Liberties and Laws are too slight a Bulwark to secure Protestant Subjects the exercise of their Religion and enjoyment of their Civil Rights under a Prince of the Romish Perswasion These Persecuted Protestants the daily objects of your Charity are the Successors and Descendants of those of the last Age to whose Loyalty and Valour Henry the fourth of France acknowledged himself much a Debtor for the Diadem of that Kingdom which the Monarch now Regnant there wears with so much Glory and the Catholick Liguers labour'd so vigorously and scandalously to rend away from the Family of Bourbon It was in consideration of that Fidelity and as a Princely Mark of his favour and acceptance of the eminent service they had done him that Prince no less truly than nominally great confirm'd to them the free exercise of their Religion with ample Immunities and Priviledges ratified with all solemnity of Law requisite in such cases All Europe is witness the present Protestants of France have not degenerated from the Loyalty of their Ancestors but have serv'd their Prince with all imaginable Fidelity and Zeal for the Glory of his Crown The World admires the Royal qualities of their Monarch his Conduct proves him a Prince every way great He is particularly fam'd for strictness of Justice and profoundness of Wisdom His Protestant Subjects who are lash'd so severely by the rod of his Authority declare him a person of a generous Temper and sweet Disposition a Man that abhors Cruelty and Violence and is one of the best natur'd Princes under Heaven Rome to her sorrow finds him no Bigot though a Roman Catholick yet the Protestants of France are persecuted with that rigour and extremity they think it a happiness to purchase with the loss of all secular enjoyments the freedom of their Conscience and by a voluntary exile to find in strange Countries that Justice and Peace they cannot have in their own Poor Hugonots What can be a sufficient Guarranty for the exercise of your Religion which Edicts in its favour obtain'd on weighty and just Considerations and ratified with all the solemnity of Law the loyalty of its Professors the merit of your Ancestors the innate goodness and wisdom of your Soveraign cannot secure If Persecution be your Lot under the Reign of a Monarch so Generous and Sagacious so free from Superstition and so full of Heroick Qualities as your Lewis the 14th cease to complain of the Murders and Massacres under Charles the 9th and Henry the 3d and arm your selves with a Christian expectation of greater Sufferings and more fiery tryals of your Patience and Loyalty when it shall be your misfortune to see the French Crown on the head of a weak ill-natur'd or Bigotted Prince Your present King hath bravely defy'd the Thunderbolts of Rome and vigorously attack'd its usurp d Supremacy yet permits you to be rigorously handled what usage must you expect from a Superstitious Soul that will receive the Dictates of the Pope as Oracles of Heaven and hazard Crowns to merit the title of a true Son of the Church in executing Commands the most dishonourable and bloudy the malice of Priests or interest of the Papacy shall impose upon him Impute it singly to the good nature of your King that Fires are not kindled and Gibbets set up to destroy you as in former Ages the malice of your Enemies is not abated and your Religion the cause of your Sufferings is the same as then but your King hath a Soul too noble and tender to command Innocents to be tortur'd and burnt a Spectacle Charles the 9th made his Divertisement and Pleasure How miserable must you be under a Prince that shall delight in your Sufferings and think it not just only but meritorious to extirpate you when you are thus sharply persecuted under so great a Monarch who had the goodness to declare he would willingly sacrifice his right hand for what he calls your Conversion Had your sage and wise Prince so much tenderness for you that he would have sacrific'd the instrument of so many glorious Atchievements the Darling of his noble and ambitious soul for that which conceives your good and yet is impos'd upon by the arts of your Enemies to connive at your ruine and permit his authority to be abus'd to warrant and countenance those Violences and Outrages his Soul abhors and his eyes cannot endure a sight of Preserve as you do your Loyalty to your Soveraign admire his Vertues and extol his Goodness Triumph in the clearness of your Innocence that the Enemies of your Religion own not any cause of your present Persecution but your King's Pleasure that there shall be but one Religion in his Kingdom But lament the unhappiest of his Education in a Religion of Principles so unnatural it would take away that variety God and Nature have unalterably established no less in the Opinions and Judgments than in the Tempers and Faces of Men so tyrannically it would enslave all Mankind to its Tenets though never so absur'd so wildly ambitious it would usurp that Soveraignty God hath reserved to himself over the judgment and conscience and force Men contrary to both to comply with its Superstitions and become Traytors to God by a prophane Hypocrisie that they may appear good Subjects to the Pope by an outward Conformity to his Impositions so irrational it would perswade men to put out their eyes to be guided by it to abjure their Senses and renounce their Reason to be governed by its Dictates Bewail the malice and subtilty of your Enemies that hath perverted your Prince from a Father of his faithful Subjects into a Persecutor of Protestants an Oppressor of the Reformed Church inspired him with a Cruelty it found not in his Nature and surprized him to permit Violences and Outrages to be committed upon you which are no less contrary to his judgment than they are to his goodness But the Moon hath her spots Solomon and Alexander were not free from miscarriages and the sagacious