can be done to them at present I say at present for 't is not to be questioned but our Persecutors are contriving to extend their Cruelties farther But we must hope in the compassions of God that whatsoever intentions they may have in destroying the Protestant Religion in all places he will not permit them to effect their designs The World will surely open its Eyes and this which they now come from doing with a high hand and a worse then barbarous Fury will shew not only the Protestants but the wise and circumspect Catholicks what they are to expect both one and the other from such a sort of People In effect he that shall give himself the leisure to reflect on the matters of Fact which we come now from relating which are things certain and acted in the face of the Sun he shall see not only the Protestants supprest but the King's Honour sullied his Countreys damnified all the Princes of Europe interessed and even the Pope himself with his Church and Clergy shamefully discredited For to begin with the King himself What could be more contrary to his Dignity then to put him upon breaking his word and perswading him that he might with a safe Conscience violate revoke and annul so solemn an Edict as that of Nantes To palliate in some sort the Violence of this proceeding they make him say in this new Edict That the best and greatest part of the Reform'd Religion has imbraced the Catholick and therefore the execution of the Edict of Nantes and whatsoever else has been done in favour of the same Religion remains void But is not this an Elusion unworthy of his Majesty seeing that if this best and greatest part of his Subjects of the Reformed Religion have embraced the Catholick they have done it by force of Arms and by the cruel and furious Oppression which his own Troops have laid upon them Perhaps one might thus speak had his Subjects changed their Religion of their own free will although that in this case too the Priviledges of the Edict continue for those that remain But after having forced them to change by the horrible inhumanities of his Dragoons after having deprived them of the Liberty which the Edict gave them to say coldly that he only revokes the Edict because it is now useless is a Raillery unbefitting so great a Prince For it is as much as if he said that he was indeed obliged to continue to his Protestant Subjects all the Priviledges due to them but having himself overthrown them by a major Force he finds himself at present lawfully and fairly disengaged from this Obligation Which is just as if a Father who himself had cut his Childrens Throats should glory in the being henceforward freed from the care of nourishing and protecting them Are other Kings wont thus to express themselves in their Edicts What they make him moreover say to wit That Henry the Great his Grandfather gave only the Edict of Nantes to the Protestants that he might the better effect their re-union to the Roman Church That Lewis the 13th also his Father had the same design when he gave the Edict of Nismes and that he himself had entred therein at his coming to the Crown is but a pitiful Salvo But suppose seeing they are willing we should do so the truth of this Discourse and take we it simply and according to the Letter in the sense wherein they gave it us what can we conclude thence but these following Propositions That Henry the Great and Lewis the 13th gave only the Edicts to our Fathers to deceive them and with an intent to ruine them afterwards with the greater ease under the mask of this Fraud That not being able to do this being hindred by other affairs they have committed this important secret to his present Majesty to the end he should execute it when he met with an opportunity That his present Majesty entring into the thought of this at his first coming to the Crown he only confirm'd the Edicts and Declarations of 1643. and 1652. with other advantagious Decrees to the Reformed Religion but to impose on them the more finely lay snares in their way or if you please crown them as they crown'd of old the Sacrifices That all that has been done against them since the Peace of the Pirenees till this time according to the abridgment which we have made of it has been only the execution of a Project but of a Project far more ancient than we imagine seeing we must date it from the Edict of Nantes and ascend up to Henry the Great In fine That what has been till now has been a great mystery but is not one at present seeing the King by this new Edict discovers it to all the World that he may be applauded for it Will it not be acknowledged that the Enemies of France who are willing to discredit the Conduct of its Kings and render them odious to the World have now an happy opportunity Henry the Great gives his Edict to the Protestants with the greatest Solemnity imaginable he gives it them as a Recompence of their Services he promises solemnly to observe it and as if this was not enough he binds himself thereunto with an Oath he executes it to the utmost of his Power and they peaceably enjoy'd it to the end of his Reign yet all this is but a meer Snare for they are to be Dragoon'd at a proper time But being himself surprized by Death he could not do it but leaves it in charge to Lewis the 13th his Son Lewis the Thirteenth ascends the Throne issues out his Declaration immediately that he acknowledges the Edict of Nantes as perpetual and irrevocable it needing not a new Confirmation and that he would Religiously observe every Article of it and therefore sends Commissioners to see it actually executed When he begins a War he protests he designs not at Religion and in effect he permits the full Liberty of it in those very Towns he takes by Assault He gives his Edict of Nismes as the Edict of a Triumphant Prince yet declares therein he understands that of Nantes should be inviolably kept and shows himself to the last as good as his Word But this is only intended to lull the Protestants asleep in expectation of a favourable occasion to destroy them Lewis the Fourteenth at his coming to the Crown confirms the Edict and declares That he will maintain the Reformed in all their Priviledges he afterwards affirms in another Declaration how highly he is satisfied in their Services and mentions his design of making them to enjoy their Rights But this is but a meer amusement and an artifice to intrap them the better to colour over the project of ruining them at a convenient time What a Character now of the Kings of France will this afford to its Enemies and foreign Nations and what confidence do they think will be henceforward put in their Promises and Treaties for if they
