for a pretence to â—ish in troubled Waters But if there happened to be any sincere Protestants who were drawn in by these Hypocrites to take up Arms with them as it is not to be doubted they did it not in pursuit of the Principles of their Religion which is point-blanck against such proceedings but out of too great a fear of Death or something worse through a usual Infirmity of Nature from which the best of Christians are not wholly exempt The first need no defence the second deserve it not and the third sort plead their fear the rather because just as it were easie to prove as well as their repentance As the first are they that held to the true Principles of their Religion it is but reasonble that we should make our judgment of the French Protestants from their behaviour The second as they did but act a part and were Impostors there is no reason their Extravagancies and Rebellions should be charged upon the true Protestants who disown their Fraternity And because the third falled out of weakness it is the duty of a Christian Compassion and the sense of our own Infirmities to forget and forgive their Failures I propose nothing in all this but upon the most authentick Authority that could be wished for upon such an occasion it is a Declaration of Lewis XIII given at Bourdeaux the 10th of November 1615. upon the joyning of the Protestants with the Prince of Condè Many says this King speaking of the Protestants of his Kingdom have taken up Arms against us to assist the Commotion begun by our Cousin the Prince of Condè amongst which there are that use Religion only for a better Pretence to conceal their Ambition and extream thirst of bettering themselves by the disturbance and ruine of the State and the rest have been Cheated and Imposed upon by false suggestions and vain fears that the former sort have put into their heads as if there were no avoiding Persecution but presently to take up Arms with them in their own defence making them believe the better to work upon their easiness That in the private Article upon the Match with Spain it was agreed and covenanted to drive them out of the Kingdom or wholly to destroy them which they being too forward to believe have run into this Engagement out of a conceit that they are forced to it in their own defence which makes their Fault pardonable and worthy rather of Pity than Punishment But these tricks have not prevailed or seduced the wiser and better sort who profess the same Religion purely out of Conscience as expecting to be Saved by it and not to promote a Faction who to a considerable number as well Lords Gentlemen Towns Corporations as other private persons of all qualities condemn and abhor the wickedness and rashness of their attempt and have publickly declared by word of mouth and writing That it ought to be esteemed as neither more nor less than a down-right Rebellion c. We have declared and ordained and do declare and ordain upon Consideration and in favour to the Loyalty which has been observed towards us by an infinite number of our good Subjects of the said Religion amongst which there are of the chiefest and best Quality who deserve a special Proof of our Good-Will That what has been committed by those of the same Religion who have taken up Arms against us or that have in any manner aided or assisted them have likewise the favour of our Edicts and that they share in this Grace as if they had always continued in their Duty c. This same King would by no means have the least Reproach lie upon those Protestants whose Fault he had declared Pardonable though they had joined with the Prince of Condè For when they came to consider ' all things for appeasing these first troubles he owns them for his faithful Subjects and maintains all they had done as done for his Service It is in Article XVII of the Edict of Blois in the Year 1616. and by your leave I will read you the Article That there may be no question of the good intention of our dearest Couâ—in the Prince of Condè and of those that joyned with him we declare That we hold and esteem our said Cousin the Prince of Condè to be our good Kinsman and faithful Subject and Servant as likewise the other Princes Dukâ—s Peers Oâ—ficers of our Crown Lords Gentlemen Towns Communalties and others as well Catholicks as those of the pretended Reformed Religion of what quality or condition soever that have assisted joined and united themselves with him either before or during the Cessation of Arms understanding also thereby the Deputies of the prâ—tended Reformed Religion lately assembled at Nismes and now at our City of Rochel to be our good and Loyal Subjects and Servants And having seen the Declaration addressed to us by our said Cousin the Prince of Condè We believe and look upon what was done by him and the aforenamed to have been done for a good end and purpose and for our Service In all the following troubles the same distinction is to be made The whole Body of Protestants was never engaged in them the greater and more sober part always kept to their Obedience and Duty in despite of all the Injuries that were done them They were contented to encounter God and their â—ing with Tears and Prayers or if they were seen in Arms it was in the Armies and under the Standards of their King whil'st they that were not Protestants but in shew made all the stirs which they unjustly impute to the true Protestants of which if any were drawn in by the insinuation of several disaffected persons and through impatience of the unjust Severities they were treated with against the Engagement of the Edicts to defend themselves by force of Arms their Religion which is from Jesus Christ never allowed it in opposition to their Superiors But after all it was but a small number of the Protestants that gave in to those rough Provocations they then lay under In so doing they departed from the Principles of the Protestant Religion Their own Brethren an inâ—inite number of them have condemned them for it true Christians are pardon'd daily for faults committed upon far more flight motives The King himself that then Reigned has determined That the cause of their taking up Arms which was undoubtedly a very just grievance as well as a sudden terror made their Crime pardonable and rather deserving Pity than Punishment However to lay the fault of particular Men upon the whole Body or the Protestant Religion it self as their Enemies do every day is as if we should charge the whole Church and Romish Religion with the Faults of those Papists who to a very great number followed either the late Prince of Condè in the troubles of the year 1615. or the Queen-Mother Mary de Medicis in those of the year 1620. or the present Prince
mean no more by this their exception than what all Mankind ought to think in this matter if they have the fear of God before their eyes viz. That as God is King of Kings and by consequence to whom our Princes and we owe an indispensible Obedience without any reserve we must never admit of a dispute between the one and the other to obey the Orders of the Prince when they are contrary to those of God Provided the Soveraignty of God be kept inviolable that is to the end we diminish not the Soveraign power of God but that God be always owned for the King of all Kings it is absolutely necessary that in such a contrariety between his orders and that of the Prince we prefer his without any manner of hesitation To do otherwise would be to place the Prince in God's stead and so make an Idol of him This is all the Protestants would say But then I asked our Friend what would they have the Subjects do upon such occasions especially if Princes proceed to violence and punishing thereby to make themselves be obeyed with preference to God Methinks says he they explain themselves clearly enough when they say We ought to bear the yoke of subjection with a chearful and good will though our Princes were Infidels For an Infidel Prince signifies here a Prince that in his Laws and in his practice is opposite to the appointments of God is an eneâ—y and so a persecutor of the true Religion whenever he has a fair opportunity and is so disposed To say then as do the Protestants in their Confession of Faith that although Princes were Infidels we ought to bear the yoke of subjection is it not to declare it to be the duty of subjects to suffer quietly whatever their Prince pleases to inflict upon them Indeed they do not mean that we should execâ—te the commands of Princes when they are contrary to the commands of God but on the other side they are not for casting off their Allegiance upon pretence that their Prince does not herein do his duty and is unjustly sâ—vere to them Whence it is plain from the Doctrine of the French Protestants that Christian Subjects upon these unhappy occasions ought to continue alike faithful to their God and to their Prince to their God in being careful to observe his Statutes in the midst of all the threats and outrages of men to their Prince by suffering with all humility and Christian patience whatever is imposed upon them either to torture their Conscience or force them to renounce their holy Religion Their worthy Calvin makes it evident that this was his opinion when from what the Scripture ordains to honor and â—ear the King he concludes that Christians are obliged to reverence even in the person of a Tyrant the mighty Character with which it hath pleased God to honor Crowned Heads For a Tyrant is an unjust and cruel Prince who thirsts after the Blood of his people and is always invading their Goods or Life or good Name Therefore when Calvin teaches that Christians ought to pay respect even in the person of these sort of Princes this mighty Character with which it hath pleased God to honor Kings it shews plainly that in his judgment whatever wrong or oppression a Prince commits upon his Subjects they remain always under an indispensible obligation of being subject to his Scepter so far from ever having a right to take up Arms to depose him or to set force against force It is the same which Mâ—ses Amyraldus that famous Protestant of Saumur proves at large in his Discourse of the power of Kings upon the occasion of those unhappy Troubles which had so fatal an end and so reproachful to the Nation He mâ—kes it appear by undeniable proofs that nothing can be more pernicious to mankind more against the Word of God nor more opposite to the practice of Jesus Christ that of his Apostles the behaviour of the Primitive Christians and the very genius of Christianity than to assert a right for subjects to take up Arms against their King upon any pretence or ground whatever And it will not be amiss that I thereupon read to you a passage or two out of the Letter of the learned Bochart Minister of Caën to Doctor Morley Bishop of Winchester If one had any right to arraign a King says he why not Saul who had twice revolted from God who had slain with the edge of the sword a whole Town of the Priests of the Lord who had taken away Davids wife by force and given her to another and sought his innocent life after so many eminent Services done the State by this young Prince and who could pretend more to it than David who was appointed by God anointed and consecrated to the Government of Israel Yet David who was a Prophet and a man after Gods own heart was of another mind as we are assured by Holy Writ Saul seeking him in the desarts went alone into a Caâ— where David lay hid who finding him in such a condition might as â—asily have killed him as Macrinus did Carcalla Nay one would think he ought not to have omitted so fair an occasion of ridding himself of his enemy especially when he was in a manner constrained to it by his own Souldiers who minded him of the Prophetick Promise God had made him to deliver his Enemy into his hand But he calmly disswades them by a sober reply to attempt nothing against Saul The Lord forbid says he that I should do this thing to my master the Lords anointed to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the Lord that is to say A man that God has set apart for so Sacred and Divine a Charge if he make ill use of it as did Saul and such like nevertheless as he is a King he ought to be exempt from all Civil Punishment and left to the judgment of the last day In another place this Learned Person lays down for a Maxim That against the oppression of a King there is no humane remedy He maintains likewise That when Kings abuse their Power and treat ill their Subjects all ought to be remitted to Gods Iudgment-seat and in the mean time to have recourse to our Tears and Prayers which are saith he the weapons of a true Christian. Thus the Author of the Books called Les derniers efforts de Pinnocence assligè the last attempts of persecuted innocence who is a French Protestant very well known to the World and my particular Friend takes it for a Religious Principle and that which bears the Charactâ—r of the ancient Christian Moral That the King is Master of the exteriour part of Religion that if he will suffer none but his own if we cannot conform we ought to die without resistance because the true Religion is not to employ the Arm of Flesh to establish it in a flourishing condition That Princes become very guilty when they oppose
by force the setling of the true Religion but they are to answer to none but God for it This is Sir says our Friend the true sense of the French Protestants in this important Affaiâ— I could make it out by a thousand more witnesses of credit if it were needful And I am well assured that after so many pregnant Testimonies there is no reasonable person can be offended at their Confession of Faith Therefore let us go to your other Objections I would with all my heart said I but that it is so late And besides I would be glad to make my Objections stronger by running over a new Book which the Enemies of the French Protestants make a great noise with in England and put it into the hands of all our people of Quality to prejudice them against these poor Protestants It is the History of Calvinism by Monsieur Maimbourg a Secularised Jesuit If you will take my word let us put it off till this day sevennight Be it so says our Friend and so we parted This shall be also the end of my Letter I am Sir Yours c. The fourth Letter The Protestant Loyalty vindicated against Maimbourg SIR I Failed not to be at our Friends Chamber at the time appointed Well says he so soon as we were sat down What do you say of our Secularized Jesuit and his Book I told him his Book smelt strong of a Libel And as for him he is a man so full of Equivocation that he will hardly ever forget his former profession He would fain have us believe that his design is to make a Satyr against the French Protestants whom he charges at random with many crimes and yet when he comes to cast up his reckoning one would swear he set Pen to paper for no other end but to write in their praise and to let after-ages know That the Huguenots or Calvinists as he is pleased to call them were far honester men and better Christians than their enemies the Papists For what is it he omits for the advantage of those he himself acknowledges to be true Protestants Lewis de Bourbon Prince of Condè had a strength of parts a constancy and greatness of mind worthy his high Quality of Prince of the Blood He had the courage of a Hero and as much Wit as Valour He had a largeness of Soul and of Understanding equal to the greatest men of former ages and ought to be reckoned amongst the chiefest Men of the Royal house of Bourbon had he not spoiled so many rare Qualities which made him one of the most beloved men in the World by unfortunately dying a Huguenot The Lady de Roye his Mother-in-law and Eleonor de Roye his Wife were both