malice of the enemies of Protestants quickly finds out those weaknesses in the Souls of the best Princes they have access to which they impose upon and manage to the prejudice of the Reformed Religion They knew the French King of too good a nature to permit general Massacres or delight in Cruelty exercised on his Subjects they were sensible he is not a Bigot to be perswaded to yield up the Lives of his Subjects to the pleasure of the Pope or the interest of his Church nor so silly to believe the God of the Christians can be pleased as some of the pretended Vicars of Christ have been with slaughter of men They observed so much Justice and Equity in his nature he would be scandalized at a proposal that would have engaged him contrary to Law and without colour of Justice to violate the rights of a loyal and numerous party of his Subjects they apprehended him too sensible of the interest of his Crown to approve of a
Given at Our Court at Windsor the 22d. day of July 1681. In the Three and Thirtieth year of Our Reign By his Majesties Command L. Jenkins To Our Right trusty and Well-beloved Sir Patience Ward Knight Lord Mayor of Our City of London CHARLES R. RIght Trusty and Well-beloved We greet you well Being given to understand that very many Protestants and even whole Families finding themselves under great Pressures and Persecutions in the Kingdom of France for the sake of their Religion have chosen rather to leave their native Country and Conveniences than to hazard the Ruine of their Consciences and therefore great numbers of them are come and more are endeavouring every day to come into this Kingdom for Shelter and Security We are very desirous that here they should not only meet with all kind Reception but also with that Benevolence and Charity which may in some reasonable measure contribute towards their present Relief and Comfort in this their Affliction To which end We have signified Our Pleasure to the Bishop of London requiring him to give Directions unto the Clergy of that Our City and places adjacent to represent the sad Condition of these poor People in their solemn Congregations and also to excite their Parishioners to the free and chearful Relief of their distressed Brethren But as we cannot have too many hands employed in so good a work so We have thought fit to recommend the same unto you also that by your encouragement and endeavour Our good Subjects inhabiting in that Our City may be induced and obliged to a more than ordinary demonstration of their compassion and liberality on this Occasion And so We bid you heartily farewell Given at Our Court at Windsor the 22d. day of July 1681. in the Three and Thirtieth year of Our Reign By his Majesties Command L. Jenkins The Hugonot Gentlemen YOU know without doubt that the King of England proceeded further in our favour declaring all the persecuted Protestants who should come into England Denizens of his Kingdom And that all those who should transport their effects thither in Merchandise should import them Custom-free and whereas the Collection for the French Protestants in England was at first made only in the City and Suburbs of London the King hath commanded it should be made throughout the Kingdom Nor is it England alone opens its arms to receive the distressed Protestants of France They are entertained in all places of Europe The Duke of Hanan hath offer'd to receive four hundred Families Swede and Denmark tho very remote declare themselves ready to embrace the scatter'd Remains of the Protestant Churches of France The Charity of England towards them is very edifying yet I confess I am not equally satisfied with all other Protestants who might afford Refuge to their persecuted Brethren I have seen some of them return'd as Persons in despair from places where they had promised themselves support resolv'd to hazard all and run again into the temptation they had fled from being so scandaliz'd with the cold reception and hard usage they had found that they were ready to hearken to the solicitations of the Missionaries Hug. Law I confess the carriage of some strangers towards our persecuted Protestants appear'd to me quite contrary to the spirit of Christianity And if it continue what will become of so many poor Peasants and Tradesmen who groan at this day in search of the means to have liberty of Conscience What will become of so many eminent Persons who will be oblig'd to quit their Countrey naked and destitute to follow Jesus Christ and can carry nothing with them but their Lives and their Consciences What can be more Lamentable than to see how cold mens Charity and Zeal is 'T is more deplorable than the Persecution What is become of that spirit of our Ancestors that made them have all things common among them That render'd every private Person sensible of the publick Calamity In the beginning of the Reformation if those Protestants who were in peace and safety had done nothing for those who were under Persecution the Light of the Reformation had been long since put out in most places of Germany the Low-Countries and France Hug. Gent. Mens Charity I hope will be awaken'd again to do something for God and themselves For in truth the Compassion the Protestants in safety should express for their afflicted Brethren of France is but a good Office done to themselves There is not a Protestant State Neighbouring on France but is under apprehension of its Arms and hath cause to fear it may one day feel the miseries the Reformed of this Kingdom groan under now Where-ever the King carries his Arms those wicked Councellors who perswade him to ruine our Religion will carry their Counsels and make use of the Fortune of this great Monarch to accomplish their designs This may give them who at present are in safety cause enough to fear they may not always continue so It would become them to merit a Compassion they may one day