AN ACCOUNT OF THE PERSECUTIONS AND OPPRESSIONS OF THE Protestants IN FRANCE London Printed for J. Norris 1686. An exact account of the Cruel Oppressions and Persaecutions of the French Protestants THE Cruelties exercis'd of late on the Protestants in France do appear so detestable to all who have not divested themselves of Humanity that no wonder the Authors of them use their utmost endeavours to lessen what they cannot conceal Were not this worse than barbarous usage a project of a long contrivance a Man might for Charity 's sake suppose this their palliating it to be an acknowledgment of their own displeasure at it However their boldness is inexcusable who shall endeavour to impose on the World in matters known not by Gazetts and News-letters but by an infinite number of Fugitives of all Conditions who have nothing left but Tears and Miseries to bring along with them into foreign Nations 'T is certainly too barbarous to oppress innocent People in their own Countrey and afterwards to stifle their complaints in other places where they are driven and by this means deprive them of a compassion which the bare instincts of nature never refuse to the miserable Yet this is the course our persecutors of France have held their cruelty must be attended with Impostures that the mischiefs which they have acted may pass undiscovered I think we should be much to blame if we suffer them to go on in this second design as they have done in the first and therefore we shall choose some principal instances whereon we shall make such reflections as thereby to judge with greater evidence and exactness on the whole proceeding And as we shall offer nothing but what shall be perfectly true so we shall advance nothing in our reflections but what all the world of reasonable people will allow To begin with matters of Fact There 's no body but knows that a while after his present Majesty of France came to the Crown there arose in the Kingdom a Civil War which proved so sharp and desperate as brought the State within an hairs breadth of utter ruine 'T is also known that in the midst of all these troubles those of the Reformed Religion kept their Loyalty in so inviolable a manner and attended it with such a Zeal and extraordinary fervour that the King found himself obliged to give publick marks of it by a Declaration made at St. Germains in the year 1652. Then as well at Court as in the Field each strove to proclaim loudest the deserts of the Reformists and the Queen Mother her self readily acknowledged That they had preserved the State This is known by all but 't will hardly be believed though it be too true what our Enemies themselves an hundred times told us and which the sequel has but too shrewdly confirmed that this was precisely the principal and most essential cause of our ruine and of all the mischiefs which we have since suffered Endeavours were used to envenom all these important Services in the Kings and his Ministers minds by perswading them that if in this occasion this party could conserve the State this shewed they could likewise overthrow it should they have ranked themselves on the other side and might still do it when such alike occasion should offer it self That therefore this party must be suppressed and the good they have done no longer regarded but as an indication of the mischief which they may one day be capable of doing This Diabolical reasoning which hinders Subjects from serving their Prince to avoid drawing on themselves chastisements instead of recompences was relish'd as a piece of most refined Policy For as soon as the Kingdom was settled in Peace the design was advanced of destroying the Reformists and the better to make them comprehend that their Zeal had ruined them the Cities which had shewed most of it were first begun with Immediately then on slight pretences they fell on Rochel Montaubon and Milan three Towns where those of the Reformed Religion had most signalized themselves for the interests of the Court Rochel underwent an infinite number of prescriptions Montaubon and Milan were sackt by the Soldiers But these being but particular stroaks and meer preludes which decided nothing they tarried not long before they made appear the great and general Machius they were to use in the carrying on of their intended design to the last extremity 'T will be a difficult matter to give an exact account of these several methods For never humane malice produced such multiplicity of them every day brought forth new ones for twenty years together To take only notice of the chief of them which were First Law Suits in Courts of Justice Secondly Deprivations from all kinds of Offices and Employs and in general of all ways of subsistance Thirdly The infraction of Edicts under the notion of Explications of them Fourthly New Laws and Orders Fifthly Juggles and amusing Tricks Sixthly The animating of People and inspiring them with hatred against us These are the most considerable means which the persecuters have employed to attain their ends during several years I say during several years for what they designed being no easie matter they needed therefore time to order their Engins not to take notice of their Traverses and Interruptions by forrain Wars yet whose success have not a little contributed to encrease their Courage and confirm them in the design which they had against us The first of these means has had an infinite extent We should begin with the recital of all the Condemnations of Churches or suppressions of exercises of Religion and all the other vexations which have hapned by the establishing of Commissaries this was a Snare dexterously laid immediately after the Treaty of the Picenees the King under pretence of repairing the Edict of Nants sent them in the Provinces The Roman Catholic Commissary was every where his Majesties Intendant who was besure a fit man for the purpose armed with the Royal Authority and who was well instructed in the secret Aim The other was either some hungry Officer a Slave to the Court or some poor Gentleman who had usually neither Intelligence requisite in these sort of Affairs nor the liberty of speaking his Sentiments The Clergy had set them up He was their Ambulatory Spirit The Syndicks were received before them as formal parties in all our Affairs the assignations were given in their name the Prosecutions also and as well the Discords of the Commissaries as the Appeals from their Ordinances must be finally decided in the Kings Council Thus in general all the rights of the Churches for the exercises of Religion the burying places and all such dependancies were called into a review and consequently exposed to the fresh pursuits of the Clergy and the ill intention of the Judges In which there was not the least dram of Equity for the Edict having bin once executed according to the intention of him that made it there needed no second touches it being
supposing they should change they would be but as so many secret adversaries nourished in the bosom of the Church of Rome and the more dangerous on the account of their knowledge and experience in Controversial matters This last reasoning prevailed 't was then resolved on to banish the Ministers and to give them no more than fifteen days time to depart the Kingdom As to what remained the Edict was given to the Procurer-General of the Parliament of Paris to draw it up in such a form as he should judge most fitting But before the publishing of it two things were thought necessary to be done The first to oblige the assembly of the Clergy separately to present to the King a request concerning the matter above mentioned in which also they told his Majesty that they desired not at present the repealing the Edict of Nantes and the other to suppress in general all kind of Books made by them of the Reformed Religion and to issue out an Order for that purpose By the first of these things the Clergy thought to shelter themselves from the reproaches which might be cast on them as the Authors of so many Miseries Injustices an Oppressions which this Repeal would still occasion And by the other they pretended to make the Conversions much more easie as they styled them and confirm those which had bin already made by taking from the People all Books which might Instruct fortifie and bring them back again In fine This Revocative Edict of Nantes was signed and published on Thursday being the 8th of October in the year 1685. 