valois hereâ—ofore their King they raâ—ed his name out of the publick Prayers and made known to the People that they might with safe Conscience unitâ— aâ—m and contribute to make War against him as a Tyrant If I would add to that the Story that I know this Gentleman told you concerning the Death of the late King of England we should find that the Sorbonne has â—ver been of the same Opinion This is the truth of it every time that our Kings affairs shall carry them to extremity against the Court of Rome the Clergy of France will suppress their discontents while matters go well for the Court of France but if things turn other ways the Maxims of our Divines against the King will be sure to break out Every sincere person will allow â—haâ— it has never been otherwise than so and that it will be always thus which may be observed in the very least disputes I was willing to read all these passages to you out of The Policy of the Clergy of France because the Author of that excellent piece proves there exceedâ—ng well all that I prâ—mâ—sed to shew you for the close of our Conferences which is that the Papists are truly Guilty of the Conspiracies and Rebellions which Monsieur Maimbourg would falsly fasten upon the Hugonots Of this the Murder of Henry the Third that of Henry the Fourth the violence of the League the several attempts against Queen Elizabeth King Iames and our holy Martyr Charles the Firâ—t not to mention the late Plot that has made such a noise in the World are undeniable proofs But you have seen likewise which ought to awaken the Protestant Princes to a purpose that all these black attempts have not been the fruit of impatience and human frailty under the temptation of some severe persecution but the natural Consequence and effect of the Principles of the Roman Religion as we are assured by those very men who pass for the Oracles of this Religion For you have seen just now out of Authentick pieces that the Pope the Cardinals and all the Divines of Italy who are the Pillars of the Roman Catholike Religion all the Regulars of France who draw after them more then three fourths of the French Papists and the Sorbonne it self when the rod is not over it own publickly that the Pope may Excommunicate Kings when he judges them Hereticks or countenancers of Heriticks to interdict their Kingdoms absolve their subjects from their Allegiance and expose them to the fury of all the World You have also seen that the whole Clergy of France was of this opinion by the mouth of Cardinal Perron so that this pernicious Doctrine is the vowed Faith of the whole Popish Gallican Church as well as of the Court of Rome the great depository of the Roman Religion and all its misteries From whence evidently follows what the Author of The Policy of the Clergy of France infers That there is no safety for the Crown nor for the life of Kings whether they be Protestants themselves or only protect such as are whilst they are beset with Papists so that there is not the same reason to tolerate Popery in Protestant Kingdoms as there is to toâ—erate Protestants in Popish Kingdoms Monsieur Maimbourg would make us believe that all this is but a poor shift And to convince us of it he says that we need but to consider these two things First that there are not to be found more detestable Conspiracies then those the Hugonots have made against their Kings c. Secondly that it is by no means thâ— belief of the Roman Catholicks princes that a Pope may depose Princes though they were Heretiâ—ks acquit their subjects from their Allegiance and bestow their Dominions upon those that can first take them But I have evidently shewed you the falsness of the first assertion and for the second it is expresly disproved by those undeniable proofs the Author of The Policy of the Clergy has produced to shew that the Roman Catholicks hold that belief which Monsieur Maimbourg afâ—irms they do not You say Monsieur Maimbourg that it is by no means your belief that a Pope can depose Princes c. At this rate the Pope who is the head of your Church this head for whose infallibility you have so much disputed knows not the belief of your Church for he believes that by the principles of the Church of Rome he has the power which you seem to deny him The Cardinals the Bishops and all the Divines of Italy all your Regulars all your Clergy of France speaking by the mouth of your Cardinal du Perron your Sorbonne it self so renowned for its great number of able men did not know in so important a case what was the belief of your Church For they have all held that it believes the Pope can depose Princes c. At least he should have given some answers to the Authentick Acts and notorious matters of fact which the Author of The Policy of the Clergy had quoted to this purpose To say nothing of all this and to think it enough to say at randome It is by no means our belief that a Pope may depose Princes even though they were Hereticks c. this is to pass the sentence of an unjust judge who rather then fairly to confess his errour makes no conscience of denying
strange Acts have no respect for Henry the Great and his Edicts at least they ought to be more tender of the Glory of their own Illustrious Prince and not to expose him as they do to be ranked with that Emperor against whom the Holy Fathers have cryed so loudly Is it possible they can be ignorant that this method oâ— extinguishing the Protestant Religion is exactly the same that Iulian took to extinguish the Christian Religion I do not think said our Friend that they can be ignorant of a truth so well known especially since one of their eminent Writers hath publish'd the History of the Life of S. Basil the Great and of S. Gregory Nazianzen There they might have read in more than one place that it was likewise one of the Secrets of that Emperor to ruine the Christians by keeping them from all Improvement in Learning and to prohibit their Colleges and Schools and which the Father 's judg'd to be most subtle policy But their zeal transports them above the most odious Comparisons They stick not to give occasion for them every moment I will shew you an Example which will astonish you I have here light upon the Paper They are now come to take the measures of that barbarous and inhumane King who us'd Midwives of his own Religion to destroy the Race of the people of God in Egypt For by that Declaration of the 28th of February 1680 It is ordered that the Wives of Protestants shall not be brought to bed but by Midwives or Chyrurgeons who are Papists This they make to be observ'd with the utmost rigor so far that they put a poor woman in prison for being present at the Labour of her Sister whose delivery was so quick and fortunate that there was neither time nor need to call a Midwife That you may in few words understand of what consequence this is to our poor Brethren I need but acquaint you that the King of France in his Edict of the Month of Iune 1680 where he forbids Papists to change their Religion acknowledges himself what experience doth but too plainly justifie namely that the Roman Catholicks have always had an aversion not only against the Protestant Religion but against all those that profess it and an aversion which hath been improv'd by the publication of Edicts Declarations and Acts. That is to say that whatever pretence the Roman Catholicks make to the contrary they have always been and still are Enemies of the Protestants and that the Protestants ought to look to be treated by the Catholicks as Enemies After this what can they judge of the Design and Consequences of a Declaration which puts the Lives of their Wives and Children into those very hands which the King who makes the Declaration acknowledges to be hands of Enemies But farther the Declaration it self discovers that one of its intentions was to make the Children of Protestants to be baptized by Midwives or by Popish Chyrurgions And what mischief do they not open a way for by that The Protestants will hold that Baptism void which hath been administred by such hands they will not fail to make it be administred anew by their Pastors This shall pass for a capital Crime in the Pastors and Fathers and they shall be punished as sacrilegious persons who trample on the Religion in Authority the Religion of the King for the most odious Representations are still made use of Nay said I by this they will likewise claim a right from the Baptism's being administred by Papists to make themselves Masters of the education of their Children You are in the right said he and that Article ought not to be forgotten It is just will they say that they should be brought up in the Church which hath consecrated them to God by Baptism at least that they should be bred up there till they are of age to chuse for themselves and when they are of age they will say then that it is just they should as well as others be liable to the same Edict which forbids Catholicks to change their Religion Is not this enough already to make one forsake such a Kingdom A Christian for less than this would surely flie to the utmost Parts of the World But to proceed Here is that terrible Decree which fills up the measure as to what concerns the poor Children It comes to my hand very seasonably It is the Declaration of the 17th of Iune last This ordains that all the Children of Protestants shall be admitted to abjure the Religion of their Fathers and become Papists as soon as they shall be seven years old It declares that after such an Abjuration it shall be at the choice of the Children either to return home to their Fathers and there to be maintain'd or to oblige their Fathers and Mothers to pay for their Board and Maintenance where ever they please to live It adds extreme Penalties to be laid on them who breed up their Children in foreign parts before they are sixteen years old But I pray read over the whole Edict Upon that I took the Deâ—â—aration from our Friends hand read it and returning it to him again could not forbear declaring that I did not now wonder any more that the Protestants of France were in so great a Consternation They are much in the right said I Discretion and Conscience oblige them to depart out of a Country in which there is no security for the salvation of their dear Children They are of too great a value to be so hazarded What is more easie for them who have all the power than to induce such young Children to change their Religion There is no need for this to shew them all the Kingdoms of the World and their Glory A Baby a Picture a little Cake will do the business or if there want somewhat more a Rod will not fail to complete this worthy Converâ—ion In the mean while what a condition are their wretched Fathers in besides the most inexpressible grief of seeing what is most dear to them in the world seduc'd out of the Service and House of God they shall likewise have this addition of Anguish of having their own Children for their Persecutors For knowing as I do the Spirit of that Religion I doubt not but they will all prove rebellious and unnatural and renounce all that love and natural respect which is due to them whom they owe their Lives to They 'll give Law to their Parents they will oblige them to make them great Allowances which they will dispose of as they list and if their Fathers pay them not precisely at the time appointed I am sure no rigors shall be forgotten in the prosecution No certainly said our Friend and I could give you an hundred Instances if there were need Even before this merciless Declaration was made the Goods of Parents were seis'd upon exposed to sale to pay for the maintenance of their Children who had been inveigled from them and
been made Papists If they dealt with them so then before the Declaration what will they not do when they see themselves supported and armed with Royal Authority But there is no need I should insist farther on the dreadful Consequences of this Declaration It hath been lately Printed in our Language and Notes made upon it wherein nothing hath been forgotten The Book is written impartially tho I can scarce believe what is express'd in the Title Page that it was written in French however some Gallicisms are put in to make you believe it but the Protestants of that Nation are not us'd to such bold Exprâ—ssions upon such kind of Subjects and I doubt much whether they could do it If they have reason to fear for the birth and for the tender years of their Children they have no less for themselves Here is a proof of it It is the Declaration of the 19th of November 1680 By which it is ordained That whenever they are sick they shall suffer themselves to be visited by the Papist Magistrates Thus having made their lives burdensome to them they take a thousand ways to torment them in their Beds as soon as any Disease hath seised them It is not henceforth permitted to them either to be sick or die in peace Under colour of this Declaration they are persecuted and all means are tryed to shake their Faith under the pretence of being ask'd what Religion they will die in First a Judge presents himself with the awe of his presence accompanied by one of the King's Sollicitors and two Papist Witnesses They begin their Work by driving all Protestants who are with the sick man out of his Chamber Father Mother Wife Husband Children none are excepted After that they do with the sick person as they list they draw up a Verbal Process or such as they like Lies with them are but pious Frauds Whatsoever the sick man answers he hath still abjur'd if these Gentlemen please to make a conversion of it and there is no possibility of disproving it The Verbal Process is drawn up in good Form If the sick man recovers and refuses to go to Mass immediately he is subject to all the penalties of a Relapse If he dies and chances to be the Father of a Family they take away all his Children to breed them up in the Popish Religion and his Estate to preserve it as they pretend for the Children of a Catholick Father Can any one who hath any care of his own salvation or any affection for his Children live expos'd to such dreadful Inconveniences if God offers any means to avoid them I am afraid I tire you with the Recital of so many Calamities Fear not that answered I I am resolv'd to know all You do not consider what you say replyed he I should need whole weeks to tell you all Imagine all the Suprises all the indirect practices all the base tricks of Insinuation and little quirks of Law are put in ure together with all manner of violence to accomplish the Work Neither do those Enemies of the Protestants always neglect the Oracles of the Scripture It says I will smite the Shepherd and the Sheep of the Flock shall be scattered These Gentlemen then that they may the more easily scatter the Sheep smite every where the Shepherd and constrain them to fly They imprison one for having by the Word of God confirm'd some of his Flock whom the Popish Doctors would pervert another for being converted to the Protestant Religion in his youth long before any Law was made against pretended Apostates They hire forlorn Wretches to go to the Sermons of the Protestant Ministers and to depose before a Magistrate that the Ministers said that the Church of Rome was idolatrous or that the Faithful are persecuted that they spake ill of the Virgin Mary or of the King Upon this without being heard and tho it be offered to be made out by the Deposition of an infinity almost of persons of credit that the testimonies of these two or three Wretches are absolutely false Orders are issued out for the seising the Bodies of the Ministers They are clap'd in Jayl as soon as taken they are condemn'd to pay excessive Fines they force them to make the Amende Honorable they banish them the Kingdom The Intendant of Rochefort suppress'd one there upon the most extravagant Deposition that was ever taken The Deponent having been at the Sermon of that Minister said That there was nothing to be found fault with in his words but that he perceiv'd his thoughts were not innocent If there are any amongst them so happy as to consound so the false Witnesses that the Judges are asham'd to use all those rigors none of the Charges of Imprisonment or of the Suit are ever recovered against any one A Minister who may have sixty or seventy pounds a year and seven or eight in Family to maintain must be condemn'd with all his innocence to pay all these great costs I could upon this Head tell you a hundred Stories but that it would be too tedious I have met both at Paris and in other Provinces many of these persecuted Ministers who acquainted me with their Adventures Germany Holland and Switzerland are full of them and I am told there are some of them here in England Their absence from their Flocks is but too good a proof how hot the persecution is against them And so let 's go on You may remember that the Edict of Nantes judg'd it necessary for the preservation of the Estates and Credit of the protestants and for the safety of their Lives to erect Tribunals where supreme Justice might be administred by Judges of the one and of the other Religion But all these Tribunals are suppress'd namely the Chambers of the Edict of Paris and of Rouen It is some years since the Chambres Miparties were suppress'd by the Delaration of Iuly 1679 so that here is their Fortunes their Credit their Lives all at the mercy of their sworn Enemies For you have not forgot that the King of France acknowledges in one of his Declarations that the Papists have always hated the persons of the Protestants Judge then if it be safe for them to stay longer in such a Kingdom But there is no method proper to ruine them which is not made use of that if one fails another may be sure to take Synods and Conferences are absolutely necessary for the Admission of their Ministers for the Correction of Scandals for the preservation of Peace in their Congregations for the subsistence of their Colleges and for the support and exercise of their Discipline At first they kept them with all sort of Liberty Under Lewis the Thirteenth they thought fit to forbid them to hold any Synod unless some Protestant Commissary who was to be named by the Court were present This was observed till the year 1679 when a Declaration was publish'd requiring that there should be a Papist Commissary in their Synods
this you see that all young men of the Protestant Religion who have not means of their own are reduced to this extremity either of starving in France or turning Papists or forsaking that Kingdom For the same Order forbids any Protestant who drives or professes any Trade to have under them any Apprentiâ—e either Papist or Protestant that so they may not be able to do work enough to maintain their Families 6. The Grand Master and Grand Prêvot have given notice by Virtue of Letters under the Signet to all Protestants who had Privileges whereby they had right to keep Shops as Chyrurgions Apothecaries Watchmakers and other Tradesmen to forbear using their privileges any longer and to shut up their Shops which hath been punctually executed 7. They have establish'd Societies of Physicians at Rochelle and in other places where as I am assured from good hands there were none ever before None but Papists will be received into those Societies By this the Jesuits have found out the way at one stroke to hinder the Practice of all the Protestant Physicians however able and experienc'd they may be In so much that the Lives of all sick Protestants are by this means put into the hands of their Enemies 8. In short there is scarce now any place in all France where they may get their livelyhood They are every where molested and hindered from exercising in quiet any Trade or Art which they have learn'd To dispatch them quite they require of them not only that they shall continue to bear all the Burdens of the Government altho they take from them the means of doing it but also that they bear double to what they did that is to say they use a rigor far greater than what was practised upon the People of God when they were commanded to deliver the same tale of bricks and yet had not straw given them as formerly In effect at the same time that they will not allow them of the Protestant Religion to get a penny they exact of them to pay the King double nay treble to what they paid before Monsieur de Marillac Intendant of Poitou hath an Order of Council which gives him alone the Power of the Imposition of the Tax in that great Province He discharges the Papists who are at ease and overcharges the poor Protestants with their proportion who before that fainted under their own proper burden and could bear no more I will tell you farther on this occasion that the Jesuits have obtain'd an Order of the King by which all Protestants who change Religion are exempted for two years from all quartering of Soldiers and all Contributions of Moneys which are levied on that Account which also tends to the utter ruine of them who continue firm in the Protestant Religion For they throw all the burden upon them of which the others are eas'd From thence in part it is that all the Houses of those poor people are filled with Soldiers who live there as in an Enemy's Country I do not know if the zeal of the Jesuits will rest here For they want yet the satisfaction of keeping S. Bartholomew's Day as they kept it in the former Age. It is true what is allowed them is not far from it For which is the better of the two to stab with one blow or to make men die by little and little of hunger and misery As to the Blow said I to our Friend I do not understand you Pray if you please explain your self what do you mean by keeping S. Bartholomew's Day Monsieur de Perisix that Archbishop of Paris who hath writ the Life of Henry the Fourth answered he shall tell you for me There 's the Book the place may be easily found Here it is â— Six days after which waâ— S. Bartholomew 's Day all the Huguenots who came to the Wedding Feast had their Throats cut amongst others the Admiral twenty persons of the best quality twelve hundred Gentlemen about four thousand Soldiers and Citizens afterwards through all the Cities of the Kingdom after the Example of Paris near a hundred thousand were massacred An execrable Action Such as never was and I hope to God never will be the like You know then well continued our Friend directing his Speech to me you know well now what it is to keep S. Bartholomew's Day and I believe that what I said is no Riddle to you The Jesuits and their Friends set a great value on themselves in the world because they forbear cutting the Protestants Throats as they did then But Merciless as you are do you ere the less take away their lives You say you do not kill them but do you not make them pine to death with hunger and vexation He who gives slow poison is he less a poisoner than he who gives what is violent and quick since both of them destroy the life at last Pardon this short Transport said our Friend in good earnest I cannot restrain my indignation when I see them use the utmost of cruelty and yet would be looked on as patterns of all moderation and meekness Let me impart to you three Letters which two of our Friends who are yet in France have written to me since I came from Paris I received the two first at Calis before I got into the Pacquet Boat the last was delivered me last night after you went away from any Chamber You will there see with what Gentleness they proceed in those Countries He thereupon read to me his Letters and I have since took Copies of them and send them here inclosed A Copy of the First Letter WE are just upon the point of seeing that Reformation which hath cost so much labour and pains and so much blood come to nothing in France To know the condition of the Protestants in the several Provinces of this Kingdom you need but read what the first Christians suffered under the Reigns of the Emperors Nero Domitian Trajan Maximin Dioclesian and such like There are four Troops of Horse in Poitou who live at free Quarter upon all of the Protestant Religion without any exception When they have pillaged the Houses of them who will not go to Mass they tie them to their Horse Tails and drag them thither by force The Intendant whom they have sent thither who is their most bitter Enemy hath his Witnesses ready suborned who accuse whom they please of what Crimes they please and after that cast the poor men into dark Dungeons beat them with Cudgels and then pass sentence of death to terrifie them and afterwards under-hand send others to try them by fair means to promise them that their mourning shall be turn'd into joy if they will but go to Mass. Those whom God gives the grace to resist die in the Dungeon through unspeakable anguish Three Gentlemen of Quality who went about to confirm some of the poor people in their Village that began to waver were presently clapt up Flax put about their Necks then