stand in need of by exercising Compassion towards those who are actually in misery But above all they ought by Works of Mercy and the Exercise of fervent Charity and strict Union among themselves to divert the Wrath of God that threatens them and to endeavour to escape the greatest of Misfortunes the loss of Liberty and oppression of their Consciences I cannot forbear adding that the Children of this World are wiser in their Generation than the Children of Light and that their Zeal not only upbraids but may justly make us asham'd of our coldness 'T is difficult to express the great pains the Roman Catholicks take they spare no cost to make Converts as they call them There are very considerable Funds assign'd for the Maintenance and Encouragement of those they have perswaded to change their Religion The King allows out of his Revenue vast sums for gaining and recompencing these new Converts We have known lewd Women converted big with Bastard Children who had Pensions of four or five hundred Livers allow'd them 'T is a Prodigy to me that we are not willing for the support of poor distressed Protestants to be at that expence they of the other Party are at for perverting of Souls I wish all Protestant States would imitate the principal Towns of the Low Countreys which give Lodging in a manner gratis to all those who fly thither for Refuge besides immunity from Parish-Duties and Charges levyed for the use of the Town and furnish with Money and Goods those that have none till they are in a Condition to subsist by themselves and make great Collections in their Towns for that purpose Hug. Law Though all that could be wish'd is not every where done for those who leave their Countrey to save their Souls yet sufficient is done to make it appear that the Kings Protestant Allyes and Neighbours are much grieved at the ill usage of their Brethren and that disgusted with the present Conduct of
Sufferers in those horrible Tragedies The fear of seeing like days again drove them out of their Wits and hurried them into a design to prevent Calamities that appear'd otherwise inevitable This is a truth to which the late King of glorious memory bears witness in his Declaration of the 10th of Nov. 1615. And that great Prince found in that Source of the War a reason to excuse it When he says The poor people having too lightly believ'd there were designes against their Lives had precipitated themselves into this Enterprize thinking themselves forc'd into it for their just and lawful defence Besides if you consider with what Spirit our Protestants were animated in the last Wars you will find some cause to excuse them perhaps there was in their Conduct somewhat of the spirit of that Governour who writ to Tiberias The Empire is yours my Government is mine That is they were jealous of their Liberties and Priviledges to that degree they would not have them infring'd in the least but you cannot with justice charge them to have been animated with a Spirit of Contempt or hatred or revolt against their Soveraign All their design was to Cantonize themselves to preserve their Religion this only excepted they were always ready to sacrifice all for the Grandeur of their King and the good of the State This is acknowledg'd more than once by the Roman Catholick Historians After all these Troubles ended about threescore years since cannot be at this day a lawfull Cause for revoking the Edicts of Pacification because our Kings have defac'd the memory of those Troubles by so many Declarations and have confirmed by their Royal words frequently and solemnly given us the favours they had granted us Good God! where is that integrity what 's become of that sincerity and good faith men ought to practice Will they never call to mind that there is in Heaven a God faithful to his promises who threatens vengeance on those who violate Treaties and Alliances Par. Gentlemen I cannot endure you should make such a noise about pretended breaches of words Is not a King always Master of his Arrests and Declarations Is any thing more ordinary than to see that revok'd at one time which hath been establish'd at another Is a Prince charg'd to have dealt falsly or deceitfully when he charges or revokes some Laws he had made Hug. Law Let me intreat you Sir not to permit your self to be misled and impos'd upon by that sorry argument so often brought against us Consider I pray there is a great deal of difference between Sumptuary Laws or Regulations of Proceedings in Suits Criminal or Civil and Treaties bonâ fide made with Subjects and People who are or enter under the Dominion of a Prince A Soveraign may revoke Sumptuary Laws and alter the forms of Proceedings which have been heretofore but are not now useful to the State because they are not Treaties he made not these Laws irrevocable he was not engag'd he did not promise any he would not revoke them but in the Edicts of Pacification our Kings treated with Men in the presence of God they engag'd themselves to allow them some Liberties and preserve them They promis'd this solemnly without reserving a Power of Revocation It cannot be deny'd but the Councel of France is universally blam'd for looking upon all Treaties made with those who are or enter under the King's Dominion as Toys to play with and deceive the simple and false Dice to cheat those who mean honestly and act fairly For those many years the United Provinces have had in their subjection Bolduc and Mastricht Cities wherein the Roman Catholicks have all manner of Liberty and the Burgesses great Priviledges they have not fail'd to observe to a tittle the Treaties and Capitulations agreed on I heard read the other day the Record of what was transacted upon the voluntary surrender of Sedan to the King There cannot be a thing fairer than the Priviledges the King grants to the Town and the Religion then predominant there Nothing more solemn