'T is said the Chancellor of France shewed an extream joy in Sealing it but it lasted not long this being the last thing he did For as soon as he came home from Fountainbleau he fell sick and dyed within a few days 'T is certain that this mans policy rather than his natural Inclination induced him in his latter years to become one of our Persecutors The Edict was Registred in the Parliament of Paris and immediately after in the others It contains a Preface and Twelve Articles In the Preface the King shews that Henry the Great 's Grandfather did not give the Edict and Lewis his Father did not confirm it by his other Edict of Nismes but in the design of endeavouring more effectually the re-union of their Subjects of the pretended reformed Religion to the Catholick Church and that this was also the Design which he had himself at his first coming to the Crown That 't is true he had bin hindred by the Wars which he was forced to carry on against the Enemies of his State but that at present being at Peace with all the Princes of Europe he wholly gave himself to the making of this Re-union That God having given him the Grace of accomplishing it and seeing the greatest and best part of his Subjects of the said Religion had embraced the Catholick one these Edicts of Nantes and Nismes consequently became void and useless By the first Article he suppresses and repeals them in all their extent and ordains that all their Temples which are found yet standing in his Kingdom shall be immediately demolished By the Second he forbids all sorts of Religious Assemblies of what kind soever The Third prohibits the Exercises of Religion to all Lords and Gentlemen of any Quality under Corporal Penalties and Confiscation of their Esates The Fourth banishes from his Kingdom all the Ministers and enjoins them to depart thence within Fifteen days after the publication of this Edict under the Penalty of being sent to the Gallies In the Fifth and Sixth he promises Recompences and Advantages to the Ministers and their Widows who should change their Religion In the Seventh and Eighth he forbids the Instructing of Children in the pretended reformed Religion and ordains that those who shall be born henceforward shall be baptised and brought up in the Catholick Religion enjoyning Parents to send them to the Churches under the Penalty of being fined 500 Livers The Ninth gives Four Months time to such Persons as have departed already out of the Kingdom to return otherwise their Goods and Estates to be confiscated The Tenth with repeated Prohibitions forbids all his Subjects of the said Religion to depart out of his Realm they their Wives and Children or to convey away their Effects under pain of the Gallies for the Men and of Confiscation of Body and Goods for the Women The Eleventh confirms the Declarations heretofore made against those that Relapse The Twelfth declares that as to the rest of his Subjects of the said Religion they may till God enlightens them remain in the Cities of his Kingdom Countries and Lands of his Obedience there continue their Commerce and enjoy their Estates without Trouble or Molestation upon pretence of the said Religion on condition that they have no Assemblies under pretext of Praying or exercising any religious Worship whatever In order to put this Edict in execution the very same day that it was registred and published at Paris they began to demolish the Church of Charenton The eldest Minster thereof was commanded to leave Paris within twenty four Hours and immediately to depart the Kingdom For this end they put him into the Hands of one of the Kings Footmen with orders not to leave him till he was out of his Dominions His Collegues were little better treated they gave them forty eight hours to quit Paris and then left them upon their Parole The rest of the Ministers were allowed fifteen days but it can hardly be believed to what Vexations and Cruelties they were all exposed First of all they neither permitted them to dispose of their Estates nor to carry away any of their moveables or effects nay they disputed them their Books and private Papers one pretence that they must justify their Books and Papers did not belong to the Cosistories wherein they serv'd which was a thing impossible since there were no Consistories that then remained Beside they would not give them leave to take along with them either Father or Mother or Brother or Sister or any of their Kindred though there were many of them infirm decay'd and poor which could not subsist but by their means they went so far as even to deny them their own Children if they were above seven Years Old nay some they took from them that were under that Age and even such as yet hang'd upon their Mothers Breasts They refused them Nurses for their new born Infants which the Mothers could not give Suck In some Frontier Places they stopped and imprisoned them upon divers ridiculous Pretences they must immediately prove that they were really the same Persons which their Certificates mentioned they were to know immediately whether there were no Criminal Process or Informations against them they must presently justify that they carryed away nothing that belonged to their Flocks sometime after they had thus detained and amused them they were told that the fifteen days of the Edict
Dragoons desolated a Kingdom and plunder'd above a 100 thousand Families Do we think this method is pleasing to him whom we both own to be the Author of our Faith he has said That he will not suffer Hell Gates to ruine his Church but he has not said he will open Hell Gates for the propagating his Church Now if there were any thing that looks like the Gates of Hell it is the persecutions of France Whatsoever Antipathy there may be between the See of Rome and us we will not believe that the present Pope has had any part or that the Storm has fallen on us from him We know he is a mild Prince and his temper leads to more moderate Councils than those of his Predecessors Moreover we know the Clergy of France do not always consult him in what they undertake and we have had often offered to us what has bin done against Rome to induce us to submit our selves to the King's will in these other matters and how small a deference is paid to its Authority So that we hope the Pope himself considering us still as Men and Christians will condole us and blame the methods used against us had he no other reason than the interest of Religion Perhaps one day it will be our turn to blame that which will be taken against him However 't is certain the Protestants of France are the most fit objects of publick compassion the world ever knew Some sigh and lament under a hard Slavery which they would willingly change for Irons in Algiers or Turke For there they would not be forced to turn Mahometans and might still entertain some hopes of liberty by the way of ransâ—m Others are wandering about strange Countries stript of their Estates separated in all probability for ever from their Parents their Relations and Friends whom they have left in the most doleful condition imaginable Husbands have left their Wives and Wives their Husbands Fathers their Children and Children their Fathers We have seen our Estates vanish in a moment our honest ways of living our hopes our Inheritances We have scarcely any thing left us but our miserable Lives and they are supported by the Charity of our Christian Brethren Yet amongst all these Afflictions we are not destitute of Comfort we if ever any did do truly suffer for Conscience sake the Malice of our Persecutors not being able to charge us with the least Misdemeanour We have served our King and the State with Zeal and Faithfulness We have submitted to the Laws and to Magistrates and for our Fellow-Citizens they have no reason to complain of us We have for Twenty years together suffered with an unexemplary patience all those furious and dreadful Storms aforementioned And when in Vivaretz and Cevennes some have