very wise Women couragious and of great vertue but both these likewise the most zealous and resolute Huguenots of their time Cardinal Odet the elder of the three Brothers of Coligny was one of the handsomest men in France and who got the greatest love and esteem of any man at Court for his Wit and Learning for his Prudence and Ability in the management of Affairs for his sweet and obliging Deportment and for his magnificence and wonderful generosity He had certainly been one of the greatest and most accomplished Prelates of the Kingdom had he not disgraced his Coat and Character by Heresie in becoming a Calvinist The Chancellor Michael de L'Hospital was a man of extraordinary merit It is not to be denyed but that he was one of the most considerable men of his time in all curious and substantial knowledge and in all the perfections of Moral Virtues But after all this we neither can nor ought to conceal what eclipsed the beauty of so many raâ—e Endowments which was that he openly countenanced Calvinism Iaâ—es du Bosc of Esmendreville second President in the Court of Aids of the Parliament of Roüen a Man of high Birth and great Worth disgraced all his good Qualities by an obstinate adherence to the Huguenot party Francis de la Noüe surnamed Bras de Fer was one of the bravest men of his time as he has evinced by a thousand noble Exploits He was not only equal to the Stoutest but to the wisest and most knowing Commanders of old Iasper de Coligny Admiral of France a Man of Method Wit and Courage quick and watchful bold a good Souldieâ— and great Captain was almost the only person that was a good Huguenot amongst all the people of Quality on his side Now we must know what Monsieur Maimbourgh means by a good Huguenot He explains himself very clearly in that passage where he commends the Queen of Nuvar Mother to Henry the Fourth These are the words She was a Princess that besides the perfections of her Body had so great a Soul so much Courage and Wit that she had deserved the glorious Title of the Heroess of her time had not Heresie which though at first she was hardly brought too yet at last she cleaved to with an unmoveable Resolution been so great a blot in her Scotcheon However we must allow her to have been a good Huguenot living up in all appearance to the greatest Piety and Regularity For as to the other great Persons of this Sect except the Admiral they only carryed the name of Calvinists not very well knowing what they were themselves and to speak truly the Court was then very corrupt where there was little difference between Catholick and Huguenot but that the one went not to Mass nor the other to a Sermon As to any thing else they agreed vâ—ry well the one with the other for the most part having no Religion at all either in Devotion or the fear of God which this Queen Iean d' Albret bewails in one of her Letters Whence it appears That according to Monsieur Maimbourg to be a good Huguenot is to lead a virtuous Life contrary to that of a debâ—uched Court to be very devout in the fear of God and to grieve for the corruption of the Age. This is the notion he gives us of the true French Protestants whom he calls The good Huguenots He is very far from giving so advantageous a Character to those zealous Catholicks whom he makes the Bulwark of his Church against the pretended Heresie of the Protestants He affects the contemptuous compellation of little King when he speaks of Francis the Second of whom he says in another place That he had conceived so great a prejudice against the Huguenots that he bound himself under a solemn Oath to drive them all out of the Kingdom The Reign of the little King Francis The little King Francis being dead c. At the death of the little King Francis c. And what doth he not say of the Queen Katharine de Medicis the other scourge of the Calvinian Heresie He has represented her as the most wicked of all Women As he says She had Principles that favour'd
then either Mezeray or Monsieur Maimbourg who makes here a great deal of noise about a very inconsiderable business Whatever it was the Constable thought fit to have the King conveyed speedily to Paris through By-ways with a strong party which brought him thither the same day without any hazard and all the rest of the Army got thither the next day This is the truth of the business of Meaux which Monsieur Maimbourg calls a terrible Conspiracy of the Prince of Condè against the Sacred Person of his Soveraign Lord the King He has the impudence to call those Wicked Arms which were taken up for no other end but to preserve to France the Noble Blood of the Bourbons which at this day does it so much honor and which a Conspiracy of cruel and unreasonable Adversaries were at the very point of spilling to the last drop that they might afterwards usurp to themselves the right of the Heirs of the House Is it that Monsieur Maimbourg would have had all this Noble House extinct and that the Guises who pretend to come from Charlemain should have possessed the Throne at this day In good truth his King is much beholding to him Thus then it is that he begins to observe what he promises in his Advertisement To serve his gracious Protector with more warmth zeal and freedom than ever You must give me leave says I smiling to give a check here to the carier of your Victory Monsieur Maimbourg is very unjust to attribute to the genius of the Reformed Religion of France the outrages of Subjects Rebellion against their Prince You have beyond dispute shewed the contrary in our former Conference from their Confession of Faith the Prayers in their Liturgy and from what their most Famous Doctors have taught publickly Therefore when our Jesuit for his change of Habit does not hinder but that we have still too much cause to call him by this name charges the Protestant Religion to which unjustly he imputes Heresie with Inspiring Rebellions and Outrages he gives us a cast of his office to put the sham upon us well knowing what the Jâ—suits Religion is really guilty of in this point and to augment the displeasure of his King against the poor Huguenots the most faithful of his Subjects But setting aside this Jesuitical pliableness and malice tell me a little Do you think this action of the Prince of Condè very regular to shew himself before the King in Arms as if he would wrest from him by force that Justice which was denyed him I will allow that his enemies had sworn his ruine and that of all the Protestants of France I cannot question it after all those proofs which you have brought I will allow besides that the Six thousand Suisses which environed the King had never been raised nor kept up but to be the Executioners of this unjust and bloody Design should a Subject endeavor to cut them off even before his Soveraigns eyes who secured them by his Royal Authority Was not this to invade that Soveraign Authority which ought never to be touched by any Subject In a word this attempt of the Prince is it not point blanck contrary to the Maxims of the Protestant Religion of France as you have represented it to me That we ought never to repel force by force when it is our Soveraign that does the wrong I am very glad says our Friend that you have made this Objection it will give me occasion to say somthing that will help to clear all that they reproach the Huguenots with till the Reign of Lewis the Thirteenth 1. All that pretend to be Protestants are not so Monsieur Maimbourg himself is of the same opinion And it is a shameful Injustice to make the Religion answerable for the miscarriages of those that are a disgrace to it and that make it appear by leading a life quite contrary to its maxims and instructions that they are not its followers but its enemies This is the Injustice Monseiur Maimbourg does to the Protestant Religion in every Page of his Libel For example he imputes to it the beastly and barbarous behavior of the Baron des Adrets though he himself acknowleâ—ges he was a man of no Religion far from being what he elsewhere calls a good Huguenot a man truly devoted to the Principles of the Protestant Religion who breathes nothing but piety towards God and love and bounty towards his Neighbor He likewise imputes to it the Exploit of certain seditious Fellows that coyned Silver Money with the Princes stamp and this Inscription in Latin Ludov. XIII Rex Franc. I cannot tell whether what he says of this Coyn be true I have not the Book by me which he quotes De Thou and Mezeray who are otherwise so exact and curious speak not a word of it And considering the hatred that has always been against the Huguenots they would in all probability have kept some of this Coyn very carefully to have stopt their mouths as often as they should reproach the Papists with the several attempts they had made against Kings However it be if the Story be true they that caused such money to be coyned are wicked Wretches and have most insolently transgressed the 39th and 40th Articles of the Confession of Faith made by the Reformed Church of France So that the true French Protestants are so far from owning them for their Brethren that they detest them as utter Enemies to their holy Religion In general all they that have failed in the respect which is due to Potentates having thereby acted contrary to the Principles of the Reformed Religion cannot be reckoned among the true Protestants It is therefore an idle thing to reproach us with the Extravagancies and Enterprises of such men We have nothing to do with them And if the Prince of Condè was no otherwise a Protestant than as Monsieur Maimbourg would maliciously insinuate if under a false pretence of Religion to deceive a simple people that put great confidence in him he concealed a Criminal Revenge and Ambition the honest Huguenots disown him and it would be an unconscionable thing to make them guilty of what this Prince had committed when at the same time he must have declared himself an enemy to their Religion by having violated after such a manner their Confession of Faith in so essential a Point But God forbid we should have so ill an Opinion of this Hero as Monsieur Maimbourg would perswade us to Mezâ—ray himself assures us that the Prince was sincere an enemy to cheats and treacheries and abhorred to do an ill thing He was then doubtless what he desired that men should take him for a true Protestant which is to say a good Christian. 2. But the best Christians have their faults Wherefore there is no man that does not sometimes yield to the temptations offered him And when wâ— know the temptations to be strong as no doubt they are
directed by the Laws and Customs of the Country Had the business succeeded it had been easie for the Prince and his Friends to have excused to the King this indecent Violence and justified by the event of the sincerity of their Intentions in the same manner as by the event it proved that when Charles the Seventh whil'st he was Dauphin took up Arms it was neither against the King his Father nor against the Kingdom which was the Example that was brought to resolve the scruples of some of the Prince's Friends who were afraid of the odious Reflections which might be made upon the attempt at Meaux how necessary or innocent soever it might be in it self And Monsieur de Thou who gives us an account of this particular tells us likewise that the design the Prince and his Friends had in arming themselves was to drive from the Helm the Enemies of the publick Peace to undeceive the young King and to settle all things quiet in his Kingdom But I ought to read you the whole Passage since it is in my hand Objiciebatur Cardinalem semper Regi ejusdem c. It was objected that the Cardinal always beset the King and that the Swisses were continually about him whom if they should attack in these Circumstances they would not seem to assault the Cardinal and the Swisses but the King himself This must no doubt draw the utmost envy of all men upon them but the King whose favour they should seek would never forgive them To this d' Andelot who was almost always for the warmest Counsel answered That the intention of the Protestants would be judged by the event as formerly Charles the Seventh when he was yet but Dauphin made it appear to all the World by the conclusion of the War that he fought neither against his Father nor his King Nor indeed could any one imagine that a Body made up of French should conspire their Kings ruine For though we have an account of the Conspiracies of some single persons an universal revolt was never yet heard of But if fortune should favour their first attempts there would be an end of a fatal War which being crush'd at the beginning the enemies of our common repose might be removed from the Government and the King of whom being better informed of things a confirmation of the Edicts might be obtained and a firm peace setled in the Kingdom Here is enough to convince all the World of the Insolence and Malice of Monsieur Maimbourg in treating the renowned Grandfather of the present Prince of Condè so rudely in an attempt which as it had nothing in it contrary either to the Principles of Christian Religion or good Politicks was doubtless every way glorious and deserves the highest commendations The Prince appeared in this a true Hero He comes to the succor of his King and Country and all the honest part of the Kingdom and with five or six hundred men he attempts to cut off the six thousand Swisses who were to be the Tools and Bulwork of a Forain Tyranny He had not failed of success had not the contrivances of the Queen who then favored the enemies of the State disappointed him of the Conquest But God was not yet pleased to give repose to France The King retreats from Meaux to Paris against the advice of the wisest of his Councel And the Prince to hinder the utter ruine of a Party that was the only check to the wicked designs of the House of Lorrain found himself obliged to raise a small Army to give Battle at St. Dennis to besiege and to take several Towns But the deep respect he had for his King made him and all his party lay down their Arms at a time when he was just ready to take the Town of Chartres and to have reduced all the enemies of the State So soon as ever they proposed any safety for his Person and for the security of his faithful Protestants who were the only true Supports of the Crown against the ambition of the Guises he immediately quitted all his Advantages and accepted of the Peace which was offered him This was the substance of the Articles says Mezeray That they should fully and peaceably enjoy the Edict of Ianuary without any Qualification or Restriction whatever That they should be put and maintained under the Kings protection as to their Estates Honor and Priviledges That the King would esteem the Prince for his good Kinsman and his loyal Subject and Servant and all those that followed him for good and loyal Subjects You see now what this business of Meaux was with the Consequences of it that Monsieur Maimbourg has made such ado about so as to make it pass with the affair of Amboise for horrible Conspiracies which the Huguenots have contrived against the Kings of France To hinder the Princes of the House of Guise from usurping the Crown of the French Kings and taking it from Lewis the Fourteenth in the person of his Predecessors and destroying the whole Race of the Bourbons must pass according to this man for contriving horrible Conspiracies against the Kings of France Thus It is that he courts his Hero and complements the present Prince of Condè But what does he mean said I to our Friend when he says moreover Not to speak of their cruel Rebellions that have cost France so much blood and the mischievous intelligences they have held with the enemy to rid themselves of the Monarchy and with open face set up a Commonwealth as they have done more than once Our Friend answered me That since he distinguishes this from the pretended Conspiracies of Amboise and Meaux he must by the Rebellions and Plots he Imputes to these Protestants needs mean the other Troubles that happened after these two first to the Reign of Henry the Great and those that were revived in the beginning of the Reign of Lewis the 13th Indeed he accuses them upon this account that contrary to the Treaty they had made the Protestants refused to surrender to the King Sancerre Montauban Milhaud Cahors Albi and Castres but especially Rochel the Rebellion of which Town says he openly maintained by the Heads of the Huguenot party who were resolved to make it their chief place of strength was the true ground of the breach because it would not admit the Garrison which the King would have put in there but received several of the chief Leaders of the Huguenots went on with the Fortifications and gave the Court reason to believe that the Prince and the Admiral were preparing for a War Upon which it was resolved to surprise them and carry them away The Marshal de Tavannes a great Friend to the House of Guise and Confident of Queen Catharine undertook to do the thing whil'st the Prince was at his house called Noyers in Bourgoyne But the matter being discovered just as it was to be executed the Prince made his escape to