set on fire and so they were scorch'd till they said they would renounce their Religion There would be no end if I should relate all that is done This you may be assured of that the People of Israel were never so oppress'd by the Egyptians as the Protestants are by their own Country-men A Copy of the Second Letter To make good my promise of giving you an exact Account of the continuance of the persecution which is rais'd against the Protestants in France I shall acquaint you that they of Poitiers are threat'ned with being made a Garrison this Winter I say they the Protestants For none but they must quarter any of them Monsieur de Marillac gives himself up wholly to the making of Proselytes The Deputies of Poitiers are now here to make complaint of the violences they still labour under They offer by a Petition which they have presented at the cost of their lives if they are found guilty of any Falshood or if they do not make out what they say They set forth that by the Orders of Monsieur Marillac the Protestant are dealt with as declared Enemies that their Goods and their Houses are plundered their persons assaulted that the Soldiers are employed as Executioners of these Outrages That they are quartered upon the Protestants only that besides the excessive expence they put them to they exact money of them with dreadful Oaths and Execrations They knock them down they drag Women by the hair of the Head and Ropes about their Necks they have put them to the torture with Screws by clapping their Fingers into a Vice and so squeezing them by degrees they have bound aged Men eighty years old and beaten them and have misused before their Eyes their Children who came to comfort them They hinder Handicrafts men from working they take from Labourers what they use for their Livelyhood they set their Goods openly to sale and they clap their Swords and Pistols to their Breasts who are not frighted with their other Usages they drag them in Sheets into their Churches they throw Holy Water in their Faces and then say they are Catholicks and shall be proceeded against as Relapsed if they live otherwise It is not permitted to these miserable persons to complain those who would have attempted it have been seised on and the Prisons are full of them They are detained there without any Process being made against them and even without so much as having their Names entred in the Iayl-Books If any Gentleman speak to Monsieur Marillac he answers them that they should meddle with their own Business that otherwise he will lay them fast This is a Taste of what they are doing here A Copy of the Third Letter BEing very busie it shall suffice at this time to send you a Copy of a Letter which I just now received from Saintes concerning the Protestants of this Kingdom Sir J. P. our common Friend writ it me He is now making his Tour of France I intreated treated him to inform himself as well as he could how they treated the poor people in those places he was to pass through that he might give me a full Account This is the Letter dated the last of August Old Style I am now going out of Aulnix where I meet with nothing but Objects of Compassion The Intendant of Rochefort which is Monsieur Du Muins lays all waste there It is the same person concerning whom at the Segnelay's we were told so many pleasant Stories last Winter at S. Germain Do not you remember that they talked much of a certain Picard who owed all his Fortune to his Wife and whom the Marquis de Segnelay treats always as the worst of men That 's the Man he is born to do mischief as much as ever man was and his Employment hath increas'd bis insolence beyond measure To this he hath added to the Protestants grief all the barbarous zeal of Ignorance And if the King would let him do it he would soon act over again the Tragedy of S. Bartholomew About ten days since he went to a great Town in Aunix called Surgeres accompanied with his Provost and about forty Archers He began his Feats with a Proclamation that all the Huguenots should change their Religion and upon their refusal he quartered his Troop upon those poor people he made them to live there at discretion as in an Enemies Country he made their Goods to be thrown into the Streets and their Beds under the Horses Feet By his Order the Vessels of Wine and Brandy were staved and their Horse Heels wash'd with it their Corn was sold or rather given away for a fourth part of what it was worth and the same was done to all the Tradesmens Goods Men Women and Children were put to the Torture were dragged by force to the Popish Churches and so great Cruelty was used towards them that the greatest part not being able longer to indure the extremity of the pain renounced their Religion By the same means they forced them to give it under their hands That they had abjured without constraint and of their own free choice The Goods of those who found means to escape are sentenced to be sold and to be pillaged Proud of so noble an Expedition our good man returns to Rochefort the place of his ordinary abode forbids all the Protâ—sâ—ants who are there pretty numerous to remove any of their Gâ—ods out of the Town under penalty of confiscation of what should be seised and corporal punishment over and above and he commands them all to change their Religion in five days This was done by sound of Trumpet that no one might pretend ignorance The Term expires to morrow After this he marched to Moze it is another great Town in Aunix where there is a very fair Church of the Protestants and a very able Minister there he set out the same Prohibitions and the same Commands that he had at Rochefort Upon this a very worthy person of the place and Elder of the Church named Mr. Jarry addressed to him with a most humble Remonstrance and this cruel and barbarous man made him presently to be clapt up in Irons Aâ—ter this he quartered his Men upon those of the Protestant Religion where he exerciseth the same violence which he did at Surgeres Nevertheless hitherto no one hath made Shipwrack of his Conscience in this place They suffer all this cruel persecution with an admirable constancy God of his Mercy support them to the end All the rest of Aunix is in extreme consternation There are likewise Prohibitions made at Rochelle against the shipping of any Goods In so much that all they who slie away run a great hazard of carrying away their lives only for a prey Adieu I will end mine as Sir J. P. doth his all your Friends Do you intend to conclude there said I to our Friend I have a mind to do so replyed he tho I have a thousand Insolences and Outrages more yet
sight of several Proclamations That they ruine all the Protestants that are Taxable in France by a Secret they have found out to Tax the people at Will and then make one or more responsible for all the rest That they are barbarously cruel upon the least complaint of any thing that falls from them in the height of their misfortunes That they Demolish their best Established Temples upon the least pretence and that besides all this they condemn them to the Galleys if they offer to quit the Realm to serve God according to a good Conscience in any other Countrey with a Fine of a thousand Crowns for the first Fault and Corporal Punishment for the rest upon their Friends that shall any way countenance directly or indirectly their departure out of the Realm I have read the Proclamation and you may read it says our Friend when you please for it lies there upon my Table The strangest thing in it is that they glory of their pretended Conversions in Poitou and elsewhere as if they had been carried on with all the gentleness and Christian temper imaginable when all Europe knows they have used no other but carnal means and since I am provoked to say it the Devil's Weapons the allurement of Riches Promises of worldly Advantages Threats Force and a thousand unheard of Cruelties whereby they have brought the poor People to this hard choice either to turn Papist or perish by Hunger and ill usage And many times we see their Consciences will not suffer them to continue in that Communion they have been thus forced into for they come over by Flocks and the Prisons in France are full of these pretended Relaps But because you know all this already I proceed now says he to the Justification of our poor persecuted Brethren I am very well satisfied that this groundless Accusation as if they were Seditious Firebrands and Enemies to Monarchs and Monarchy has given them no prejudice with you If Accusation were enough to render guilty of this Crime Moses and Christ the old and new people of God had certainly lost their Cause The Enemy of Truth has ever made this his Charge against the Innocence of Gods Children Moses was accused for Seducing the people Elias for Troubling Israel Ieremiah That he did not pray for the Prosperity of this people but their mischief the People of God That they designed to revolt from the King of Persia Iesus Christ himself That he perverted the people and forbad to pay Tribute to Caesar and his Apostles That they were common Pests Movers of Sedition and that turned the World upside down You have read Turtullians Apologetick and Arnobius against the Gentiles You see there how the most innocent of the Primitive Christians and the meekest of Men were charged with the same Crime Our Protestants of France have no reason to expect other measure than that of their Saviour and the Saints departed since it is the same Religion they strive for And by the Grace of God we shall with as much ease acquit them of all those Imputations laid to their charge There is certainly no stronger Proof of what the Opinions of a Church are than the publick Declarations her self has made of her Principles by open Professions or Confessions of Faith these are authentick pieces composed with the approbation of the whole Body and published on purpose to declare to the World what in sincerity such a Church believes in matters of Religion The Protestant Church of France has not been wanting in this particular but has composed and published a Confession of Faith that all the World might be sure what really are her thoughts and belief And certainly without the highest injustice we cannot reject what she has thus made Protestation of Then I told our Friend you need not enlarge upon this point for no Man of sense will dispute this Principle with you Let us come to the Question I shall soon dispatch it says he I will read to you the two last Articles of our Protestants Confession of Faith We believe That God will have the World governed by Laws and Policies to the end there may be a restraint upon the inordinate Appetites of Men and for this end that he has appointed Kingdoms Commonwealths and all other sorts of Government Hereditary or otherwise and whatever appertains to the dispensation of Justice and that he himself will be acknowledged the Author of it For this cause he has put the Sword inâ—o the Magistrates Hand to punish Faults committed not only against the second Table but likewise against the first We ought therefore for God's sake not only to submit to the Government of Superiors but also to honour them and hold them in such regard as esteeming them his Lieutenants and Officers whom he has constituted to exercise a Lawful and Sacred Trust. We hold it therefore our Duty to obey their Laws and Statutes to pay Tributes Imposts and other Duties and to bear the Yoke of Subjection with a cheerful and good will be they Infidels provided the Sovereign Empire of God be kept entire Thus we detest those that would reject Authority put all things in common and overthrow the course of Justice Here you see the Confession of the Protestants of France where you find they make it a part of their Religion and Faith to believe that it is God who appoints Kingdoms Hereditary and others That we ought to Honour Princes and hold them in all Reverence as the Lieutenants and Officers of God to obey them to pay them Tribute to submit to them with a good will though they happen to be of another Religion than ours and they reject with horror all those that reject the Powers Can any thing be said stronger or with greater exactness Moreover these Protestants of France have a Liturgy a Form of Common-Prayers as well as our Church of England There it is that in the presence of God and speaking to God they do confirm by a publick Act of Worship all that they say of Kings and Potentates in their Confession of Faith After they have said to God We have thy Precept to pray for those whom thou hast set over us Superiors and Governors they add We Beseech thee therefore O heavenly Father for all Kings and Princes thy Servants to whom thou hast committed the dispensation of Iustice and particularly for the King c. If ever we ought to believe Mens words no doubt it is when they speak to God in the Act and fervor of their Devotion If a man be not wicked to the last degree or an Athiest he will then at least speak the thoughts of his Heart And upon such an account it is that the Protestants of France own in conformity to their Confession of Faith That it is God who has set Rulers over them to Govern That all Princes are the Servants of God That the Justice they dispence to men is that of God himself of which God
little of Christianity She was an ambitious Queen who by a wicked Policy would govern at any rate even to the sacrificing Religion it self She did not deal faithfully with the Huguenots when she made the Peace with them Her only design was to deceive them It was she that put the King upon that barbarous resolution which was executed upon that bloody and accursed day of St. Bartholomew He sets out Charles the Ninth as a Son worthy of such a Mother This Prince was of an impetuous humour Cholerick Revengeful and very Cruel which proceeded from his dark Melancholy temper and from his wicked Education He was so good a Proficient in what his Mother taught him who was a Woman the best skilled of any in her time in the Art of Dissimulation and deceiving people that he made it appear he had outdone her in her own Craft What was it he did not do for two years together to deceive the poor Admiral He expressed the greatest value and love for him imaginable Embraced him kissed him called him his Father And yet so soon as ever they advised him to dispatch him out of hand He stood up in the greatest rage and swore by God according to his wicked custom Ay I will have him dispatched nay I will have all the Huguenots destroyed that not a man remain to reproach me hereafter with his death They hung the Body of the Admiral by the heels upon the Gibbet of Mount-Faucon lighting a Fire underneath to make him a more frightful spectacle It was so miserable a sight that Charles the King would needs see his Enemy thus dead which certainly was an act altogether unworthy I will not say of a King but of a man of any Birth to such a degree had this Spirit of hatred revenge and cruelty which he had learn'd of his Mother prevailed upon him As for Henry the Third another mortal Enemy to the Protestants Monsieur Maimbourg sets him out as the falsest and most unnatural of Mankind The Sieur Aubery du Maurier says he tells us in the Preface of his Memoirs that he has heard his Father say that he had it from the mouth of Monsieur de Vellievre that at the same time he shewed large Instructions to oblige him earnestly to intercede for the Life of Mary Queen of Scots he had private ones quite contrary from the hand of Henry the Third to advise Queen Elizabeth to put to death that common Enemy to their Persons and Kingdoms And could there be a stranger cruelty than what he makes this Prince guilty of when as yet he was only Duke d'Anjou The Prince of Condè after he had defended himself a long time most bravely at the Battle of Iarnac was forced at last to yield up himself Two Gentlemen received his Sword with all manner of respect But the Baron of Montesquiou Captain of Monsier's Swiss Guards being come up whil'st this was doing and finding by them that it was the Prince of Condè Kill him kill him says he and with a great Oath discharged his Pistol at his Head and shot him dead at the stump of a Tree where he leant It was an action doubtless no ways to be excused especially in a French Man who ought to have had respect and spared the Royal Blood had it been in the heat of the Battle much more in cold Blood They say this was done by the express command of the Duke d'Anjou He says of the Duke of Montpensier an irreconcilable enemy to the Huguenots that he would give them no Quarter that he always talked of hanging them that all he took prisoners he put to death presently without mercy that he said to that brave and wise la Noüe who came to surrender himself Prisoner of War My Friend you are a Huguenot your Sentence is passed Prepare for death that the day of the Massacre this bigotted Catholick went through the Streets with the Marshal de Tavannes encouraging the People that were but too forward of themselves and provoking them to fall upon every body and spare none He makes the Cardinal of Lorrain that great Champion for Popery to be Author of a sordid and cruel proceeding He says of the Duke of Guise whom the Catholicks looked upon as the invincible Defender of their Faith that indeed he did service to the Religion but that he likewise made it serve his turn and to invest him with that almost Regal Power which in the end prov'd so fatal to him Now a Subject that makes Religion a step to mount him into his Princes Throne and take away his Crown can he be otherwise esteemed than as a prophane and wicked man Speaking of the Ligue which as he says had for the chief Actors Philip the Second Queen Katharine and the Duke of Guise the great supporters of the Pope That it had like to have destroyed Church and State at once and that the greatest part of those that ran headlong in with that heat and passion and chiefly the People the Clergy and the Fryars were but the stales of such as made up this Cabal where Ambition Revenge and Interest took more place than Religion which was used but for a shew to cheat the World At last he represents the Court of Charles the Ninth which had been that of Francis the Second and was afterwards that of Henry the Third as a pack of Miscreants and Atheists The Court says he was at that time very corrupt where there was no difference hardly between a Catholick and a Huguenot but that the one went not to Mass nor the other to Sermon As for any thing else they agreed well enough for as much as the one and the other at least generally speaking had no Religion at all profane without the fear of God And yet it was from this Court as from a deadly Spring that flowed all the Persecutions which the Protestants suffered under the Reigns of three of their Kings And Monsieur Maimbourg is very pleasant when he makes it up of Huguenots as well as Papists All the World knows that the Huguenots were banished from the Court of Charles the Ninth so that all he says of this Court can light upon none but the Papists who alone were admitted at that time You are in the right says our Friend and it will do well to finish the draught Monsieur Maimbourg has given us of this Court that I read to you what the Bishop of Rhodes writes of it in his History of Henry the Fourth There never was one more vitious and corrupt Wickedness Atheism Magick the most enormous uncleanness the fowlest treacheries perfidiousness poysoning and murder predominated to the highest pitch But I beseech you Sir says he tell me what you would infer from these words of Monsieur Maimbourg that gives such Encomium's to the same Protestants whom he would seem at the same time to cry down with all
then either Mezeray or Monsieur Maimbourg who makes here a great deal of noise about a very inconsiderable business Whatever it was the Constable thought fit to have the King conveyed speedily to Paris through By-ways with a strong party which brought him thither the same day without any hazard and all the rest of the Army got thither the next day This is the truth of the business of Meaux which Monsieur Maimbourg calls a terrible Conspiracy of the Prince of Condè against the Sacred Person of his Soveraign Lord the King He has the impudence to call those Wicked Arms which were taken up for no other end but to preserve to France the Noble Blood of the Bourbons which at this day does it so much honor and which a Conspiracy of cruel and unreasonable Adversaries were at the very point of spilling to the last drop that they might afterwards usurp to themselves the right of the Heirs of the House Is it that Monsieur Maimbourg would have had all this Noble House extinct and that the Guises who pretend to come from Charlemain should have possessed the Throne at this day In good truth his King is much beholding to him Thus then it is that he begins to observe what he promises in his Advertisement To serve his gracious Protector with more warmth zeal and freedom than ever You must give me leave says I smiling to give a check here to the carier of your Victory Monsieur Maimbourg is very unjust to attribute to the genius of the Reformed Religion of France the outrages of Subjects Rebellion against their Prince You have beyond dispute shewed the contrary in our former Conference from their Confession of Faith the Prayers in their Liturgy and from what their most Famous Doctors have taught publickly Therefore when our Jesuit for his change of Habit does not hinder but that we have still too much cause to call him by this name charges the Protestant Religion to which unjustly he imputes Heresie with Inspiring Rebellions and Outrages he gives us a cast of his office to put the sham upon us well knowing what the Jâ—suits Religion is really guilty of in this point and to augment the displeasure of his King against the poor Huguenots the most faithful of his Subjects But setting aside this Jesuitical pliableness and malice tell me a little Do you think this action of the Prince of Condè very regular to shew himself before the King in Arms as if he would wrest from him by force that Justice which was denyed him I will allow that his enemies had sworn his ruine and that of all the Protestants of France I cannot question it after all those proofs which you have brought I will allow besides that the Six thousand Suisses which environed the King had never been raised nor kept up but to be the Executioners of this unjust and bloody Design should a Subject endeavor to cut them off even before his Soveraigns eyes who secured them by his Royal Authority Was not this to invade that Soveraign Authority which ought never to be touched by any Subject In a word this attempt of the Prince is it not point blanck contrary to the Maxims of the Protestant Religion of France as you have represented it to me That we ought never to repel force by force when it is our Soveraign that does the wrong I am very glad says our Friend that you have made this Objection it will give me occasion to say somthing that will help to clear all that they reproach the Huguenots with till the Reign of Lewis the Thirteenth 1. All that pretend to be Protestants are not so Monsieur Maimbourg himself is of the same opinion And it is a shameful Injustice to make the Religion answerable for the miscarriages of those that are a disgrace to it and that make it appear by leading a life quite contrary to its maxims and instructions that they are not its followers but its enemies This is the Injustice Monseiur Maimbourg does to the Protestant Religion in every Page of his Libel For example he imputes to it the beastly and barbarous behavior of the Baron des Adrets though he himself acknowleâ—ges he was a man of no Religion far from being what he elsewhere calls a good Huguenot a man truly devoted to the Principles of the Protestant Religion who breathes nothing but piety towards God and love and bounty towards his Neighbor He likewise imputes to it the Exploit of certain seditious Fellows that coyned Silver Money with the Princes stamp and this Inscription in Latin Ludov. XIII Rex Franc. I cannot tell whether what he says of this Coyn be true I have not the Book by me which he quotes De Thou and Mezeray who are otherwise so exact and curious speak not a word of it And considering the hatred that has always been against the Huguenots they would in all probability have kept some of this Coyn very carefully to have stopt their mouths as often as they should reproach the Papists with the several attempts they had made against Kings However it be if the Story be true they that caused such money to be coyned are wicked Wretches and have most insolently transgressed the 39th and 40th Articles of the Confession of Faith made by the Reformed Church of France So that the true French Protestants are so far from owning them for their Brethren that they detest them as utter Enemies to their holy Religion In general all they that have failed in the respect which is due to Potentates having thereby acted contrary to the Principles of the Reformed Religion cannot be reckoned among the true Protestants It is therefore an idle thing to reproach us with the Extravagancies and Enterprises of such men We have nothing to do with them And if the Prince of Condè was no otherwise a Protestant than as Monsieur Maimbourg would maliciously insinuate if under a false pretence of Religion to deceive a simple people that put great confidence in him he concealed a Criminal Revenge and Ambition the honest Huguenots disown him and it would be an unconscionable thing to make them guilty of what this Prince had committed when at the same time he must have declared himself an enemy to their Religion by having violated after such a manner their Confession of Faith in so essential a Point But God forbid we should have so ill an Opinion of this Hero as Monsieur Maimbourg would perswade us to Mezâ—ray himself assures us that the Prince was sincere an enemy to cheats and treacheries and abhorred to do an ill thing He was then doubtless what he desired that men should take him for a true Protestant which is to say a good Christian. 2. But the best Christians have their faults Wherefore there is no man that does not sometimes yield to the temptations offered him And when wâ— know the temptations to be strong as no doubt they are
