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religion_n	great_a	king_n	majesty_n	3,331	5	6.0086	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49221	The French king's decree against Protestants, prohibiting them the exercise of their religion, &c. to which is added a brief and true account of the cruel persecution and inhumane oppressions of those of the reformed religion to make them abjure and apostatize : together with the form of abjuration the revolting Protestants are to subscribe and swear to, and a declaration of his Electoral Highness of Brandenburgh ... : also a letter from Father La Chese ... to Father Petre ... / newly translated from the French.; Edit de révocation de l'Edit de Nantes. English	France.; Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, 1620-1688.; La Chaise, François d'Aix de, 1624-1709.; Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715.	1689 (1689)	Wing L3117; ESTC R2440	33,019	41

THE French King's DECREE AGAINST Protestants Prohibiting them the Exercise of their Religion c. To which is added A Brief and True Account of the Cruel PERSECVTION and inhumane Oppressions of those of the Reformed Religion to make them Abjure and Apostatize Together with the Form of Abjuration the Revolting Protestants are to Subscribe and Swear to And a Declaration of his Electoral Highness of Brandenburgh in favour of those of the Reformed Religion who shall think fit to settle themselves in any of his Dominions Also a Letter from Father la Chese Confessor to the French King to Father Petre Jesuit and Great Almoner to the King of England upon the Method or Rule he must observe with His Majesty for the Conversion of His Protestant Subjects in England c. Newly Translated from the French. Licensed January 18. 1688 9. London Printed for the Author and Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1689. A Decree of the King Prohibiting all Publick Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion in his Kingdom wherein he Recalls and totally Annuls the perpetual and irrevocable Edict of King Henry IV his Grandfather given at Nantes full of most gracious Concessions to Protestants LEWES by the Grace of God King of France and of Navarre to all present and to come Greeting King Henry the Great Our Grand-Father 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 Foreign Wars might not be disturbed by occasion of the Pretended Reformed Religion as it had been during the Reign 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 condition for the taking some effectual Course which he was resolved to do to re-unite 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 Grand-Father could not be effected by reason of his sudden and precipitated Death and that the Execution of the foresaid Edict was interrupted during the Minority of the late King Our most Honored Lord and Father of glorious Memory by reason of some new Enterprizes 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 aforesaid 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 Grand-Father 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 Mixt 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 to the searching out of Means which might successfully effect and accomplish the Design of the Kings Our said Grand-father and Father and which also hath 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 attained the End We propos'd to Our selves for as much as the greater and better part of Our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion have already embraced the Catholick and since by means thereof the Execution of the Edict of Nantes and of all other Ordinances in favour of the said Pretended Reformed Religion is become useless We judge that We can do nothing better towards the entire effacing of the Memory of those Troubles Confusions and Mischief which the Progress of that false Religion have 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 particular Articles and Concessions granted therein and whatsoever else hath been Enacted since in favour of the said Religion I. We make known that We for these and other Reasons Usthereto moving and of Our certain Knowledge full Power and Authority Royal have by the present Perpetual and Irrevocable Edict Suppressed and Annulled 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 Articles ratified May 2. 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 forth with demolish'd 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

Neither is it any great wonder if amidst these sore Tryals vast numbers of those who made Profession of the Gospel do now Renounce and forsake it We know that all have not Faith and it is more than probable that they who do not follow Christ but because they Thrive by it and for the Loaves will cease to be of his Retinue when he is about to oblige them to bear his Cross and deny themselves But that which seems Inconceivable to me is that our Enemies should pitch upon such strange ways and methods to destroy us as they have done and that in so doing they should meet with a success so prodigious and doleful I shall as briefly as I can endeavour to give you an account of so much as I have understood of it All those thundring Declarations and destructive Arrests which continually were Sued for and obtain'd against us and which were Executed with the Extremity of Rigour were scarce able to move any one of us The forbidding of our Publick Exercises the demolishing of our Churches and the severe Injunction that not so much as Two or Three of us should dare to Assemble in order to any thing of Divine worship had no other effect upon the far greater part of us than to Inflame our Zeal instead of abating it obliging us to Pray to God with greater Fervor and Devotion in our Closets and to Meditate of his Word with greater Application and Attention And neither the great wants to which we were reduced by being depriv'd of our Offices and Imploys and all other means of Living and by those insupportable charges with which they strove to over-whelm us as well by Taxes as the Quartering of Souldiers both which were as heavy as could be laid upon us nor the