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 profound 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 June 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 filling 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 and mortal Enemies of their Persons and of their States They may disguise themselves as they please But 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 Difference 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 second Piece Here is a Declaration hath lain heavy upon them in reference to an infinite number of living Temples who are far 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
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 Jesus 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 fit 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 Justice 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 of 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 Henry 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
satisfie their Consciences in so important an Affair under any less penalty than that of the Amende Honorable perpetual banishment and confiscation 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 repent 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 inflict 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 afterwards 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 June 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 ever 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 their Consistories to suffer 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 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
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 June 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 June 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 Declaration 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 Conversion 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 Expressions upon such kind of Subjects and I doubt
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 Perifix 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 Six days after which was 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 my 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 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