Roman Religion in their Dominions Might he not very justly say to the Huguenots says he speaking to the King of France either see that these Princes allow the free exercise of my Religion with them or do not think to have the free exercise of yours and theirs in France If it be expected that we should consider the Edicts which have been here made in your behalf let them shew then the like favour to the Catholicks Monsieur Maimbourg calls this a powerful argument which overthrows the Huguenots But as to that I remit him to the Author of the Critique General of his History He will there find his dream entertained as it deserves It is sufficient for my purpose to let you see that what the Author of the Policy of the Clergy urges to prove that the Papists upon account of the principles of their Religion are always to be feared in Protestant States is no Poor groundlâ—ss evasion as Monsieur Maimbourg would have us believe And that you may be the better judge of it give me leave to read all that this exellent Author has writ upon the Subject I am confident after you have heard it read you will not less wonder then I do at the confidence of the Jesuite who never appears more positive then where he has least reason So then our friend read to me this following discourse Hugonot Princes cannot allow the same toleration to Catholicks in their States that Catholick Princes can allow to Hugonots because Protestant Princes cannot be assured of the fidelity of their Catholick Subjects by reason they have taken Oaths of fidelity to another Prince whom they look upon as greater than all Kings It is the Pope and this Prince is a sworn â—nemy of the Protestants He obliges the People to believe that a Soveraign turned Heretick has forfeited all the Rights of Soveraignty that they owe him no Obedience that they may with impunity revolt from him that they may fall upon him as an Enemy of the Christian Name even to assassinate him See the Iesuits Morals cap. 3. Book the third And thereupon he cited to me Mariana Carolus Scribanus Ribadinera Tolet Gretser Hereau Amicus Lesâ—ius Valentia Dicatillus and several others that are cited by the Iansenists in the Book of the Jâ—suits Morals and by the Ministers All these Authors said he to me teach conformably to the Divinity of Rome that a Heretick Prince and Excommunicated by the Pope is but a private person against whom Arms may be taken that he may be likewise Assassinated or poysoned He added to this the examples of the many Parricides that have been committed or attempted in pursuance of these Maxims How many times said he would they have Assassinated Queen Elizabeth Prince William of Orange was twice Assassinated and lost his Life the Second time Henry the Third was not he killed by a Iacobin as Excommunicated by the Pope and stript of the Royal Dignity Iohn Chastel did not he attempt the same thing upon Henry the Fourth And did not Ravilliac out of a false Zeal Assassinate him After which he gave me an account of the Gun-powder Plot in England by which in the year 1606. the Catholicks had undertaken to blow up the King and all the Grandees of the Kingdom by a Mine they had made under the Parliament House He told me of the Jesuits Garnet and Oldcorn Chief of that Conspiracy who were put into the number of the Martyrs whether they would or no for the Jesuit Garnet going to Execution some one of his Companions telling him soâ—tly in his Ear that he was going to be a Martyr he answered Nunâ—uâ—m audivi parricidam esse Martyrem I never heard that a Parricide was a Martyr He related to me a hundred scandalous Stories of that nature Amongst others he told me one that extreamly surprized me he read it to me with all its circumstances in a little Book that had been published by an English Minister who calls himself the King of Englands Chaplain Thus it is in short A Divine who had been the Chaplain of King Charles who was beheaded turnd Catholick some time before his Masters Death and the English Jesuits put such confidence in him that they imparted to him a very dreadful thing It was a Consultation allowed of by the Pope about the means of re-establishing the Catholick Religion in England The English Catholicks seeing that the King was a Prisoner in the hands of the Independants formed the Resolution of laying hold on that occasion to dâ—stroy the Protestant and re-establish the Catholick Religion They concluded that the only means of re-establishing the Catholick Religion and of laying aside all the Laws that had been made against it in England was to dispatch the King and destroy Monarchy That they might be authorized and maintained in this great Undertaking they deputed eighteen Father-Jesuits to Rome to demand the Popes advice The matter was agitated in secret Assemblies and it was concluded that it was permitted and just to put the King to Death Those Deputies in their passage through Paris consulted the Sorbonne who without waiting for the Opinion of Rome had judged that that enterprise was just and lawful and upon the return of the Jesuites who had taken the Journey to Rome they communicated to the Sorbonnits the Popes Answer of which several Copies were taken The Deputies who had been at Rome being returned to London confirmed the Catholicks in their Design To compass this point they thrust themselves in amongst the Independants by dissembling their Religion They persuaded those people that the King must be put to Death and it cost that poor Prince his Life some Months after But the Death of King Charles not having had all the Consequences that was hoped and all Europe having cryed out with horrour against the Parricide committed upon the Person of that poor Prince they would have called in again all the Copies that had been made of the Consultation of the Pope and of that of Sorbonne but this English Chaplain who had turned Catholick would not restore his and he has communicated it since the return of the Family of the Stuarts to the Crown of England to several persons who are still alive and were Eye witnesses of what I have now told you Par. I never heard this before But the English Calvinists not Producing any authentick pieces to prove this accusation it may be looked upon as a Calumny Prov. My Hugâ—not Gentleman would not answer for it for he is very just However he added that what rendred it very probable is that this Conduct is a sequel of the Divinity of the zealous Catholicks of Spaim Italy and even of France Morâ—over there are several Circumstancâ—s which render the thing apparent For example he that lately published this story had already once published it in the year 1662 to answer a little Book that insulted over the English Calvinists in that they had put their King to death The
that in words in which his heart gives him the lie And I beseech you consider what he adds to make us believe that the Roman Catholicks have not that belief which the Popes themselves attribute to them So far from that says he that our most Christian Kings who are known alwais to have been the most zealous asserters of the Catholick Faith and the chiefest Protectors of the Holy See to which they have inviolably held in all times notwithstanding all the disputes they have had with some Popes about temporal concerns and the rights of their Crown which they are bound never to relinquish our Kings I say have ever protested against this claim which is grounded upon a Doctrine that all our Doctors have ever condemned as point blanck against the Divine Law To this purpose may be seen the Remonstrances and Protestations which I have said that Charles the Ninth addressed to Pope Pius the Fourth upon the account of Queen Jane of Navarre as obstinate a Heretick as she was What can be said to such childish stuff Is it not an excellent way of arguing The Kings of France do not believe the Pope has that power over them as he challenges to him self therefore it is by no means the belief of the Roman Catholicks that the Pope has such a power so that Princes who are Protestants or protect such as are can be in no danger either of life or Crown from their Popish subjects The Remonstrances and the Protestations which Monsieur Maimbourg makes such a noise with did they prevail that more than half the Papists of France should noâ— rise against their King Henry the Third so soon as ever the Pope had thundred out his â—xcommunication against him This crowd of people of Churchmen and of Fryars who by Monsieur Maimbourg's own confession entred into a League with so much heat against this pooâ— Prince did they not make it appear plainly that the good Catholick subjects take much notice of the particular belief and the weighty Protestations of the French Kings when the Pope has pronounced Anathema The almost perpetual Conspiracies of our Papists against the sacred Majesty of our Kings and against their faithful Subjects are likewise a strong evidence of Monsieur Maimbourg's sound reasoning Do not the Catholicks of England plainly shew that they take these particular decisions of the French Kings for the rule of their Faith and of their practice But this assertion All our Doctors have ever condemned the Doctrine upon which is grounded the claim of Popes against Kings as directly opposite to the Divine Law is such a piece of confidence as it may be never was the like I must confess I could not have believed that what is said of the Jesuitical impudence could have gone thus far What then Is it that Anthony Santarel the Jesuite who has written That a Pope has power to depose Kings discharge their Subjects from the obedience they owe them and deprive them of their Kingdoms for Heresy nay if they governe negligently or are not useful to their Kingdom that Cardinal Bellermin who was likewise a Jesuite and has maintained That the Pope may absolve Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance and deprive Kings of their Dominion that a thousand other Priests of the same Society quoted in the second part of the moral Divinity of the Jesuits ought not to be reckoned among the Doctors of the Church of Rome that Monsieur Maimbourg pronounces so positively All our Doctors have ever condemned this Doctrine as directly opposite to the Divine Law But perchance Monsieur Maimbourg since he left the Society has almost as good an opinion of the Jesuits as their good friend sof the Port Royal No doubt he has taken up the same prejudice which these Gentlemen have done that those Jesuits are no other in the Harvest of the Church than the tares that annoy the good Corne and that they ought not to be reckoned among the Christian Doctors However he ought to have the best intelligence and know them better than any man At least he should not have forgotten that he was informed how the whole Sorbonne in a body declared it self in this point of the same judgment with the Jesuites upon the particular case of Henry the Third He should as little forget that Cardinal du Perron in one of the greatest assemblies of the World maintained with open face not in behalf of the Jesuits but of the whole Clergy of France and as the mouth of all the Prelates of the Kingdom that the Pope has all that power over Kings which the Jeâ—uâ—ts attribute to him Therefore not to sâ—ay longer upon these â—â—â—llings of Monsieur Maimbourg you may easily see says our friend that as much as it is false that the Protestants who abhor all those principles above mentioned are to be suspected by any King of any Religion whatever in whose Dominion they abide so far certain and undeniablâ— is it that Roman-Catholick Subjects of what Countrey soever from the cursed tenents oâ— their Religion ought to be dreaded by their Kings whether Protestants or favourers of such I told our friend interrupting of him that I was already fully satisfied of the second Article neither can I imagine how it is possible that any man in this Kingdom should doubt of it after the no less cleer then convincing proofs that our worthy Bishop of Lincolne has brought in his learned Observations upon the Bull of Pius the Fifth for the pretended Excommunication of our renowned Queen Elizabeth As to the Loyalty and honest intentions of the Protestants of France I am likewise fully satisfied by all that you hâ—ve said And I make no question but they that have been so good Subjects in a Kingdom where their Loyalty has undergon such rough Tryals will be all zeal and flame in the service and for the Honour of our good King who takes them into his Protection with so much charity and compassion But pray tell me before we part what do you think of a little story which Monsieur Maimbourg has printed at the end of his Libell under the Title of The Declaration of the Dutchess of York I could tell you a great many things upon this subject said our friend For I have the whole History of it I have it here in English But to speak particularly to it would force me to discover too many misteries It would carry us a great way and is much more proper for another time I will only tell you that this Declaration was drawn up for quite another person then the late Dutchess of York and it were easie to prove that the greater part of what is there said does not at all sute with this Lady It was from much a different principle to what is reported in this piece that she made so suddain a change of her Religion And they who were by when she lay a dying have testified of quite other thoughts then those they have made