than the manner of their mutual engagement by an Oath of Fidelity on the Subjects part and on the part of the Soveraign by the Liberties he allows them but the memory of all this is vanish'd When we mention these Treaties at Court all the answer we have is The King's mind is alter'd This Conduct which is observ'd in matters of State as well as of Religion does France a greater injury than can be imagin d it renders the French Government intolerable at a time when France would have it appear the most easy The People of Flanders and the Franche Comte lately conquered retain to this day an affection for Spain and groan under a Yoke which is not at present very heavy 't is because they know the Priviledges and Liberties they enjoy shall not last long there is more danger than you think of in this manner of proceeding for the World never wants some Factious Spirits who mind not that other mens sins cannot justify or excuse them in theirs they forget that the faults of Princes against their Subjects do not authorize Subjects to rebel against their Princes they frequently say to one another We are not obliged to keep our words with him that breaks his with us Fregit fidem frangatur eidem You see you have carry'd us a great way from the place we were at but you will think it fit Sir that we return thither again and speak now of the Conspiracy in England Par. You are strangely in love with that Subject Let me lead you where I will you are still for returning thither And what shall you get by it All you can say is overthrown in one word It is constantly deny'd there is one word of truth in all that story Hug. Law 'T is for that very reason Sir we return so often to that Subject Can you think it fit we should patiently endure our selves to be charg'd to have invented by the most Diabolical malice that ever was conceiv'd a Romance a Fable such as you suppose the History of this Conspiracy to be out of a form'd design and of set purpose to destroy the Honour the Estates and the Lives of Millions of innocent Persons What proof have we ever given that we are capable of so horrible a Treason I know very well you will object the same to us and ask what colour there is to believe that you Catholicks could have conspir'd to massacre Millions of Innocents And that 't is as probable the Protestants have invented this Plot to destroy the Catholicks as that the Catholicks have entred into a Conspiracy to destroy the Protestants But Sir the presumptions are far stronger if not altogether for us 'T is not to be found in History we ever plotted infernal Devices like this to destroy our Countreymen or charg'd them with such black Crimes to ruin them On the contrary the History and memory of Men yet living inform us 't is ordinary
State it attacks the Principles by which it subsists For the bond of Love between the King and his Subjects is that which unites all the parts of this great and vast Body But 't is fit I represent to you those horrible Calamities these Enemies of France would plunge the Kingdom in They would bring back again the last Age and revive the Reigns of Henry the 2d and Charles the 9th In a word they would set up new Gibbets and kindle new Fires against the Reformed Can France expect a great Mischief Par. Y' are much mistaken Sir there 's no such intention Some Zealots may desire such a thing but the King hath not any such Design Hug. Law I believe you Sir We know the Goodness and Clemency of the King and that he naturally hates all Violence We see every day the Prudence of his Ministers But men are led where they never had intention to go they are mov'd by degrees to revoke all the Edicts of Pacification If Matters be carryed on with that Violence they have been for some years and especially within few months past the Business will be quickly at an end they will shortly perswade the King three fourths of the Hugonots of his Kingdom are converted They will tell him the residue is nothing or not worth the thinking of And so prevail with him to suppress the Edicts Thus shall near two millions of Souls remain debarr'd the exercise of their Religion 'T is a violent State in which Consciences cannot stay long The Ministers shall be forbidden to Preach on pain of death Yet they will Preach as before in the like case in Caves and Woods and Cellars and Darkness And instead of preaching in a few places they will preach in every place It cannot be but they will be discover'd exercising a Religion prohibited by the State and incur the Penalties to be inflicted by the late Edicts And according to the Severity of those Penalties they will be Imprison'd Banish'd Hang'd Consider how much it will grate the good nature of the King to see himself oblig'd to permit his Subjects to be put to a thousand Tortures for no other reason but having a desire to serve God I foresee Matters may be carryed yet farther Among two or three hundred thousand Persons able to bear Arms remaining still of that Religion 't is impossible but there is a great number of Fools impatient and desperate In plurality of Voyces Fools are always too hard for the Wise who are often oblig'd to permit themselves to be carryed away with the stream of the major Vote Such heady and impatient People instead of Submitting will Mutiny make Parties take up Arms. And then will the King be forc'd to draw Rivers of Blood out of the hearts of his Subjects Par. Ay Ay Sir there is great cause to fear you you are in a powerful and formidable Condition Where are your Chiefs where your strong Towns Where your Money Where your Forraign Allyances You have nothing to support you but the indulgence of our Kings Hug. Law Pardon me if I tell you you do not apprehend me my design is not to put you in fear but move you to pity I do not say but the King may with all the ease imaginable dissipate the Forces of any Faction that should rebel against him I am