time all the demands which they made all the Decrees they proposed to themselves to obtain are found in the Articles of this Declaration In regard whereof they can be looked upon no otherwise than as the Execution of those so destructive Memoires since therein may be seen all the pretentions of the Clergy turned into form of Rules and Ordinances II. Besides who else but the Ecclesiasticks that is to say most passionate Parties could ever have conceived that thought which they had and which they have by surprize caused to be set in the Preface of this Declaration where it is said that what hath been judged and decided by the Decrees of the Counsell should be confirmed and established for ever and be executed as a Law inviolable For to desire that the Decrees in generall made in Counsel that is to say Decrees whereof many were given upon a Petition only and without Cognisance of the Cause or upon particular Actions and upon circumstances extraordinary should pass into a Law inviolable throughout the Realm certainly is a thing that cannot easily be conceived There is no thing more common than to see the Decrees of the Counsel annulled by others subsequent because the King being better informed of the State and truth of things Wills that the Rights of Justice should be maintained on the same Tribunal where the artifice of the Parties would have given it some defeat Decrees being indeed no Rules of the Law but on the contrary the Law the true Rule of Decrees III. The Form and Tenure of the Articles makes it no less clear that the Declaration was a surprize For they are all prejudicial to the Pretended Reformed Religion And in the mean time the King in the beginning of the Preface doth say expresly that his greatest care since his coming to the Crown hath been to maintain his Catholick Subjects and those of the Petended Reformed Religion in perfect Peace and Tranquility And a few lines after that the design of this Declaration was to nourish Peace and Amity amongst his Majesties Subjects as well Catholicks as those of the Pretended Reformed Religion In pursuance of this design truly worthy the Justice and Goodness of the King the Declaration ought to have been conceived in such sort that in giving satisfaction to the one some regard might have been had at least of the weal and subsistence of the other and that not only they of the Roman Catholick Religion but they also of the Pretended Reformed Religion might have found therein some matter of contentment But contrary to this so just a Maxim this whole Declaration is to the disadvantage of the latter and so far from being proper to nourish Peace and Amity that it can serve for nothing else but to beget eternal troubles and divisions This is one manifest proof that it was neither the King nor his Counsell that formed this Declaration not only so partial but so openly contrary to so considerable a party of his Majesties Subjects For Kings have not been wont to deal after this manner in the Regulations which they make for the union and repose of the persons whose differences they would appease They do alwayes conserve the interest of the one part with the other betwixt whom they seek to establish Concord and good Understanding The Edict of Nantes hath been conceived by this true Spirit of Royalty For it propounds so to regulate the Affairs of those of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion and those of the pretended Reformed Religion that both the one and the other might find therein some cause to be contented And also for the composing thereof Henry the Great called unto his person the most prudent and best qualified of the two Religions that he might confer with them He received their Bills he hearkned to their Complaints and to their Remonstrances to the end he might not be surprized in any point But here they of the pretended Reformed Religion were neither heard nor called the Ecclesiasticks only in this rencounter had the honour to approach unto the person of the King and having disguised matters unto him according to the dictates of their passion they have imposed upon him sinister impressions to the prejudice of the truth to the end they might cause him to set forth a Declaration which they had a long time before framed in their own bosoms It is then the Clergy who have suggested it through the motives of their hatred against them of the pretended Reformed Religion and who were desirous therein to accumulate all things whatsoever their passion could enable them to imagine as most proper to atchieve their overthrow and ruine IV. But that which renders this surprize in every respect sensible and palpable is the pablick protestation which the King makes in the entrance of this Declaration that he will observe exactly the Edict of Nantes and that of 1629. for it will be found that this Declaration is so very far from exactly observing those Edicts so authorised that it repeals them in many of its Articles so that none can doubt but that it is contrary to the intention of his Majesty and that they who have obtained it have surprised him in the sincerity of his heart For where is the person so rash or so wicked as to dare to say that the King doth indeed protest that he will observe the Edict of Nantes but that notwithstanding it is not his intention They are none but the enemies of France and of the glory of our illustrious Monarch who can make such discourses They of the pretended Reformed Religion who are resolved to live and die in the respects which they owe unto his Sacred Majesty can never have such a suspicion of so admirable a Prince and the Grand-Child of Henry the Great For that great Heroe who hath transmitted unto him his Vertues with his Blood gives us very well to understand that his posterity are uncapable of any such procedure when he pronounces