AN APOLOGY FOR THE Protestants of France In Reference to the PERSECUTIONS They are under at this day IN Six LETTERS The First Treats of the Priviledges they have by the Edict of Nantes The Second Gives an Account of some part of the injuries and outrages they do them whereby to force them to change their Religion The Third Proves that their Religion inspires no other principle into them but an unmoveable Loyalty to their Prince The Fourth Iustifies their innocence against the unjust charge of Monsieur Maimbourg The Fifth Defends them in relation to those troubles that fell out in Lewis XIII Reign and the Affair of Rochel The Last Shews that the Papists by the Principles of their Religion are Guilty of all the crimes they wrongfully lay to the Protestants in reference to Kings LONDON Printed for Iohn Holford at the Crown in the Pall-Mall 1683. TO THE READER SEveral accidents have till now hindred the compleating the number of these Letters thô such as make not to our present purpose to relate Only it is fit I should let you know that by the mouth of August last mentioned in the third Letter is to be understood August in the year 1681. But if you would know why I publish these Letters know that the implacable hatred the Persecutours of the French Protestants do pursue these poor people with who have taken Sanctuary under the protection of our good King has made it absolutely necessary For when by all imaginable ways of cruelty they have forced them to a resolution of abandoning their Country and all they have they not only make it the utmost penalty on this side life so much as to attempt a departure but after they are escaped endeavour to prevent their subsisting any where else especially in England Amongst some they are represented as Enemies to our Religion Established thô they desire to be esteemed as Brethren by professing the same Faith and submitting to the same discipline To others they are made appear as a mixt Multitude part Protestant part Papist whereas the strict Examination of their testimonials by the Churches here of their own Nation makes the suggestion impossible But that nothing may be wanting to add affliction to the misery of these poor Fugitives and render them at the same time worse than unprofitable to their Brethren It is suggested to the common people that they come to take the Bread out of their Mouths by over-stocking those populous Manufactures which seem already rather to be overcharged and by surfeiting the Land with people Which Objection if we consider strictly according to interest comes not up to any weight or consideration For many of the Manufactures they bring over are such as we had not before and by consequence of the greatest and most unexceptionable benefit to us Others tho not wholly new yet bring so great improvement to those we had already of the same kind that they do in a manner create a new Manufacture There are likewise that give help to a full Trade that wanted hands before to supply it And now if any are so unfortunate as to bring over such as we are more than fill'd with already I would beg that as men we would consider the common Laws of Humanity and let necessity take place of inconvenience and as Christians to have especial regard to those that are of the Houshold of Faith Now that we should be over-peopled I think there is no danger when no considering man but will allow that our Nation wants more than a Million of people and that no Country is rich but in proportion to its number But be the politick consideration what it will never was there greater objects of Christian Charity and Compassion than these poor people 1. If we look upon the privileges of mankind we shall find them here infringed to the scandal of our being Men not only forced to renounce their thoughts and say the contrary to what at the same time they declare themsevels to believe but having by violence Holy Water cast upon them and dragged at a Horse-tail to Mass they shall be pronounced Roman Catholicks and made to suffer as Relapse if they dare renounce what they never consented to They are neither permitted to live at home nor to go abroad The Holy and Religious Duty as the Papists account it of Confession is prostituted to Oppression and polluted with the intermixture of secular Concerns For the Confessors now in France conjure their Penitents upon pain of Damnation not to conceal any Debt they owe to a Protestant and when revealed immediately they attach it in the Debtors Hands under the same penalty 2. If we consider them as they are Protestants of France never had people greater privileges better settled nor upon juster grounds of which the first Letter will abundantly convince any reasonable person And yet it will appear by the second Letter that no people were ever reduced to a more miserable Estate and lived But that which ought to move an Englishman in all diversities of his passion at once is not only that they are of our Communion but that we are in a manner punished in them For a great inducement to this inhumane Usage not only seems to be but is really owned by Papists to be from the rage they have conceived against us for preventing their bloody and hellish Designs by the exemplary punishment of some Popish Traytors Nay if they durst for shame speak out I am sure they would tell us That since they could not execute their malice upon English Protestants they are resolved to wreak their Revenge upon the French and scourge them for our sakes The three next Letters make good by invincible proofs the innocence of these poor sufferers together with their affection and loyalty to their Soverains And the last shews plainly that the Papists themselves are the real Enemies to all Crowned Heads You will find that I use no Authority for the justification of the French Protestants but what I have taken out of Popish Authours who cannot be suspected of partiality Since the finishing of my last Letter I met with an ingenuous acknowledement of the Gunpowder-Treason-Plot by a Jesuite Who tho he seems to speak with some abhorrence of the Fact and would excuse Garnet and others of his Society does however acknowledge the thing in so Plain a manner as makes all his excuses frivolous You will find the story in a Book Entitled Historia Missionis Anglicanae Soc. Jesu Authore Henrico Moro lib. 7. n. XIX Printed at St. Omers Anno. 1660. THE Present State OF THE PROTESTANTS IN France LETTER I. YOu are not at all mistaken I can now easily satisfie you in what you desire to know concerning the Protestants of France One that is a Friend to us both who is lately come thence hath fully acquainted me with the condition they are in I saw him the day after his arrival and found him ordering his Books and loose Papers which were just
opened After our first Salute I ask'd him what they were They are said he French Books and those Printed Sheets are the new Edicts Declarations and Acts which the King of France hath lately publish'd against the Protestants of his Kingdom I am very happy said I in lighting on you at the opening of your Papers I was extremely impatient of knowing with some certainty what it was drove so many of them from their Native Country and I perceive by the care you have taken to collect all the pieces which concern them that I could not have met any one who might better satisfie my curiosity They come hither in Troops almost every day and the greatest part of them with no other Goods but their Children The King according to his accustomed Goodness hath had pity on them so far as to provide means whereby they may be able to gain their Lively-hood and amongst other things he hath ordered a general Collection for them throughout the Kingdom We were all resolved to answer the charitable Intentions of our Gracious Prince and were beginning to contribute freely But to tell you the truth we were extremely cooled by certain Rumors It is confess'd that their King is very earnest to make them embrace his Religion but they assure us that he uses none but very reasonable Means and that they who come hither with such Outcries are a sort of People not gifted with much patience who easily forsake their Native Country being dissatisfied that their merit as they conceive is not sufficiently rewarded Besides they are represented to us very much suspected in the point of their Obedience and Loyalty If we may believe many here they have been very factious and rebellious such as in all times have struck at the higher Powers both in Church and State which you must needs see would not be much for our purpose in these present Conjunctures In truth this is intolerable cry'd our Friend I cannot endure that the Innocence of these poor people should be run down at this rate I perceive Father La Chaise is not content to persecute them in their own Country with the utmost cruelty but trys all ways to shut up the Bowels of their Brethren in foreign parts he endeavours to ruine and to famish them every where in England as well as France A Hatred so cruel and if I may so say murderous agrees not so well with the Gospel of the Meek Iesus whose Companion Father La Chaise styles himself For he came not to destroy men but to save them Let this Jesuite alone said I and his Emissaries I do not doubt but he hath too much to do in all the Affairs of Protestants But tell me ingenuously do they give just cause to them of France to quit their Country as they do and are they persons whom the State and the Church may trust You your self shall be Judge said he and that you may be fully inform'd of the Cause I will give you a particular Account of the State of these poor People But before I speak of the Evils they have suffered it is sit you should know what it is that they have right to hope for from their King and from their Countrymen you will then be more affected with the usage they find You cannot but have heard of the Edict of Nantes Here it is said he taking up one of the Books that lay upon the Table It is a Law which Henry the Fourth confirmed to establish their Condition and to secure their Lives and Privileges and that they might have liberty freely to profess their Religion It is called the Edict of Nantes because it was concluded of at Nantes whilst the King was there It contains 149 Articles 93 general and 56 particular You may read it at your leisure if you please I will only observe some of them to you at present Look I pray said he on the sixth general and the first particular Article Liberty of Conscience without let or molestation is there most expresly promised not only to them who made profession of the Protestant Religion at the establishment of the Edict but which is principally to be observed to all those who should imbrace and profess it afterwards For the Article saith that Liberty of Conscience is granted for all those who are or who shall be of the said Religion whether Natives or others The seventh general Article grants to all Protestants the right of having Divine Service Preaching and full exercise of their Religion in all their Houses who have Soveraign Iustice that is to say who have the privilege of appointing a Judge who hath the power of judging in Capital Causes upon occasion There are a great many Noble Houses in France which have this privilege That seventh Article allows all Protestants who have such Houses to have Divine Service and Preaching there not only for themselves their own Family and Tenants but also for all persons who have a mind to go thither The following Article allows even the same Exercise of the Protestant Religion in Noble Houses which have not the right of Soveraign Justice but which only hold in Fee-simple It is true it doth not allow them to admit into their Assemblies above thirty persons besides their own Family The ninth Article is of far greater importance it allows the Protestants to have and to continue the exercise of their Religion in all those places where it had been publickly used in the years 1596 and 1597. The tenth Article goes farther yet and orders that that Exercise be established in all places where it ought to have been by the Edict of 1577 if it had not been or to be re-established in all those places if it had been taken away and that Edict of 1577 granted by Henry the Third declares that the Exercise of the Protestant Religion should be continued in all places where it had been in the Month of September that same year and moreover that there should be a place in each Bailywick or other Corporation of the like nature where the Exercise of that Religion should be established tho it had never been there before These are those places which since have been called with reference to the Exercise of Religion The first places of the Bailywick It follows then from this tenth Article of the Edict of Nantes that besides the Cities and Towns in which the Exercise of that Religion ought to be continued because they had it in the years 1596 and 1597 it ought to be over and above in all those places where it had been in the month of September in the year 1577 and in a convenient place of each Bailywick c. altho it had not been there in that Month. The eleventh Article grants also this Exercise in each Bailywick in a second place where it had not been either in the Month of September 1577 or in the years 1596 or 1597. This is that which is called The second place of the
second Piece Here is a Declaration hath lain heavy upon them in reference to an infinite number of living Temples who are â—ar otherwise to be lamented for by reason of the rigor they are us'd with than the Temples of Stone that are demolish'd It is of the thirteenth of March 1679. Pray read it It forbids all Popish Clergy-men whatever desire they have to turn Protestants and even all those Protestants who have forsaken their Religion out of Lightness or Infirmity to return to it again upon better knowledge of the truth press'd to it by their Consciences and desiring to give glory to God This dreadful Edict will not suffer that any of them shall satisfie their Consciences in so important an Affair under any less penalty than that of the Amende Honorable perpetual banishment and consiscation of their Goods I beseech you said I what doth the Declaration intend by making Amende Honorable You have reason to ask replyed he it is that you ought not to be ignorant of Know then that for them to make Amende Honorable is to go into some publick place in their Shirt a Torch in their Hand a Rope about their Neck followed by the Hangman in this Equipage which is that of the most infamous Criminals to ask pardon of God the King and Justice for what they have done that is to say on this occasion for having dar'd to repâ—nt of sinning against God for having forsaken a Religion which they believ'd Heretical and Idolatrous and consequently the infallible way to eternal damnation and for being willing thence-forward to profess the Protestant Religion in which only they are perswaded they can be saved This is dear Friend what they inâ—lict upon all Popish Ecclesiasticks to whom God vouchsafes Grace to discern the true Religion and upon all Protestants who having been such Wretches as to forsake it are aâ—terwards so happy as to be convinc'd of their Sin and to repent They call the first Apostates and the other Relaps But Names do not change the nature of things the Misery is that all this is executed with the utmost rigor The Prisons of Poictiers and those of other places are at this present filled with this sort of pretended Relapsed Persons and it is not permitted to any one to relieve them What possibility is there then for such as are in like Circumstances and whose number every day increases to continue in France But the mischief is much increas'd since this Declaration What was particular to Ecclesiasticks and Relapse Protestants is now become universal to all Roman Catholicks I shewed you the Piece yesterday It is that very Edict of Iune 1680 wherein they pretend to confirm the Edict of Nantes A Blessed Confirmation The Edict of Nantes as I have shewed you allows the Liberty of Conscience to all them who were then Protestants and to all such as would be afterwards Inhabitants or others But what doth this new Edict declare Our Will and Pleasure is that our Subjects of what quality condition age or sex soever now making profession of the Catholick Apostolick Roman Religion may never forsake it to go over to the pretended Reformed Religion for what Cause Reason Pretence or Consideration soever We will that they who shall act contrary to this our Pleasure shall be condemned to make Amende Honorable to perpetual