fully convinc'd of it not only by your Reasons but some stronger Arguments You say the Reformed have neither Chiefs nor Towns nor Money Have you forgot that saying of the Poet Furor arma ministrat Fury never wants Weapons they who have no Towns may take some Those who want Money may Rob and Plunder Despair can effect what Valour and Courage never durst undertake A State that has lying close in its Bowels two millions of Male-contents though but Women and Children and the dregs of Mankind is in danger of suffering terrible Revolutions After the Massacre of St. Bartholomew the Hugonots had none to head them Dandelot was dead the Admiral assassinated all the Flower of their Nobility murther'd and the Princes of the Blood Prisoners yet they never spoke bigger never insisted on higher Terms than then But I expect not any benefit to the Reformed from such Revolutions because God never blesses the designs of defending a Religion by Arms of Rebelling against our Prince and making War under pretences of Piety The furies of Civil War being absolutely inconsistent with Charity Such heady and impatient people by taking Arms will act against the Principles of Religion and I aver it particularly against the Principles of the Reformed They are to expect no other success but to be massacred by the People and the Arms of their Soveraign They would occasion as heretofore millions of Innocents to perish with them The King would certainly master them but would be griev'd to see his Countreys drown'd with the Blood of his Subjects What greater misfortune than this to a Prince so good-natur'd as ours Besides a State busied in reducing rebellious Subjects is in a manner abandon'd to strangers who fill and tear it in pieces with Factions foment Divisions take advantage of Disorders and draw Blood from all parts of it while it self opens the Veins on every side Those Gentlemen who constantly solicit the King to Rigor against us are certainly weary of the prosperity of the State they have no mind to see France any longer the most flourishing Kingdom of Europe They would bring back that Age wherein the Realm divided against it self call'd in the Duke of Parma the Flemings and Spaniards to enrich themselves with the pillages of the Towns and desolation of the Provinces Par. I see Gentlemen the alarm you have taken hath stirr'd your fancy and put you in a heat You go on too far and too fast there is a design to Ruine you 't is confest but 't is by undermining you by degrees Those very men you call Enemies of the State have no mind to see the effusion of your Blood Hug. Law Were those men guilty of no other mischief but a design to deprive the King of such a multitude of faithful Subjects they very well deserved to be call'd Enemies of the State I hope those of the Reformed Religion will never permit themselves to run into the Extremities I spoke of But they will do all they can to go seek in other Countreys the peace and the quiet they are denyed in their own I have told you already their Consternation is great and universal And all the considerable persons of our body seek only a Gate to go out at and a means to remove out of his Majesties sight the Objects that displease him Par. I cannot think they would be much troubled at your departure out of the Kingdom Hug. Law Whether they would be troubled I know not but I very well know they would have cause enough to be troubled The Count de los Balbazes during his stay at Paris being in company of several Ministers of forraign Princes they
whence proceeds that terrible fright we are observ'd to be in for some time past We see coming towards us that Scourge which now Afflicts Santonge and Poitou We understand well enough they will not open a Persecution in all places at once this would make too great a noise But when they have laid these two Provinces desolate they will pass into another They scatter and lay wast all our Congregations in one end of the Kingdom and in the other tell us we shall be dealt with better far than we imagine that we are to blame to take the Alarm and ought not to think of leaving the Kingdom That is that we are a File of Wretched men mark'd out for death while those at the one end of the File are Hang'd or Shot to death those at the other end are spoken fair to and made drink to amuse them that they run not away but may when the rest are dispatch'd be Hang'd as the others They began with this poor Province of Poitou because it is bounded on one side by the Sea and on the other side borders on all the Provinces of France so that the wretched Inhabitants have no way to escape out of the Kingdom And it is certain those who will permit themselves to be surpriz'd and neglect the opportunity of getting into a place of safety will one day dearly pay for their Imprudence and Security Hug. Gent. Your Reflections have interrupted me in the Course of my story I have many things more to acquaint you with which will give you further Light into the Character of this Persecutor who Ravages Poitou He spreads and causes it to be spread abroad every where with inconceivable boldness that 't is the King's intention there shall be but one Religion in his Kingdom If any one chance to say any thing to the contrary what Religion soever he is of he is punish'd for 't It happen'd that three Roman-Catholicks said the King had not declar'd himself as fully in this particular as 't was reported he had they were all three Imprison'd for it A Man of the Religion having taken an occasion to raâ—ly these Conversions made for Money and having said the King was too wise to be at great expence to carry on an Action so base as that of Bribing People out of their Religion was Imprison'd and Condemn'd to go bare-head and bare-foot with a lighted Torch in his hand through the Street follow'd by the Executioner to the Court of Justice to beg Pardon for his fault But I have