these generous words which the History hath preserved and he addressed in so firm a tone to them of the Parliament of Paris about the matter of the Edict of Nantes I find it not good saith he to intend one thing and write another and if any have done so I will not do the same Cousenage is altogether odious but most of all in a Prince whose word ought to be unchangeable The Successor then and worthy Imitator of Henry the Great having given his Royal word and willed himself that the Publick should be thereof both depositary and witness even of this his word by which he hath engaged to observe exactly the Edict of Nantes it cannot be denyed that all that whatsoever it be which clashes with this perpetual and irrevocable Edict is at the same time contrary unto the Will of his Royal Majesty Being then it is so that almost in all the Articles of the Declaration of 1666. there are contrarieties to the Edict we must needs conclude that
They then humbly beseech his Majesty to dispense with them for sweeping before their Doors on the occasion of the Feasts because this is a thing repugnant unto their Consciences being done as a Religious Ceremony which their Faith approves not of This also will be after a short season a matter of Suit also because they will always pretend that they have not swept clean enough and there will be found people so ill disposed as to cast ordure before their Doors to the intent they may make them criminal Offenders For this cause being the Civil Ordinances are sufficient for cleansing the Pavements of Towns and those of the P. R. R. are at all times very careful to acquit themselves well herein before their Horses there is no need of the last Clause of this Article and his Majesty is besought to revoke it ARTICLE XXXV Meeting the Sacrament in the Streets That those of the Pretended R. R. meeting the Holy Sacrament in the Streets carried abroad to the sick or otherwise be obliged to retire at the sound of the Bell which goes before it or if not to put themselves in a posture of respect by putting off their Hats if they be men with prohibition that they appear not at the Doors Shops nor Windows of their Houses whilst the Holy Sacrament passeth unless they put themselves in such posture BEing the King leaves unto them of the P. R. R. the liberty of the Alternative and permits them to retire in these incident cases they never give cause to complain of them But they find themselves constrained in this matter to represent three things unto his Majesty The first is that they are always in these occasions hindred from retiring the way is stopped the doors of the Houses are shut upon them they are held by force they are outraged they are laid on with Blows after all this they are over and above punished as not retiring his Majesty is therefore besought to add unto this Article That no hindrance be made to them that would retire and that those who attempt to stay force or outrage them in any manner whatsoever be punished as disturbers of the publick peace The second is that whereas in this Article nothing is said save only of meetings in the Streets many flye out so far as to require them to put off their Hats who are closed in Chambers and Houses and in case they refuse they make criminal process against them and hold them a long season in prison without any other cause by an unexcusable violence So far that they would even oblige the Councellors of the P. R. R. to be uncovered when they are within the Tarress where the object of the Adoration of those of C. A. R. R. is neither seen nor perceived and whence it is not possible for them to retire His Majesty is therefore besought to declare That this Article is not extended but to those meetings which happen in the Street only and not otherwise The third thing is that the Parliament of Rouen in verifying the King's Declaration have much aggravated this Article For whereas the King obliges those that will not retire only to put off the Hat which respects men only and insists on an action less than bending of the Knee the Parliament extending the rigour of this Authority against both the Sexes have carried it on so far as to command That they should put themselves in the same observance as the Catholicks that is to say to kneel which cannot be reasonably exacted of them of the P. R. R. so long as they are left in the liberty of their Faith Therefore his Majesty expounding this Article in the manner which hath been represented may be pleased to forbid to hinder them who would retire or to do them any displeasure by declaring that this Article is not to be extended save only to meetings which happen in the Streets without having any regard to the verification of the Parliament of Rouen which he discharges as contrary to his intention ARTICLE XXXVI Levies of Moneys That those of the P. R. R. may make no Levies of Money amongst themselves in the name and pretext of Collects but only those that are permitted them by the Edicts THose of the P. R. R. make no Levies of Money amongst themselves but what are permitted them by the Edicts they pretend not to make any others and those who would raise this suspition amongst them do impose upon them a thing of which they are extremely Innocent And by consequence this Article ought to be rescinded as to no purpose ARTICLE XXXVII Collectors of Money appointed for the affairs of those of the pretended Reformed Religion That the Money which they have power to impose may be imposed in the presence of a Royal Judge according to the 43 Article of the particulars of the Edict of Nantes and the State thereof be transferred to his Majesty or his Chancellor and with prohibition to the Collectors of the Taxes to charge themselves directly or indirectly with the levying of the Money of them of the said P. R. R. which they have imposed for