banishment out of our Kingdom and all their Goods to be confiscated We forbid all Ministers of the said pretended Reformed Religion hereafter to receive any Catholick to make profession of the pretended Reformed Religion and we forbid them and the Elders of â—heir Consistories to suâ—fer in their Churches or Assemblies any such under penalty to the Ministers of being deprived for ever of exercising any Function of their Ministry in our Kingdom and of suppression for ever of the Exercise of the said Religion in that place where any one Catholick shall be received to make profession of the said pretended Reformed Religion Lord what a horrible proceeding is this cryed I as soon as my Friend had read it do they call this confirming of Edicts in France what a Violence is this to the Consciences of Ministers and Elders to command them to shut the doors of the Church of Jesus Christ to all their Neighbours who come thither for admission and to have this done by them who are called by God to open the Door to all the World Is not this to force them to violate the most Essential and Sacred Duty of Christian Charity In truth if there were nothing else but this I do not see how they can stay there much longer with a safe Conscience They must swallow worse Potions than these said my Friend you shall see presently quite other Preparations What replyed I have they the heart to use thus cruelly those poor Churches within whose Walls any Roman Catholick changes his Religion Don't doubt it said he they make no conscience at all to exceed their Commission whensoever they are enjoyn'd to execute any penalty I will give you an Example which will amaze you There is a great Town in Poitou called La Motthe where the Protestants have a Church consisting of between three and four thousand Communicants a young Maid of about seventeen years old who from a Protestant had turned Papist had stole her self into the Congregation upon a Communion-day Now you must observe that the Protestant Churches are full on those days For they would believe themselves very much to blame if they lost any Opportunity of partaking at the Lord's Supper Nevertheless without considering how easie it was for that young Maid not to be discovered by the Consistory in such a Crowd and tho those poor people were not at all within the Letter of that rigorous Edict they have made them undergo all the penalty The Exercise of their Religion is wholly suppress'd there and their Minister not allowed to preach in France This is very cruel said I to our Friend and tho it were true that those Ministers and those Elders were guilty upon such an account why should the whole flock be punished Those poor Sheep what have they done That is very usual for those Gentlemen answered he I have a hundred Stories to instance in I cannot forbear telling you one which many of their own Devotees were scandalized at S. Hippolyte is a place in where all the Inhabitants are Protestants except the Curate and it may be two or three poor wretches who are not Natives of the place neither A fancy took the Curate to put a Trick upon the Protestants for this he chose a Sunday and the very moment that they came out of the Church he came and presented himself before them with his Sacrament as they were almost all come out You must know that the Church is on the farther side of a Bridge which must be pass'd over going and coming Several of them were upon the Bridge others had pass'd it and part were yet on the other side when the
to acquaint you with But it is late and I have produced but too much to justifie the French Protestants who forsake their Country from any suspicion of impatience or wantonness You see now what are the Reasonable Means that are used to convert them Those goodly means which have been employed are To despise the most Sacred Edict that was ever made by men to count as nothing promises repeated a hundred times most solemnly by authentick Declarations to reduce people to utmost Beggary to make them die of Hunger in my opinion a more cruel death than that by Fire or Sword which in a moment ends life and miseries together to lay upon them all sorts of afflictions to take away their Churches their Ministers their Goods their Children their liberty of being born of living or of dying in peace to drive them from their Employments their Honors their Houses their native Country to knock them on the head to drag them to the Mass with Ropes about their Necks to imprison them to cast them into Dungeons to give them the question put them to the Rack make them die in the midst of torments and that too without so much as any Formality of Justice This is that they call Reasonable Means Gentle and Innocent Means For these are the Terms which the Archbishop of Claudiopolâ—s useth at the Head of all the Deputies of the Clergy of France in the Remonstrance they made to their King the last year when they took leave of his Majesty I must needs read you the passage here is the Remonstrance and the very words of that Archbishop Those gentle and innocent means which you make use of Sir with so much success to bring the Hereticks into the bosom of the Church are becoming the Bounty and Goodness of your Majesty and conformable at the same time to the mind of the divine Pastor who always retains Bowels of Mercy for these strayed Sheep he wills that they should be brought back and not hunted away because he desires their salvation and regrets their loss How far is this conduct from the rigor wherewith the Catholicks are treated in those Neighbouring Kingdoms which are infected with Heresie Your Majesty makes it appear what difference there is between Reason and Passion between the Meekness of Truth and the Rage of Imposture between the Zeal of the House of God and the Fury of Babylon In good truth cryed I to our Friend after the reading of this passage this is insufferable and I cannot forbear taking my turn to be a little in passion Methinks they should blush to death who call those Cruelties which have been executed upon innocent Sheep Meekness and that Rigor and the fury of Babylon which we have inflicted upon Tigers who thirsted after our Blood and had sworn the destruction of Church and State They plague and torment to death more than a million of peaceable persons who desire only the freedom of serving God according to his Word and the Laws of the Land who cannot be accused of the least shadow of Conspiracy and who by preserving that Illustrious Blood which now reigns there have done to France Services deserv'd together with the Edict of Pacification the love and the hearty thanks of all true French Men. And we have put to death in a legal manner it may be twenty wretched persons the most of which had forfeited their lives to the Law for being found here convinced by divers Witnesses who were the greatest part Papists of having attempted against the Sacred Liâ—e of our King and the lives of millions of his faithful Subjects Surely they would have had us let them done their Work let them have rooted out that Northern Heresie which they were as they assure us by their own Letters in so great and so near hopes of accomplishing But we had not forgot the Massacre of Ireland wherein by the confession of one of their own Doctors who knew it very well more than a hundred and fifty thousand of our Brethren in the midst of a profound peace without any provocation by a most sudden and barbarous Rebellion had their Throats cut by that sort of Catholicks whose fate they so much bewail Altho your Transport be very just and I am very well pleased with it said our Friend to me I must needs interrupt you to bring you back again to our poor Protestants What say you to their Condition I say answered I that there can be nothing more worthy compassion and that we must entirely forget all that we owe to the Communion of Saints if we open not our hearts and receive them as our true Brethren I will be sure to publish in all places what you have informed me and will stir up all persons to express in their favour all the Duties of Hospitality and Christian Charity To the end said he to me you may do it with a better heart at our next meeting I will fully justifie them against all those malicious Reports which are given out against their Loyalty and their Obedience to the Higher Powers Let us take for that all to morrow seven-night As you please said I so we took leave one of another and thus you have an end of a long Letter assuring you that I ever shall be Sir Yours FINIS The third Letter The French Protestants are no Antimonarchists SIR SInce you know the reason why this my third Letter comes so late I will not take up your time in excusing my long silence Our Friend being now recovered from his Indisposition which was the main stop hitherto we agreed upon a day when I came to his Chamber at the hour appointed I cannot tell sais he whether before we enter upon this matter to justifie our French Protestants in point of Fidelity towards their Superiours I should not impart to you several Letters which have since come to my hands wherein I have an account of several fresh Persecutions since August last I told him No For besides that what you related to me at our second meeting is more than enough to convince the greatest Infidel That the Mischiefs are at the height in that Kingdom and that there is no security of Conscience for the Protestants who stay there besides all this our Streets are full of instances of the new troubles they give them There is no Man but knows what was the event of the Marquiss Venour's Deputation wherein he gave a List of the cruelties used in Poictou against our poor Protestants He was forced to fly from his Estate and Country Every body has heard how many Gentlemen of good condition and several Ministers have been imprisoned for no other fault but their zeal for a Religion they believe to be the only true and safe one the exercise of which is likewise tolerated by one of the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom as you have already so well made out In short we are assured by a thousand credible Witnesses as likewise by the
sight of several Proclamations That they ruine all the Protestants that are Taxable in France by a Secret they have found out to Tax the people at Will and then make one or more responsible for all the rest That they are barbarously cruel upon the least complaint of any thing that falls from them in the height of their misfortunes That they Demolish their best Established Temples upon the least pretence and that besides all this they condemn them to the Galleys if they offer to quit the Realm to serve God according to a good Conscience in any other Countrey with a Fine of a thousand Crowns for the first Fault and Corporal Punishment for the rest upon their Friends that shall any way countenance directly or indirectly their departure out of the Realm I have read the Proclamation and you may read it says our Friend when you please for it lies there upon my Table The strangest thing in it is that they glory of their pretended Conversions in Poitou and elsewhere as if they had been carried on with all the gentleness and Christian temper imaginable when all Europe knows they have used no other but carnal means and since I am provoked to say it the Devil's Weapons the allurement of Riches Promises of worldly Advantages Threats Force and a thousand unheard of Cruelties whereby they have brought the poor People to this hard choice either to turn Papist or perish by Hunger and ill usage And many times we see their Consciences will not suffer them to continue in that Communion they have been thus forced into for they come over by Flocks and the Prisons in France are full of these pretended Relaps But because you know all this already I proceed now says he to the Justification of our poor persecuted Brethren I am very well satisfied that this groundless Accusation as if they were Seditious Firebrands and Enemies to Monarchs and Monarchy has given them no prejudice with you If Accusation were enough to render guilty of this Crime Moses and Christ the old and new people of God had certainly lost their Cause The Enemy of Truth has ever made this his Charge against the Innocence of Gods Children Moses was accused for Seducing the people Elias for Troubling Israel Ieremiah That he did not pray for the Prosperity of this people but their mischief the People of God That they designed to revolt from the King of Persia Iesus Christ himself That he perverted the people and forbad to pay Tribute to Caesar and his Apostles That they were common Pests Movers of Sedition and that turned the World upside down You have read Turtullians Apologetick and Arnobius against the Gentiles You see there how the most innocent of the Primitive Christians and the meekest of Men were charged with the same Crime Our Protestants of France have no reason to expect other measure than that of their Saviour and the Saints departed since it is the same Religion they strive for And by the Grace of God we shall with as much ease acquit them of all those Imputations laid to their charge There is certainly no stronger Proof of what the Opinions of a Church are than the publick Declarations her self has made of her Principles by open Professions or Confessions of Faith these are authentick pieces composed with the approbation of the whole Body and published on purpose to declare to the World what in sincerity such a Church believes in matters of Religion The Protestant Church of France has not been wanting in this particular but has composed and published a Confession of Faith that all the World might be sure what really are her thoughts and belief And certainly without the highest injustice we cannot reject what she has thus made Protestation of Then I told our Friend you need not enlarge upon this point for no Man of sense will dispute this Principle with you Let us come to the Question I shall soon dispatch it says he I will read to you the two last Articles of our Protestants Confession of Faith We believe That God will have the World governed by Laws and Policies to the end there may be a restraint upon the inordinate Appetites of Men and for this end that he has appointed Kingdoms Commonwealths and all other sorts of Government Hereditary or otherwise and whatever appertains to the dispensation of Justice and that he himself will be acknowledged the Author of it For this cause he has put the Sword inâ—o the Magistrates Hand to punish Faults committed not only against the second Table but likewise against the first We ought therefore for God's sake not only to submit to the Government of Superiors but also to honour them and hold them in such regard as esteeming them his Lieutenants and Officers whom he has constituted to exercise a Lawful and Sacred Trust. We hold it therefore our Duty to obey their Laws and Statutes to pay Tributes Imposts and other Duties and to bear the Yoke of Subjection with a cheerful and good will be they Infidels provided the Sovereign Empire of God be kept entire Thus we detest those that would reject Authority put all things in common and overthrow the course of Justice Here you see the Confession of the Protestants of France where you find they make it a part of their Religion and Faith to believe that it is God who appoints Kingdoms Hereditary and others That we ought to Honour Princes and hold them in all Reverence as the Lieutenants and Officers of God to obey them to pay them Tribute to submit to them with a good will though they happen to be of another Religion than ours and they reject with horror all those that reject the Powers Can any thing be said stronger or with greater exactness Moreover these Protestants of France have a Liturgy a Form of Common-Prayers as well as our Church of England There it is that in the presence of God and speaking to God they do confirm by a publick Act of Worship all that they say of Kings and Potentates in their Confession of Faith After they have said to God We have thy Precept to pray for those whom thou hast set over us Superiors and Governors they add We Beseech thee therefore O heavenly Father for all Kings and Princes thy Servants to whom thou hast committed the dispensation of Iustice and particularly for the King c. If ever we ought to believe Mens words no doubt it is when they speak to God in the Act and fervor of their Devotion If a man be not wicked to the last degree or an Athiest he will then at least speak the thoughts of his Heart And upon such an account it is that the Protestants of France own in conformity to their Confession of Faith That it is God who has set Rulers over them to Govern That all Princes are the Servants of God That the Justice they dispence to men is that of God himself of which God