of Conde in the Civil Wars during the minority of Lewis XIV I am confident the Papists would cry out against it as a great and foul Injustice done to their Church And yet why do they continually use the Protestants thus unreasonably I presume this may serve for a full Justification in reference to the Spirit of Rebellion imputed upon the account of what passed in the beginning of the Reign of Lewis XIII They cannot wrong them more than to make their Religion answerable for the weakness of some of them who were disapproved by the wisest among them who have more reason to be considered than a few who acted contrary to the Principles of the Protestant Religion as they are contained in their Confession of Faith established by their most eminent Divines as I shewed you at our third Conference So that I suppose Sir it will be needlâ—ss to run through all the several troubles which followed the first down to the year 1629. This may answer the whole Yet methinks said I you should not have done before you have said something particularly of Rochel It s Rebellion and Siege have made too great a noise in the World and perchance that which happened about this Town is what has raised the greatest cry against the French Protestants as Commonwealthsmen and Traytors Therefore I shall no more question their Loyalty and you will enable me to defend them sufficiently under the Reign of Lewis XIII as well as under those that went before if you can set me right in the excuse of Rochel It will be no hard matter for me says our Friend to satisfie you in this Point And we English are particularly obligâ—d to make out the innocence of the Protestants in this affair If any be to blame we are For it was we that engaged them in this last War But God be thanked they can charge us with nothing To make it the clearer to you we must take the Business a little higher Rochel did belong to the Kings of England being a part of their Dominion by the Marriage of Eleanor Countess of Poitou in the year 1152. with Henry II. when he was yet but Duke of Normandy But the King of France Lewis VIII assaulted and took it by force in the year 2224. It fell again into the hands of our Kings who were the rightful Lords of it in the year 1359. by the Peace of Bretegny as part of the Ransome for Iohn King of France who was taken Prisoner at the Battle of Poitiers by Edward Prince of Wales But in the year 1372. the Rochellers were so unhappy as to withdraw their Allgiance from their natural Lord our King Edward III. And to compleat their Revolt they put themselves under the powâ—r of the French King This occurrence ought to be observed though I shall say nothing of it but in Mezeray's own words This Town says he having shaken off the English Yoke desired to come under the French upon condition of preseâ—ving that liberty it had acquired by its own means And therefore it delivered it self up to the King it made so good a Bargain for it self which was agreed by Letters under the Broad Seal and the Seals of his Peers that the Castle should be demolished and that there never should be any within or near the Town c. The same Historian touches upon this in another place In consideration says he that Rochel came voluntarily into France the King Charles V. seeing that the Townsmen having of themselves quitted the Power they were under to the great hazard of their Lives could either continue free or give themselves up to whom they pleased granted them all the Priviledges they could dâ—â—â—re as That they might Coin Florins Mony of a mixt Metal 〈◊〉 the Castle should be demolished and that no other should be built in their Town And by other Letters he promises them that their Walls and Forts should stand and that he would raise none upon them He goes on with the other great Immunities that were granted to Rochel by this King and by his Successors not sticking to declare ingenuously that Henry II. and Francis I. by sometimes placing their Governors and Garisons had infringed their Priviledges He adds ' That the Rochellers looked upon this as a violation and always waited for a more favourable occasion to restore themselves to their original Right By this you see that Rochel did not deliver it self up to France but upon Conditions and so were to continue their Obedience no longer than the Articles stipulated by the Rochellers and accepted by the King of France were observed It appears that one of these Articles says expresly That they were never to build Castle or Fort either in or about the Town Notwithstanding contrary to this Agreement they raise a Fort before Rochel in time of the War which was in the Years 1621 1622. And though they promised by the Articles of Peace which were afterwards agreed upon that this Fort should be slighted yet it always continued which was the cause of those troubles that followed in the Years 1625 1626. the Rochellers being no longer obliged to keep touch with the King of France because he had broke the Treaty by vertue of which alone they became his Subjects The Affairs of Europe disposing the late King our Soveraign Lord Charles I. to interpose for a Pacification The Rochellers and such other Protestants of France as had engaged in their Quarrel agreed to refer all their Concerns to him And he obtained it for them a second time that this Fort which was so great an eye-sore to Rochel should be demolished for which he was Guarantee by an Authentick Declaration that his Embassadors gave in Writing I will read it to you We Henry Rich Baron of Kensington â—arl of Holland Captain of the Guards to the King of Great Britain Knight of the Order of the Garter and Counsellor of State and Dudley Carleton Knight Counsellor of State and Vicechamberlain of His Majesties Houshold Embassadors Extraordinary from His said Majesty to the Most Christian King To all present and to come Greeting It so falling out that Montmartin and Manial Deputies-General of the Reformed Churches of France and other particular Deputies of the Dukes of Rohan and Soubise with those of several Towns and Provinces who were engaged with them have made their Peace with the Most Christiaâ— King By our advice and interposition it is agreed and consented to 〈◊〉 the said King their Soveraign And the Deputies have released many things which they esteemed very important for their security and all conformable to their â—dicts and Declarations which they had express order to insist upon at the Treaty of Peace and which they had resolutely persisted in saving the obedience they owe and desire to pay their King and Soveraign and saving the respect and deference they would shew to the so express Summons and Demands of the most Serene King of Great Britain our Master in
her declare when they make her say she found the Romish Religion so plainly taught in the holy Scripture Her great unquietness of Spirit which she discovered when she lay a dying is as little sutable to these words in the Declaration I have been particularly and strongly convinced of the real presencâ— of Iesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar of the Churches infallibilitâ— c. But all these things will be set out in their proper colours However they are not to our present purpose I hope I have set you right aâ— to the justification of the French Protestants quitting their Countrey and of their unshaken Loyalty to their Soveraign I do acknowledge says I and am extremely obliged for the light you have given me in this matter I will be sure to improve it upon occasion neither shall it be my fault if these poor persecuted People do not find a better Countrey with us than that they are come from After which I took my leave of our friend and remain Sir Yours c. End of the Sixth and last Letter Declaration of the 17th of Iune 1681. Art 1. Paâ—â—tic Ann. 1599 p. 285 and 286 Eâ—it Amsterdam 1664. P. 156 157 of the Lions Edition See Statures at large 1 Elizab. 1. 5 Eliz. 1. 13 Eliz. 1. 23 Eliz. 1. 27 Eliz. 2. 35 Eliz. 2. 1 Iacob 4. 3 Iac. 4 5 c. Printed for Henry Bromâ— 1674. Art 1. patâ— Mr. God Hermant Doctor of the Sorbin Tom. 1. Book 2 p. 204. and Noteâ— of the same chapâ— p. 625. Surl ' an 1572 Edit Amsterd p. 30. Printed at Pâ—ris cum Priviâ—â—gio Chaz Lionard Inprimtâ—r du â—â—y 1680. Omahon S. Th. Mag. Disputatio Apolegitica de Iure Regni Hibâ—rniâ— pro Catholicis n. 20. Exod. 5.4 1. King 18.17 Ier. 38.4 Neb. 6.6 Luc. 23.2 Act. 24.5 17.6 Art 39. Art 40 Dan. 2.21 4.25 Ezek. 29.19 Dan. 2.37.38 Dan. 5.18 1 Sam. 8.11 13 14 15 16 17. Mez. Hist. de Franc. Tom. 2. p. 841. Ibid. Hist. de Hen. le Grand sâ—r l'an 1571. Tomâ— pag 634. Hist. de Hen. le Grand sur l'an 1576. Id sur la même aneâ— Id sur l'an 1589. Sur l'an 1593. Mez. sur l'an 1594. Hist. de Hen. le Grand sur l ' an 1610. Mons. le Mareschal de Sbamberg Mr. du Quesne Acts 4.19 Acts 5.29 Chrys. in Matth. c. 17. Decr. Caus. 11. q. 3. c. 93. Si Dominus Let. de M. Boch 3. part Deuxiâ—mâ— Entret p. 75. Hist. du Calv. Ed. de Holland 1682. Pag. 124. Pag. 415. Pag 422. Pag. 124. Pag. 197. 198. Pag. 203 204. Pag. 280. Pag. 414 415. Pag. 475. Pag. 462 463. Pag. 157. Pag. 154. Pag. 179.319 Pag. 164. Pag. 248. Pag. 453. Pag. 454. Pag. 456. Pag. 458. Pag. 460. Pag. 474. Pag. 189. Pag. 421 422. So they called The Duke of Anjou Pag. 418. Pag. 478. Pag. 171 172. Pag. 132. Pag. 491. Pag. 490. Pag. 462 463. Hist. de Hen. le Grand sur l'an 1572. Pag. 96. Pag. 501. Cardinal d'Ossat Ex Elog. Clar. Vir. Sammart The insurrection of Amboise happened in the year 1560. and Cardinal ' d Ossat was born 1536. Pag. 127 * This present Stâ—te of Affairs was That the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorrain having made themselves Masters of the Mind the Person and the Authority of the young King Francis the second became insufferable Tyrants in the Kingdom committed a thousand insolencies upon the Princes of the Blood and gave all imaginable suspicion that they aimed at the Crown as pretended Heirs to Charles the Great †P. 128. | P. 129. P. 130 P. 131. P. 132. P. 133. Mez. Hlst. de France Tom. 2. P. 771. P. 501. P. 13◠〈…〉 Mez. Hist. de Franc. Tom. 2. pag. 1016. Id. ib. pag. 768. Id. ib. pag. 758. Id. ib. pag. 756. Id. ib. pag. 773. Guy Coquilâ—e dans ses Memoirs pour la Reformation de l' Estat Ecclesiastique Mezeray Hsst. de France p. 578 771. Idem ib. p. 744 745. Pag. 746. Pag. 749. Id. ib. pag. 766. Id. ib. pag. 840. Hist. de Hen. le Grand sur l'an 1576. Id sur l'an 1584. Hist. du Cal. pag 317. Id. pag. 318. Mez. Hist. de Franc. Tom. 2. pag. 771. Mez. Abreg Chro. Mez. Hist. de Fran. Tom. 2. pag. 757 p. 763. Hist. du Calv. pag. 261. Popelin Hist. de Fran. Vol. 1. l. 9. an 1563. Thuan. l. 34. Mez. Hist. de Fran. Tom. 2. pag. 903. Hist. de Calv. pag. 341. Mez. Hist. de Fran. Tom. 2. pag. 904. In his Abridg Chr. Iul. 1563. Id. Hist. of France Tom. 2. pag. 924. Maimb Hist. du Calv. p. 344. Id. ib. pag. 345. Mez. ubr Chron. Id. Hist. de Fr. Tom. 11. p. 926. Id. ib. p. 932. Id Abregè Chron. sur l'an 1565. Id. Abreg Chron. sur l'an 1565. Maimb Hist. du Calvin p. 355. Pag. 362â— Pag. 364. Mez. Hist. de Fran. Tom. â—I pag. 946. Abrig Chron. sur l'an 1569. Mez. Hist. de Fr. Tom. 2. p. 714 841. Id. ib. pag. 754 755. a The King was Francis the Second b Who was afterwards Charlâ—s the Ninth c Huguenots Id. ib. p. 958. Hist. de l' Etat de Fran. c. â—ons le Reg. de Francois H. P. 688. to p. 699. †Mez. Hist. de Fran. Tom. 11. p 956. * Id ib. p. â—57 l. p. 958. Id. ib. p. 957. Ib. Id. ib. p. 958. P. 959. Ibid. Pag 960. Thuan Hist. l. 42. Hist. du Calv. pag. 363. †Ep. Dedicat Hist du Calv. pag. 368. The nature of that Heresie which the Prince professed iâ— to harden the heart and to infuse into it all the rage which the spirit of rebellion is capable of Hist. de Calv. pag. 462 463. Pâ—g 273 274 275. Pag. 370. Hist. de France Tom. 2. P. 768. 1016. Mez. Hist. dr Franc. Tom. 111. pag. 508. Thuan. Hist. l. 42. ad ann 1567. pag. 467. Hist. de Franc. de Mez. Tom. 2. p. 985. Id. ib. pag. 986 987. Hist. du Calv. p. 399 c. Id. ib. pag. 402. Pag. 403. Pag. 404. Pag. 405. Pag. 406. Pag. 407. Mez. Hist. de Fran Tom. 2. pag. 985. Id. ib. pag. 986. Ahr. Chr. sur l'an 1568. Thuan Hist. l. XLII sub sin Mezeray Hist. de France Tom. 2. pag. 995. Thuan. Hist. lib. 44. ad an 1568. Ad ann 1568. †The same Mezeray in his Hist. Tom. 2. pag. 995 996 observes That it was shrewdly guessed that the Murder of some Persons of Quality as that of Sipierre who were set upon during the time of these rumours was not done without the privacy of the Highest Powers and that d'Arsy or the Marquess d'Ars who killed Sipierre said publickly That he did nothing but what he had good warrant for Hist. du Calv. Pag. 402. Ib. pag. 422. Id. ib. l. 6. pag. 453. Id. ib. l. 6. pag. 4â—â— Id. ib. pag. 468. Upon the year 1572. Histor. de France Tom. 2. P. 1110. Hist. diâ— Calv. pag. 476. l. 6. Ib. 477. †Toxin It is called in French which iâ— a certaiâ—â—â— flow sâ—â—nd they give the Bell when it is to warn of Fire or any thing extraordinary Pag. 478. Pag. 479. Pag. 480. †They were the new King of Navarre and the new Prince of Condè Joh 8.44 Id. ib. p. 481. P. 482. P. 483. Abr. Chr. sur l'an 1573. Id. ib. Hist. de Hen. le Grand par l' Eveq de Rhodes sur l'an 1574. Mez. Hist. de Fran. T. 11. p. 1168. Id. ib. 1170. Mez. Abreg Chr. sâ—r l an 1575. Id. ib. Id. ib. Id. ib. Id. ib. sur l'an 1576. Id. ib. * La Religion pretâ—ndue Reformed * Arriereban * A Court of Justice consisting of half Protestants and half Papists Ib. Hist. du Ca. v. p. 490. P. 491. * The Line bâ—fore that of Bourbon P. 492. P. 494. Hist. de Hen. le Grand sur Pan. 1576. Ib. sur l'an 1584. Id. sur l'an 1588. Hist. du Calv. p. 490. Id. ib. p. 501 502. Mez Hist. de Fr. Tom. 11. p 1171. Hist. du Calv. p. 10.11.12 See the following Quotation Collection of Edicts and Declarations Printed at Paris by Allowance by Anth. Stephens in the year 1659 P. 104 105 107 108 109 110. See the same Coâ—lection Mâ—z Hist. de Fr. T. 1. p. 456. Id. ib. p. â—54 Dâ— Chesne Antiq. de la Fran. p. 584.585 Mez. ib. p. 842 843. Id. ib. p. 885 886. Tom. 11. p. 978 979. Id. 16. p. 16. Recuil des Edicts c. imprime avec Privilege à Paris par Antoine Etienne l'an 165 â— p. 272. c. Hist of Calv lib 6. p 151 152. Crit. Gen. de hist. de Calv. à Ville Franc. 1682. let 22. p. 322. La Polâ—â—â— du Clerâ—â— de Fran. 3. M E Edit à la Hage p. 102. Hist. de Calv. p. 501. â— 50â— Witness the Medal where one of them caused to be Engraven Perdam Babyloniâ— nomen I will root out the name of Babylon p. 33â— P. 490.491 Sant Tract de Haeres et de Potest Summi Pont. c. 30. 31. Bell. Tract de potest summi Pont. in Temp. aâ—vers Barel Rome 1â—10 p. 35
opened After our first Salute I ask'd him what they were They are said he French Books and those Printed Sheets are the new Edicts Declarations and Acts which the King of France hath lately publish'd against the Protestants of his Kingdom I am very happy said I in lighting on you at the opening of your Papers I was extremely impatient of knowing with some certainty what it was drove so many of them from their Native Country and I perceive by the care you have taken to collect all the pieces which concern them that I could not have met any one who might better satisfie my curiosity They come hither in Troops almost every day and the greatest part of them with no other Goods but their Children The King according to his accustomed Goodness hath had pity on them so far as to provide means whereby they may be able to gain their Lively-hood and amongst other things he hath ordered a general Collection for them throughout the Kingdom We were all resolved to answer the charitable Intentions of our Gracious Prince and were beginning to contribute freely But to tell you the truth we were extremely cooled by certain Rumors It is confess'd that their King is very earnest to make them embrace his Religion but they assure us that he uses none but very reasonable Means and that they who come hither with such Outcries are a sort of People not gifted with much patience who easily forsake their Native Country being dissatisfied that their merit as they conceive is not sufficiently rewarded Besides they are represented to us very much suspected in the point of their Obedience and Loyalty If we may believe many here they have been very factious and rebellious such as in all times have struck at the higher Powers both in Church and State which you must needs see would not be much for our purpose in these present Conjunctures In truth this is intolerable cry'd our Friend I cannot endure that the Innocence of these poor people should be run down at this rate I perceive Father La Chaise is not content to persecute them in their own Country with the utmost cruelty but trys all ways to shut up the Bowels of their Brethren in foreign parts he endeavours to ruine and to famish them every where in England as well as France A Hatred so cruel and if I may so say murderous agrees not so well with the Gospel of the Meek Iesus whose Companion Father La Chaise styles himself For he came not to destroy men but to save them Let this Jesuite alone said I and his Emissaries I do not doubt but he hath too much to do in all the Affairs of Protestants But tell me ingenuously do they give just cause to them of France to quit their Country as they do and are they persons whom the State and the Church may trust You your self shall be Judge said he and that you may be fully inform'd of the Cause I will give you a particular Account of the State of these poor People But before I speak of the Evils they have suffered it is sit you should know what it is that they have right to hope for from their King and from their Countrymen you will then be more affected with the usage they find You cannot but have heard of the Edict of Nantes Here it is said he taking up one of the Books that lay upon the Table It is a Law which Henry the Fourth confirmed to establish their Condition and to secure their Lives and Privileges and that they might have liberty freely to profess their Religion It is called the Edict of Nantes because it was concluded of at Nantes whilst the King was there It contains 149 Articles 93 general and 56 particular You may read it at your leisure if you please I will only observe some of them to you at present Look I pray said he on the sixth general and the first particular Article Liberty of Conscience without let or molestation is there most expresly promised not only to them who made profession of the Protestant Religion at the establishment of the Edict but which is principally to be observed to all those who should imbrace and profess it afterwards For the Article saith that Liberty of Conscience is granted for all those who are or who shall be of the said Religion whether Natives or others The seventh general Article grants to all Protestants the right of having Divine Service Preaching and full exercise of their Religion in all their Houses who have Soveraign Iustice that is to say who have the privilege of appointing a Judge who hath the power of judging in Capital Causes upon occasion There are a great many Noble Houses in France which have this privilege That seventh Article allows all Protestants who have such Houses to have Divine Service and Preaching there not only for themselves their own Family and Tenants but also for all persons who have a mind to go thither The following Article allows even the same Exercise of the Protestant Religion in Noble Houses which have not the right of Soveraign Justice but which only hold in Fee-simple It is true it doth not allow them to admit into their Assemblies above thirty persons besides their own Family The ninth Article is of far greater importance it allows the Protestants to have and to continue the exercise of their Religion in all those places where it had been publickly used in the years 1596 and 1597. The tenth Article goes farther yet and orders that that Exercise be established in all places where it ought to have been by the Edict of 1577 if it had not been or to be re-established in all those places if it had been taken away and that Edict of 1577 granted by Henry the Third declares that the Exercise of the Protestant Religion should be continued in all places where it had been in the Month of September that same year and moreover that there should be a place in each Bailywick or other Corporation of the like nature where the Exercise of that Religion should be established tho it had never been there before These are those places which since have been called with reference to the Exercise of Religion The first places of the Bailywick It follows then from this tenth Article of the Edict of Nantes that besides the Cities and Towns in which the Exercise of that Religion ought to be continued because they had it in the years 1596 and 1597 it ought to be over and above in all those places where it had been in the month of September in the year 1577 and in a convenient place of each Bailywick c. altho it had not been there in that Month. The eleventh Article grants also this Exercise in each Bailywick in a second place where it had not been either in the Month of September 1577 or in the years 1596 or 1597. This is that which is called The second place of the