their particular affairs which shall be Levied by distinct Collectors NOthing should have been said to this Article if the zeal which they of the P. R. R. have for the service of the King had not obliged them to speak thereto For it is certain that those who have suggested this settlement in thinking to hurt them have done nothing but to the prejudice of his Majesties affairs The reason is manifest which is this that the Collectors of the Taxes of the Provinces of Guienne and Languedoc making at the same time the Levies of the Money appointed for the entertainment of the Ministers these Collectors have still more Money in their hands and by consequence the King is much better paid because the Collectors do alwayes take of all the Money which comes into their hands that which belongs unto his Majesty by preference in the first place But this is not the interest of them of the P. R. R. save only so as the Interest of the Prince is the same with that of all his true Subjects And it suffices them here to remark only how the Ecclesiasticks are animated against them being they regard not at whose cost their passion is declared and that the Interest of the King himself cannot hinder them from hurting them of the said Religion when occasion is presented them ARTICLE XXXVIII Contribution to the Charges of Chappels and Guilds That according to the second Article of the Particulars of the Edict of Nantes the Artisans of the said P. R. R. may not be obliged to contribute to the Charges of Chappels Fraternities or other the like if there be not Statutes Conventions or Foundations to the contrary and yet notwithstanding that they may be constrained to contribute and pay the rights which are ordinarily paid by the Masters and the Freemen of the said Trades that the said Sums may be
Courts of Aids Officers of the general Treasuries of France and other Officers of the Exchequer shall be examined and received in places where they have been accustomed and in case of refusal or denying of Justice they shall be appointed by our Privy Councel 55. The reception of our Officers made in the Chamber heretofore established at Castres shall remain valid notwithstanding all Decrees and Ordinances to the contrary And shall be also valid the reception of Judges Councellors Assistants and other Officers of the said Religion made in our Privy-Councill or by Commissioners by us ordained in case of the refusal of our Courts of Parliaments Courts of Aids and Chambers of Accompts even as if they were done in the said Courts and Chambers and by the other Judges to whom the reception belongeth And their Sallaries shall be allowed them by the Chambers of Accompt without difficulty and if any have been put out they shall be established without need of any other command than the present Edict and without that the said Officer shall be obliged to shew any other reception notwithstanding all Decrees given to the contrary which shall remain null and of none effect 56. In the mean time untill the charges of the Justice of the said Chambers can be defrayed by Amerciaments there shall be provided by us by valuable assignations sufficient for maintaining the said charges without expecting to do it by the Goods of the Condemned 57. The Presidents and Councellors of the Reformed Religion heretofore received in our Court of Parliament of Dauphine and in the Chamber of Edict incorporated in the same shall continue and have their Session and Orders for the same that is to say Presidents as they have injoyed and do injoy at present and the Councellors according to the Decrees and Provisions that they have heretofore obteined in our Privy Councel 58. We declare all Sentences Judgments Procedures Seisures Sales and Decrees made and given against those of the Reformed Religion as well living as dead from the death of the deceased King Henry the Second our most honoured Lord and Father in Law upon the occasion of the said Religion Tumults and Troubles since hapning as also the execution of the same Judgments and Decrees from henceforward cancelled revoked and anulled And we ordain that they shall be eased and taken out of the Registers Office of the Courts as well Soveraign as inferiour And we Will and Require also to be taken away and defaced all Marks Foot-steps and Monuments of the said Executions Books and Acts defamatory against their Persons Memory and Posterity and that the places which have been for that occasion demolished or rased be rendred in such condition as now they are to the Proprietors of the same to enjoy and dispose at their pleasure And generally we cancell revoke and null all proceedings and informations made for any enterprize whatsoever pretended Crimes of high Treason and others notwithstanding the procedures decrees and judgments containing re-union incorporation and confiscation and we farther Will and Command that those of the Reformed Religion and others that have followed their party and their Heirs re-enter really and actually into the possession of all and each of their Goods 59. All Proceedings Judgments and Decrees given during the troubles against those of the Religion who have born Arms or are retired out of our Kingdom or within the same into Cities and Countries by them held or for any other cause as well as for Religion and the troubles together with all non-suiting of Causes Prescriptions as well Legal Conditional as Customary seizing of Fiefs fallen during the troubles by hindring Legitimate proceedings shall be esteemed as not done or happening and such we have declared and do declare and the same we have and do annihilate and make void without admitting any satisfaction therefore but they shall be restored to their former condition notwithstanding the decrees and execution of the same and the possession thereof shall be rendred to