continual trouble we were put to by Criminal or other matters of Law which at the Suit of one or other were still laid to our charge tho upon the most frivolous and unjust pretences imaginable I say all these were not able to wear out our Patience which was hardned against all Calam●ties insomuch as the design of forcing us to abandon the Truth of the Gospel would Infallibly have been Ship-wrack'd if no other means had been taken in hand for this purpose But Alas Our Enemies were too Ingenious to be bank'd so and had taken out Ruine too much to Heart not to study for means effectual and proper to bring-about their desires They call'd to mind what Prodigious success a new kind of Persecution had had of late Years in Pocton Aunix and Xaintonge which the Intendants of those places had bethought themselves of and they made no difficulty to have Recourse to the same as to a means Infallible and not to be doubted of I must tell you Sir That we had not the least thought that ever such violent Methods as these would have been pitched upon as the means of our Conversion We were always of Opinion that none but Dennuieux's and Marillacs could be fit Instruments for such like Enterprizes neither could we ever have Imagin'd that Generals of Armies who account it a Shame and Reproach to Attack and take some paultry Town or Village should ever debase themselves to Besiege Old Men Women and Children in their own Houses or that ever Souldiers who think themselves ennobled by their Swords should degrade themselves so far as to take up the Trade of Butchers and Hangmen by tormenting poor Innocents and inflicting all sorts of Punishments upon them Moreover we were the less in expectation of any such thing because at the self-same time they Treated us in this manner they would needs perswade us That the King's Councel had disapproved the Design And indeed it seem'd very probably to us that all Reasons whether taken from Humanity Piety or Interest would have made them disavow and condemn a Project so Inhumane and Barbarous Yet now by Experience we find it but too true that our Enemies are so far from rejecting the said Design that they carry it on with an unparell'd Zeal and Application without giving themselves any further trouble to effectuate their Desires than that of doing these two things The First of which was to Lull us asleep and to take away from us all matter of Suspition of the mischief they were hatching against us which they did by permitting some of our Publick Exercises of Religion by giving way to our Building of some Churches by settling Ministers in divers places to Baptize our Children and by publishing several Arrests and Declarations which did intimate to us that we had reason to hope we should yet Subsist for some Years Such was that Declaration by which all Ministers were ordered to change their Churches every three years The other was to secure all the Sea-Ports of the Kingdom so as none might make their escape which was done by renewing the Antient Prohibitions of departing the Kingdom without leave but with the addition of far more severe Penalties After these precautions thus taken they thought themselves no longer oblig'd to keep any measures but immediately lift up the hand to give the last blow for our Ruine The Intendents had order to represent to us That the King was resolved to suffer no other Religion in his Kingdom besides his own and to Command us all in his Name readily to Embrace the same without allowing us any longer respite to consider what we had to do than a few days nay hours threatning us That if we continued obstinate they would force us to it by the extremity of Rigour and presently Executing these their Menaces by filling our Houses with Souldiers to whom we were to be left for a Prey and who not content with entirely Ruining of us should besides exercise upon our Persons all the Violence and Cruelty they could possibly devise And all this to overcome our Constancy and Perseverance Four Months are now past and gone since they began to make use of this strange and horrible way of Converting People worthy of and well becoming its Inventors The Country of Bearne was first set upon as being one of the most considerable Out-parts of the Kingdom to the end that this mischievous enterprize gaining strength in its passage might soon after over-whelm and as it were deluge all the other Provinces in the same Sea of the uttermost calamity Monsieur Foucaut the Intendant went himself in Person to all the places where we were in any numbers and commanded all the Inhabitants that were of the Protestant Religion under the Penalty of great amercements to Assemble themselves in those places he appointed to them where being accordingly met together he charged them in the Kings Name to change their Religion allowing them only a day or two to dispose themselves for it He told them The great numbers of Souldiers were at hand to compel those that should refuse to yield a ready obedience and this threatning of his being immediately followed by the Effect as Lightning is by Thunder

Some of the most strong and vigorous Souldiers took their Hosts or other persons of the House and walk'd them up and down in some Chamber continually tickling them and tossing them like a Ball from one to another without giving them the least Intermission and keeping them in this condition for three daies and nights together without Meat Drink or Sleep When they were so wearied and fainting that they could no longer stand upon their Legs they laid them on a Bed continuing as before to Tickle and Torment them after some time when they thought them somewhat recovered they made them rise and walked them up and down as before sometimes Tickling and other times Lashing them with Rods to keep them from Sleeping As soon as one Party of these Barbarous Tormenters were tyred and wearied out they were Relieved by others of their Companions who coming fresh to the Work with greater Vigour and Violence reiterated the same Course By this Infernal Invention which they had formerly made use of with success in Bearn and other places many went Dictracted and others became Mopish