one thing more to tell you by which you may better know what a Person he is I am speaking of He went to Dinner at the Marquess of Verac's a Gentleman of note in the Province While they were at Dinner the Intendant gave Order the Inhabitants of the place should assemble at the Cross After Dinner he took his Coach got up on the streps of the Cross and said to the Peasants assembled Children you are to know 't is the King's intention there shall be henceforth but one Religion in France Turn Catholicks Whoever does so shall have cause upon all occasions to praise the King's Bounty Those who refuse shall experience his Severity To prove what I say see here your Lord the Marquess of Verac come along with me to change his Religion Whereupon the Marquess who is a very honest man and a very good Protestant stepping up immediately to the same Cross said to the Peasants Children The Intendant does but jest with you The King has no design to revoke his Edicts And it is not true that I am come along with him or have any design to change my Religion Hug. Law This is surprizing and sufficient of it self to make out the Character of the Man I cannot tell Sir what you think of these Conversions of Poitou But as for me I confess that assuming the Sentiments of a reasonable Catholick I could not forbear being of the Opinion of Ozorjus Bishop of the Algarues That nothing is more opposite to the Spirit of Christianity than a Conduct of this Nature that exposes so many Mysteries and holy things to men suspected and evidently prophane Can you choose but tremble Sir to think that at this day in Poitou thousands of those who are forc'd to go to Mass and prostrate themselves before that which you call Our Lord detest and look upon that as an Idol which they pretend to adore When they are sick they bring them the holy Oyl and make them take the Sacrament after your manner They obey with their bodies the Violence us'd but they think very Prophanely of those things you esteem so Holy 'T is in your Opinion an enormous Crime these Wretches commit yet 't is your Zealous Catholicks are the Cause of these horrible Prophanations of your Mysteries When Violence is us'd to force men to Lock up in the bottom of their Hearts their sentiments of Religion it produces the effect of that Violent and inconsiderate Zeal of Emmanuel the second King of Portugal who compell'd the Jews to turn Christians as I told you The Jews profess'd themselves Christians but continued Jews in their Hearts Their Children inherited their Dissimulation and Religion Hence it is that half those Portuguese who to avoid the Inquisition are Christians in Portugal no sooner set foot in Holland but they are Jews Those Hugonots who have been forc'd to turn Roman-Catholicks will inspire into their Children their Religion and the disquiet of their Spirit These Sentiments will be transmitted from Generation to Generation as a Seed of Rebellion that will always incline this People to shake off the Yoke impos'd on their Conscience as Soon as they have opportunity So that by the Course now taken instead of gaining Servants to God you raise Enemies to the State And I had reason to say that by the Method now us'd for Conversion you will make you a Church of Rogues and Villains of Atheistical and Prophane Rascals destitute both of Religion and Honour Conversion at this day is a Cloak to cover Debauches and the most abominable Enormities Let the most infamous of men profess himself a Catholick he is presently become a right honest man That Church which claims the title of Holy as proper to it self opens her Gates to Bankrupts and Cheats and exhorts men to become Bankrupts by turning Roman-Catholicks which is a sure Means of Pardon and Oblivion for all Sins and in a word a Salve for all Sores a Remedy for all Evils Hug. Gent. Give me leave to tell you a little story not impertinent to the Purpose which I had the other day from an Officer You know 't is now every ones business to make Converts 'T is the imployment of Gentlemen and Officers of War as well as of the Bigots A Souldier of the Garrison of Friburg having committed a considerable Robbery was imprison'd for it He had wit enough to know it would go very hard with him unless he could find Favour The
afraid to stain the Memory of his Father for if some may be credited he was about to have an information put in against him and to have his bones burnt as an Heretick And that he forbore this proceeding for no other reason than that his Father had been an Heretick he was thereby devested of his Estates and consequently had no right to resign them to his Son Philip indeed appear'd a great Zealot for his Religion But if you will believe the Germans the terrible hatred he had against the Protestants proceeded not so much from his love to the Catholick Church as from his violent resentment against the Lutheran Confederates who oppos'd the Design of Charles the 5th to make him associate of the Empire with Ferdinand his Brother whose Successor in the Empire Philip aspir'd to be But to return to our Subject I say the Germans fought for their Religion and Liberty by Power inherent in the Princes of the Empire who are as much Masters of their States as the Emperor of his Maurice of Saxony effected what Frederick could not He recovered the Liberty of Germany and broke the Yoke under which it groan'd Having thus justifi'd the Protestants of Germany I know of no other but the States of the United Provinces who are charg'd to have chang'd their Religion to set up and maintain a new form of Government Par. Ah! Sir as for them I advise you for your credit not to engage in their defence 'T is so publickly notorious they were Subjects of Spain and that in changing their Religion they chang'd their Master by as plain a Rebellion as ever was in the World I am so much your Friend I would not have you undertake their Cause