the matter he commends the Prince his generosity and said He was likewise ready to justifie his Innocence though privately he took care to have him apprehended In good earnest Monsieur Maimbourg's Morals must be strangely depraved since he is no longer a Jesuit not to find any fault in a Prince guilty of so prosligate a Dissimulation and notorious Treachery And does he think if Lewis the Fourteenth ever comes to open his eyes he will think himself obliged to those that would make such a Man pass for a truly Christian Hâ—ro who has done his utmost to disappoint him of the Crown by taking it from his Ancestors and endeavoring to cut off the Illustrious Race of the Bourbon's If an â—nglishman should Canonize Cromwell and place him among the Hero's Can you imagine he should be well received at Court or that the King should repose any great confidence in his Loyalty Monsieur Maimbourg must know that the Prince of Condè being what he was could not look upon this pretended Hero otherwise than as a Monster He was obliged by the duty of his Relation his Honor Loyalty and all that was becoming a Great Mind with all his might to set himself against those wicked Designs which he saw the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorrain had so plainly layed Would you have had him stood with his hands in his pockets when he discovered so great danger and suffer Strangers to ruine the State and take the Crown away from his Family with a high hand 7. These Usurpers had laid their business so well and were become so absolute Masters of the Person the Mind the Authority and the whole Power of the young King that it was impossible to carry any Address to the King unless by their means and to do any thing against them to bring them to Justice but as one may say in the Kings presence who was continually in their hands and by consequence to redress a mischief that so absolutely required a remedy without resolving upon some great and extraordinary attempt Either therefore the Prince of Condè must have done what he did or else have suffered the Throne to be usurped and the Royal Family sacrificed contrary to that duty he owed to France to his King to Himself and to his whole Race If Monsieur Maimbourg will have it that the Prince of Condè should have let the Guises go on his King ought to look upon him as his mortal Enemy If he believes he did his duty let him retract and be ashamed of those unadvised words That he would have taken the Kings Lodgings by force as Affairs then stood to seize in his presence upon his chief Ministers was to attack the King himself and to seek to make himself master of his Person and Government In the condition matters were then it was the only humane means left to rescue the young King from slavery to give a stop to the Outrages of a Forain domineering Power or rather Tyranny and to preserve the Crown to its right Heirs If God was not pleased in his All-wise providence to give so good success to the attempt as was hoped it failed not nevertheless of doing some good It gave a check to the wicked designs of the Guises and made them sensible that whil'st they had to do with men of that Courage they should not purchase the Kingdom at so cheap a rate as they thought for Besides I must not conceal it from you that the Protestants were not the only Men that Lifted themselves under the Prince of Condè for this important Service to their Country and to the Royal Family several Roman Catholicks shared with them in the glory of this Attempt The famous Mezeray has published it to all the World So that Monsieur Maimbourg is 〈◊〉 out when he would make it a quarrel upon Religion And much 〈◊〉 unjustly is he mistaken when he offers to say that at the business of Amboise The Huguenots entred into a horrible Conspiracy against their King I am satisfied says I to our Friend and I am confident every honest man that knows as much as you have told me of this matter will look upon this Jesuits Imputation with amazement and detestation Pray give me an account now of the business of Meaux The French Protestants repâ—yed he are no less innocent of Conspiracy against their King in the business of Meaux than they were in that of Amboise The testimony of the eminent Cardinal d'Ossat is an invincible Defence to them in this Affair and puts them beyond the reach of Calumny But I suppose you would be throughly informed of this matter I will do it in as few words as possibly I can And I will take the account partly from Monsieur Maimbourg himselff partly from two other Popish Historians who have much a greater esteem in the World than he it is the famous President de Thou and Mezeray We will take it from the beginning You have not forgot what I told you at our former Meeting when I gave you an account of the first War the Prince of Condè was forced to make for rescuing the King at the earnest intreaty of the Queen-mother then Regent I shall not need to take off a thousand odious Reflections which Monsieur Maimbourg lays upon the French Protestants in relation to this War They are either the faults of some private persons who having acted contrary to the principles of the Reformed Religion were disowned by all sincere Protestants or false Suggestions which the solemn Edict of Charles the Ninth in the Year 1563. has sufficiently confuted the King there owning as done for his Service all that the Prince of Condè and his Friends had done in this first taking up of Arms. This noted Edict Ordains That the Protestant Religion should be publickly exercised in several parts of the Kingdom which the Edict names it puts all the French Protestants under the protection of their King in what part of France soever they should make their abode it Wills That every one of them when they come home should be maintained and secured in their Goods Honors Estates Charges Offices c. The Prince and the Protestants observed the Articles of the Treaty of Peace most exactly Monsieur Maimbourg tells us himself That all the places which the Huguenots held submitted to the King Nay we English have occasion to complain of their too great exactness in this point For they were the hottest in taking Havre de Grace from us which we had possessed our selves of only to give them succor against their Persecutors All their great Souldiers came against us to the Siege of this Town The Prince of Condè lodged all the while in the Trenches All the French says Mezeray went thither in great fury especially the Huguenots But their Adversaries dealt not so with them they broke the Edict every where in a shamful and barbarous manner This Illustrious Queen
of Conde in the Civil Wars during the minority of Lewis XIV I am confident the Papists would cry out against it as a great and foul Injustice done to their Church And yet why do they continually use the Protestants thus unreasonably I presume this may serve for a full Justification in reference to the Spirit of Rebellion imputed upon the account of what passed in the beginning of the Reign of Lewis XIII They cannot wrong them more than to make their Religion answerable for the weakness of some of them who were disapproved by the wisest among them who have more reason to be considered than a few who acted contrary to the Principles of the Protestant Religion as they are contained in their Confession of Faith established by their most eminent Divines as I shewed you at our third Conference So that I suppose Sir it will be needlâ—ss to run through all the several troubles which followed the first down to the year 1629. This may answer the whole Yet methinks said I you should not have done before you have said something particularly of Rochel It s Rebellion and Siege have made too great a noise in the World and perchance that which happened about this Town is what has raised the greatest cry against the French Protestants as Commonwealthsmen and Traytors Therefore I shall no more question their Loyalty and you will enable me to defend them sufficiently under the Reign of Lewis XIII as well as under those that went before if you can set me right in the excuse of Rochel It will be no hard matter for me says our Friend to satisfie you in this Point And we English are particularly obligâ—d to make out the innocence of the Protestants in this affair If any be to blame we are For it was we that engaged them in this last War But God be thanked they can charge us with nothing To make it the clearer to you we must take the Business a little higher Rochel did belong to the Kings of England being a part of their Dominion by the Marriage of Eleanor Countess of Poitou in the year 1152. with Henry II. when he was yet but Duke of Normandy But the King of France Lewis VIII assaulted and took it by force in the year 2224. It fell again into the hands of our Kings who were the rightful Lords of it in the year 1359. by the Peace of Bretegny as part of the Ransome for Iohn King of France who was taken Prisoner at the Battle of Poitiers by Edward Prince of Wales But in the year 1372. the Rochellers were so unhappy as to withdraw their Allgiance from their natural Lord our King Edward III. And to compleat their Revolt they put themselves under the powâ—r of the French King This occurrence ought to be observed though I shall say nothing of it but in Mezeray's own words This Town says he having shaken off the English Yoke desired to come under the French upon condition of preseâ—ving that liberty it had acquired by its own means And therefore it delivered it self up to the King it made so good a Bargain for it self which was agreed by Letters under the Broad Seal and the Seals of his Peers that the Castle should be demolished and that there never should be any within or near the Town c. The same Historian touches upon this in another place In consideration says he that Rochel came voluntarily into France the King Charles V. seeing that the Townsmen having of themselves quitted the Power they were under to the great hazard of their Lives could either continue free or give themselves up to whom they pleased granted them all the Priviledges they could dâ—â—â—re as That they might Coin Florins Mony of a mixt Metal 〈◊〉 the Castle should be demolished and that no other should be built in their Town And by other Letters he promises them that their Walls and Forts should stand and that he would raise none upon them He goes on with the other great Immunities that were granted to Rochel by this King and by his Successors not sticking to declare ingenuously that Henry II. and Francis I. by sometimes placing their Governors and Garisons had infringed their Priviledges He adds ' That the Rochellers looked upon this as a violation and always waited for a more favourable occasion to restore themselves to their original Right By this you see that Rochel did not deliver it self up to France but upon Conditions and so were to continue their Obedience no longer than the Articles stipulated by the Rochellers and accepted by the King of France were observed It appears that one of these Articles says expresly That they were never to build Castle or Fort either in or about the Town Notwithstanding contrary to this Agreement they raise a Fort before Rochel in time of the War which was in the Years 1621 1622. And though they promised by the Articles of Peace which were afterwards agreed upon that this Fort should be slighted yet it always continued which was the cause of those troubles that followed in the Years 1625 1626. the Rochellers being no longer obliged to keep touch with the King of France because he had broke the Treaty by vertue of which alone they became his Subjects The Affairs of Europe disposing the late King our Soveraign Lord Charles I. to interpose for a Pacification The Rochellers and such other Protestants of France as had engaged in their Quarrel agreed to refer all their Concerns to him And he obtained it for them a second time that this Fort which was so great an eye-sore to Rochel should be demolished for which he was Guarantee by an Authentick Declaration that his Embassadors gave in Writing I will read it to you We Henry Rich Baron of Kensington â—arl of Holland Captain of the Guards to the King of Great Britain Knight of the Order of the Garter and Counsellor of State and Dudley Carleton Knight Counsellor of State and Vicechamberlain of His Majesties Houshold Embassadors Extraordinary from His said Majesty to the Most Christian King To all present and to come Greeting It so falling out that Montmartin and Manial Deputies-General of the Reformed Churches of France and other particular Deputies of the Dukes of Rohan and Soubise with those of several Towns and Provinces who were engaged with them have made their Peace with the Most Christiaâ— King By our advice and interposition it is agreed and consented to 〈◊〉 the said King their Soveraign And the Deputies have released many things which they esteemed very important for their security and all conformable to their â—dicts and Declarations which they had express order to insist upon at the Treaty of Peace and which they had resolutely persisted in saving the obedience they owe and desire to pay their King and Soveraign and saving the respect and deference they would shew to the so express Summons and Demands of the most Serene King of Great Britain our Master in