Bailywick in distinction to that other place of the same nature which is granted by virtue of the Edict of 1577. When Henry the Fourth sent Commissaries into the several Provinces to see his Edict put in execution there was scarce found any considerable City or Town where the Commissaries did not acknowledge that the Exercise of the Protestant Religion had no need to be confirm'd or re-established because it had been used there in some one of the three years above-mentioned in so much that there were whole Provinces which had no need of those two places granted out oâ— pure favour I mean the two places of each Bailywick all the Cities and all the Towns of those Provinces claiming that Exercise by a better Title This is it which made the Bishop of Rodes Monsieur Perifix afterwards Archbishop of Paris in his History of the Life of Henry the Fourth to say that that Prince by his Edict of Nantes granted to the Protestants Liberty of Preaching almost every where But he granted them farther the means and full power of breeding up and teaching their Children Read as to that the thirty seventh particular Article It declares that they shall have publick Schools and Colleges in those Cities and Places where they ought to have the publick Exercise of their Religion The Edict having secured as you see the Exercise of the Protestant Religion secures also the condition of them who should profess it to the end that they might without any molestation each one according to his quality follow those Trades Employments and Offices which are the ordinary means of mens Livelyhood Indeed the thing of it self speaks this For it is plain that they do not grant in good earnest the free Exercise of a Religion who debar the persons that profess it the use of means necessary for their subsistence Nevertheless for their greater security Henry the Fourth hath declared to all Europe by his Edict that he would not that there should be any difference as to that point between his Protestant and his Papist Subjects The thirty seventh general Article as to that is express This it is We declare all them who do or shall make profession of the pretended Reformed Religion capable of holding and exercising all Conditions Offices Honours and publick Charges whatsoever Royalties Seigneuries or any Charge in the Cities of our Kingdom Countries Territories or Seigneuries under our Authority The fifty fourth Article declares that they shall be admitted Officers in the Courts of Parliaments Great Council Chamber of Accounts Court of Aids and the Offices of the general Treasurers of France and amongst the other Officers of the Revenues of the Crown The seventy fourth Article puts them in the same state with their Fellow Subjects as to all publick Exactions willing that they should be charged no higher than others Those of the said Religion pretendedly Reformed saith the Article may not hereafter be overcharged or oppressed with any Imposition ordinary or extraordinary more than the Catholicks And to the end that Justice might be done and administred impartially as the Edict explains it self the 30th 31st to the 57th Articles set up Chambers of the Edict in the Parliaments of Paris and Roan where the Protestant Counsellors ought to assist as Judges and Chambers Miparties in the Parliaments of Guienne Languedoc and Dauphine consisting each of two Presidents the one Protestant the other Papist and of twelve Counsellors an equal number of each Religion to judge without Appeal exclusive to all other Courts all Differences of any importance which the Protestants might have with their Fellow Subjects as well in Criminal as in Civil Matters In short this great Edict forgets nothing which might make the Protestants of France to live in peace and honor It hath not fail'd even to explain it self as to the Vexations which might be created them by taking away or seducing their Children For read the eighteenth general Article It forbids all Papists of what quality or condition soever they may be to take them away by force or by perswasion against the will of their Parents As if it had foreseen that this would be one of the ways which their Persecutors would use to vex and ruine them But the 38th Article goes farther yet That Wills that even after their death Fathers shall be Masters of the Education of their Children and consequently of their Religion so long as their Children shall continue under Guardians which is by the Laws of France till the 25th year of their Age It shall be lawful for Fathers who profess the said Religion to provide for them such persons for their education as they think fit and to substitute one or more by Will Codicil or other Declaration made before Publick Notaries or written and sign'd with their own hand You perceive then plainly continued our Friend that by this Edict King Henry the Fourth made the condition of the Protestants equal almost in all things to that of his other Subjects They had reason then to hope that they should be allowed to exercise their Religion to breed up and instruct their Children in it without any disturbance and that they should have as free admission to all Arts Trades Offices and Employments as any of their Fellow Subjects This is very clear said I and I am much obliged to you for explaining to me what this famous Edict of Nantes is which I had heard so much discourse of But they who have no affection for the Protestants tell us that it is a Law which was extorted by violence and consequently is not to be kept I will not stand now said our Friend to examine whether that consequence be good you cannot but perceive that it is dangerous But I dare assure you that the Principle from whence it is drawn namely that the Edict was extorted by violence is very false I would not have you take my word for it But I will produce an unexceptionable Witness It is the Archbishop of Paris he who writ the Life of Honry the Fourth That one Witness is worth a thousand for he was a declared Enemy of the Protestants According to him The general Peace was made the Ligue extinguish'd and all persons in France had laid down their Arms when this Edict was granted in favour of them It is ridiculous now to say that it was extorted by violence there being then no party in all the Kingdom in a condition to make the least attempt with impunity Moreover that Prelate could not forbear owning expresly what it was mov'd the King to grant them that Edict It was the sense of the Great Obligations he had to them See the Book it self read the Passage The Great Obligations which he had to them would not permit him to drive them into despair and therefore to preserve them a just ballance he granted them an Edict larger than any before They called it the Edict of Nantes c. Indeed the Obligations he had to them were
not small They had testified an inviolable Loyalty to him in all his Troubles They had spent freely their Lives and Fortunes to defend his Rights and his Life against the Princes of Lorrain who made so many Attempts to keep him from the Throne of his Ancestors and to usurp his place Had it not been for their Valour and their Loyalty the Crown had gone into the hands of Strangers and since we must speak out had it not been for them the Blood of the Bourbons would not this day have been possessed of the Throne The Edict of Nantes then was the Effect and the Recompence of the Great Obligations which King Henry the Fourth had to his Loyal Protestants and not as is slanderously reported the fruit of any violence gained by force and granted against the hair But farther the Law of Nature and common policy might challenge such an Edict for them as well as Gratitude It is true that Soveraign Magistrates are appointed by God to preserve the publick peace and by consequence to cut off or prevent as much as in them lies whatever may disturb it It is true also that new Establishments in matters of Religion may cause great troubles in a State and that there are Religions which have Maxims so pernicious that when Magistrates are of a different opinion or but so much as tolerate such a one their Lives and their Kingdoms are never in safety But Henry the Fourth found the Protestant Religion wholly establish'd in the Kingdom when he came to the Crown Besides he who had so long profess'd it knew perfectly well that it had none of those dreadful Maxims which makes Princes and States jealous that on the contrary in it Loyalty and Obedience of Subjects to Soveraigns of what Religion and what humor soever was to them an Article of Faith and an obligation of Conscience He knew that Protestants by their Religion were peaceable men who sought but to serve God according to his Word and were always ready to spend the last drop of their blood for the service and the honor of their King But he knew also that the zeal of the Romish Clergy always animated the Popish Common People against them and that they would be sure to fall upon them unless he took them into his protection The Law of Nature then did not permit him to abandon to the rage of the multitude so many innocent persons and common policy warned him to preserve so many faithful Subjects for the State so capable of supporting it on occasion as he had so freshly experienc'd It being certain that had it not been for them the Pope and the Ligue had ruin'd the whole Kingdom But it was not possible either to defend them from the fury of the People or to preserve them for the service of the State if he had granted in favour of them any thing less than the Edict of Nantes so that this Edict in truth was to be ascribed to common Equity and Prudence no less than Gratitude But said I to my Friend do you believe that the Grandson of Henry the Fourth is bound to make good what his Grandfather did I do not doubt it at all answered he otherwise there would be nothing secure or certain in Civil Society and wo be to all Governments if there be no Foundation of publick Trust. 1. For if ever Law deserv'd to be regarded by the Successors of a Prince it is this It was establish'd by a Hero who had recovered the Crown for his posterity by his Sword and this Establishment was not made but after mature and long deliberations in the calm of a prosound Peace obtained and cemented by many and signal Victories That Hero hath declar'd expresly in the Preface of the Edict that he establish'd it in the nature of an irrevocable and perpetual Law willing that it should be firm and inviolable as he also saith himself in the 90th Article Accordingly he made all the Formalities to be observed in its establishment which are necessary for the passing of a fundamental Law in a State For he made the observation of it under the quality of an irrevocable Law to be sworn to by all the Governors and Lieutenant-Generals of his Provinces by the Bailiffs Mayors and other ordinary Judges and principal Inhabitants of the Cities of each Religion by the Majors Sheriffs Consuls and Jurates by the Parliaments Chambers of Accounts Court of Aids with order to have it publish'd and registred in all the said Courts This is expresly set down in the 92d and 93d Articles Was there ever any thing more authentick 2. The same Reasons which caused the Establishment remain still and plead for its continuance 1. The Family of Bourbon preserved in the Throne 2. The Law of Nature and common Policy 3. The two Successors of Henry the Fourth look'd not upon themselves as unconcern'd in this Edict Their Word and their Royal Authority are engaged for its observation no less than the Word and Royal Authority of its Illustrious Author Lewis the Thirteenth confirm'd it as soon as he came to the Crown by his Declaration of the 22d of May 1610 ordering that the Edict of Nantes should be observed in every Point and Article These are the very words Read them said he shewing me a Book in Folio called The Great Conference of the Royal Ordinances and Edicts I read there in the first Book Title 6 of the second Part of the Volume not only the Article he mention'd but also the citation of nine several Declarations publish'd at several times by the same King on the same subject Lewis the Fourteenth who now Reigns says our Friend hath likewise assured all Europe by his authentick Edicts and Declarations that he would maintain the Edict of Nantes according to the desire of his Grandfather who had made it an irrevocable Law He himself acknowledges and confirms it himself anew by his Edict of Iune 1680 where he forbids Papists to change their Religion There it is pray take the pains to read it Lewis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre to all persons to whom these Presents come Greeting The late Henry the Fourth our Grandfather of Glorious Memory granted by his Edict given at Nantes in the Month of April 1598 to all his Subjects of the Religion pretended Reformed who then lived in his Kingdom or who afterwards should come and settle in it Liberty of professing their Religion and at the same time provided whatsoever he judged necessary for affording those of the said Religion pretended Reformed means of living in our Kingdom in the Exercise of their Religion without being molested in it by our Catholick Subjects which the late King our most Honored Lord and Father and we since have authorised and confirmed on other Occasions by divers Declarations and Acts. But this Prince is not content to tell what he hath formerly done in confirmation of the Edict of Nantes read some Lines a little lower
and you will see that he repeats again his former Ingagements We declare that confirming as much as is or may be needful the Edict of Nantes and other Declarations and Acts given in pursuit of it c. That is to say That by this new Edict he signs once more the Edict of Nantes and for a more authentick confirmation of that important Law he ratifies together with it and seals with his Royal Seal all the Declarations which had already confirmed it If all this is not sufficient to render His Word Sacred and Inviolable there is nothing in the World can do it all things are lawful and it is to no purpose to talk of any Obligation or of any Bond in humane Society They cannot make void or break the Clauses of an Edict so well deserv'd by the Protestants so just and so wise in it self so solemnly establish'd so religiously sworn to and so often and so authentically confirm'd by three Kings without shaking all the Foundations of publick Security without violating in that Act the Law of Nations and silling the World with fatal Principles which by ruining all mutual Faith among men render Divisions in States incurable and consequently immortal Dear Sir said I I am much pleased with what you have inform'd me O how I shall dash them out of countenance who hereafter shall compare the condition of our Papists in England with that of the Protestants in France There is no sort of good usage but what is due to these in their own Country of which they have deserved so well by preserving that Family which now reigns there What have they not a right to hope for under the protection of an Edict so authentick But our Papists in England have they ever deserved a like protection Hath there ever been pass'd any Act of Parliament in favour of them like to this Edict On the contrary have not there been pass'd 1000 against them And not one but upon the provocation of some Sedition or open Rebellion You need but review the Fundamental Laws of the Land now in force against the Pope against the Jesuits Seminary Priests and in general against all the Papists There is decreed justly against them all the contrary that by the Edict of Nantes is promised to the Protestants You are much in the right said our Friend when you use the word justly on this occasion Princes and Protestant Magistrates cannot look upon nor by consequence treat Papists otherwise than as declared anâ— mortal Enemies of thâ—ir Persons and of their States They may disguise themselves as they please 〈◊〉 in truth every Papist is a man who takes the Pope to be the Soveraign Head of the Universal Church and believes that on that very account there is no Prince nor King nor Emperor who is not subject to his Censures even to Excommunication Now who knows not that it is a general Maxim of that Religion that they ought to treat all excommunicated persons as common Pests Upon this all Subjects are dispensed with from their Oaths of Allegiance to their Princes Kingdoms are laid under Interdicts and they are no way obliged to keep faith with Hereticks This is the original and damnable Cause of the many Conspiracies that have been made against the Sacred Lives of our Kings And if you will search our Histories you will find none of the forementioned Acts ever passed but upon some previous provocation given by the Papists Insolence or Rebellions of the Massacres in France and Ireland wherein they of Rome have so triumph'd and of the general consternation into which so lately our Nation was cast They would fain perswade us that these pernicious Maxims are peculiar to the Jesuits and some Monks But a little Treatise called The Disserence between the Church and Court of Rome proves undeniably that it is the judgment of all true Papists I could produce other invincible authority if this point were here to be proved There cannot then be too great caution against such persons whatever they pretend they do not design simply the exercise of that Belief which their Conscience dictates to them they grasp at the Power and aspire at Dominion they design whatever it cost them to have their Church reign once more here in England There is nothing they dare not attempt nothing they are not ready to act that they may compass it They are implacable Enemies who wait but for an opportunity to cut our Throats and we must needs be very senseless and stupid if after so many proofs as they have given us of their desperate malice we should repeal those Laws which tie up their hands You are much in the right I replyed but let us leave them for the present and return to our Protestants of France You have shewed me their Rights now let me understand their Grievances I am willing to do it said he but it is a little late and if you please being somewhat weary with my Journey we will defer it till to morrow I will expect you here in my Chamber at the same hour you came to day I told him with all my heart And as our Conversation ended there I think it not amiss to end my Letter also intending in another to let you know the present condition of those poor People I am your c LETTER II. I Did not fail to wait on my Friend at the appointed hour Sit down said he as soon as he saw me in the Chamber and let us lose no time in needless Ceremony I was just putting my Papers in order by which I would desire you to judge of the Protestants Complaints and the Reasons that have made them leave their Country But since you are here take them as they come to hand The first is a Verbal Process of the extraordinary Assembly of the Archbishops and Bishops held in the Province of the Arch-Bishop of Paris in the Months of March and May this 1681. It is a Piece which justifies a Truth that the World will hardly believe Namely That whereas the Protestants by Virtue of the Edict had the Exercise of their Religion almost every where they have it now scarce any where See the proof in the tenth Page of that Verbal Process where one of the Agents General of the Clergy of France alledgeth as so many publick Testimonies of the Piety of their King An almost Infinite Number of Churches demolish'd and the Exercise of the Religion pretended Reformed suppress'd I leave you to imagine what a consternation such a terrible Blow must have put those poor people into not to mention their Grief to see those Holy Places beaten down whose very Stones they took pleasure in instead of having the Heavenly Mannah shower down at the Doors of their Tabernacles at this present they are forc'd to go 30 or 40 miles through the worst of ways in the Winter to hear the Word of God and to have their Children baptized But let us go on to a
Curate appear'd all of them who could possibly got away and hid themselves but neither the place nor the great haste of the Curate would permit all of them to do so He went up directly to one of the Company whom he had born an ill will to for some time he bids him kneel and the other answering that his Conscience would not suffer him to do it he gave him a Cuff on the Ear. He that was struck grumbled and so did two or three who were about him The Curate went on his way threatning hard Next day there were Informations made on both sides the Curate in his not complaining of any person but him he had struck and two or three others who had grumbled at it The Friends of the Curate perceiving that he had done the wrong propos'd an Accommodation It was by misfortune consented to Prosecution ceased on each side and it was believed that there was an end of that business there was not a word spoken of it in above a year But the Intendant of Languedoc revived it last Winter when they thought of nothing less and of a matter particular to two or three made it a general Concern of the whole Congregation He cites them before the Presidial of Nismes to whom he joyn'd himself He condemns them to demolish their Church in a Months time Those poor people go and cast themselves at the feet of the Court but to no purpose The King's Council hears and confirms this strange Order of the Intendant and the Church is rac'd to the ground The Council which gave this Sentence was the first in which the Dauphine was present The Report of such an Order being spred among the Courtiers and all being amaz'd that heard it a certain person took the liberty to tell the Dauphin that for the first time he had been at the Council he had assisted to a great Injustice What say you to that said a Duke and Peer to the Dauphin who had made no reply to the former I say answered the Dauphin that he may be much in the right I told our Friend I had enough of this You must not be weary said he this is but the beginning of sorrows Let 's go on to the rest Here is said he a Little Book which comes just now to my hand in it are stitch'd up together three Acts concerning Schools The first is of the ninth of November 1670. It forbids all Protestant Schoolmasters to teach any thing in their Schools but to read and write and Arithmetick The second which is of the 4th of December 1671 ordains that the Protestants shall have but one only School in any place where they have the publick Exercise of their Religion and but one Master in that School The third is of the ninth of Iuly this present 1681. Look upon them said he and give me your opinion It seems said I that the first contains nothing which the Protestants may complain of at least if that which I read there be true namely that by the Edict of Nantes it is expresly ordain'd That in the Schools of those of the pretended Reformed Religion there shall not any thing be taught but to read write and cast account For according to this the Edict of 1670 is entirely conformable to that other Edict which is the Law You are in the right said I but they who fram'd the Act have deceived you and have made no scruple to ground it upon a matter of fact entirely false For the Article which speaks of Schools doth not mention the least word of that restriction which the Act assures us to be there expressed namely of teaching only to read write and cast account See the Article length it is the 37th particular Those of the said Religion may not keep publick Schools unless in Cities and places where the publick Exercise of their Religion is allowed and the Provisions which have heretofore been granted them for the erection or maintenance of Colleges shall be authenticated where occasion shall require and have their full and entire effect Where is that express Order It is expresly ordered to teach only to read write and cast account upon which the Act is grounded Is it possible said I that they should have no sense of the horrid shame which must arise upon conviction of forgery in a matter of fact of this nature They never stick at so small a matter as that said he in the design they have of rooting out the Protestants Those who are in France dare not open their mouths to discover such kind of Falsities and Strangers whom they carry â—air with will not so far concern themselves as ever to suspect there should be falshood in a matter of fact so easie to be made out and which they make to be so positively afâ—irm'd by so great a King So that they do not fear at all the shame you speak of After all they are but pious Frauds at which they of the Popes Communion never blush And what say you continued be to that other Act which reduces all Schools to one in each City and Town where the Protestants have the publick Exercise of their Religion and that which requires that there should be only one Master in that School I replyed that it was an excellent way to restore Ignorance the Mother of the Roman Faith and Devotion In truth says he the care of one Master cannot go far Besides there is a Protestant Church which alone hath two thousand Children of age to be taught Those poor people have done all they could to obtain of the Council that at least there might be two Schools in each place one for Boys and the other for Girls But it was to little purpose that they pleaded good manners for it which such a mixture of both Sexes visibly was offensive to They were deaf to all their Prayers and to all their Remonstrances But this is not all yet In the Execution of this rigorous Act they have taken away â—rom them that little which was left them For the Judges of the places will not suffer that any Schoolmaster teach unless they have first of all approved of him and receiv'd him in all their Forms As therefore their approbation is a matter full of invincible Diâ—â—iculties above all when they are to give it to a man of merit and who may do good it is come to pass by means of these two Acts that all the little Schools of the Protestants are shut up From the little Schools they have proceeded to Colleges You see by the Act of the last of Iuly which suppresses for ever that of Sedan They have taken away also the College of Châtillon sur Loin So that hereafter the Protestants in France are to lie under worse than Egyptian Darkness I leave you now to judge whether they are to blame to seek for light in some Goshen In truth said I this is very hard But if they who inspire into the King such