Hug. Law No Sir I will not undertake it Grotius de antiquitate Reipublicae Batavicae 'T is done to my hand Read what the learned Grotius hath writ of the Original and Government of the Provinces of the Low-Countreys Read their Historians read ours You will find these People never were absolutely Subjects of Spain that the Earls of Holland never were their absolute Masters that the Government was mix'd partly Aristocratical partly Monarchick These Historians will tell you the Provinces of the Low-Countries were reform'd long before they took up Arms against the King of Spain that in the first Wars there was an equal if not a greater number of Roman-Catholick than of Protestant Lords and Towns engag'd against the Catholick King That the States chose the Duke of Alanson a Son of France a Roman-Catholick for their Master That before that Election they had submitted themselves to Arch-Duke Matthias a good Roman-Catholick You will see there that the horrible Cruelties of the Duke of Alva fore'd this poor People beyond the bounds of patience That Tyrant boasted he had destroy'd by the hands of the common Executioner eighteen thousand Persons and had made the Confiscations of the Condemn'd amount to eight millions of Gold yearly You may if you please read in Mezeray's Abridgement who is neither Hollander nor Hugonot Ann. 1557. That before the Duke of Alva left Spain they arrested the Marquess of Berguen and Floris de Mentmorency Montigny who were gone from the States of the Low-Countries to make their Remonstrances to King Philip The former dyed of grief or was poison'd the other was Beheaded though both were good Roman-Catholicks By which it appear'd the Councel of Spain had form'd their design against the Liberty of the Low-Countries as much at least as against their new Religion If you have a mind to hear any more of the Low-Country Wars let us read Mezeray in the same place This year said he They make the beginning of the Low-Country Wars which lasted till the Peace of Munster without intermission other than that of the Truce agreed by the mediation of Hen. 4th The fear of the Inquisition was the principal Cause of the War The Inquisition was extremely pernicious and insupportable to the Flemings for besides the two violent rigors it exercis'd against those who had embrac'd the new Opinions it broke off all Commerce c. The very Clergy was no less displeas'd at it for the seven newly erected Bishopricks taken out of the Metropolitan Diocesses of Rhemes Treves and Cologne and the Bishopricks of Liege and Munster because they had appropriated to these new erected Bishopricks the richest Abbies of the Low-Countries and bestow'd them on Prelates at the Devotion of the Councel of Spain So that under pretence of maintaining the ancient Religion the Spaniards labour'd to establish an absolute Dominion in Provinces which owe but a limited Obedience according to their Laws and their Priviledges This Sir was the true source of these Wars wherein not only the Lay-subjects of both Religions but the Roman-Catholick Clergy of the Low-Countries were engag'd against the King of Spain for the preservation of their Liberty Read Strada whom you cannot suspect of partiality in our favour and you will discover through all the Disguisements of that Author that it was not Religion but the Cruelty of the Spanish Government was the sole Cause of the revolt of those Provinces If all this will not satisfie you I will give you leave Sir to brand the memory of our Kings who maintain'd the Rights of these Provinces thought their Cause just and supported them against the enterprizes of a Master who had lost his just Rights of Lawful Soveraignty over them by endeavouring to be their Tyrant Par. I see we shall never agree in this point We were better return to our Civil Wars of France wherein those of your Religion have spilt so much Blood and appear'd always of a Spirit inclin'd to Rebellion Hug. Law If you think we have nothing to say for our selves you are very much mistaken Sir We have so many things to answer we know not what Method to put them in nor how to comprehend them in few words The Wars you would charge us with as a Crime have been Civil Wars of the same nature with others rais'd in the Bowels of a State by the discontent of the People and the jealousie of the great ones to which Religion was but an accidental ingredient This Sir I undertake to prove evidently by History But before I enter on that I beg leave to make some Reflections Is it not a great piece of injustice in those who read the History of the last Age to fix their eyes on those thirty years only which pass'd between the death of Henry the 2d and that of Henry the 3d. without taking notice of the forty years elaps'd during the Raign of Francis the 1st and Henry the 2d If they charge us with having been engag'd in the Civil Wars those thirty years ought they not to commend the patience we had for forty years before Admit it we were afterwards more impatient than we ought however 't is true that for almost half an Age we patiently endur'd unheard of Cruelties without seeking any