doubt but they who perswade this great Prince to violate a word so solemnly given are his mortal Enemies Enemies to his glory as much or more then the Protestants Were I not obliged to go abroad I would instantly discharge my self of the last part of my promise to you which is to shew you that the Papists are the really guilty persons of the sins of Rebellion and conspiracie which the Jesuits Maimbourg and such as he falsly impute to the French Protestant But this shall be for our next meeting Upon which having first appointed an other time we parted I am c. The Sixth Letter Papists themselves Antymonarchists SIR I was sure to come at the hour appointed Our friend had two little Books in his hands just as I came into the room He compared them one with an other and I observed him to smile whilst he was doing of it Pray said I give me leave to awake you out of your pleasant Dream and ask you what you are so intent upon that for what I can perceive pleases you very well If you please to sit down replied he I will tell you in short So I took my seat and he went on One of the two Books that you saw me have is The History of Calvinisme and the other The Policy of the Clergy of France Whilst I was expecting you I read what Monsiuer Mainbourg says in the First to take off the prejudice Protestant Kings and Princes might have taken against the Principles and usual practice of Papists And I must confess to you I could not forbear smiling when I saw the ridiculous evasions this man made use of especially after I had compared them with the objections of the Author of The Policy of the Clergy of France which he pretends to confute I must needs read all this to you You shall find proofs enough there to justifie you in what I promised That they are the Papists who are really to be feared in the point of Rebellion and conspiracies into which the principles of their Religion have so often lead them and not the Protestants of France whose Religion is so directly opposite to these sort of practices and who by the help of God have never been guilty of them properly so speaking as I have before demonstrated to you It is certain says Monsieur Maimbourg that in the glorious condition the King is at this day having vanquished all those that conspired against this Soverain Power to which they all bow he might with ease and justly deal with the Huguenots as the Protestant Princes do with the Catholicks Nay his glory seems to oblige him to it For is it not a wonderful thing to see some Princes who come infinitely short of him in every thing denying the Catholicks the free Exercise of their Religion within their Territories and yet to have it expected thâ—â— he should endure those that profess theirs freely to Exercise in his Kingdome Might he not very reasonably Say to the Huguenots Either let these Princes allow the free Exercise of my Religion under them or else do not look that I â—hould allow you the freedom of â—xercising yours and theirs in France If you would have us observe the Edicts that were made in your favour see then that they make the like in favour of the Catholiks And it signifies nothing what one of their last witnesses has 〈◊〉 of late to give the best answer he could to this powerful argument which overthrows them He thought to take it off by saying that there is a great difference betwixt the one and the other in this respect in as much as the Catholicks believing that the Pope may depose a Prince who is esteemed at Rome a Heretike or Excommunicated Person there is reason to be at defiance with them and to apprehend their conspiring against such a Prince which cannot be said of the Protestants who are far from any such belief so that there is no ground to suspect them or imagin they should attempt any ill against the Catholick Princes their Soveraigns To shew plainly how little force there is in such an Answer which is indeed but a poor shifting we need only mark these two things which have been laied down in this History of Calvinisme and which cannot be denied The first is that more dismal conspiracies are hardly to be met with then those the Hugunots have made against our Kings such as the accursed attempts of Amboise and of Meaux not to take notice of their terrible Rebellions which have cost France so much blood and of the unhappy Plots they have entred into with their â—nemies to withdraw their subjection from the Monarchy by openly setting up a Commonwealth as they have done more then once The second is that it is by no means our belief that a Pope can depose Princes though they be Hereticks nor absolve their subjects from the Oath of Allegiance and give up their right to him that can first take it Far from this our most Christian Kings who are known to have been the most zealous Defenders of the Catholike faith and the greatst Protectors of the holy See to which they have always unmoveably held notwithstanding all the differences they had with some Popes about temporal Affairs and the right of their Crown which they must never give up our Kings I say have ever protested against this pretension grounded upon a principle which our Doctors have always condemned as directly contrarâ— to the divine Law There may be seen to this purpose the remonstrances and the protestations that I have mentionâ—d which Charleâ— the Ninth directed to Pope Pius the Fourth upon the occasion of Queen Iean of Navar as obstinate a Huguenot as she was Therefore the King might justly use the Huguenots as the Protestant Princes in their States do the Catholicks I should not have done to day if I should take notice of all that Monsieur Maimbourg says upon this subject He makes it consistent with the Duty and Honour of the King of France to overthrow an Edict which was the reward of the Loialty and of the eminent services of the Protestants an Edict confirmed in all the Parliaments of the Kingdome under the title of a perpetual and irrevacable Law Ratified by a thousand Royal promises and by a thousand authentike Declarations which Lewis the Fourteenth had himself solemnly sworn to observe upon so many occasions It seems says the Jesuite that he is bound to do it for his glory which is to say according to this man of conscince that one does his Duty when he breaks his word and his Oath and that he acts for his Glory when he dishonours himself and his Ancestors by perjuries and overthrowing the most Religiously established Laws But above all it is a pleasant fancy that the argument he furnishes his King with to stop the mouth of the Huguenots who do not prevail with the Princes of their Religion to permit the free exercise of the
Divine who knew the story that I have related published it to prove that the Catholicks were guilty of the Crime which the Calvinists were accused of When this story came to light there was a great alarme in the House of the Queen-Mother of the King of England that House being full of Jesuits and even that great Lord who had lead the Jesuits to Rome and had made himself chief of that Conspiracy was one of the principal Officers of the House They immediately demanded Justice of the King by the means of the Queen-Mother for the injury that he who had published this scandalous story had done them The Doctor offered to prove his Accusation and to produce his Witnesses who were still living The great Lord and Officer of the Queens House and the Jesuits seeing the resolution of this Man durst not push him on they only obtain'd from the King by the means of the Queen-Mother that he should be silenced You must avow that there are but few that are innocent who would have been so easie in so terrible an Accusation Besides it is certain that this Consultation of Rome has been seen by several persons If it is false it must have been forged by this Chaplain who was turned Catholick and who shewed it since tho it must be confessed that this is not very likely However as all this is reduceed to a single Witness my Gentleman acknowledged that the proof was not wholly in forme but he stood much upon the late Conspiracy of England which was discovered two years ago by which half the Kingdom was to have had their Throats cut to become Masters of the rest Prov. Be it as it will my Hugonot Gentleman concluded from all this that a Protestant Prince can never be assured of the Fidelity of his Catholick Subjects On the contrary said he the Protestants are subject to their Prince out of Conscience and out of a Principle of their Religion They acknowledge no other Superiour than their King and do not believe that for the cause of Heresie it is permitted either to kill a lawful Prince or to refuse him obedience They oppose against us said he to me the English and Holland Catholicks But what has been promised to those people that has not been performed The United Provinces of the Low Countries are entred into the Union with this Condition of not suffering any other Religion in their States than the Protestant Though England was reformed under Edward the 6 th afterwards under Elizabeth by several Acts of Parliament which are the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom it was ordered that no other Religion should be suffered than that the Anglicane Church made choice of and that they would not suffâ—r the Assemblies of those whom they at present call Nonconformists It was even forbidden to the Priests and Monks to set Foot in England and to make any abode there However they have not kept up to this rigour and every one knows that there is at present above ten thousand Priests and Monks disguised in England and that there has ever been so Wherefore more has been given to the Catholicks than was promised them But in France where we live under favourable Edicts they have promised us what they have not performed It is only against us that they make profession of not performing what they have promised The Edicts of Pacification are in all the Forms that perpetual Laws ought to be they are verified by the Parliaments they are confirmed by a hundred Declarations which followed by Consequence and by a thousand Royal Words In fine they have been laid as irrevocable Laws and as foundations of the Peace of the State We rely upon the good Faith of so many promises and on a sudden we see snatcht from us what we looked upon as our greatest security and which we had possessed for above a hundred years Thus there is neither Title nor Prescription nor Edicts nor Acts nor Declarations which can put us in Safety This is what he told me and I avow to you that this part put me in pain for I am a Slave to my Word and an Idolater of good Faith I look upon it as the only Rampart of Civil Society and I conceive that States and Publick persons are no lâ—ss obliged to keep what they promise than particular men Far. That is true But do not you know that the safety of the people and the publick good is the Soveraign Law Very often we must suffer and even do some Evil for the good of the State Peaces and Treaties are daily broken which have been solemnly sworn because that the publick interest requires it should be so Prov. My Hugonot made himself that difficulty and told me thereupon When War is declared against Neighbours to the prejudice of Treties of Peace and Alliances this is done in the Forms They publish Manifesto's they expose or at least they suppose Grievances and Infractions in the Articles of the Treaty that have been made by those against whom War is declared When a Soveraign revokes the Graces that he had done his Subjects it is ever under pretence that they have rendered themselves unworthy of them But are we accused or can we be accused of having tampered in any Conspiracy of having had Intelligence with the Enemies of the State of having wanted Love Fidelity and Obedience towards our Soveraigns If it be so let us be brought to Tryal let the Criminals be informed against and let the Innocent be distinguished from those that are Guilty We speak boldly thâ—rein because we are certain they can reproach us with nothing and we know that his Majesty himself has very often given Testimony of our Fidelity He knows that we did not enter into any of the Parties that have been made against his Service since he has been upon the Throne During the troubles of his minority it may be said that none but those Cities we were Masters of remained Loyal When the Gates of Orleans were shut upon the King he went to Gien and that City was going to be guilty of the same Crime without the vigour of a Hugonot who made way with his Sword in his hand to the Bridge and let it down himself This action was known and recompenced for the King immediately made him Noble who had done it We had not any part in the disturbances of Bordeaux in those of Britany and Auvergue nor in the Conspiracy of the Chevalier do Roban Not one Hugonot was engaged in these Criminal Cases The King has been pleased to acknowledge it and we look upon the Testimony of so great a King as a great Recompence But our Enemies who continually sollicit him to our ruin ought to be mindful that it would be more civil in them to leave the King the liberty of following his inclinations These would without doubt move him to preserve the effects of his kindness for people who have preserved for him an inviolable Fidelity This is what
Concordat bore in express terms that the Duke of Guise should have in charge to deface intirely the name of the Family and Race of the Bourbons Henry the Third said he to me could he be suspected of Heresie or an â—ider of Hereticks Never was any man more linked to the Catholick Church than he Yet the House of Guise had sworn his ruin They would have shaved him which they highly threatned him with and they one day writ upon the Chappel of the Battes to the Augustins of Paris these four French Verses The Bones of those who here lye dead Like Cross of Burgundy to thee are shown And make appear thy days are fled And that thou surely lose thy Crown They are of the same sense with those two Latin Verses which were found set upon the Palace Dyal Qui dedit ante duas unam abstulit altera nutat Tertia tonsoris nunc facienda manu He that gave two has taken one the other Shakes but the Barber still shall give another The Faction of the House of Guise caused this to be done And this poor Prince after a thousand delays and troubles resolved at length to make that execution so famous in our History it is that of the Duke and Cardinal of Guise who were executed at the States of Blois That Prince must needs have seen his ruin approaching and inevitable to come to that since that he well foresaw that this blow would raise him so many storms and give him so much trouble Who knows not that the Faction of Rome and of Spain had a Design of raising the House of Lorrain to the Throne of France for the excluding the House of Bourbon In the year 1587. the Pope sent to the Duke of Guise a Sword engraven with flames telling him by the Duke of Parma that amongst all the Princes of Europe it only belonged to Henry of Lorrain to bear the arms of the Church and to be the Chief thereof Almost all the Kingdom was engaged in that Spirit of revolt The King found no oâ—her support than the King of Navar and of his Hugonotes It was Chastillon the Son of the Admiral de Coligny who saved the King from the hands of the Duke of Mayenne at Tours This Chief of the League cryed to him retire ye white Scarfs retire you Chastillon it is not you we aim at it is the Murderer of your Father And in truth Henry the Third then Duke of Anjou was President in the Council when the Resolution was taken of making the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in which the Admiral Coligny perished But his Son forgetting that injury to save his King answered those Rebels You are Traytors to your Country and when the Service of the Prince and State is concerned I know how to lay aside all revenge and particular interest he added that after the Assassinate committed by the League in the person of Henry the Third Henry the Fourth was ready to see himself abandoned by his most faithful Servants because of the Protestant Religion which he made profession of which appears by a Declaration that this Prince made in the form of an Harangue to the Lords of his Army on the 8 th day of August 1589 in which he says that he had been informed that his Catholick Nobility set a report on foot they could not serve him unless he made profession of the Roman Religion and that they were going to quit his Army Nothing but the firmness and fidelity of the Hugonots upheld this wavering Party He must be said my Gentleman the falsest of men who dissembles the Ardour and Zeal with which those of our Religion maintained that just Cause of the House of Bourbon against the attempts of the League And to prove said he that their interest was not the only cause of their fidelity we must see what they did when Henry the Fourth turned Roman Catholick It cannot be said but that they then strove to have a King of their Religion However there was not one who bated any thing of his Zeal and Fidelity the King was peaceable possessour of the Crown the League was