thought themselves bound in Conscience to preach on the Ruines of their Temples illegally demolisht their small number which were but a handful of Men Women and Children has only served to stir up more the Resignation and Obedience of our whole Body In these latter Storms we have been like Sheep innocent and without defence We then comfort our selves in the Justice of our Cause and our peaceable Deportment under it But we comfort our selves likewise in the Christian Compassion shewed us by Forrein Princes and more especially of his Majesty of England who has received us into his Countries succoured and relieved us and recommended our distressed Condition to all his Subjects and we have found in them not only new Masters or the Affections of new Friends but of real Parents and Brethren And as these bowels of Commiseration have been as Balm to our Wounds so we shall never lose the remembrance of it and hope we nor our Children shall ever do any thing by Gods Grace unworthy any of these their protections All our Affliction then is to see our Religion oppressed in the Kingdom of France so many Churches wherein God was daily served according to the simplicity of the Gospel demolished so many Flocks dispers'd so many poor Consciences sighing and groaning under their Bondage so many Children deprived of the lawful Education of their Parent but we hope that at length the same God who heard heretofore the Sighs of his People in the Servitude of Egypt will also hear at this time the Cries of his Faithful Servants We call not for Fire from Heaven We are for no resistance we only pray that God would touch the Hearts of our Persecuters that they may repent and be saved together with us We entreat such a deliverance as he in his Wisdom shall think fitting However 't will be no Offence to God nor Good Men to leave this Writing to the World as a Protestation made before him and them against these Violences more especially against the Edict of 1685. containing the Revocation of that of Nants it being in its own Nature inviolable irrevocable and unalterable We may I say complain amongst other things against the worse than inhumane Cruelties exercised on dead Bodies when they are drag'd along the Streets at the Horse Tayls and dig'd out and denyed Sepulchers We cannot but complain of the Cruel Orders to part with our Children and suffer them to be Baptized and brought up by our Enemies But above all against the impious and detestable practise now in vogue of making Religion to depend on the Kings pleasure on the will of a Mortal Prince and of treating perseverance in the Faith with the odious name of Rebellion This is to make a God of Man and to run back into the Heathenish pride and flattery amongst the Romans or an authorising of Atheism or gross Idolatry In fine we commit our Complaints and all our Interests into the Hands of that Providence which brings Good out of Evil and which is above the Understanding of Mortals whose Houses are in the Dust An EDICT of the French KING Prohibiting all Publick Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion in His Kingdom LEWES by the Grace of God King of France and of Navarre to all present and to come Greeting King Henry the Great Our Grandfather of Glorious Memory desiring to prevent that the Peace which he had procured for his Subjects after the great Losses they had sustained by the long continuance of Civil and Forreign Wars might not be disturbed by occasion of the pretended Reformed Religion as it had been during the Reigns of the Kings his Predecessors had by his Edict given at Nantes in the Month of April 1598. Regulated the Conduct which was to be observed with Respect to those of the said Religion the places where they might publickly exercise the same appointed extraordinary Judges to administer Justice to them and lastly also by several distinct Articles provided for every thing which he judged needful for the maintenance of Peace and Tranquility in his Kingdom and to diminish the Aversion which was between those of the one and other Religion and this to the end that he might be in a better
Religion and not make use of them in any case without other reason than that of their Religion In 1683. all Officers belonging to the Kings Houshold and those of the Princes of the Blood were also rendred uncapable of holding their Places The Councellors and other Officers of Ayds and Chambers of accounts and those of Seneschalship Baily wicks and Royalties Admiralry Provostships and Marshal's Courts Treasury Excise and others who belonged to the Toll-Offices and such like businesses were ordered to leave their Places in favour of the Catholicks In 1684. all Secretaries belonging to the King and Great Officers of France as well Titulary as Honorary ones and their Widows were deprived by a Revocation of all their Priviledges of what nature soever they were They also deprived all those that had purchased any Priviledges for the exercising of any Professions as Merchants Surgeons Apothecaries and Vintners nd all others without exception Nay they proceeded to this excess that they would not suffer any Midwives of the Reformed Religion to do their Office and expresly ordained for the future our Wives should receive no assistance in that Condition but from Roman Catholicks 'T is not to be exprest how many particular Persons and Families they reduced every where by these strange and unheard of Methods to Ruine and Misery But because there were yet many which could sustain themselves other Methods of Oppression must be invented To this end they issued out an Edict from the Council by which the new Converts as they call them were discharged from any payments of their Debts for three years This for the most part fell on the Reformists who having had a more particular Tye of Interest and Affair with these pretended Converts because of their Communion of Religion were reckoned amongst their Chief Creditors By this Order they had found the secret to recompense those that changed at the charge of those who continued firm and this they did likewise by another way for they discharged the Converts of all the Debts which those of the Religion had contracted in common which by consequence fell on the rest Add to this the prohibition to fell or alienate their Estates on any Pretence whatever the King annulling and breaking all Contracts and other acts relating to that matter if it did not appear that after these Acts they had stayed in the Kingdom a whole Year so that the last Remedy of helping themselves with their Estates in extream Necessity was taken from them They deprived them likewise of another which seemed the only one remaining which was to seek their Bread elsewhere by retiring into other Countries there to get their Living by Labour since this was not permitted them in France By repeated Edicts the King forbad them to leave his Kingdom on severe Penalties which drove them to the last Despair since they saw themselves reduced to the horrible necessity of dying with Hunger in their own Countrey without daring to go to live elsewhere But the Cruelty of their Enemies stopt not here for there yet remained some Gleanings in the Provinces though very few and as thin as those in Pharaoh's Dream The Intendants in their Districts had order to load the Reformed with Taxes which they did either by laying upon them the Tax of the New Catholicks who were discharged thereof on favour of their Conversion or by laying exorbitant Taxes which they called Duties that is to say he who in the ordinary Roll was assessed at Forty or Fifty Livers was charged by this Impostion at Seven or Eight Hundred Thus had they nothing more left for all was