and Stupid and remain so Those who made their Escape were fain to abandon their Estates yea their Wives Children and Aged Relations to the Mercy of these Barbarous and more than Savage Troops The same Cruelties were acted at Negreplisse a City near to Montauban where these Bloody Emissaries committed unparallel'd Outrages Isaac Favin a Citizen of that Place was hung up by his Arm-pits and tormented a whole Night by pinching and tearing off his Flesh with Pincers though by all this they were not able to shake his Constancy in the least The Wife of one Rouffion a Joyner being violently dragg'd by the Souldiers along the Streets for to force her to hear Mass dyed of this cruel and inhumane Treatment as soon as she reach'd the Church Porch Amongst other their Devilish Inventions this was one They made a great Fire round about a Boy of about Ten Years of Age who continually with Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven cryed My God help me and when they saw the Lad resolved to Dye so rather than renounce his Religion they snatch'd him from the Fire when he was at the very point of being Burnt The Cities of Caussade Realville St. Anthonin and other Towns and Places in the Upper Guinne met with the same Entertainment as well as Bergerac and many other Places of Perigord and of the Lower Guinne which had a like share of these cruel and inhumane Usages The forementioned Troops marched at last to Castres to commit the same Insolencies and Barbarities there also And it is not to be doubted but that they will continue and carry on the same course of Cruelties where ever they go if God in Pity and Compassion to his People do not restrain them It is to be feared for it seems but too probable that this dreadful Persecution in conjunction with those Artifices the Papists make use of to disguise their Religion and to perswade Protestants that they shall be suffered to Worship God as formerly will make many to comply with them or at least make their Mouths give their Hearts the Lye in hopes of being by this means put into a condition to make their escapes and returning to that Profession which their weakness hath made them deny But Alas this is not all for those poor Wretches whom by these Devilish ways of theirs they have made to Blaspheme and Abjure their Religion as if this were not enough must now become the Persecutors and Tormentors of their own Wives and Children for to oblige and force them to Renounce also for they are threatned that if within three days time they do not make their whole Family Recant in like manner those rough Apostles the Dragoons shall be fain to take further pains with them in order to the perfecting of their Conversion And who after all this can have the least doubt but that these unhappy Dragoons are the very Emissaries of Hell whose very last Efforts and Death struglings these seem to be This Relation hath given a short view of some of those Sufferings the Reformed have undergone but not of all It is certain that in divers places they have tryed to wear out their Patience and overcome their Constancy by applying Red-hot Irons to the Hands and Feet of Men and to the Breasts of Women At Nantes they hung up several Women and Maids by their Feet and others by their Arm-pits and that stark Naked thus exposing them to publick View which assuredly is the most cruel and exquisite Suffering can befall that Sex because in this case their Shamefac'dness and Modesty is most sensibly touched which is the most tender part of their Soul. They have bound Mothers that gave Suck unto Posts and let their little Infants lye Languishing in their sight without being suffered to Suckle them for several days and all this while left them crying moaning and gasping for Life and even Dying for Hunger Thirst that by this means they might Vanquish the Constancy of their Tender-hearted Mothers Swearing to them they would never permit they should give them Suck till they promised to Renounce their Profession of the Gospel They have taken Children of Four or Five Years of Age and kept them from Meat and Drink for some time and when they have heen ready to faint away and give up the Ghost they have brought them before their Parents and horribly Asseverated that except they would Turn they must prepare themselves to see their Children Languish and Dye in their presence Some they have bound before a great Fire and being half Roasted have after let them go They beat Men and Women outragiously they drag them along the Streets and Torment them day and night The ordinary way they took was to give them no rest for the Souldiers do continually Relieve one another for to Drag Beat Torment and Toss up and down these Miserable Wretches without Intermission If it happen that any by their Patience and Constancy do stand it out and Triumph over all the Rage and Fury of those Dragoons they go to their Commander and acquaint him they have done all they could but yet without the desired success who in a Barbarous and Surly Tone answers them You must return upon them and do worse than you have done the King Commands it either they must Turn or I must Burst and Perish in the Attempt These are the pleasant Flowry Paths by which the Papists allure Protestants to return to the Bosome of their Church But some it may be will object You make a great noise about a small matter all Protestants have not been exposed to these Cruelties but only some few obstinate Persons Well I will suppose so but yet the Horror of those Torments Inflicted on some hath so fill'd the Imagination of these Miserable Wretches that the very thoughts of them hath made them comply it is indeed a Weakness of which we are ashamed

