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A40765 A Faithful account of the renewed persecution of the churches of Lower Aquitaine in France in the year 1692 to which is prefixed a parallel between the ancient and new persecutors, or the portraicture of Lewis XIV in some of his cruelties and barbarities : with some reflections upon the unreasonable fondness of a certain party amongst us, for the French king. 1692 (1692) Wing F263; ESTC R31494 23,131 32

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A FAITHFUL ACCOUNT OF The Renewed Persecution OF THE CHURCHES OF Lower Aquitaine in France In the YEAR 1692. To which is prefixed A Parallel between the Ancient and New Persecutors or the Portraicture of LEWIS XIV in some of his Cruelties and Barbarities With some Reflections upon the unreasonable Fondness of a certain Party amongst us for the French King LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1692. A PARALLEL Between the Ancient and New Persecutors OR THE Portraicture of LEWIS XIV In some of his CRUELTIES and BARBARITIES IT was in the heat of the Persecution of the Protestant Churches of France that I first read Lactantius's Relation of the Death of the Primitive Persecutors The Cruelties practised in his Age upon the Christians and revived in ours with so much inhumanity upon our Brethren in France put me upon the thoughts of making a Parallel between the Ancient Persecutors Lactantius speaks of and our worse Modern ones under Lewis XIV And indeed I was the more tempted to it by the great likeness I found there was between them and the French King 's Cruel Instruments but having read over the ingenious Preface to that Book written by the now Learned Bishop of Sarum I then altered my Design because I thought such a Parallel was sufficiently done already very concisely in that Preface And I had continued still in the same mind but that an Account of the new Barbarities committed in France upon the Protestants of the Lower Aquitaine being come to my hand and being so earnestly solicited to publish it I think it will not be amiss to prefix to it a much larger Comparison between those Tyrants that we may see how like the French King is to the Ancient Persecutors and that he follows their steps not only in the Persecution but also in all their other Vices if he does not far exceed them I have been so much the more induced to this by the strange proceedings of a certain Party amongst us who yet pretending to be Protestants are yet nevertheless eager to fall down and Worship the Golden Image of such a Monster as this and forgetting what they owe to their God to Their Majesties under whom they lead quiet and peaceable Lives and to their Country are fond of having for their King the Enemy of Mankind the Invader of the Liberties of Europe and the greatest Persecutor of the Christian Religion that ever was in the World I intend in the first place to set the Characters Lactantius gives of the Persecutors of the Primitive Church with the Method they made use of in their Persecution and afterwards I 'll shew that those Characters do perfectly agree with the French King and that he has taken the very same Measures to destroy the Christian Religion in his Kingdom as the former took to abolish it in the Roman Empire But because the World tends always to a greater perfection I 'll shew also that this French King has exceeded Maximian Valerian and other Persecutors in Barbarity The Characters Lactantius gives of his Persecutors are these 1. That they were addicted to the Brutalities of several Pleasures 2. That they ruined their Subjects by severe Impositions and heavy Taxes for maintaining vast Armies 3. That they shewed in their Wars some Pusilanimity or at least more care than was decent for preserving themselves from all danger 4. That they were so weak as to be fondly pleased with the most excessive Flatteries could be made them and assumed undeservedly the most glorious Titles even some to Blasphemy it self 5. That they were profuse in the raising of costly Buildings 6. That they were successful for many Years together in their undertakings And Lastly That they had Fearful Superstitious and Cruel Tempers These are the Characters of those Ancient Persecutors I must observe now what was the pretence of their persecutions and the method they made use of to compass their horrid design What the pretence of their Persecutions was we may read in an Edict of Maximian himself quoted by Lactantius and Evsebius in his Ecclesiastical History Lib. 8. Chap. 1. in which 't is said That the Christians having forsaken the Religion of their Forefathers and framed new Laws to govern themselves by the Emperors thought themselves obliged to Publish their Edicts to force them to return to their first Institutions The measures they took to compass their Design were these 1. They pulled down the Christian Churches 2. They declared the Christians incapable of all Honours Trusts or Offices either Civil or Military 3. They put them out of the protection of the Law insomuch that they could not sue for any injuries done them 4. Afterwards they commanded all the Christians to abjure their Religion 5. But seeing that they stood firm to their Rules they practised all the Cruelties imaginable upon them 6thly and Lastly All the Books of the Sacred Scripture they could find were burnt by their Orders Having thus observed the Characters of those Primitive Persecutors the pretence of their Persecution and the method they made use of to destroy the Christian Religion I must give you now a plain Idea of this French King and shew what has been his pretence in Persecuting with so much Inhumanity his Protestant Subjects and what measures he has taken to abolish the Protestant Religion in his Kingdom 1. I think it will be very needless to shew how that the French King has delivered himself up to the Brutalities of sensual Pleasures For who is unacquainted with his many Adulteries Aud who has not heard of the famous Ladies La Valiere Fontange and Montespan and of the many Children he has got by them But I cannot pass over this Subject without observing That the Lady Montespan being Married to a Noble French man and the French King Married too he has committed the blackest of all Adulteries I do not read in History that those Monsters Lactantius speaks of have been guilty of such a Crime as this But supposing they had they were less Criminal than the French King because they could plead in their defence the examples of their Gods Whereas Lewis the XIVth cannot have such an excuse living under the seeming Profession of a Christian Religion which though very much corrupted yet informs him that Adultery is one of the horridst Crimes in the sight of God and that it is in express terms forbidden in his Law I hope this is enough without being obliged to speak of the Lady Maintenon some believing that she is really his Wife 2. I am next to prove That the Fremch King has ruined his Subjects by Severe Impositions and heavy Taxes for maintaining his vast Armies and this I can make out with as much ease as I have done his Vices Though Charles the great was Emperor of Germany King of Italy and of France yet he never maintained in time of Peace near Four hundred thousand men as this French King has done Every body knows how vast