That is to say Sir said I interrupting our Friend they will pry into their hearts and perfectly know where their strength or their weakness lies If there were nothing but that in it replyed our Friend that Declaration would not allarm them so much as it doth For there is nothing done in their Assemblies which they are not willing all the world should know They defie their most mortal Enemies to prove the contrary Can there be a more undeniable proof of this than the practice of the Protestant Commissary who sends to the Court a Copy well attested of all the Results of the Deliberations which are made while the Synod or Conference is held What do they fear then replyed I from the presence of a Papist Commissary Because they know that the end of the Court cannot be to discover their Secrets since they have none therefore it is that they justly fear that this Papist Commissary hath been set over them to create them trouble in the most innocent Affairs to hinder those Deliberations which are most necessary for the due preservation of their Flocks to silence those Ministers among them whom he shall perceive to be of greatest Ability and of Credit to dishearten one by threatnings to corrupt another by promises to sow Dissention and Division among them and to employ all means possibly to ruine them These are the just fears which have hindred them till this present from assembling any Synods with this so destructive a condition hoping continually that it may be God would touch the heart of their King But perceiving no favourable change and not being able to subsist without holding their Synods I learn'd as I came out of France that these poor people are resolv'd to run these hazards and that their Synods are upon assembling in several places May God vouchsafe to preside in the midst of them by his Grace and remove far from them all the Evils â—hey have cause to fear It may be by their good Examples and their Religious Behaviour they may convert them who are set over them for a snare as it happened to their Fathers in the last Age also Then was contrived the placing of Papist Commissaries to spie out their liberty But these Commissaries were so taken with the Modesty the Piety the Charity the Decency of Order and the devout Prayers of the first Reformers that they gave Glory to God and embrac'd the Religion which they had persecuted The Jesuites nevertheless have thought all these Evils of which I have spoken too slack and gentle That they may not be at any more trouble they will do the business once for all They have contrived to starve all the Protestants and to effect this they have made all the means of gaining a livelyhood to be taken from them by the Acts of the Council of State of the sixth of November 1679 and the 28th of Iune 1681. 1. They have turn'd out of all Jurisdictions and Seignuries which are almost infinite in France all Protestants who had been admitted Officers in those Jurisdictions All Stewards Bailifss Sollicitors Officers of the Exchequer Registers Notaries Clerks Serjeants and Ushers that were Protestants of all sorts throughout the whole Kingdom are cashiered by virtue of these Acts they have reduc'd to Beggary thousands of Families which had no other subsistence but by these Employments 2. Look upon those two Pieces which they procured also for the same intent The Title of the one is The Order of the Council Royal of the Finances or Treasury of the 11 th of June 1680. The other is An Order of the Council of State of the 17 th of August of the same year By the means of these two Pieces the Jesuites have made the Protestants to be kept out of all the Affairs of the Finances Customs which they call Traites Forains of Aids Gabelles Taxes of all sorts of Commissions to which the Edict of Nantes ordered that they should be admitted indifferently with the Papists This second hath taken away the Bread of a vast number of Families more 3. They every day make the Protestant Captains and Officers who have serv'd so worthily by Land and Sea to be turn'd out of their Commands Those brave Men after they have spent their Estates to advance their Masters Honor and ventured their Lives a thousand times for his Glory see themselves shamefully as so many Cowards cashiered without any exception for them who having signaliz'd and distinguish'd themselves by particular Actions had deserv'd extraordinary Pensions Because they will not be less faithful to God than they have been to their King they are resolved Disgrace and Beggary shall be the Reward of their Service By this they take away from all the Protestant Nobility the means of maintaining themselves in that Rank in which God by their Birth hath placed them 4. As to the Merchants look what the Jesuits have thought upon to ruine them They have obtain'd an Order of Council of State of the 19th of November 1680 which grants to all Protestants who change their Religion the term and forbearance of three years for the payment of the principal of their Debts with prohibition to all their Creditors to bring any Action against them during that time upon pain of Non-suit Noli prosequi and all Charges Damages Costs and Interests I perceive very well said I to our Friend that this puts those who revolt in a way to secure and withdraw their Goods and to enjoy in peace the Fruits of their turning Bankrupts But I do not see how this tends to the ruine of those Merchants in general who persevere in the Protestant Religion That is said he smiling because you have not so subtle a wit nor are so quick-sighted as the Jesuits You know very well that Merchants subsist by their Credit if their credit be low they must fall there is no more trading for them their business is done Now do you not perceive that the credit of all Protestant Merchants is ruined by this Order which puts them in a way of turning Bankrupts as they please with all indemnity and of inriching themselves with those Goods they have been trusted with Who do you think after this will be so silly as to take their word Who can tell with any certainty whether they with whom they deal are persons who will continue in the Protestant Religion Is there any thing more common than such Changes in Religion now adays It 's enough said I I was mistaken I perceive now very well that the ruine of the Protestant Merchants is unavoidable Go on to the other Professions For I see they are resolved that no Protestant shall get Bread among them You are in the right said he you have seen it in many of them I 'll shew it you now in the rest 5. All Papists who drive any Trade or exercise any Art are forbid â—o take any Protestant Apprentice I have seen the Order but have it not now by me By
mean no more by this their exception than what all Mankind ought to think in this matter if they have the fear of God before their eyes viz. That as God is King of Kings and by consequence to whom our Princes and we owe an indispensible Obedience without any reserve we must never admit of a dispute between the one and the other to obey the Orders of the Prince when they are contrary to those of God Provided the Soveraignty of God be kept inviolable that is to the end we diminish not the Soveraign power of God but that God be always owned for the King of all Kings it is absolutely necessary that in such a contrariety between his orders and that of the Prince we prefer his without any manner of hesitation To do otherwise would be to place the Prince in God's stead and so make an Idol of him This is all the Protestants would say But then I asked our Friend what would they have the Subjects do upon such occasions especially if Princes proceed to violence and punishing thereby to make themselves be obeyed with preference to God Methinks says he they explain themselves clearly enough when they say We ought to bear the yoke of subjection with a chearful and good will though our Princes were Infidels For an Infidel Prince signifies here a Prince that in his Laws and in his practice is opposite to the appointments of God is an eneâ—y and so a persecutor of the true Religion whenever he has a fair opportunity and is so disposed To say then as do the Protestants in their Confession of Faith that although Princes were Infidels we ought to bear the yoke of subjection is it not to declare it to be the duty of subjects to suffer quietly whatever their Prince pleases to inflict upon them Indeed they do not mean that we should execâ—te the commands of Princes when they are contrary to the commands of God but on the other side they are not for casting off their Allegiance upon pretence that their Prince does not herein do his duty and is unjustly sâ—vere to them Whence it is plain from the Doctrine of the French Protestants that Christian Subjects upon these unhappy occasions ought to continue alike faithful to their God and to their Prince to their God in being careful to observe his Statutes in the midst of all the threats and outrages of men to their Prince by suffering with all humility and Christian patience whatever is imposed upon them either to torture their Conscience or force them to renounce their holy Religion Their worthy Calvin makes it evident that this was his opinion when from what the Scripture ordains to honor and â—ear the King he concludes that Christians are obliged to reverence even in the person of a Tyrant the mighty Character with which it hath pleased God to honor Crowned Heads For a Tyrant is an unjust and cruel Prince who thirsts after the Blood of his people and is always invading their Goods or Life or good Name Therefore when Calvin teaches that Christians ought to pay respect even in the person of these sort of Princes this mighty Character with which it hath pleased God to honor Kings it shews plainly that in his judgment whatever wrong or oppression a Prince commits upon his Subjects they remain always under an indispensible obligation of being subject to his Scepter so far from ever having a right to take up Arms to depose him or to set force against force It is the same which Mâ—ses Amyraldus that famous Protestant of Saumur proves at large in his Discourse of the power of Kings upon the occasion of those unhappy Troubles which had so fatal an end and so reproachful to the Nation He mâ—kes it appear by undeniable proofs that nothing can be more pernicious to mankind more against the Word of God nor more opposite to the practice of Jesus Christ that of his Apostles the behaviour of the Primitive Christians and the very genius of Christianity than to assert a right for subjects to take up Arms against their King upon any pretence or ground whatever And it will not be amiss that I thereupon read to you a passage or two out of the Letter of the learned Bochart Minister of Caën to Doctor Morley Bishop of Winchester If one had any right to arraign a King says he why not Saul who had twice revolted from God who had slain with the edge of the sword a whole Town of the Priests of the Lord who had taken away Davids wife by force and given her to another and sought his innocent life after so many eminent Services done the State by this young Prince and who could pretend more to it than David who was appointed by God anointed and consecrated to the Government of Israel Yet David who was a Prophet and a man after Gods own heart was of another mind as we are assured by Holy Writ Saul seeking him in the desarts went alone into a Caâ— where David lay hid who finding him in such a condition might as â—asily have killed him as Macrinus did Carcalla Nay one would think he ought not to have omitted so fair an occasion of ridding himself of his enemy especially when he was in a manner constrained to it by his own Souldiers who minded him of the Prophetick Promise God had made him to deliver his Enemy into his hand But he calmly disswades them by a sober reply to attempt nothing against Saul The Lord forbid says he that I should do this thing to my master the Lords anointed to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the Lord that is to say A man that God has set apart for so Sacred and Divine a Charge if he make ill use of it as did Saul and such like nevertheless as he is a King he ought to be exempt from all Civil Punishment and left to the judgment of the last day In another place this Learned Person lays down for a Maxim That against the oppression of a King there is no humane remedy He maintains likewise That when Kings abuse their Power and treat ill their Subjects all ought to be remitted to Gods Iudgment-seat and in the mean time to have recourse to our Tears and Prayers which are saith he the weapons of a true Christian. Thus the Author of the Books called Les derniers efforts de Pinnocence assligè the last attempts of persecuted innocence who is a French Protestant very well known to the World and my particular Friend takes it for a Religious Principle and that which bears the Charactâ—r of the ancient Christian Moral That the King is Master of the exteriour part of Religion that if he will suffer none but his own if we cannot conform we ought to die without resistance because the true Religion is not to employ the Arm of Flesh to establish it in a flourishing condition That Princes become very guilty when they oppose
by force the setling of the true Religion but they are to answer to none but God for it This is Sir says our Friend the true sense of the French Protestants in this important Affaiâ— I could make it out by a thousand more witnesses of credit if it were needful And I am well assured that after so many pregnant Testimonies there is no reasonable person can be offended at their Confession of Faith Therefore let us go to your other Objections I would with all my heart said I but that it is so late And besides I would be glad to make my Objections stronger by running over a new Book which the Enemies of the French Protestants make a great noise with in England and put it into the hands of all our people of Quality to prejudice them against these poor Protestants It is the History of Calvinism by Monsieur Maimbourg a Secularised Jesuit If you will take my word let us put it off till this day sevennight Be it so says our Friend and so we parted This shall be also the end of my Letter I am Sir Yours c. The fourth Letter The Protestant Loyalty vindicated against Maimbourg SIR I Failed not to be at our Friends Chamber at the time appointed Well says he so soon as we were sat down What do you say of our Secularized Jesuit and his Book I told him his Book smelt strong of a Libel And as for him he is a man so full of Equivocation that he will hardly ever forget his former profession He would fain have us believe that his design is to make a Satyr against the French Protestants whom he charges at random with many crimes and yet when he comes to cast up his reckoning one would swear he set Pen to paper for no other end but to write in their praise and to let after-ages know That the Huguenots or Calvinists as he is pleased to call them were far honester men and better Christians than their enemies the Papists For what is it he omits for the advantage of those he himself acknowledges to be true Protestants Lewis de Bourbon Prince of Condè had a strength of parts a constancy and greatness of mind worthy his high Quality of Prince of the Blood He had the courage of a Hero and as much Wit as Valour He had a largeness of Soul and of Understanding equal to the greatest men of former ages and ought to be reckoned amongst the chiefest Men of the Royal house of Bourbon had he not spoiled so many rare Qualities which made him one of the most beloved men in the World by unfortunately dying a Huguenot The Lady de Roye his Mother-in-law and Eleonor de Roye his Wife were both very wise Women couragious and of great vertue but both these likewise the most zealous and resolute Huguenots of their time Cardinal Odet the elder of the three Brothers of Coligny was one of the handsomest men in France and who got the greatest love and esteem of any man at Court for his Wit and Learning for his Prudence and Ability in the management of Affairs for his sweet and obliging Deportment and for his magnificence and wonderful generosity He had certainly been one of the greatest and most accomplished Prelates of the Kingdom had he not disgraced his Coat and Character by Heresie in becoming a Calvinist The Chancellor Michael de L'Hospital was a man of extraordinary merit It is not to be denyed but that he was one of the most considerable men of his time in all curious and substantial knowledge and in all the perfections of Moral Virtues But after all this we neither can nor ought to conceal what eclipsed the beauty of so many raâ—e Endowments which was that he openly countenanced Calvinism Iaâ—es du Bosc of Esmendreville second President in the Court of Aids of the Parliament of Roüen a Man of high Birth and great Worth disgraced all his good Qualities by an obstinate adherence to the Huguenot party Francis de la Noüe surnamed Bras de Fer was one of the bravest men of his time as he has evinced by a thousand noble Exploits He was not only equal to the Stoutest but to the wisest and most knowing Commanders of old Iasper de Coligny Admiral of France a Man of Method Wit and Courage quick and watchful bold a good Souldieâ— and great Captain was almost the only person that was a good Huguenot amongst all the people of Quality on his side Now we must know what Monsieur Maimbourgh means by a good Huguenot He explains himself very clearly in that passage where he commends the Queen of Nuvar Mother to Henry the Fourth These are the words She was a Princess that besides the perfections of her Body had so great a Soul so much Courage and Wit that she had deserved the glorious Title of the Heroess of her time had not Heresie which though at first she was hardly brought too yet at last she cleaved to with an unmoveable Resolution been so great a blot in her Scotcheon However we must allow her to have been a good Huguenot living up in all appearance to the greatest Piety and Regularity For as to the other great Persons of this Sect except the Admiral they only carryed the name of Calvinists not very well knowing what they were themselves and to speak truly the Court was then very corrupt where there was little difference between Catholick and Huguenot but that the one went not to Mass nor the other to a Sermon As to any thing else they agreed vâ—ry well the one with the other for the most part having no Religion at all either in Devotion or the fear of God which this Queen Iean d' Albret bewails in one of her Letters Whence it appears That according to Monsieur Maimbourg to be a good Huguenot is to lead a virtuous Life contrary to that of a debâ—uched Court to be very devout in the fear of God and to grieve for the corruption of the Age. This is the notion he gives us of the true French Protestants whom he calls The good Huguenots He is very far from giving so advantageous a Character to those zealous Catholicks whom he makes the Bulwark of his Church against the pretended Heresie of the Protestants He affects the contemptuous compellation of little King when he speaks of Francis the Second of whom he says in another place That he had conceived so great a prejudice against the Huguenots that he bound himself under a solemn Oath to drive them all out of the Kingdom The Reign of the little King Francis The little King Francis being dead c. At the death of the little King Francis c. And what doth he not say of the Queen Katharine de Medicis the other scourge of the Calvinian Heresie He has represented her as the most wicked of all Women As he says She had Principles that favour'd
the Tyrant so as to make the whole Kingdom despâ—rate and then they had put all the Princes of the Blood from having any thing to do with the Government the Children of the houâ—e whose chiefest Interest it was to preserve King and State 3. This Illustrious Prince of Condè whom Mezeray represents to us of so sweet a temper and great a courage sincere and loyal an enemy to all tricks and cheats and detesting to do an ill thing and who for this reason cannot be suspected in this matter had got the Informations to be drawn by men of known unblemished reputation concerning the behavior of the Guises by which Information he had made it appear that they were guilty not only of many Oppressions Violences but had moreover a design to extinguish the Royal Line that they might possess themselves of the Crown having already got into their hands the Justice the Money the Garrisons the Souldiers and the hearts of the common people 4. Indeed the Guises declared publickly that Provence and Anjou belonged to them and it was a thing commonly known that they set men to work who were versed in History to find out their Genealogy in the Line of Charles the Great on purpose to challenge their right of Succession against the Descendants of Hugh Capet of which Francis the Second then Reigning was one as is likewise Lewis the Fourteenth who now Reigns It was because the Protestants opposed this design and that the business of Amboise as well as other contests which they had afterwards with the Guise Faction down to the Reign of Henry the Fourth were to no other end but to preserve the Crown to the posterity of Hugh Capet it was I say for this cause that the Protestants were called Huguenots from the name of Hugh Mezeray observes very well that this was always esteemed by them to be the original of this Appellation But they says he took this name for an honor giving it another sense as if they had been the Preservers of the Line of Hugh Capet whom they said the Guises intended to destroy that they might restore the Crown to the Posterity of Charlemayn of whose Issue they boast themselves to be A great man of the Popish Religion has made it appear that this is the only probable Etimology of the Name So that far from the Protestants of France taking it as a reproach they ought to be proud of it as a lasting Work of their inviolable Loyalty to their Kings and their glorious oppositions they made against the attempts of the Guises who aimed at the Crown 5. Besides that we have the Word of such a Prince as the most Renowned Prince of Condè who asserted it more than once in great Assemblies the whole Conduct of the Duke of Guise makes it evident what detestable Design this ambitious Family had When he had got Francis the Second into his hands He took upon him says Mezeray to equal himself with the Princes of the Blood and to give orders in the Military Affairs and the Cardinal his Brother to direct the Treasury whereas the ancient Laws of the Realm as the same Historian has very well observed Ordain That the Blood Royal shall have the preference before 〈◊〉 in matters of Government They had in a short time made a way for themselves to the Soveraign Power as Mezeray adds speaking of the Duke and the Cardinal and possessed themselves of all Charges and Places of Trust the Garrisons and the Treasury so ordering it that all this passed either through their own hands or through those of their Creatures When the King of Navar came to Court his Purvoyer could find no room for him in the Castle and the Duke of Guise who had taken up the next Apartment to the King told him plainly That it should cost the Life of him and ten thousand of his Friends before he would quit it as much as to say he would have the Preference before the first Prince of the Blood and in truth he did trample upon him The event shewed plainly afterwards that the Prince of Condè and his Friends understood very well that the Guises aimed at the Crown The Duke procured full power to summon all the Princes great Lords Captains and others of all Conditions to give them his Orders what they were to do to raise men immediately as many as he should think fit and generally to provide and order all things either in Ammunition or repairs of Fortifications in as ample manners as the King himself could do So that he wanted nothing but the name of King And Mezeray is forced to acknowledge that since the Mayors of the Palace there had never been such an Encroachment made by any French Man upon the Crown He takes notice moreover of the bitter Resentments the French had of an Edict so injurious to their King When the Queen-Mother intreated him to go strait to the Court which was then at Monceaux and not pass through Paris he took no notice of her Request but made his Entry in the Capital City of France by the Gate of St. Dennis in the midst of the Peoples Acclamations the Provost of the Merchants going before him All Ceremonies says Mezeray which ought to be paid to the King alone The Dukes death and the incessant opposition of the Protestants hindred him from going farther But his Son who succeeded him in his Ambition and in all his Designs made it appear upon the first occasion how far the Treacherous Intentions of this Family went He shuts up his King in the Louvre on purpose to lay him aside You have the Story of it in Mezeray's Chronological Abridgement under the year 1588. He put himself in the head of that powerful Faction which as the Bishop of Rhodes assures us designed to take away the Succession of the Royal Family The same Bishops tells us That this new Duke of Guise had thoughts of making himself King and that he endeavored it several ways 6. The Prince of Condè who was so well assured that the Duke of Guise Father to this Man had so foul a design did questionless look upon him with another eye then Maimbourg do's who would make us believe that he was in a very high degree Master of all the excellent Qualities which can contribute to make a great Prince without any fault that might Ecclipse the splendor of so glorious Perfections and that he was a truly Christian Hero At this rate a profound Dissimulation and horrid bloody Treason are to be reckoned as nothing The Prince of Condè profers to justifie his Innocence against his Accusers by Combat assuring himself to make them confess that it was they themselves who had conspired the overthrow of the Government and Blood Royal. This Defiance was chiefly intended to the Duke of Guise But this Duke would not take it to himself but deeply dissembling