their Inclinations and which of them we make use of that by a Parallel which you will make between them and your English Lords you may learn to know them Therefore I shall begin with the Chief I mean our great Monarch It is certain that he is naturally good and loves not to do Evil unless desir'd to do it This being so I may say he never would have undertaken the Conversion of his Subjects without the Clergy of France and without our Societies Correspondence abroad He is a Prince enlightned who very well observes that what we put him upon is contrary to his Interest and that nothing is more opposite to his Great Designs and his Glory he aiming to be the Terror of all Europe The vast number of Malecontents he has caused in his Kingdom forces him in time of Peace to keep three times more Forces than his Ancestors did in the greatest Domestick and Foreign Wars which cannot be done without a prodigious Expence The Peoples fears also begin to lessen as to his Aspiring to an Universal Monarchy and they may assure themselves he has left those thoughts nothing being more opposite to his Designs than the Method we enjoyn him His Candor Bounty and Toleration to the Hereticks would undoubtedly have open'd the doors of the Low Countries Palatinate and all other States on the Rhine and even of Switzerland whereas things are at present so alter'd that we see the Hollanders free from any fear of danger the Switzers and City of Geneva resolv'd to lose the last drop of their Blood in their defence besides some diversion we may expect from the Empire in case we cannot hinder a Peace with the Turks which ought to hasten his Britannick Majesty while he can be assured of Succors from the most Christian King. Sir his Majesties Brother is alwaies the same I mean takes no notice of what passes at Court. It has sometimes happen'd the King's Brothers have acted so as to be noted in the State but this we may be assur'd will never do any thing to stain the glory of his Submission and Obedience and is willing to lend a helping hand for the Destruction of the Hereticks which appears by the instances he makes to his Majesty who now has promised him to cause his Troops to enter into the Palatinate the next Month. The Dauphin is passionately given up to Hunting and little regards the Conversion of Souls and it does not seem easie to make him penetrate into business of Moment and therefore we do not care to consult him which way and how the Hereticks ought to be Treated He openly laughs at us and slights all the Designs of which the King his Father makes great account The Dauphiness is extreamly witty and is without doubt uneasie to shew it in other matters besides Complements of Conversation She has given me a Letter for the Queen of England wherein after her expression of the part she bears on the News of her Majesties being with Child she gives her several advices about the Conversion of her Subjects Most Reverend Father She is undoubtedly born a great enemy to the Protestants and has promoted all she could with his Majesty in all that has been done to hasten their Ruin especially having been bred in a Court of our Society and of a House whose hatred against the Protestant Religion is Heraditary because she has been raised up by the Ruine of the German Protestant Princes especially that of the Palatinate But the King having caused her to come to make Heirs to the Crown she answers expectation to the utmost Monsieur Louvois is a Man who very much observes his duty which he performs to admiration and to whom we must acknowledge France owes part of the glory it has hitherto gained both in regard of its Conquests as also the Conversion of Hereticks to which latter I may say he has contributed as much as the King he has already shewed himself Fierce Wrathful and Hardhearted in his Actions towards them though he is not naturally inclin'd to Cruelty nor to harrass the people His Brother the Archbishop of Rheins has ways which do not much differ from those of his Soul and all the difference I find between is That the Archbishop loves his own glory as much os Monsieur de Louvois loves that of his Majesty He is his own Idol and give him but Incense and you may obtain any thing Honour is welcome to him let it come which way it will. The least thing provokes this Prelate and he will not yield any thing deregetary to his Paternity He will seem Learned he will seem a great Theologian and will seem to be a good Bishop and to have a great care of his Diocess and would heretofore seem a great Preacher I have hinted in my last the Reasons why I cannot altogether like him which are needless to repeat The Archbishop of Paris is always the same I mean a gallant man whose present Conversation is charming and loves his pleasures but cannot bear any thing that grieves or gives trouble though he is always a great enemy of the Jansenists which he lately intimated to Cardinal Camus He is always with me in the Council of Conscience and agrees very well with our Society laying mostly to Heart the Conversion of the Protestants of the three Kingdoms He also makes very good Observations and designs to give some Advice to your Reverence which I shall convey to you I do sometimes impart to him what you write to me My Lord Kingston has embrac'd our good Party I was present when he Abjur'd in the Church of St. Denys I will give you the Circumstances some other time You promised to send me the Names of all heretick Officers who are in his Majesties Troops that much imports me and you shall not want good Catholick Officers to fill up their places I have drawn a List of them who are to pass into England and his most Christian Majesty approves thereof Pray observe what I hinted to you in my last on the Subject of the Visits which our Fathers must give to the Chief Lords Members of the next Parliament those Reverend Fathers who are to perform that duty must be middle-aged with a lively Countenance and fit to perswade I also advised you in some of my other Letters how the Bishop of Oxford ought to behave himself by Writing incessantly and to insinuate into the people the putting down the Test and at the same time cal● the storm which the Letter of Pensionary Fagel has raised And his Majesty must continue to make vigorous Prohibitions to all Booksellers in London not to print any Answers as well to put a stop to the Insolency of Heretick Authors as also to hinder the people from Reading them In short you intimate to me That his Majesty will follow our Advice It 's the quickest way and I cannot find a better or fitter to dispossess his Subjects from such Impressions as they