a Prey to the Rigour of the Intendants They raised their Taxes by the effectual quartering of Dragoons or Imprisonment from whence they were not freed till they had paid the utmost Farthing These were the two first Engins or Machins which the Clergy made use of against us To which they added a Third which we have termed the Infractions of the Edict of Nantes under pretence of Explication Those who would know their Number and Quality need only read the Books written and published on this Subject as well by the Jesuite Menier an Author Famous for his Illusions as by one Beanard an Officer in the Presidial Court of Besier in Languedoc There you will find all the turns which the meanest and most unworthy Sophistry could invent to elude the clearest Texts of the Edict and to corrupt the Sincerity thereof But because we do here give you only a brief Account of our Troubles we will content our selves with observing some of the Principal issuing from this Fountain What was there for Example more clear and unquestionable in the Edict than this viz. That 't was given with an Intention to maintain those of the Religion in all the Rights that Nature and Civil Society give to Men. Yet in 1681. there came out an Edict that Children might at the Age of Seven Years abjure the Reformed Religion and embrace the Catholick under pretence that the Edict did not precisely mark that at this Age they should continue at their Parents Disposal Who sees not that this was a meer trick seing that on one hand the Edict forbad to take the Children from their Parents by force or fair means and on the other hand the Edict supposed and confirmed all the Natural Rights of which without Controversie this is one of the most inviolable Was there ever a more manifest Infraction of the Edict than that which forbad those of the Protestant Religion who had passed over to the Roman to return to that they had left under pretence that the Edict did not formally give them in express Terms this Liberty For when the Edict permits generally all the Kings Subjects Liberty of Conscience and forbids the perplexing and troubling them and offering any thing contrary to this Liberty Who sees not that this Exception touching the pretended Relapsers is so far from being an Explication of the Edict that 't is a notable violation of it Whereunto we may add the charge given to the Roman Catholicks not to change their Religion and embrace the Reformed For when the Edict gives Liberty of Conscience it does it in proper Terms for all those who are and shall be of the said Religion Yet if we believe the Clergy this was not Henry the Great 's meaning intending only to grant it to those who made Profession of it at the time of the making his Edict That of Nantes gave also to the Reformed the priviledges of keeping small Schools in all places where they had the Exercise of their Religion and by this Term of small or little Schools according to the common explication those were always understood where one might teach Latin and Humanity This is the Sence which has been ever given in all the Kingdom to this Expression which is still given when it concerns the Roman Catholicks Yet by a new Interpreation this permission was restrained to the bare Liberty of teaching to
read and write as if the Reformed were unworthy to learn any more and this on purpose to tire out the Parents and drive them to this extremity either not to know what to do with their Children or be forced to send them to the Roman Catholicks for Education The Edict gave them the liberty in all places where they had Churches to instruct publickly their Children and others in what concerns Religion which visibly establisht the Right of teaching them Theology seeing their Theology is nothing else but this Religion And as to Colleges wherein they might be instructed in Liberal Sciences the Edict promised Letters Pattents in good form Yet 't was supposed the Edict gave no right to the Reformed to instruct them in Theology nor to have Colleges and on this Supposition three Academies were condemned all that remained That of Sedan although grounded on a particular Edict was supprest as the rest and even before them But we must go further and seeing we have undertaken to shew in this Abridgment the principal things they have done to exercise our Patience before they came to the utmost Fury We are not to pass over the new Orders or new Laws which were to us as so many new Inventions to torment us The first of these Orders which appeared was touching the manner of Buryals and entering the Dead The number of Attendants were reduced to thirty Persons in those places where the Exercise of our Religion was actually established and to ten where it was not Orders were also issued out to hinder the Communication of Provinces with one another by Circulary Letters or otherwise though about matters of Alms and disposal of Charity Prohibitions were likewise made of holding Colloquies in the Interval of Synods excepting in two Cases the providing for Churches destitute by the Deaths of their Ministers and the Correction of some Scandals They likewise took away from those places allowed by the Edict which they call'd Exercises de fief all the Marks of the Temples as the Bell the Pulpit and other things of this Nature They were likewise forbidden to receive their Ministers in Synods to have any deciding Voice there or to note them in the Catalogue of those that belong'd to Churches Others forbad the singing of Psalms in private Houses as also some that commanded them to cease singing even in their Temples when the Sacrament passed by or at the time of any Procession Others were made to hinder Marriages such times as were forbidden by the Romish Church Others forbad Ministers to Preach any where except in the place of their usual Residence Others forbad their setling in places unless sent by the Synods though the Consistories had call'd them thither according to their usual forms Others were made to hinder the Synods from sending to any Churches more Ministers than were there in the preceding Synod Others to hinder those that design'd for the Ministry to be educated in Foreign Universities Others banish'd all Foreign Ministers though they had been ordained in the Kingdom and spent there the greatest part of their Lives Others forbad Ministers or Cardinals for the Ministry to reside in places where Preaching was forbidden or nearer than six Miles of them Others forbad the People to assemble in the Temples under pretence of Praying Reading or Singing of Psalms except in the Presence of a Minister placed there by the Synod One ridiculous one was made to take away all the Backs of the Seats in the Churches and reduce them all to an exact Uniformity Another to hinder the Churches that were a little more Rich to assist the Weaker for the maintenance of their Ministers and other necessities Another to oblige Parents to give their Children who changed their Religion great Pensions Another to forbid Marriages betwixt Parties of different Religions even in the case of Scandalous Cohabitation Another to prohibit those of the Religion from that time to entertain in their Houses any Domesticks or Servants that were Roman Catholicks Another which made them uncapable of being Tutors or Guardians and consequently put all the Minors whose Fathers dyed in the Profession of the Protestant Religion under the Power and Education of Roman Catholicks Another forbidding Ministers and Elders to hinder any of their Flock either directly or indirectly to embrace the Roman Religion or to dissuade them form it Another forbidding Jews and Mahometans to embrace the Reformed Religion and the Ministers