them out of which they were upon this account disseised And this as above shall have like place upon the account of those that have followed the party of those of the Religion or who have been absent from our Kingdom upon the occasion of the troubles And for the young children of persons of Quality abovesaid who died during the troubles We restore the parties into the same condition as they were formerly without refunding the expence or being obliged for the Amerciaments not understanding nevertheless that the Judgements given by the chief Judges or other inferiour Judges against those of the Religion or who have followed their Party shall remain null if they have been given by Judges sitting in Cities by them held which was to them of free access 60. The Decrees given in our Court of Parliament in matters whereof the Cognizance belongs to the Chambers or Courts ordained by the Edict in the Year 1577 and Articles of Nerac and Flex into which Courts the Parties have not proceeded voluntarily but have been forced to alledge and propose declinatory ends and which decrees have been given by default or foreclusion as well in Civil as Criminal matters notwithstanding which Allegations the said Parties have been constrained to go on shall be in like manner null and of no value And as to the decrees given against those of the Religion who have proceeded voluntarily and without having proposed ends declinatory those decrees shall remain without prejudice for the execution of the same Yet nevertheless permitting them if it seem good to them to bring by Petition their Cause before the Chamber ordained by the present Edict without that the elapsing the time appointed by the Ordinances shall be to their prejudice and untill the said Chambers and Chanceries for the same shall be established Verbal appellations or in writing interposed by those of the Religion before Judges Registers or Commissioners Executors of Decrees and Judgements shall have like effect as if they were by command from the King 61. In all inquiries which shall be made for what cause soever in matters Civil if the Inquisitor or Commissioner be a Catholick the Parties shall be obliged to convene an Assistant and where they will not do it there shall be taken from the Office by the said Inquisitor or Commissioner one who shall be of the Religion and the same shall be practised when the Commissioner or Inquisitor shall be of the said Religion for an Assistant who shall be a Catholick 62. We Will and Ordain That our Judges may take Cognizance of the validity of Testaments in which those of the Religion may have an interest if they require it and the appellations from the said Judgements may be brought to the said Chambers ordained for the Process of those of the Religion notwithstanding all Customs to the contrary even those of Bretagne 63. To obviate all differences which may arise betwixt our Courts of Parliaments and the Chambers of the same Courts ordained
by our present Edict there shall be made by us a good and ample Reglement betwixt the said Courts and Chambers and such as those of the Religion shall enjoy entirely from the said Edict the which Reglement shall be verified in our Courts of Parliaments and kept and observed without having regard to precedents 64. We inhibit and forbid all our Courts Soveraign and others of this Realm the taking Cognizance and judging the Civil or Criminal process of those of the Religion the Cognizance of which is attributed by our Edict to the Chambers of Edict provided that the Appeal thereunto be demanded as is said in the Fortieth Article going before 65. We also Will and Command for the present and untill we have otherwise therein ordained that in all Process commenced or to be commenced where those of the Religion are Plaintiff or Defendants Parties Principals or Guarrantees in matters Civil in which our Officers and chief Courts of Justice have powâ—â—… to judge without appeal that it shall be permitted to them to except against two of the Chamber where the Process ought to be Judged who shall forbear Judgement of the same and without having the cause expressed shall be obliged to withdraw notwithstanding the ordinance by which the Judges ought not to be excepted against without cause shown and shall have farther right to except against others upon shewing cause And in matters Criminal in which also the said Courts of Justice and others of the Kings subordinate Judges do Judge without appeal those of the Religion may except against three of the said Judges without showing Cause And the Provosts of the Mareschalsie of France vice-Bayliffs vice-Presidents Lievetenants of the short Robe and other Officers of the like Quality shall Judge according to the Ordinances and Reglements heretofore given upon the account of Vagabonds And as to the houshold charged and accused by the Provosts if they are of the said Religion they may require that three of the said judges who might have Cognizance thereof do abstain from the Judgement of their Process and they shall be obliged to abstain therefrom without having cause shewn except where the Process is to be judged there shall be found to the number of two in Civil and three in Criminal Causes of the Religion in which case it shall not be lawfull to except without Cause shewn and this shall be reciprocall in the like cases as above to the Catholicks upon the account of Appeals from the Judges where those of the Religion are the greater number not understanding nevertheless that the chief Justice Provosts of the Marshalsies vice-Bayliffs vice-Stewards and others who judge without appeal take by virtue of this that is said Cognizance of the past Troubles And as to crimes and excess happening by other occasions than the troubles since the beginning of March 1585. untill the end of 1597. in