beaten down he was Master in Paris he was reconciled to the Court of Rome when the Edict of Nantes was granted and published Our Hugonots were no longer armed nor in a condition of obtaining any thing by force of arms Since that the Change of Religion had reduced all the Roman Catholicks to him he would have been in a State of resisting their violence It was the sole acknowledgment of the King and of good Frenchmen that obliged all France to give Peace to a Party that had shed their Blood with so much Zeal and Profession for the preserving the Crown and the restoring it to its legitimate Heirs I acknowledge that we did our Duty but are not those to be thanked who do what they ought How is it possible that these things are at present worn out of the memory of men I am certain that if the King was made to read the History of his Grand-father he would preserve some inclinâ—tion for the Children of those who sacrific'd themselves for the glory of his House No man can be ignorant of the necessary dependance that must be between the Roman Catholick Clergy and the Court of Rome This Court is the Head the Clergy is the Body the Ecclesiasticks and Monks are the Members and all these Members move by the Orders of the Head Again I have no Design to chocque the Gentlemen of the Clergy whose persons I respect I do not doubt but that they have good French Hearts But in fine they have their Maxims of Conscience they are of a Religion and they must follow its Principles Now the Principles of their Religion binds them to the Holy see and its preservation preferably to all things moreover Interest deceives the Hearts and Minds of men Their Interest obliges them to take the Popes part who is their Preserver and Protectour and what they do out of interest they perswade themselves that they do it out of Conscience First it may be said of the Monks that all the Houses they have in France are so many Citadels that the Court of Rome has in the Kingdom Those great Societies have withdrawn themselves from the jurisdiction of the Bishops they depend immediately on the Holy See they have all their Generals of Orders at Rome and those Generals who are Italians and Spaniards are the Soul of the Society they are obliged to follow their Opinions and their Orders the Italian Divinity is the Divinity of the Cloisters Thus the King may reckon that all the Monks look upon him as the Pope's Subject as being lyable to be Excommunicated his Kingdom put under an Ecclesiastical Censure his Subjects dispensed and released from the Oath of Allegiance and his States given by the Pope to another Prince And every time that this happens they will believe themselves obliged out of Conscience to obey the Pope If in
Pope has declared a Prince deprived of his Sâ—ates his Subjects may set up the Standard of Rebellion declare War against him refuse him Obedience and kill him if they can meet with him provided it be with arms in their hand and by the ordinary course of War I cannot comprehend how one â—an be secured of the Fidelity of those who hold such like Maxims For in fine Kings are not infallible and if they happen to do any thing that the Court of Rome judges worthy of Excommunication and Intâ—rdiction they are Kings without Kingdoms and Subjects accoâ—ding to our Clergy of France as well as according to the Divines of Italy But perhaps the Sorbonne which is the Depository of the Frenâ—h Divinity does not receive these Maxims so fatal to the safety of Kiâ—gs Let us see what it has done In the Month of December 1587 because Henry the Third for the security of his Person and of his State made a Treaty with the Rütres or the German Protestants the Sorboâ—ne without staying for the Decisions of Rome made a private determination which said That the Government might be taken from Princes who were not found such as they ought to be as the adminiâ—tration from a suspected Tutor This was known by the King he sent for the Sorbonne some days after and complained of it After the death of the Princes of Guise which happen'd at Blois the Sorbonne did much worse they declared and caused to be published in all parts of Paris That all the People of that Kingdom were Absolved from the Oaths of Fidelity that they had sworn to Henry of Valois hereâ—ofore their King they raâ—ed his name out of the publick Prayers and made known to the People that they might with safe Conscience unitâ— aâ—m and contribute to make War against him as a Tyrant If I would add to that the Story that I know this Gentleman told you concerning the Death of the late King of England we should find that the Sorbonne has â—ver been of the same Opinion This is the truth of it every time that our Kings affairs shall carry them to extremity against the Court of Rome the Clergy of France will suppress their discontents while matters go well for the Court of France but if things turn other ways the Maxims of our Divines against the King will be sure to break out Every sincere person will allow â—haâ— it has never been otherwise than so and that it will be always thus which may be observed in the very least disputes I was willing to read all these passages to you out of The Policy of the Clergy of France because the Author of that excellent piece proves there exceedâ—ng well all that I prâ—mâ—sed to shew you for the close of our Conferences which is that the Papists are truly Guilty of the Conspiracies and Rebellions which Monsieur Maimbourg would falsly fasten upon the Hugonots Of this the Murder of Henry the Third that of Henry the Fourth the violence of the League the several attempts against Queen Elizabeth King Iames and our holy Martyr Charles the Firâ—t not to mention the late Plot that has made such a noise in the World are undeniable proofs But you have seen likewise which ought to awaken the Protestant Princes to a purpose that all these black attempts have not been the fruit of impatience and human frailty under the temptation of some severe persecution but the natural Consequence and effect of the Principles of the Roman Religion as we are assured by those very men who pass for the Oracles of this Religion For you have seen just now out of Authentick pieces that the Pope the Cardinals and all the Divines of Italy who are the Pillars of the Roman Catholike Religion all the Regulars of France who draw after them more then three fourths of the French Papists and the Sorbonne it self when the rod is not over it own publickly that the Pope may Excommunicate Kings when he judges them Hereticks or countenancers of Heriticks to interdict their Kingdoms absolve their subjects from their Allegiance and expose them to the fury of all the World You have also seen that the whole Clergy of France was of this opinion by the mouth of Cardinal Perron so that this pernicious Doctrine is the vowed Faith of the whole Popish Gallican Church as well as of the Court of Rome the great depository of the Roman Religion and all its misteries From whence evidently follows what the Author of The Policy of the Clergy of France infers That there is no safety for the Crown nor for the life of Kings whether they be Protestants themselves or only protect such as are whilst they are beset with Papists so that there is not the same reason to tolerate Popery in Protestant Kingdoms as there is to toâ—erate Protestants in Popish Kingdoms Monsieur Maimbourg would make us believe that all this is but a poor shift And to convince us of it he says that we need but to consider these two things First that there are not to be found more detestable Conspiracies then those the Hugonots have made against their Kings c. Secondly that it is by no means thâ— belief of the Roman Catholicks princes that a Pope may depose Princes though they were Heretiâ—ks acquit their subjects from their Allegiance and bestow their Dominions upon those that can first take them But I have evidently shewed you the falsness of the first assertion and for the second it is expresly disproved by those undeniable proofs the Author of The Policy of the Clergy has produced to shew that the Roman Catholicks hold that belief which Monsieur Maimbourg afâ—irms they do not You say Monsieur Maimbourg that it is by no means your belief that a Pope can depose Princes c. At this rate the Pope who is the head of your Church this head for whose infallibility you have so much disputed knows not the belief of your Church for he believes that by the principles of the Church of Rome he has the power which you seem to deny him The Cardinals the Bishops and all the Divines of Italy all your Regulars all your Clergy of France speaking by the mouth of your Cardinal du Perron your Sorbonne it self so renowned for its great number of able men did not know in so important a case what was the belief of your Church For they have all held that it believes the Pope can depose Princes c. At least he should have given some answers to the Authentick Acts and notorious matters of fact which the Author of The Policy of the Clergy had quoted to this purpose To say nothing of all this and to think it enough to say at randome It is by no means our belief that a Pope may depose Princes even though they were Hereticks c. this is to pass the sentence of an unjust judge who rather then fairly to confess his errour makes no conscience of denying
little of Christianity She was an ambitious Queen who by a wicked Policy would govern at any rate even to the sacrificing Religion it self She did not deal faithfully with the Huguenots when she made the Peace with them Her only design was to deceive them It was she that put the King upon that barbarous resolution which was executed upon that bloody and accursed day of St. Bartholomew He sets out Charles the Ninth as a Son worthy of such a Mother This Prince was of an impetuous humour Cholerick Revengeful and very Cruel which proceeded from his dark Melancholy temper and from his wicked Education He was so good a Proficient in what his Mother taught him who was a Woman the best skilled of any in her time in the Art of Dissimulation and deceiving people that he made it appear he had outdone her in her own Craft What was it he did not do for two years together to deceive the poor Admiral He expressed the greatest value and love for him imaginable Embraced him kissed him called him his Father And yet so soon as ever they advised him to dispatch him out of hand He stood up in the greatest rage and swore by God according to his wicked custom Ay I will have him dispatched nay I will have all the Huguenots destroyed that not a man remain to reproach me hereafter with his death They hung the Body of the Admiral by the heels upon the Gibbet of Mount-Faucon lighting a Fire underneath to make him a more frightful spectacle It was so miserable a sight that Charles the King would needs see his Enemy thus dead which certainly was an act altogether unworthy I will not say of a King but of a man of any Birth to such a degree had this Spirit of hatred revenge and cruelty which he had learn'd of his Mother prevailed upon him As for Henry the Third another mortal Enemy to the Protestants Monsieur Maimbourg sets him out as the falsest and most unnatural of Mankind The Sieur Aubery du Maurier says he tells us in the Preface of his Memoirs that he has heard his Father say that he had it from the mouth of Monsieur de Vellievre that at the same time he shewed large Instructions to oblige him earnestly to intercede for the Life of Mary Queen of Scots he had private ones quite contrary from the hand of Henry the Third to advise Queen Elizabeth to put to death that common Enemy to their Persons and Kingdoms And could there be a stranger cruelty than what he makes this Prince guilty of when as yet he was only Duke d'Anjou The Prince of Condè after he had defended himself a long time most bravely at the Battle of Iarnac was forced at last to yield up himself Two Gentlemen received his Sword with all manner of respect But the Baron of Montesquiou Captain of Monsier's Swiss Guards being come up whil'st this was doing and finding by them that it was the Prince of Condè Kill him kill him says he and with a great Oath discharged his Pistol at his Head and shot him dead at the stump of a Tree where he leant It was an action doubtless no ways to be excused especially in a French Man who ought to have had respect and spared the Royal Blood had it been in the heat of the Battle much more in cold Blood They say this was done by the express command of the Duke d'Anjou He says of the Duke of Montpensier an irreconcilable enemy to the Huguenots that he would give them no Quarter that he always talked of hanging them that all he took prisoners he put to death presently without mercy that he said to that brave and wise la Noüe who came to surrender himself Prisoner of War My Friend you are a Huguenot your Sentence is passed Prepare for death that the day of the Massacre this bigotted Catholick went through the Streets with the Marshal de Tavannes encouraging the People that were but too forward of themselves and provoking them to fall upon every body and spare none He makes the Cardinal of Lorrain that great Champion for Popery to be Author of a sordid and cruel proceeding He says of the Duke of Guise whom the Catholicks looked upon as the invincible Defender of their Faith that indeed he did service to the Religion but that he likewise made it serve his turn and to invest him with that almost Regal Power which in the end prov'd so fatal to him Now a Subject that makes Religion a step to mount him into his Princes Throne and take away his Crown can he be otherwise esteemed than as a prophane and wicked man Speaking of the Ligue which as he says had for the chief Actors Philip the Second Queen Katharine and the Duke of Guise the great supporters of the Pope That it had like to have destroyed Church and State at once and that the greatest part of those that ran headlong in with that heat and passion and chiefly the People the Clergy and the Fryars were but the stales of such as made up this Cabal where Ambition Revenge and Interest took more place than Religion which was used but for a shew to cheat the World At last he represents the Court of Charles the Ninth which had been that of Francis the Second and was afterwards that of Henry the Third as a pack of Miscreants and Atheists The Court says he was at that time very corrupt where there was no difference hardly between a Catholick and a Huguenot but that the one went not to Mass nor the other to Sermon As for any thing else they agreed well enough for as much as the one and the other at least generally speaking had no Religion at all profane without the fear of God And yet it was from this Court as from a deadly Spring that flowed all the Persecutions which the Protestants suffered under the Reigns of three of their Kings And Monsieur Maimbourg is very pleasant when he makes it up of Huguenots as well as Papists All the World knows that the Huguenots were banished from the Court of Charles the Ninth so that all he says of this Court can light upon none but the Papists who alone were admitted at that time You are in the right says our Friend and it will do well to finish the draught Monsieur Maimbourg has given us of this Court that I read to you what the Bishop of Rhodes writes of it in his History of Henry the Fourth There never was one more vitious and corrupt Wickedness Atheism Magick the most enormous uncleanness the fowlest treacheries perfidiousness poysoning and murder predominated to the highest pitch But I beseech you Sir says he tell me what you would infer from these words of Monsieur Maimbourg that gives such Encomium's to the same Protestants whom he would seem at the same time to cry down with all