either to instruct or receive them into it Another subjecting Synods to receive such Roman Catholick Commissaries as should be sent them from the King with an express order to do nothing but in their presence Another for bidding the Consistories to assemble oftner than once in Fifteen days and in presence of a Catholick Commissary Another forbidding Consistories to assist on pretence of Charity to the Poor Sick Persons of their Religion and ordaining that the Sick should be carried into their Hospitals strictly forbidding any Man to entertain them in their Houses Another confiscating in favour of Hospitals all the Lands Rents and other Profits of what nature soever which might have appertained to a condemned Church Another forbidding Ministers to come nearer than Three Leagues to the place where the Priviledges of Preaching was in question or debate Another confiscated to the Hospitals all the Revenues and Rents set apart for the maintenance of the Poor even in such Churches as were yet standing Another subjecting sick and dying Persons to the necessity of receiving Visits sometimes from Judges Commissionaries or Church-Wardens sometimes of Curates Monks Missionaries or other Ecclesiasticks to induce them to change their Religion or require of them express Declarations concerning it Another forbidding Parents to send their Children before sixteen years of Age to travel in Forreign Countries on any pretence whatsoever Another prohibiting Lords or Gentlemen to continue the exercise of Religion in their Houses unless they had first produced their Titles before the Commissaries and obtained from them a License to have Preaching Another which restrained the right of entertaining a Minister to those only who were in Possession of their Lands ever since the Edict of Nantes in a direct or collateral Line Another which forbad Churches called Baillage to receive into their Temples any of another Bailywick Another which enjoined Physitians Apothecaries and Chirurgeons to advertise the Curates or Magistrates of the condition of Sick Protestants that the Magistrates or Curates might visit them But amongst all these new Laws those which have most served the Design and Intention of the Clergy have been on one hand the prohibition of receiving into their Temples any of those who had changed their Religion nor their Children nor any Roman Catholick of what Age Sex or Condition soeâ—er under pain of forfeiting their Churches and the Ministers doing publick Pennance with Banishment and Confiscation of their Estates and on the other fide the setting up in all the Temples a particular Bench for the Catholicks to sit on for by
Subjects owe their Soveraigns But they were so far from being heard that their Troubles were still encreased and their Second Condition became worse than the First The last Petition presented to the King himself by the Deputy General in March 1684. was exprest in Terms most submissive and most capable of moving Pity as every one may judge having been since Printed and yet it produced no other Fruit but the hastning of what they had long resolved namely to use open Force to accomplish our Ruine This was effectually done some Months after and executed in a manner so terrible and violent that as we said in the beginning there are few in Europe how distant soever from the notice of the common Accidents of the World who have not heard the Report of it but 't is certain the Circumstances are not known to all and therefore we shall give an account of them in few Words if it be but to stop the Mouth of their Impudence who publisht abroad That no Violences have been offered in France and the Conversions there made were with free Consent At first they took this Measure to quarter Soldiers in all their Provinces almost at the same time and chiefly Dragoons which are the most Resolute Troops of the Kingdom Terror and Dread marched before them and as it were by consent all France was filled with this News That the King would not longer suffer any Hugonots in his Kingdom and that they must resolve to change their Religion nothing being able to keep them from it They began with Bearn where the Dragoons did their first Executions these were followed soon after in High and Low Guienne Xantoigne Aunix Poitu High Languedoc Vivarets and Dauphine after which they came to Lionois Gevennes Low Languedoc Provence Valeës and the Country of Geix afterwards they fell on the rest of the Kingdom Normandy Bourgoigne Nivernoix and Berry the Countries of Orleans Tourain Anjou Britany Champagne Picardy and the Isle of France not excluding Paris it self which underwent the same Fate the first thing the Intendants were ordered to do was to summon the Cities and Commonalties They assembled the Inhabitants thereof who profest the Reformed Religion and there told them 't was the King's Pleasure they should without delay become Catholics and if they would not do it freely they would make them do it by force The poor People surprised with such a Proposal answered They were ready to sacrifice their Estates and Lives to the King but their Consciences being Gods they could not in that manner dispose of them There needed no more to make them immediately bring the Dragoons which were not far off The Troops immediately seized on the Gates and Avenues of the Cities they placed Guards in all the Passages and often came with their Swords in their Hands crying Kill Kill or else be Catholics they were quartered on the Reformists at Discretion with a strict Charge that none should depart out of their Houses nor conceal any of their Goods or Effects on great Penalties even on the Catholics that should receive or assist them in any manner The first days were spent in consuming all Provisions the House afforded and taking from them whatever they could see Money Rings Jewels and in general whatsoever was of value After this the pillaged the Family and invited not only the Catholics of the place but also those of the Neighbouring Cities and Towns to come and buy the Goods and other things which would yield Money Afterwards they fell on their Persons and there 's no Wickedness or Horror which they did not put in practise to force them to change their Religion Amidst a thousand hideous Cries and a thousand Blasphemies they hung Men and Women by the Hair or Feet on the Roofs of the Chamber or Chimney Hooks and smoakt them with Whisps of wet Hay till they were no longer able to bear it and when they had taken them down if they would not sing they hung them up immediately again They threw them into great Fires kindled on purpose and pulled them not out till they were half Roasted They tyed Ropes under their Arms and plunged them to and again into Wells from whence they would not take them till they had promised to change their Religion They tyed them as they do Criminals put to the question and in this posture with a Funnel fill'd with Wine poured it down their Throats till the Fumes of it depriving them of their Reason they made them say they would consent to be Catholics They stript them naked and after having offered them a 1000 infamous Indignities they stuck them with Pins from the top to the bottom They cut them with Penknifes and sometimes with red hot Pincers took them by the Nose and dragged them about their Rooms till they promised to become Catholics or that the Cries of these poor Wretches that in this Condition call'd on God for their Assistance constrained them to let them go They beat them with Staves and dragged them all bruised to the Churches where their bare forced Presance was accounted for an Abjuration They held them from sleeping seven or eight Days relieving one another to watch them