Children Thus Your Majesty shall see continued in Your Kingdom a Generation of Male-Contents of Dissmblers of Profane Rebellious and ill Christians such will be the good Catholicks begot of those Parents who are at this day forc'd to change their Religion Among this wretched Multitude there will doubtless be some who totally forgetting their duty will take desperate Resolutions and choose rather to die in a violent manner than to live reduc'd to a condition wherein they betray their Conscience and suffer a thousand Calamities and it cannot but infinitely grieve Your Majesties good Nature and Clemency to see your self forc'd to revive the Age of Massacres Our zeal for Your Majesties Service holds out hitherto against the sence of our present Sufferings and the fear of future ills Your Majesty hath not in Your Armies by Sea or Land an Hugonot Officer who is not ready to sacrifice his Life in Your Service There is not Your Kingdom a Protestant who doth not venerate I may say adore Your Majesty as the brightest Image God hath given of himself to the World we hope they will always look upon the Thunderbolts that come from your hand with that respect and fear they regard those that fall from Heaven but we hope also Your Majesty in imitation of that Divinity whose Image you are will pity so many miserable Persons who groan under their Sufferings without murmuring against the hand that causes them Especially when you consider these Wretches have all Europe to witness their faithfulness to Your Service and the World sees them free from the least stain of Rebellion Your Majesty will not permit us to be persecuted any longer for no other reason but because as 't is suppos'd we are not illuminated Alas Sir 't is a Grace that depends not upon our selves 't is not a thing within the power of Man nor is it an effect of fear punishments and tortures We doubt not but if Your Majesty would take the pains to cast Your Eye upon the Arrests and Orders exhorted from Your Majesty against us and the Consequences of them they would appear dreadful and horrible Your Majesty should see Trade interrupted and spoil'd Your Towns desolate by the desertion of the Inhabitants and a great breach in Your State by the loss of so many considerable Members of it ready to fly out of it you should see your Neighbours enrich'd and fortify'd by the spoils of Your Kingdom France in many places become a vast Desart and a considerable number of unhappy Consciences groaning under a cruel Servitude they are reduc'd to You should see a People in despair capable of the most violent Resolutions against themselves We hope Sir that God the Protector of Afflicted Innocents will lay open all these Considerations to Your Majesties Eyes that you may act as the common Father of Your Subjects We remember Sir that kind and excellent Expression of Your Majesty not long since That You consider'd us all as Your Children and would have given Your Right Hand for our Conversion Here we see Your Majesty in Your Natural state and admire the genuine goodness of Your temper and are perswaded 't is not without violence you are obliged to arm Your self against us as if we were Your Enemies When Children have attain'd the age of discretion their Parents use only the ways of perswasion to reduce them to Duty because the heart is not won but by fair and gentle means and our Spirits naturally abhor and resist force We hope therefore Your Majesty will again awaken Your Paternal Compassions towards those Children whom you look upon as gone astray and that you will leave it to Heaven and it's Grace to reduce them into the right way if out of it and that You will not permit our Consciences to be dragg'd into Paths which we are not perswaded are right 'T is this hope alone Sir keeps us from falling into despair this only supports us this will ever make us most earnest Petitioners to Heaven for the preservation of Your Royal Person for Your Glory and the good Success of all Your Designs Prov. What think you of it Sir Par. I am not surpriz'd at it these poor People are so restless in their misery 't is no wonder they toss and tumble themselves every way but they are very simple if they think they can find a way to convey such a Paper to His Majesty the Avenues are all block'd up And should it come to the Kings Hands he is beset round with those shall take effectual order he shall not alter his Mind I should think it best to let them have it again but that if you restore it they will bevex'd we have seen it 'T is better pretend we know nothing of it nor say a word of it to them they will think they have lost it elsewhere Prov. I will be advis'd by you Farewel Sir 't is high time to leave you to your Repose The Printer to the Reader The Copy of the following Letter being come to my hands I thought it not improper to be communicated to the Publick because it concerns the present State of the Religion in France the Subject of this Work SIR YOu desire I would inform you what you are to believe of the Reports spread in the Province you are in of the great Mitigations lately happen'd as 't is said in the Affairs of our Religion A Man cannot write with much certainty of these matters yet I will venture to comply with your desires never were Reports more groundless than those for matters are so far from being mitigated they begin to be worse than ever The business between the Bayliff of Charanton and the Gentlemen of the Consistory is reviv'd You know without doubt that the King upon the Petition they presented him had order'd the Bayliff not to proceed any further and gave them leave in the mean time to apply themselves if they saw cause to the Parliament for Remedy but within these five or six days the Chancellor said to the Deputy-General it was much wondred the Consistory had not sued forth an Appeal from the Sentence of the Bayliff that they must look to it for if they would not appeal the King would take off the Prohibition and give the Bayliff leave to proceed What is the meaning of this but to let us see they intend to Exterminate us for questionless you remember one Article of that Sentence was that we should pay the Sacrament such respect as is due to it Whether what was said to Monsieur Ruvigny will take effect I know not but you know well enough that in what concerns us they do not their business by half but go through with their work The Provinces of Poitou and Aunix are in a condition that deserves all manner of Compassion all acts of the most Barbarous Cruelty are exercis'd in those Countries the Relations we have thence would break your heart 'T is true the Troops are drawn out which is the only ground