the matter he commends the Prince his generosity and said He was likewise ready to justifie his Innocence though privately he took care to have him apprehended In good earnest Monsieur Maimbourg's Morals must be strangely depraved since he is no longer a Jesuit not to find any fault in a Prince guilty of so prosligate a Dissimulation and notorious Treachery And does he think if Lewis the Fourteenth ever comes to open his eyes he will think himself obliged to those that would make such a Man pass for a truly Christian Hâ—ro who has done his utmost to disappoint him of the Crown by taking it from his Ancestors and endeavoring to cut off the Illustrious Race of the Bourbon's If an â—nglishman should Canonize Cromwell and place him among the Hero's Can you imagine he should be well received at Court or that the King should repose any great confidence in his Loyalty Monsieur Maimbourg must know that the Prince of Condè being what he was could not look upon this pretended Hero otherwise than as a Monster He was obliged by the duty of his Relation his Honor Loyalty and all that was becoming a Great Mind with all his might to set himself against those wicked Designs which he saw the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorrain had so plainly layed Would you have had him stood with his hands in his pockets when he discovered so great danger and suffer Strangers to ruine the State and take the Crown away from his Family with a high hand 7. These Usurpers had laid their business so well and were become so absolute Masters of the Person the Mind the Authority and the whole Power of the young King that it was impossible to carry any Address to the King unless by their means and to do any thing against them to bring them to Justice but as one may say in the Kings presence who was continually in their hands and by consequence to redress a mischief that so absolutely required a remedy without resolving upon some great and extraordinary attempt Either therefore the Prince of Condè must have done what he did or else have suffered the Throne to be usurped and the Royal Family sacrificed contrary to that duty he owed to France to his King to Himself and to his whole Race If Monsieur Maimbourg will have it that the Prince of Condè should have let the Guises go on his King ought to look upon him as his mortal Enemy If he believes he did his duty let him retract and be ashamed of those unadvised words That he would have taken the Kings Lodgings by force as Affairs then stood to seize in his presence upon his chief Ministers was to attack the King himself and to seek to make himself master of his Person and Government In the condition matters were then it was the only humane means left to rescue the young King from slavery to give a stop to the Outrages of a Forain domineering Power or rather Tyranny and to preserve the Crown to its right Heirs If God was not pleased in his All-wise providence to give so good success to the attempt as was hoped it failed not nevertheless of doing some good It gave a check to the wicked designs of the Guises and made them sensible that whil'st they had to do with men of that Courage they should not purchase the Kingdom at so cheap a rate as they thought for Besides I must not conceal it from you that the Protestants were not the only Men that Lifted themselves under the Prince of Condè for this important Service to their Country and to the Royal Family several Roman Catholicks shared with them in the glory of this Attempt The famous Mezeray has published it to all the World So that Monsieur Maimbourg is 〈◊〉 out when he would make it a quarrel upon Religion And much 〈◊〉 unjustly is he mistaken when he offers to say that at the business of Amboise The Huguenots entred into a horrible Conspiracy against their King I am satisfied says I to our Friend and I am confident every honest man that knows as much as you have told me of this matter will look upon this Jesuits Imputation with amazement and detestation Pray give me an account now of the business of Meaux The French Protestants repâ—yed he are no less innocent of Conspiracy against their King in the business of Meaux than they were in that of Amboise The testimony of the eminent Cardinal d'Ossat is an invincible Defence to them in this Affair and puts them beyond the reach of Calumny But I suppose you would be throughly informed of this matter I will do it in as few words as possibly I can And I will take the account partly from Monsieur Maimbourg himselff partly from two other Popish Historians who have much a greater esteem in the World than he it is the famous President de Thou and Mezeray We will take it from the beginning You have not forgot what I told you at our former Meeting when I gave you an account of the first War the Prince of Condè was forced to make for rescuing the King at the earnest intreaty of the Queen-mother then Regent I shall not need to take off a thousand odious Reflections which Monsieur Maimbourg lays upon the French Protestants in relation to this War They are either the faults of some private persons who having acted contrary to the principles of the Reformed Religion were disowned by all sincere Protestants or false Suggestions which the solemn Edict of Charles the Ninth in the Year 1563. has sufficiently confuted the King there owning as done for his Service all that the Prince of Condè and his Friends had done in this first taking up of Arms. This noted Edict Ordains That the Protestant Religion should be publickly exercised in several parts of the Kingdom which the Edict names it puts all the French Protestants under the protection of their King in what part of France soever they should make their abode it Wills That every one of them when they come home should be maintained and secured in their Goods Honors Estates Charges Offices c. The Prince and the Protestants observed the Articles of the Treaty of Peace most exactly Monsieur Maimbourg tells us himself That all the places which the Huguenots held submitted to the King Nay we English have occasion to complain of their too great exactness in this point For they were the hottest in taking Havre de Grace from us which we had possessed our selves of only to give them succor against their Persecutors All their great Souldiers came against us to the Siege of this Town The Prince of Condè lodged all the while in the Trenches All the French says Mezeray went thither in great fury especially the Huguenots But their Adversaries dealt not so with them they broke the Edict every where in a shamful and barbarous manner This Illustrious Queen
of Navar that made France happy with Henry the Great was the first that experienced how little sacred that protection was held which had been so solemnly promised to the Protestants Some great Men to curry-favor with Philip King of Spain by some signal service entred into a Conspiracy with him to seize the Queen Iane d' Albret and her Children in the Town of Pau in Bearn and carry them to the Inquisition in Spain An attempt says Mezeray which escaped punishment for the Qualities sake of those persons which were engaged in it Afterwards they put it into the Kings head to take a Progress through France and in this unhappy Progress it was that the ruine of the Protestants was agreed upon and sworn to contrary to so solemn an Edict The Queen was perpetually importuned by the Pope by all the Catholick Princes and especially by her two Sons-in-law Philip the Second King of Spain and Charles the Third Duke of Lorrain to perswade the King to take up a generous resolution to prohibit the Huguenots the exercise of their Calvinism c. That is to break his Royal word and to demonstrate by so pregnant a proof that the Church of Rome does not think her self obliged to keep Faith with Hereticks and consequently that they whom she holds Hereticks ought never to take her word no not when she expresses her self by the mouths of the greatest Princes of the World and by the most Authentick Records Monsieur Maimbourg without the least scruple or ceremony calls these Breaches of Publick Faith a generous resolution And as ill luck would have it his Predecessors knew but too well how to perswade Catharine de Medicis and Charles the Ninth that so it was The Queen and the King says he who were at least staggered by these Remonstrances being under such a disposition it was no wonder if the Huguenots were not very kindly used during this Progress though nothing was done directly against the Pacification They built another Citadel at Lyons in opposition to the Huguenot party who were yet the strongest in that place and they ordered the slighting of those new Fortifications in the places they held during the War They forbid the exercise of their pretended Religion ten Leagues round such places as the Court should pass though it was allowed by the Edict in certain Towns within that compass which they interpreted to be when the King was not there or within ten Leagues They made a new Edict at Rouseillon the Counte de Tournons house by which they were forbidden upon pain of death to hold any meeting but in the presence of Officers appointed by His Majesty to attend there And the Magisâ—rates had order to force the apostate Fryars and Priests who were turned Huguenots that they might marry to quit their wives upon pain of the Gallies for the men and perpetual Imprisonment for the women Whenever the Catholicks made any complaint against the Huguenots or the Huguenots against the Catholicks these had always more favour shewed them than the other who were generally found in the fault right or wrong The conference the Queen had as she passed by Avignon with the Vice-Legat which gave him wonderful satisfaction pleased them not so well so that they chose rather to be directed by that she had at Bayonne with the Duke d' Alva They did believe that a League was made between the two Crowns to drive the Calvinists out of the Dominions of both the Kings and the rather because they knew that the Queen was then contriving an interview between the Pope and the Catholick Princes According to Monsieur Maimbourg it is no ways to act directly against the Edict of Peace to hinder the Exercise of the Protestant Religion in several Towns where it was permitted by the Edict to impose conditions upon Protestant Congregations enough to disturb that peace and repose the Edict had promised them to deprive many of them of that freedom of Conscience the same Edict allowed them Nor to offer all those other Injuries to the Huguenots which Monsieur Maimbourg himself tells us they did though the Edict had given assurance of quite the contrary Mezeray deals more sincerely He ingenuously confesses That they daily retrenched that Liberty which had been allowed them by the Edict in so much that it was in a manner reduced to nothing and that they undermined the Liberty of Conscience they had promised them by several Expositions they put upon the Edict He gives many Instances but one amongst the rest which I am resolved to set down It is this The Count de Candale had contrived a League with his Brother Christopher Bishop of Aire Montluc Gabriel de Chaumont Laytun Descars Mervilles his younger Brother and Gaston Marquess of Trans of the same house of Foix who was the Author of this Advice The Contents of which being published he afterwards made open War against the Huguenots By this means he became guilty of High Treason neither could they excuse the action from being an attempt against the Kings Authority and the Faith of the Edicts But his zeal was not displeasing to the Catholicks besides that regard was to be had to his Quality and to so many Great Men that were engaged in this Affair Which is the reason why the King to stop the Huguenots mouths owns by a Declaration all that this Count and his Complices had done as having had his Order for it This is that which Monsieur Maimbourg calls To do nothing directly against the Edict of Peace It is fit you should know what the same Mezeray relates concerning the Conferences of the Queen at Bayonne with the Duke d' Alva one of the greatest Enemies the True Religion ever had She had discourse every night with the Duke d'Alva And the event has shewed since That all these Conferences drove at a secret Alliance between the two Kings utterly to root out the Protestants The Huguenots believed the Duke d'Alva had advised the Queen to invite them to some great Assembly and so to rid herself of them without mercy that he had let fall these words That a Ioal of Salmon was better worth then all the Frogs of a Marsh that from the time of the Assembly of Moulins the Queen had executed this Design had things happened as she expected St. Bartholomews day does not a little confirm this mistrust of the Huguenots But you shall hear what it was made the Prince of Condè take those Resolutions Monsieur Maimbourg so exclaims against The intention of destroying the Huguenots was evident because they daily retrenched them of that liberty which was given them by the Edicts so that they had in a manner brought it to nothing The people fell upon them in those places where they were the weaker party where they were able to maintain their Ground the Governor made use of the Kings Authority to oppress them they dismantled those Towns that had shewed them
and against all the Princes of the Blood thereby to possess himself of the Soveraign Power and of the Regality when they should at one blow have destroyed all the Royal Line The premier President Christopher du Thou though in his heart he abhorred so foul an action as that of St. Bartholomew's day and openly disclaimed against it all his life does yet undertake out of a flattery little becoming so great a Magistrate to commend it as the effect of a singular prudence and in his Speech to extol the King who to preserve the Government by suppressing those that would have overthrown it understood so well how to practice that excellent Rule of Lewis the Eleventh who was used to say He that knows not how to dissemble knows nothing of the art of Governing And the better to prove this Plot which gained but little faith then and that no body believes now they proceeded against old Briquemaud Marshal du Camp to the Princes Army against Caragnes Chancellor to the party and against the dead Admiral They were all three hanged the last in Effigy by something made up like him with a tooth-pick in his mouth as he was almost always used to have and the two others in person before the King and the Queen who would needs see the Execution out of the Town-house window They thought by this likewise to perswade the Princes whom they had a mind to draw over from that Party by making them believe That they had engaged with those who were their greatest enemies and the most profligate of all men What do you think says our Friend after he had read all this long story out of Monsieur Maimbourg what do you think of the enemies of the French Protestants and their dealings I assured him I was extreamly surprised and that out of respect to the quality of those that acted I durst not tell him all I thought But I heartily thank Monsieur Maimbourg for letting the World know that this pretended hellish Conspiracy charged upon the Huguenots to take away their good Name after they had taken away their Lives was but a shameful Story raised by a devilish malice to excuse a hellish action and for so freely censuring the meaness of the Premier President Christopher du Thou who was so base to commend that in publick which he abhorred in private and to countenance such a Story against the Dictates of his own Conscience All the World may by this easily discern the Spirit of Popery It is a Spirit of Murder and Lying It causes the shedding Rivers of Blood and it invents Lies to colour its Murders and to commit fresh ones by which Briguemaud and Cavagnes were hanged This is to say much in a few words says our Friend And if Monsieur Maimbourg had been constantly so ingenuous as he is upon this occasion his Book would be no Libel but a true and righteous defence of the Protestants Innocence All those dreadful things which he there alledges against them are the stamp of the same Spirit which vouches a Conspiracy to justifie the Massacre Neither was it harder for him to be assured of that than to satisfie himself that this last report was a meer Story This Story was as he says himself the first means his Church thought fit to use for the conversion of the young King of Navarre who was afterwards Henry the Great and the young Prince of Condè to the Roman Religion They likewise believed says he that this meaning the false rumour of a hellish Conspiracy against all the Royal Line would help towards the Conversion of the Princes by making them believe they were engaged with those that were their greatest enemies and the worst of Men. An excellent way of converting truly And becoming the Christian Religion I will now read to you what account Monsieur Maimbourg gives of Charles the Ninth's proceedings in the accomplishment of this excellent Work after as Christian a manner as it had been begun Whilst they were Massacring the Huguenots in the Louvre and all over Paris the King sent for those Princes into his Closet where after he had in short given them the reason of this bloody Proceeding of which they themselves had seen some part and which was yet in execution he tells them with a stern countenance imperious and threatning according to his custom that being resolved no longer to suffer in his Kingdom so wicked a Religion which teaches its Followers to revolt and even to conspire against the Person of their Sovereign he expected they should presently renounce this cursed Sect and that they should embrace the Faith which was always professed by the most Christian Kings from whom they had the honor to be descended and that if they refused to comply with him in this he would use them just as they had seen them used whose Rebellion and Impiety they had hitherto been directed by To this the King of Navarre answered with all respect that he was no ways obstinate but was ready to submit to instruction and sincerely to embrace the Catholick Religion when he should be convinced of the truth of it which as yet he was ignorant of The Prince of Condè answered That his Majesty whose Subject he was might dispose of his Life and Fortune as he pleased but not of his Religion for which he was accountable to God alone of whom he held it This answer given to a fierce and hasty Master put him into so great a rage that falling into hard words calling him ever and anon Seditious Mad-man Rebel and Son of a Rebel he swore by God that if he did not comply in that little time which he should give him he would have his life Nay more not being able to endure to see that in spight of all their endeavors to convert him this Prince should still continue unmoveable he drew his Sword and vowed he would destroy all the rest of the Huguenots that persisted in their Heresie beginning presently with the Prince of Condè And it was with much ado that the young Queen prevailed with him to lay by his Sword casting herself at his feet to entreat him with hands lifted up and tears in her eyes but to forbear a little while He yielded but at the same time making the Prince be brought before him he cast two or three thundring looks at him without saying any more than these three words to him in a threatning and frightful tone Mass Death or the Bastile and so turning away he dismissed him This wrought so strongly upon the Mind of the poor Prince and so terrified him that he solemnly abjured Calvinism in the presence of his Uncle the Cardinal of Bourbon as had done before him the King of Navarre the Lady Catharine his Sister and the Princess of Condè You see what were the motives that converted the Princes And this detestable Massacre was the introduction of the fourth War upon the Protestants as Mezeray
says As to the Fact our Jesuite Jesuite as he is notwithstanding condemns it Neither has he the Heart to charge the Huguenots with these new troubles The King raised several Armies to extirpate those that had escaped the Massacre They layed the two so much talked of Sieges of Rochel and Sanvane which were raised at the arrival of the Polish Embassadors come to seek for the Duke of Anjou elected King of that Kingdom whither he went Charles the Ninth falls very ill The Prince of Condé flies into Germany and returns again to the Protestant Communion The King dies after a thousand remorses of Conscience upon the account of St. Bartholomew's Massacre For we are told That oftentimes he fancied that he saw a Sea of Blood flowing before his Eyes and that they should hear him from time to time cry out Ah! my poor Subjects what have ye done to me They forced me to it Then though too late he acknowledg'd that it was not the Protestants as the Jesuite Maimbourg so maliciously reports but the Montmorency's and the Guises who had been the real Authors of all the Troubles He had owned says Mezeray That the Houses of Montmorency and Guise were the true causes of the Civil Wars The King of Poland who was afterwards called Henry the Third returns into France and succeeds Charles the Ninth The Protestants apply to him for Peace and at the same time That Atheism and Blasphemy may be exemplarily punished and that the Ordinances against enormous and lewd Whoring which drew down the Wrath of God upon France might be execuâ—â—â— â—ut says Mezeray this untoward reproof made the Huguenots mere haâ—ed at Court than did all their Insurrections and Heresies They had no fruit 〈◊〉 their demands they would not be hearkned to The War was kept up every where The Duke of Alanzon presumptive Heir to the Crown retired from Court and headed the Protestants The King of Navarre likewise withdrew four Months after Their conjunction with the Prince of Condè who had raised a considerable Army obliges the Court at last to agree to Peace which they had so long desired The Edict was prepared and verified the 15th of May 1576. It allowed the Protestants the free exercise of their Religion which from that time forwards was to be called The Pretendded Reformed Religion It allowed them Church-yards and made them capable of all Offices both in the Colledges Hospitals c. forbid farther enquiry after Priests and Fryars that were married declared their Children Legitimate and capable of Succâ—ssion c. expressed a deep resentment of the Slaughters upon St. Bartholomew's day exempted the Children of those that had been killed from the Duty of the Militia if they were Gentlemen and from Taxes if Yeomen repealed all the Acts which had condemned the Admiral Briquemaud Cavagnes Montgommery Montbrun and others of the Religion owned the Prince and D' Amville for his good Subjects Casimir for his Allie and Neighbor and owned all they had done as done for his Service gave to those of the Religion for their better security of Justice the Chambres my parties in each Parliament or Court of Justice c. But all this was only for a new decoy to catch the Huguenots Mezeray observes that so soon as they had got the Duke of Alanzon from them they began afresh to contrive their ruine And then it was that terrible League broke out which under pretence of extirpating the Protestants set the whole Kingdom in a flame All the Historians agree that it was the pernicious cause of all the Wars that were made against the Huguenots during the Reign of Henry the Third and that had like to have laid France waste Wherefore to justifie the innocence of the Protestants during all these troubles we need only observe the measures and designs of the League which was the cause of them I will keep to what Monsieur Maimbourg says He is thus far ingenuous This League says he had like to have overthrown both Church and State The most of those that went into it or rather run headlong and blindfold with so much heat and passion and especially the common people the Clergy and the Fryars were but stales to those that composed the Cabal where Ambition Malice and Self-Interest had more share than Religion which in all probability was brought in for no other end but to châ—at the World These were the King of Spain Queen Catharine and the Duke of Guise who cast up their Accounts together though upon very different reasons yet such as agreed all against the State the Duke to make himself head of a Party which after the expiration of the Valois might advance him to yet a higher pitch the Queen that she might have a pretence to bring in her Grandchild Henry Son to Charles Duke of Lorrain instead of the lawful Successor to the Crown the King of Navarre her Son-in-Law whom she cared not for and the Spaniard to take advantage of the division the League would cause among the French to make them ruine one another and afterwards become their Master This League divided the Catholicks who took Arms one against anther the one to sâ—cure Religion as they said the other to defend the Royal Authority and the Fundamental Law of the Land which they designed to overthrow It obliged the King for prevention of the dangerous Conspiraciâ—s of the Leaguers to come to a difficult extreme and to join his Forces with those of the Huguenot Party to reduce the Catholick Rebels to their Duty It stirred up terrible Commotions all over the Kingdom This cursed League was made in opposition to the Royal Authority under the fair pretence of Religion It had a fowl beginning though contrary to the common apprehension of those who know not how to fift into the bottom of it It s procedure was abominable being neither more nor less but almost a continued attempt against the Government of a King who was at least as good a Catholick as they that headed the League In conclusion that the rise and design of the League extended to the Subversion of the Royal Family I shall not need to give an exact account here of all the steps the Contrivers of this violent Conspiracy took since the holding of the Estates at Blois in the year 1576. Where as the Bishop of Rhodes says The King Henry the Third was forced to declare himself Head of the League whereby from a Soveraign he became head of a Faction and Enemy to a part of his Subjects down to the year 1589. when they caused this unfortunate Prince to be stabbed by Iaques Clement the Fryar It is enough to understand that by the confession of Monsieur Maimbourg himsâ—lf the Duke of Guise and his Complices did not put Henry the Third upon persecuting the Protestants with that heat and violence for any other end but by the