Night and Day and keept them waking They threw Buckets of Water on their Faces and tormented them a 1000 ways holding over their Heads Kettles turned downwards whereon they made a continual Noise till these poor Creatures had even lost their Sences If they found any sick either Men or Women that kept their Beds distempered with Fevers or other Diseases they had the Cruelty to bring twelve Drums sounding an Alarm about their Beds for whole Weeks together without Intermission till they had promised they would change It hapned in some places that they tyed Fathers and Husbands to the Bed-Posts and before their Eyes forced their Wives and Daughters In another place Rapes were publickly and generally permitted for many Hours together They pluckt off the Nails from the Hands and Toes of others which could not be endured without intollerable Pain They burnt the Feet of others They blew up Men and Women with Bellows even till they were ready to burst If after these horrid usages there were yet any that refused to turn they imprisoned them and for this chose Dungeons dark and noysom in which they exercised on them all sorts of Inhumanity In the mean time they demolished their Houses desolated their Hereditary Lands cut down their Woods and seized their Wives and Children to imprison them in Monasteries When the Souldiers had devoured and consumed all in a House the Farmers of their Lands furnisht them with Subsistance and to re-imburse them they sold by Authority of Justice the Fonds of their Hosts and put them in possession thereof If some to secure their Consciences and to escape the Tyranny of these Furious Men endeavoured to save themselves by Flight they were pursued and hunted in the Fields and Woods and were shot at like Wild Beasts The Provosts rode
and I doubt not but they have done it already Some perhaps may make an objection on this occasion which 't will be good to answer which is that as the Edict consider it how we will is become only a Law of State by Henry the Great 's Authority so it may likewise be revok'd and annul'd by Lewis the 14th his Grandson and Successor For things may be ended by the same means they have bin begun If Henry the Great has had the power to change the form of governing the State by introducing a new Law why has not Lewis the 14th the same power to alter this form and annul whatsoever his predecessor has done But this objection will soon be answer'd by considering it's built upon a false principal and offers a falser consequence It is not the single Authority of Henry the Great which has establish'd the Edict The Edict is a Decree of his Justice and an accord or transaction that past between the Catholicks and the Reformists Authoriz'd by the publick Faith of the whole Estate and seal'd with the seal of an Oath and ratified by the execution of it now this renders the Edict inviolable and sets it above the reach of Henry's Successors and therefore they can be only the Depositaries and Executors of it and not the Masters to make it depend on their wills Henry the Great never employ'd the force of Arms to make the Catholicks consent to it and though since his death under the minority of Lewis the 13th there have bin Assemblies of the States General the Edict has remain'd in full force 't was then as we have already said a fundamental Law of the Kingdom which the King could not touch But supposing this were not a work grounded on the bare Authority of Henry which is false it does not therefore follow that his present Majesty can revoke it The Edict is a Royal Promise which Henry the Great made to the Reformists of his Kingdom as well for himself as his Successors for ever as we have already seen and consequently this is a condition or hereditary Debt charged on himself and Posterity Moreover it is not true that Henry the Great has changed any thing in the Government of the State when he gave Liberty of Conscience to his Subjects for this Liberty is matter of right and more inviolable than all Edicts seeing that it is a right of Nature He has permitted a publick exercise of the Reformed Religion but this exercise was established in the Kingdom before his Edict and if he has enlarged the priviledges of the Reformed as without doubt he has he did not do it without the Consent and Approbation of the State and has herein violated nothing of his lawful engagements But 't is not the same with Lewis the 14th who of his own pure Authority makes a real and fundamental Change against the concurrence of one part of his Estate and without the consulting the other hereby violating his own Engagements those of his Kingdom and even the Laws of Nature too In fine if we consider what means have been used to arrive at the Revocation in question how shall a man not ackowledge the State is sensibly interested therein They are not contented to suppress the Religious Assemblies and to null the Protestants priviledges by unjust Decrees but they also send them Soldiers to dispute points of Religion with them They are Sack't like People taken by Assault forced in their Consciences and for this purpose Hell it self is let loose upon them and this is the effects of a Military and Arbitrary Government regulated neither by Justice Reason nor Humanity Can it be thought that France will be at ease in this manner or that wise people will think this an equitable way of governing There needs only another design another passion to satisfie another vengeance to execute and then wo be to them who shall oppose it for the Dragoons will not forget their Office To these two Reflections which respect the French King and his States we may add a third which will have regard to the Interests of Kings Princes and other powers of Europe as well of one as of the other Religion We shall not be much mistaken if we say that they have a common and general concern herein inasmuch as these skilful Artists in misery do as much as they can to trouble the good understanding that is betwixt them and their People We are perswaded that their wise and just Government will in this respect put them beyond all fear but this hinders not examples of this nature from being always mischievous and naturally tending to beget in the minds of the Vulgar who commonly judge only of things in general suspitions and distrusts of their Soveraigns as if they dream'd of nothing but devouring their Subjects and delivering them up to the Discretion or rather the Fury of their Soldiers The greater moderation and Justice that Princes have the less they are obliged to those who furnish people with matter for such dangerous thoughts which may produce very ill Effects Beside is it not certain that the Princes and States of Europe cannot without a great deal of pleasure see France which makes so great a Figure in the affairs of the World and gives them so powerful an influence now put her self in such a condition as that no just Measures can be taken from her For after so scandalous and publick a violation of the word of three Kings and of the publick Faith what Credit can be given for the future to her Promises or Treaties It will not be sufficient to say that they will have no force but what Interest inspires but that they will hereafter depend on the Interest or Capriciousness of a sort of Heady People that will give nothing either to the Laws of Prudence or Equity but manage all by force If they have had the power to do within the Kingdom what they have lately put in execution what will they not do as to Affairs without If they have not spared their own Country-men with whom they had daily Commerce who were serviceable to them will they spare the unknown Will they have more respect to Truces or Conventions of four days Transaction than to an Edict of an hundred years continuance and that the most August and Solemn that ever was which yet they made no other use of then to amuse a People and to involve them more surely in an utter Desolation Methinks they have resolv'd to bring things to this pass That there being no more Faith to be had in France all her Neighbours should be continually upon their Guard against her and the more so when she promises then when she threatens more in Peace then in War so that there is no more hopes of being at quiet but what the Surety of Hostages or the diminution of her Forces can give This being so in respect of all Princes and States in general what may the Protestant Princes and
condition for the taking some effectual course which he was resolved to do to reunite those again to the Church who upon so slight occasions had withdrawn themselves from it And forasmuch as this Intention of the King our said Grandfather could not be effected by reason of his suddain and precipitated Death and that the Execution of the foresaid Edict was interrupted during the Minority of the late King Our most Honoured Lord and Father of Glorious Memory by reason of some new Enter-prises of those of the pretended Reformed Religion whereby they gave occasion for their being deprived of several Advantages which had been granted to them by the foresaid Edict Notwithstanding the King Our said late Lord and Father according to his wonted Clemency granted them another Edict at Nismes in the Month of July 1629 by means of which the Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom being now again re-established the said late King being animated with the same Spirit and Zeal for Religion as the King our said Grandfather was resolved to make good use of this Tranquility by endeavouring to put this pious design in Execution but Wars abroad coming on a few years after so that from the Year 1635 to the Truce which was concluded with the Princes of Europe in 1684. The Kingdom having been only for some short Intervals altogether free from troubles it was not possible to do any other thing for the advantage of Religion save only to diminish the number of places permitted for the Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion as well by the Interdiction of those which were found erected in prejudice to the disposal made in the said Edict as by suppressing the mix'd Chambers of Judicature which were composed of an equal number of Papists and Protestants the erecting of which was only done by Provision and to serve the present Exigency Whereas therefore at length it hath pleased God to grant that Our Subjects enjoying a perfect Peace and We Our selves being no longer taken up with the cares of protecting them against our Enemies are now in a condition to make good use of the said Truce which we have on purpose facilitated in order to the applying our selves entirely in the searching out of means which might successfully effect and accomplish the design of the Kings our said Grandfather and Father and which also have been our intention ever since we came to the Crown we see at present not without a just acknowledgment of what we owe to God on that account that our endeavours have attain'd the end we proposed to Our selves forasmuch as the greater and better part of our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion have already embraced the Catholick and sice by means thereof the Execution of the Edict of Nantes and of all other Ordinances in favour of the said Pretended Reformed Religion is made useless we judge that we can do nothing better towards the entire effacing of the Memory of those Troubles Confusion and Mischief which the Progress of that false Religion hath been the cause of in Our Kingdom and which have given occasion to the said Edict and to so many other Edicts and Declarations which went before it or were made since with reference thereto than by a total Revocation of the said Edict of Nantes and the perticular Articles and Concessions granted therein and whatsoever else hath been Enacted since in favour of the said Religion I. We mâ—kâ— known that we for these and other Reasons us thereto moving and of uâ—certain Knowledg full Power and Royal Authority have by the present perpetual and irrevocable Edict Suppressd and Annull'd do suppress and annul the Edict of the King our said Grand father given at Nantes in April 1598 in its whole extent together with the particular Arcicles ratified the Second of May next following and Letters Patent granted thereupon as likewise the Edict given at Nismes in July 1629. declaring them null and void as if they had never been Enacted together with all the Concessions granted in them as well as other Declarations Edicts and Arrests to those of the Pretended Reformed Religion of what Nature soever they may be which shall all continue as if they never had been And in pursuance hereof we Will and it is our Pleasure that all the Churches of those of the Pretended Reformed Religion scituate in our Kingdom Countries Lands and Dominions belonging to us be forthwith demolished II. We forbid our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion to Assemble themselves for time to come in order to the Exercise of their Religion in any Place or House under what Pretext soever whether the said places have been granted by the Crown or permitted by the Judges of particular Places any Arrests of our Council for Authorizing and Establishing of the said places for Exercise notwithstanding III. We likewise prohibit all Lords of what condition soever they may be to have any publick Exercise in their Houses and Fiefs of what quality soever the said Fiefs may be upon Penalty to all our said Subjects who shall have the said Exercises performed in their Houses or otherwise of Confiscation of Body and Goods IV. We do strictly Charge and Command all Ministers of the said Pretended Reformed Religion who are not willing to be Converted and to embrace the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion to depart out of our Kingdom and Countries under our Obedience fifteen days after the Publication hereof so as not to continue there beyond the said term or within the same to Preach Exhort or perform any other Ministerial Function upon pain of being sent to the Galleys V. Our Will and Pleasure is that those Ministers who shall be converted do continue to enjoy during their Lives and their Widows after their decease so long as they continue so the same Exemptions from Payments and Quartering of Souldiers which they did enjoy during the time of their Exercise of the Ministerial Function Moreover we will cause to be paid to the said Ministers during their Lives a Pension which by a third Part shall exceed the appointed Allowance to them as Ministers the half of which Pension shall be continued to their Wives after their Decease as long as they shall continue in the state of Widdow hood VI. And in case any of the said Ministers shall be willing to become Advocates or to take the Degree of Doctors in Law we will and Vnderstand that they be dispensedwith as to the three Years of Study which are prescribed by our Declarations as requisite in order to the taking of the said Degree and that after they have pass'd the ordinary Examinations they be forthwith received as Doctors paying only the Moyâ—ty of those dues which are usually paid upon that account in every Vniversity VII We prohibit any particular Schools for instructing the Children of those of the Pretended Reformed Religion and in general all other things whatsoever which may impâ—rt a Concession of what kind soever in favour of the said