innocency under Lewis the Thirteenth SIR I Was no sooner come to our Friends Chamber and that we were sate down but we fell to our business I am very well satisfied says I to him in all that you have told me hitherto in behalf of the French Protestants and I am convinced That till the Reign of their King Lewis XIII they cannot justly charge them with any Plot or Rebellion against their Kings If at any time they have taken up Arms it was always to secure the Crown to their lawful Prinâ—es against the ambitious designs of the House of Guise and under the Authority of the first Princes of the Blood who had a natural Right to oppose the Usurpation these Strangers would have made who making an ill use of the Simplicity Minority and Weakness of the Kings Francis the Second Charles the Ninth and Henry the Third had taken the Scepter out of their hands or at least would have deprived their Rightful Successors of it had not the Protestants given Succour with their utmost Force the great Prince of Condè first and afterwards the King of Navarre Therefore to say the truth they armed only in their Kings Quarrel and especially to secure to France the Illustrious House of Bourbon which sits on that Throne at present After all it is clear That hitherto they cannot question their Loyalty or their Innocence but through the heart of Henry the Great by blasting his Memory and disgracing his Crown and all his Posterity But I must confess to you That I am to seek how well to defend them against the Reproaches for their several Insurrections under the Reign of Lewis the Thirteenth For in the Year 1615 they joined with the Prince of Conde against their King which had like to have set the whole Nation in a Flame In the Year 1620 they sided with the Queen-Mother who raised Forces against the King her Son In the Years 1621 and 1622 they gave the occasion by the Meeting they held at Rochel contrary to the King 's express Command of a most bloody War in which many of their Garisons were Besieged Taken and Sacked In the Year 1525 they carried away their King's Ships from Blavet they seized upon the Island of Oleron they had divers Battels Lastly in the Years 1627 and 1628 they gave fresh disturbances under the Command of the Duke of Rohan and Rochel Revolted from its Allegiance to that degree of obstinacy that nothing but the utmost extremity of Famine could make them open their Gates These several Insurrections which are continually objected against them gives occasion to their Enemies to cry them down at Court amongst the Nobility and indeed all over the Nation as a restless sort of people active and dangerous whose Religion inspires them with a Spirit of Sedition and Back-sliding pernicious to Monarchs and Monarchies Therefore pray Instruct me what I may answer in their Justification and Defence I know not says our Friend whether you are in jest or earnest but for my part I find nothing more easie than to satisfie any reasonable Persoâ— in this point 1. â—tis is a hundred and sixty Years since there have been Protestants in France For by the Confession of Monsieur Maimbourg himself the Reformation begun to be settled ever since the Year 1522. And all the World agrees That from this Year to the Death of Henry the Second who was killed with a Lance by Montgomery in the Year 1559 which was about 37 Years after the Protestants continued all along exactly Loyal anâ— in the deepest Veneration for their Kings Monsieur Maimbourg indeed disputes the thirty Years under the Reigns of Francis the Second Charles the Ninth and Henry the Third but I have confuted all his Calumnies in this particular and you have allowed the strength of my Arguments for clearing the Protestants during these three Reigns so that here are 67 Years of Allegiance and Loyalty Neither have they any thing to say against them upon this account for the one and twenty Years that Henry the Fourth Reigned or for the four first Years of Lewis the Thirteenth no more than for the 54 Years that passed between the Year 1629 at what time all the Wars about Religion ceased and this present time 1682 when they are persecuted with the utmost Rigour So that for a hundred and sixty Years that the Protestants have been in France there are but fourteen in which they have any thing to object against them that is from their uniting with the Prince of Condè in the Year 1615 to the general Peace concluded in the Month of Iuly 1629. And of these fourteen Years we must deduct seven which are the Years 1616 1617 1618 1619 1623 1624 and 1626. in which there were no Civil Wars Thus when all is cast up and due Deduction made allow the worst that can be there are but seven Years which they can reproach them with And suppose it true that the Protestants during these seven Years should have forgot themselves so far as to have come short of their duty towards their Sovereign is it just to infer from thence That the Principles they go by proceed from a Spirit of Sedition and Rebellion Is there any proportion between seven Years misbehaviour and uneasiness and above a hundred and fiâ—ty Years Duty and Loyalty such Duty and Loyalty as have undergone the greatest proofs And since they have testified twenty times more Zeal and Constancy for the service of their Kings than they have shewed Disobedience and Opposition to their Orders does not Reason and Justice plainly oblige us to conclude from thence That they are animated by a spirit of Loyalty and Obedience It must be confessed That their Loyalty which stood firm for more than fourscore Years was shaken to some degree for the space of seven Years But he that swounds away is not dead The Sun goes not out when it is â—clipsed And the Loyalty of the Protestants is so well recovered from its fainting Fit that it is more than half an Age that we find it resisting all manner of Provocations and ill usage without yielding in the least This long and constant perseverance of the Protestants in their duty is that we ought to have regard to if we would be just in taking the true Character of their Spirit and not the infirmity of a hasty and short-lived transport This ought to be enough to satisfie all reasonable Men and yet it is not all that can be said in behalf of these poor persecuted people 2. It is a great matter Sir that they can with no Justice impute those Insurrections you spake of to the whole Body of the French Protestants For First There was an infinite number of them not in the least concerned Secondly they that were the Ring-Leaders were only Protestants in Name but really men only of this World Ambitious or Covetous who only made use of Religion for a Mask to hide their wicked purposes and
whose Name we have exhorted and advised them to condescend to the Conditions offered and given in upon the abovenamed Peace in kindness and for the good of this Kingdom and the satisfaction and aid of Christendom in general For these Reasons we declare and certifie that by the words they had before agreed upon with us for the finishing of the said Treaty and which were produced in the presence and by the command of his most Christian Majesty by the Lord Chancellor in order to the acceptance of the Peace importing That by long Services and a continued Obedience they had reason to expect the Kings favour which they never could procure by any Treaty even of matters esteemed of greatest importance for which in due time they might receive humble addresses with all humility and respect there was a clearer explication on his Majesties part and his Ministers reported to us by the Commissioners for the Peace Persons of great Quality appointed and put in with directions and power from his Majesty and his Ministers the sense and meaning of which is That they mean the Fort Loâ—is before Rochel and thereby to give assurance of the demolishing of it in convenient time and in the mean while for the â—aking off those other matters which rest by the aforesaid Treaty of Peace to the prejudice of the Liberty of the Town of Rochel without which assurance of demolishing and taking off the Garisons the aforesaid Deputies have protested to us that they had never consented to the continuation of the said Fort being directed and resolved to hold the Right of its demolition as they do by the present Declaration in confidence that the King of Great Britain will endeavour by his Mediations together with their most humble intreaties for shortning the time of the said demolition for which we have given them all the words and promises of a King they could wish for after we had laid before them that they ought and might rest satisfied therein In confirmation of which and what else we have above said we have Signed and Sealed this Present with our Names and Coats of Arms and made the same he Countersigned by one of Our Secretaries Given at Paris the Eleventh of February 1626. Signed thus HOLLAND D. CARLETON With the Seals under each of their Names And below By Command of my Lords AVGIER Our King pressed the performance of so Solemn a Promise for demolishing the Fort Louis to little purpose when they neither took notice of his sollicitations nor the obligation to which his Embassadors had tyed him up to see this Treaty of Peace executed You may perceive it by the Duke of Buckingham's Manifesto who at last landed upon the Isle of Rè with an Army to discharge the Royal Word of our Soveraign This is the Manifestò What share the Kings of Great Britain have always taken in the Concerns of the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom and with how much zeal and care they have laboured for their good is notorious to all Men the experiences of which have been as frequent as the occasions The present King my most honoured Lord and Master comes nothing short of his Predecessors in this Point had not the good and laudable purposes for their good been perverted to their ruine by those that were most concerned in their true accomplishment What advantages has he let slip What course has he not taken by his Alliance with France to enable himself to procure more eâ—fectually and powerfully the restitution of the Churches to their ancient Liberty and Splendor And what could be expected less from so strict an Alliance and so many repeated promises from the Mouth of a great Prince but Effects truly Noble and suitable to his high Quality But so far has his Majesty been after so many Promises and such strict ties of Amity from being able to obtain freedom and security for the Churches and restore France to Peace by reconciling those that breath nothing but entire obedience to their King under the liberty of the Edicts that on the contrary they have made use of the Interest he had in those of the Religion to deceive them thereby not only to disingage him from them but likewise to render him if not hated at least suspected in diverting the means he had appointed for their good to a quite contrary end Witness the English Ships intended not for the extirpation of those of the Religion but on the contrary an absolute Promise made not to employ them against that Party whiâ—h were nevertheless brought before Rochel and employed in the last Sea-fight against them What then could be hoped for from so powerful a Prince as the King my Master so grosly disappointed but a resentment equal in proportion to the injuries received But he forbore beyond all Patience Whilst he had hopes by other means to advantage the Churches he sought not to do it by force of Arms till he had been made the Instrument and Mediator of the last Peace upon very hard terms and such as never had been accepted of without His Majesties Intercession who interposed his Credit and Mediation towards the Churches to accept of it even with threats that he might save the honor of the Most Christian King upon assurance on his side not only of making good but likewise of bettering the terms for which he became Surety on behalf of the Churches But what was the event of all this but an abuse of his Goodness And which His Majesty looked upon as the chief remedy of all their Miseries has it not almost given the last blow to the ruine of the Churches It missed very narrowly by keeping up the Fort before Roâ—â—el the slighting of which was promised by the outrages of the Soldiers and Garisons and of the said Fort and Islands as well upon the Inhabitants of the said Town as upon Strangers who instead of being wholly withdrawn were daily increased and other Forts built and by the stay of the Commissioners in the said Town beyond the time agreed to make Cabals there and by means of the divisions they stirred up among the Inhabitants to set open the Gates to the neighbouring Troops and by other contraventions and breaches of the Peace it missed I say very narrowly that the said Town and with it all the Churches had given up the Ghost And for all this His Majesty yet contained himself and used no other Weapons against so many Affronts and Breaches of Faith but complaints and Intercessions till he had certain advice confirmed by Letters that were intercepted of the great preparations the Most Christian King had made to set down before Rochel And now what could His Majesty have done less than vindicate his Honor by immediately arming Himself against those that had made him Party to their false dealing and given proof of His Integrity and the zeal he has always had for reestabâ—ishing the Churches a Work which will be ever valued by him above all other things
And this was the only end of arming himâ—elf and not any private Interest if any one shall yet question let him but consider the circumstance of the time and the poâ—ture of his Affairs For who can believe that the King my Maâ—ter has any design upon â—rance or making any Conquests there at so improper a time when he has already upon him an Enemy one of the most Powerful Princes in the World And that if he had any such thoughts of so many Men as he has raised which are the same charge to him as if he had them here and which he is always ready to send over if the Churches want them he should only send a handful in comparison of so many as would be needful for so great an undertaking besides the great Succors he sends at the same time into Germany Who would not conclude rather as in truth it is that the Forces here are but Auxiliaries and that they are for no other purpose but to assist the Churches which for so many reasons and upon such important accounts he finds himself obliged before God and Man to aid and protect that if they will say the King my Master was provoked to arm himself upon other considerations as the imbargo and seizure of all the Shipping Goods and Effects of his Subjects at Bourdeaux and other places of this Kingdom to the open breach and overthrow of the Treaties between the two Crowns which are direct in this point and to the irreparable prejudice even the entire ruine of Trade in the disappointment of which the poor people of this Kingdom not being able to put off their Commodities groan not only under the Burden of so many Taxes and Impositions but even of the Necessaries of Life it self that the apprehension the King my Master has of the growth of the Most Christian Kings Power by Sea has put him upon taking Arms to hinder the progress and in conclusion that he was forced to put himself in a Warlike posture through despair of an accommodation The answer to all this must be that whoever will take notice of the Stops Seizures and Prizes that were on the one side and the other shall find that the King my Master and his Subjects have hitherto got most by this Breach and that it has been an advantage to them in some measure In the second place he is so far from being jealous of the growth of this pretended power at Seâ— and seeking to obstruct it that there needs no more whenever the King my Master shall see his time but to give out Letters of Mart to his Subjects to disappoint all these vain and weak attempts without making use of his Royal Power And lastly that we were necessitated to this arming of our selves out of a despair of an accommodation the contrary is most apparent to any one that will consider the applications that have been made at several times as well by their own as by the Ministers of stranger Princes to the King my Master at their instance to treat about an accommodation All which justifies the King my Master who has not been forced to arm upon any private account but only in aid of the Churches for whose safety and freedom he had undertaken And there are that would possess the world that his Majesty has a private design and that he makes use of a pretence of the Religion to form a Party by the help and addition of which with his own forces he thinks to carry on his design to his own purpose But our Religion teaches us otherwise and the goodness of the King my Master in which he comes short of no man living will never suffer him to do it His purpose is to settle the Churches his interest is their good his end to give them satisfaction This being done the beating of Drums and displaying of Colours shall cease and all this noise of War shall be buried in Oblivion as what was never done but upon their account nor set forward but for their sakes Given on Board the Admiral this Wednesday the one and twentieth of Iuly 1927. Signed Buckingham This Declaration shews that our Kings are resolved to love and cheâ—ish the Protestants of France and that our Great Monarch in holding his Arms open to them at this day does but follow the steps of his Princely Father He demonstrates thereby to all his people that he inherites his goodness as well as his Crown and that as this holy Martyr he knows assuredly that these poor persecuted would breath nothing but loyalty in the enjoyment of the Edicts The same Declaration shews undeniably the innocence and justice of our arming upon the occasions whereof we are treating as not having been made but upon the extreamest necessity when there was no other way left to hold France to that promise of which our King was the Garante and to prevent the loâ—s of Rochel which was undone only for committing its concerns to his Majesty Honour sincerity publick faith the Law of Nations the urging Duty of conscience all obliged us to run in to the succour of a Town that had cast it self upon our Monarch and that had full right to shake off the yoke of France since it had been no otherwise given up to the French but upon a condition that was broken which was that they should build no Fort upon its Territory whereby to give cause of suspicion Nevertheless as the Declaration obâ—erves they had not only built one against the Article of the Treaty which made the Treaty void and put Rochel into its full liberty which it had acquired at other times but they had built several which blocked up the Town on every side and destroyed its trade Our arming therefore upon this occasion was just It was justified by the publick faith and the Law of necessity and had no other end but to protect the weak who were oppressed contrary to the â—ngagement of the Treaty which was the supporting of a good cause For Rochel which they wasted after so many manners was then in right to defend it self being no longer subject to the Prince who attaqued it Conditio non impleta liberat fidem say the Civilians A condition not fullfilled takes off all Engagement Rochel had said to the King of France you shall be my King if you build no Fort upon my Territory but not otherwise and the King of France consented or rather swore to a solemne Treaty that he would not be Master of Rochel but upon this condition So that from the moment in which he had broken the condition agreed upon and accepted of he put Rochel into its orignal right The Rochellers are no longer his subjects and therefore if they shut the gates of their Town against him if they defend themselves as well as they can against his invasion if they call in their friends for succour they do it in their own right and it is to do them open wrong it is traducing them
doubt but they who perswade this great Prince to violate a word so solemnly given are his mortal Enemies Enemies to his glory as much or more then the Protestants Were I not obliged to go abroad I would instantly discharge my self of the last part of my promise to you which is to shew you that the Papists are the really guilty persons of the sins of Rebellion and conspiracie which the Jesuits Maimbourg and such as he falsly impute to the French Protestant But this shall be for our next meeting Upon which having first appointed an other time we parted I am c. The Sixth Letter Papists themselves Antymonarchists SIR I was sure to come at the hour appointed Our friend had two little Books in his hands just as I came into the room He compared them one with an other and I observed him to smile whilst he was doing of it Pray said I give me leave to awake you out of your pleasant Dream and ask you what you are so intent upon that for what I can perceive pleases you very well If you please to sit down replied he I will tell you in short So I took my seat and he went on One of the two Books that you saw me have is The History of Calvinisme and the other The Policy of the Clergy of France Whilst I was expecting you I read what Monsiuer Mainbourg says in the First to take off the prejudice Protestant Kings and Princes might have taken against the Principles and usual practice of Papists And I must confess to you I could not forbear smiling when I saw the ridiculous evasions this man made use of especially after I had compared them with the objections of the Author of The Policy of the Clergy of France which he pretends to confute I must needs read all this to you You shall find proofs enough there to justifie you in what I promised That they are the Papists who are really to be feared in the point of Rebellion and conspiracies into which the principles of their Religion have so often lead them and not the Protestants of France whose Religion is so directly opposite to these sort of practices and who by the help of God have never been guilty of them properly so speaking as I have before demonstrated to you It is certain says Monsieur Maimbourg that in the glorious condition the King is at this day having vanquished all those that conspired against this Soverain Power to which they all bow he might with ease and justly deal with the Huguenots as the Protestant Princes do with the Catholicks Nay his glory seems to oblige him to it For is it not a wonderful thing to see some Princes who come infinitely short of him in every thing denying the Catholicks the free Exercise of their Religion within their Territories and yet to have it expected thâ—â— he should endure those that profess theirs freely to Exercise in his Kingdome Might he not very reasonably Say to the Huguenots Either let these Princes allow the free Exercise of my Religion under them or else do not look that I â—hould allow you the freedom of â—xercising yours and theirs in France If you would have us observe the Edicts that were made in your favour see then that they make the like in favour of the Catholiks And it signifies nothing what one of their last witnesses has 〈◊〉 of late to give the best answer he could to this powerful argument which overthrows them He thought to take it off by saying that there is a great difference betwixt the one and the other in this respect in as much as the Catholicks believing that the Pope may depose a Prince who is esteemed at Rome a Heretike or Excommunicated Person there is reason to be at defiance with them and to apprehend their conspiring against such a Prince which cannot be said of the Protestants who are far from any such belief so that there is no ground to suspect them or imagin they should attempt any ill against the Catholick Princes their Soveraigns To shew plainly how little force there is in such an Answer which is indeed but a poor shifting we need only mark these two things which have been laied down in this History of Calvinisme and which cannot be denied The first is that more dismal conspiracies are hardly to be met with then those the Hugunots have made against our Kings such as the accursed attempts of Amboise and of Meaux not to take notice of their terrible Rebellions which have cost France so much blood and of the unhappy Plots they have entred into with their â—nemies to withdraw their subjection from the Monarchy by openly setting up a Commonwealth as they have done more then once The second is that it is by no means our belief that a Pope can depose Princes though they be Hereticks nor absolve their subjects from the Oath of Allegiance and give up their right to him that can first take it Far from this our most Christian Kings who are known to have been the most zealous Defenders of the Catholike faith and the greatst Protectors of the holy See to which they have always unmoveably held notwithstanding all the differences they had with some Popes about temporal Affairs and the right of their Crown which they must never give up our Kings I say have ever protested against this pretension grounded upon a principle which our Doctors have always condemned as directly contrarâ— to the divine Law There may be seen to this purpose the remonstrances and the protestations that I have mentionâ—d which Charleâ— the Ninth directed to Pope Pius the Fourth upon the occasion of Queen Iean of Navar as obstinate a Huguenot as she was Therefore the King might justly use the Huguenots as the Protestant Princes in their States do the Catholicks I should not have done to day if I should take notice of all that Monsieur Maimbourg says upon this subject He makes it consistent with the Duty and Honour of the King of France to overthrow an Edict which was the reward of the Loialty and of the eminent services of the Protestants an Edict confirmed in all the Parliaments of the Kingdome under the title of a perpetual and irrevacable Law Ratified by a thousand Royal promises and by a thousand authentike Declarations which Lewis the Fourteenth had himself solemnly sworn to observe upon so many occasions It seems says the Jesuite that he is bound to do it for his glory which is to say according to this man of conscince that one does his Duty when he breaks his word and his Oath and that he acts for his Glory when he dishonours himself and his Ancestors by perjuries and overthrowing the most Religiously established Laws But above all it is a pleasant fancy that the argument he furnishes his King with to stop the mouth of the Huguenots who do not prevail with the Princes of their Religion to permit the free exercise of the
Roman Religion in their Dominions Might he not very justly say to the Huguenots says he speaking to the King of France either see that these Princes allow the free exercise of my Religion with them or do not think to have the free exercise of yours and theirs in France If it be expected that we should consider the Edicts which have been here made in your behalf let them shew then the like favour to the Catholicks Monsieur Maimbourg calls this a powerful argument which overthrows the Huguenots But as to that I remit him to the Author of the Critique General of his History He will there find his dream entertained as it deserves It is sufficient for my purpose to let you see that what the Author of the Policy of the Clergy urges to prove that the Papists upon account of the principles of their Religion are always to be feared in Protestant States is no Poor groundlâ—ss evasion as Monsieur Maimbourg would have us believe And that you may be the better judge of it give me leave to read all that this exellent Author has writ upon the Subject I am confident after you have heard it read you will not less wonder then I do at the confidence of the Jesuite who never appears more positive then where he has least reason So then our friend read to me this following discourse Hugonot Princes cannot allow the same toleration to Catholicks in their States that Catholick Princes can allow to Hugonots because Protestant Princes cannot be assured of the fidelity of their Catholick Subjects by reason they have taken Oaths of fidelity to another Prince whom they look upon as greater than all Kings It is the Pope and this Prince is a sworn â—nemy of the Protestants He obliges the People to believe that a Soveraign turned Heretick has forfeited all the Rights of Soveraignty that they owe him no Obedience that they may with impunity revolt from him that they may fall upon him as an Enemy of the Christian Name even to assassinate him See the Iesuits Morals cap. 3. Book the third And thereupon he cited to me Mariana Carolus Scribanus Ribadinera Tolet Gretser Hereau Amicus Lesâ—ius Valentia Dicatillus and several others that are cited by the Iansenists in the Book of the Jâ—suits Morals and by the Ministers All these Authors said he to me teach conformably to the Divinity of Rome that a Heretick Prince and Excommunicated by the Pope is but a private person against whom Arms may be taken that he may be likewise Assassinated or poysoned He added to this the examples of the many Parricides that have been committed or attempted in pursuance of these Maxims How many times said he would they have Assassinated Queen Elizabeth Prince William of Orange was twice Assassinated and lost his Life the Second time Henry the Third was not he killed by a Iacobin as Excommunicated by the Pope and stript of the Royal Dignity Iohn Chastel did not he attempt the same thing upon Henry the Fourth And did not Ravilliac out of a false Zeal Assassinate him After which he gave me an account of the Gun-powder Plot in England by which in the year 1606. the Catholicks had undertaken to blow up the King and all the Grandees of the Kingdom by a Mine they had made under the Parliament House He told me of the Jesuits Garnet and Oldcorn Chief of that Conspiracy who were put into the number of the Martyrs whether they would or no for the Jesuit Garnet going to Execution some one of his Companions telling him soâ—tly in his Ear that he was going to be a Martyr he answered Nunâ—uâ—m audivi parricidam esse Martyrem I never heard that a Parricide was a Martyr He related to me a hundred scandalous Stories of that nature Amongst others he told me one that extreamly surprized me he read it to me with all its circumstances in a little Book that had been published by an English Minister who calls himself the King of Englands Chaplain Thus it is in short A Divine who had been the Chaplain of King Charles who was beheaded turnd Catholick some time before his Masters Death and the English Jesuits put such confidence in him that they imparted to him a very dreadful thing It was a Consultation allowed of by the Pope about the means of re-establishing the Catholick Religion in England The English Catholicks seeing that the King was a Prisoner in the hands of the Independants formed the Resolution of laying hold on that occasion to dâ—stroy the Protestant and re-establish the Catholick Religion They concluded that the only means of re-establishing the Catholick Religion and of laying aside all the Laws that had been made against it in England was to dispatch the King and destroy Monarchy That they might be authorized and maintained in this great Undertaking they deputed eighteen Father-Jesuits to Rome to demand the Popes advice The matter was agitated in secret Assemblies and it was concluded that it was permitted and just to put the King to Death Those Deputies in their passage through Paris consulted the Sorbonne who without waiting for the Opinion of Rome had judged that that enterprise was just and lawful and upon the return of the Jesuites who had taken the Journey to Rome they communicated to the Sorbonnits the Popes Answer of which several Copies were taken The Deputies who had been at Rome being returned to London confirmed the Catholicks in their Design To compass this point they thrust themselves in amongst the Independants by dissembling their Religion They persuaded those people that the King must be put to Death and it cost that poor Prince his Life some Months after But the Death of King Charles not having had all the Consequences that was hoped and all Europe having cryed out with horrour against the Parricide committed upon the Person of that poor Prince they would have called in again all the Copies that had been made of the Consultation of the Pope and of that of Sorbonne but this English Chaplain who had turned Catholick would not restore his and he has communicated it since the return of the Family of the Stuarts to the Crown of England to several persons who are still alive and were Eye witnesses of what I have now told you Par. I never heard this before But the English Calvinists not Producing any authentick pieces to prove this accusation it may be looked upon as a Calumny Prov. My Hugâ—not Gentleman would not answer for it for he is very just However he added that what rendred it very probable is that this Conduct is a sequel of the Divinity of the zealous Catholicks of Spaim Italy and even of France Morâ—over there are several Circumstancâ—s which render the thing apparent For example he that lately published this story had already once published it in the year 1662 to answer a little Book that insulted over the English Calvinists in that they had put their King to death The
Divine who knew the story that I have related published it to prove that the Catholicks were guilty of the Crime which the Calvinists were accused of When this story came to light there was a great alarme in the House of the Queen-Mother of the King of England that House being full of Jesuits and even that great Lord who had lead the Jesuits to Rome and had made himself chief of that Conspiracy was one of the principal Officers of the House They immediately demanded Justice of the King by the means of the Queen-Mother for the injury that he who had published this scandalous story had done them The Doctor offered to prove his Accusation and to produce his Witnesses who were still living The great Lord and Officer of the Queens House and the Jesuits seeing the resolution of this Man durst not push him on they only obtain'd from the King by the means of the Queen-Mother that he should be silenced You must avow that there are but few that are innocent who would have been so easie in so terrible an Accusation Besides it is certain that this Consultation of Rome has been seen by several persons If it is false it must have been forged by this Chaplain who was turned Catholick and who shewed it since tho it must be confessed that this is not very likely However as all this is reduceed to a single Witness my Gentleman acknowledged that the proof was not wholly in forme but he stood much upon the late Conspiracy of England which was discovered two years ago by which half the Kingdom was to have had their Throats cut to become Masters of the rest Prov. Be it as it will my Hugonot Gentleman concluded from all this that a Protestant Prince can never be assured of the Fidelity of his Catholick Subjects On the contrary said he the Protestants are subject to their Prince out of Conscience and out of a Principle of their Religion They acknowledge no other Superiour than their King and do not believe that for the cause of Heresie it is permitted either to kill a lawful Prince or to refuse him obedience They oppose against us said he to me the English and Holland Catholicks But what has been promised to those people that has not been performed The United Provinces of the Low Countries are entred into the Union with this Condition of not suffering any other Religion in their States than the Protestant Though England was reformed under Edward the 6 th afterwards under Elizabeth by several Acts of Parliament which are the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom it was ordered that no other Religion should be suffered than that the Anglicane Church made choice of and that they would not suffâ—r the Assemblies of those whom they at present call Nonconformists It was even forbidden to the Priests and Monks to set Foot in England and to make any abode there However they have not kept up to this rigour and every one knows that there is at present above ten thousand Priests and Monks disguised in England and that there has ever been so Wherefore more has been given to the Catholicks than was promised them But in France where we live under favourable Edicts they have promised us what they have not performed It is only against us that they make profession of not performing what they have promised The Edicts of Pacification are in all the Forms that perpetual Laws ought to be they are verified by the Parliaments they are confirmed by a hundred Declarations which followed by Consequence and by a thousand Royal Words In fine they have been laid as irrevocable Laws and as foundations of the Peace of the State We rely upon the good Faith of so many promises and on a sudden we see snatcht from us what we looked upon as our greatest security and which we had possessed for above a hundred years Thus there is neither Title nor Prescription nor Edicts nor Acts nor Declarations which can put us in Safety This is what he told me and I avow to you that this part put me in pain for I am a Slave to my Word and an Idolater of good Faith I look upon it as the only Rampart of Civil Society and I conceive that States and Publick persons are no lâ—ss obliged to keep what they promise than particular men Far. That is true But do not you know that the safety of the people and the publick good is the Soveraign Law Very often we must suffer and even do some Evil for the good of the State Peaces and Treaties are daily broken which have been solemnly sworn because that the publick interest requires it should be so Prov. My Hugonot made himself that difficulty and told me thereupon When War is declared against Neighbours to the prejudice of Treties of Peace and Alliances this is done in the Forms They publish Manifesto's they expose or at least they suppose Grievances and Infractions in the Articles of the Treaty that have been made by those against whom War is declared When a Soveraign revokes the Graces that he had done his Subjects it is ever under pretence that they have rendered themselves unworthy of them But are we accused or can we be accused of having tampered in any Conspiracy of having had Intelligence with the Enemies of the State of having wanted Love Fidelity and Obedience towards our Soveraigns If it be so let us be brought to Tryal let the Criminals be informed against and let the Innocent be distinguished from those that are Guilty We speak boldly thâ—rein because we are certain they can reproach us with nothing and we know that his Majesty himself has very often given Testimony of our Fidelity He knows that we did not enter into any of the Parties that have been made against his Service since he has been upon the Throne During the troubles of his minority it may be said that none but those Cities we were Masters of remained Loyal When the Gates of Orleans were shut upon the King he went to Gien and that City was going to be guilty of the same Crime without the vigour of a Hugonot who made way with his Sword in his hand to the Bridge and let it down himself This action was known and recompenced for the King immediately made him Noble who had done it We had not any part in the disturbances of Bordeaux in those of Britany and Auvergue nor in the Conspiracy of the Chevalier do Roban Not one Hugonot was engaged in these Criminal Cases The King has been pleased to acknowledge it and we look upon the Testimony of so great a King as a great Recompence But our Enemies who continually sollicit him to our ruin ought to be mindful that it would be more civil in them to leave the King the liberty of following his inclinations These would without doubt move him to preserve the effects of his kindness for people who have preserved for him an inviolable Fidelity This is what
that in words in which his heart gives him the lie And I beseech you consider what he adds to make us believe that the Roman Catholicks have not that belief which the Popes themselves attribute to them So far from that says he that our most Christian Kings who are known alwais to have been the most zealous asserters of the Catholick Faith and the chiefest Protectors of the Holy See to which they have inviolably held in all times notwithstanding all the disputes they have had with some Popes about temporal concerns and the rights of their Crown which they are bound never to relinquish our Kings I say have ever protested against this claim which is grounded upon a Doctrine that all our Doctors have ever condemned as point blanck against the Divine Law To this purpose may be seen the Remonstrances and Protestations which I have said that Charles the Ninth addressed to Pope Pius the Fourth upon the account of Queen Jane of Navarre as obstinate a Heretick as she was What can be said to such childish stuff Is it not an excellent way of arguing The Kings of France do not believe the Pope has that power over them as he challenges to him self therefore it is by no means the belief of the Roman Catholicks that the Pope has such a power so that Princes who are Protestants or protect such as are can be in no danger either of life or Crown from their Popish subjects The Remonstrances and the Protestations which Monsieur Maimbourg makes such a noise with did they prevail that more than half the Papists of France should noâ— rise against their King Henry the Third so soon as ever the Pope had thundred out his â—xcommunication against him This crowd of people of Churchmen and of Fryars who by Monsieur Maimbourg's own confession entred into a League with so much heat against this pooâ— Prince did they not make it appear plainly that the good Catholick subjects take much notice of the particular belief and the weighty Protestations of the French Kings when the Pope has pronounced Anathema The almost perpetual Conspiracies of our Papists against the sacred Majesty of our Kings and against their faithful Subjects are likewise a strong evidence of Monsieur Maimbourg's sound reasoning Do not the Catholicks of England plainly shew that they take these particular decisions of the French Kings for the rule of their Faith and of their practice But this assertion All our Doctors have ever condemned the Doctrine upon which is grounded the claim of Popes against Kings as directly opposite to the Divine Law is such a piece of confidence as it may be never was the like I must confess I could not have believed that what is said of the Jesuitical impudence could have gone thus far What then Is it that Anthony Santarel the Jesuite who has written That a Pope has power to depose Kings discharge their Subjects from the obedience they owe them and deprive them of their Kingdoms for Heresy nay if they governe negligently or are not useful to their Kingdom that Cardinal Bellermin who was likewise a Jesuite and has maintained That the Pope may absolve Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance and deprive Kings of their Dominion that a thousand other Priests of the same Society quoted in the second part of the moral Divinity of the Jesuits ought not to be reckoned among the Doctors of the Church of Rome that Monsieur Maimbourg pronounces so positively All our Doctors have ever condemned this Doctrine as directly opposite to the Divine Law But perchance Monsieur Maimbourg since he left the Society has almost as good an opinion of the Jesuits as their good friend sof the Port Royal No doubt he has taken up the same prejudice which these Gentlemen have done that those Jesuits are no other in the Harvest of the Church than the tares that annoy the good Corne and that they ought not to be reckoned among the Christian Doctors However he ought to have the best intelligence and know them better than any man At least he should not have forgotten that he was informed how the whole Sorbonne in a body declared it self in this point of the same judgment with the Jesuites upon the particular case of Henry the Third He should as little forget that Cardinal du Perron in one of the greatest assemblies of the World maintained with open face not in behalf of the Jesuits but of the whole Clergy of France and as the mouth of all the Prelates of the Kingdom that the Pope has all that power over Kings which the Jeâ—uâ—ts attribute to him Therefore not to sâ—ay longer upon these â—â—â—llings of Monsieur Maimbourg you may easily see says our friend that as much as it is false that the Protestants who abhor all those principles above mentioned are to be suspected by any King of any Religion whatever in whose Dominion they abide so far certain and undeniablâ— is it that Roman-Catholick Subjects of what Countrey soever from the cursed tenents oâ— their Religion ought to be dreaded by their Kings whether Protestants or favourers of such I told our friend interrupting of him that I was already fully satisfied of the second Article neither can I imagine how it is possible that any man in this Kingdom should doubt of it after the no less cleer then convincing proofs that our worthy Bishop of Lincolne has brought in his learned Observations upon the Bull of Pius the Fifth for the pretended Excommunication of our renowned Queen Elizabeth As to the Loyalty and honest intentions of the Protestants of France I am likewise fully satisfied by all that you hâ—ve said And I make no question but they that have been so good Subjects in a Kingdom where their Loyalty has undergon such rough Tryals will be all zeal and flame in the service and for the Honour of our good King who takes them into his Protection with so much charity and compassion But pray tell me before we part what do you think of a little story which Monsieur Maimbourg has printed at the end of his Libell under the Title of The Declaration of the Dutchess of York I could tell you a great many things upon this subject said our friend For I have the whole History of it I have it here in English But to speak particularly to it would force me to discover too many misteries It would carry us a great way and is much more proper for another time I will only tell you that this Declaration was drawn up for quite another person then the late Dutchess of York and it were easie to prove that the greater part of what is there said does not at all sute with this Lady It was from much a different principle to what is reported in this piece that she made so suddain a change of her Religion And they who were by when she lay a dying have testified of quite other thoughts then those they have made