case they take Cognizance thereof We will that an appeal be suffered from their Judgement to the Chamber ordained by the present Edict as shall be practised in like manner for the Catholick and Confederates where those of the Religion are Parties 66. We Will and Ordain also that henceforward in all instructions other than informations of criminal Process in the chief Justices Court of Tholouse Carcassonne Roverque Loragais Beziers Montpellier and Nimes the Magistrate or Commissary deputed for the said instructions if he is a Catholick shall be obliged to take an Associate who is of the Religion whereof the Parties shall agree or where they cannot agree one of the Office of the said Religion shall be taken by the abovesaid Magistrate or Commissioner as in like manner if the said Magistrate or Commissioner is of the Religion he shall be obliged in the same manner as abovesaid to take and associate a Catholick 67. When it shall be a question of making a criminal Process by the Provosts of the Marshalsies or their Leivetenants against some of the Religion a house-keeper who is charged and accused of a crime belonging to the Provost or subject to the Jurisdiction of a Provost the said Provost or their Leivetenants if they are Catholicks shall be obliged to call to the instruction of the said Process an Associate of the Religion which Associate shall also assist at the Judgement of the difference and in the definitive Judgement of the said Process which difference shall not be judged otherwise than by the next Presidial Court assembled with the principal Officers of the said Court which shall be found upon the place upon penalty of nullity except the accused shall require to have the difference Judged in the Chambers ordained by the present Edict In which case upon the account of the house-keepers in the Provinces of Guyenne Languedoc Province and Dauphine the substitutes of our Procurators general in the said Chambers shall at the request of the said house-keepers cause to be brought into the same the Charges and Informations made against them to know and judge if the Causes are tryable before the Provost or not that according to the quality of the crimes they may by the Chamber be sent back to the Ordinary or judged tryable by the Provost as shall be found reasonable by the contents of our present Edict and the Presidial Judges Provosts of Mareschalsie vice-Bayliffs vice-Stewards and others who Judge without Appeal shall be obliged respectively to obey and satisfie the commands of the said Chambers as they use to do to the said Parliaments upon Penalty of the loss of their Estates 67. The outcries for sale of Inheritances and giving notice thereof by warning passed or chalked according to order shall be done in places and at hours usual if possible following our Ordinances or else in publick Markets if in the place where the Land lies there is a Market-place and where there shall be none in the next Market within the jurisdiction of the Court where Judgement ought to be given and the fixing of the notice shall be upon the posts of the said Market-place and at the entry of the Assembly of the said place and this order being observed the notice shall be valid and pass beyond the interposition of the sentence or decree as to any nullity which might be alledged upon this account 69. All Title and papers instructions and documents which have been taken shall be restored by both parties to those to whom they belong though the said Papers or the Castles and houses in which they were kept have been taken and seized by special Commission from the last deceased King our most honoured Lord and Brother in Law or from us or by the command of the Governors and Lievetenant Generals of our Provinces or by the authority of the heads of the other party or under what pretext soever it shall be 70. The children of those that are retired out of our Kingdom since the death of Henry the Second our Father-in-Law by reason of Religion and Troubles though the said Children are born out
others And to the end that we might not suppose that it was the intent of the Edict to be restrained to the places of Bayliwicks only this tenth Article proceeds thus However we do not understand that the said Exercise may be re-established in places and seats of the said Demain which have been heretofore possessed by them of the said P. R. R. which they did enjoy in consideration of their persons or because of their Fees if those Fees be found at present in the possession of persons of the said Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion An exception which doth evidently testifie that Fees of Demain engaged follow in this respect the condition of others which when they are withdrawn out of the hands of those of the P. R. R. the Exercise cannot be any longer continued for that the privilege was personal and affixed to the Fee whence it follows that according to the Edict so long as the said Fees are possessed by persons of this Religion the Exercises thereof ought to be freely made there as in other Fees of requisite qualification His Majesty therefore out of the design which he hath to cause the Edict of Nantes to be observed will be pleased to accord to the revocation of this Article as also in like manner to an evacuation of a Decree made in Council January 11 1667 in which they of the P. R. R. are not only forbidden to Establish any Preaching in the Place of Demain which shall be adjudged unto them under pretence of Right of High Justice comprised within their Adjudications But moreover in it they find another settlement yet more rigorous in as much as it import that When his Majesty accords to the right of High Justice in any of the Lands of those of the P. R. R. there must be express mention made in the erection of those Rights of High Justice that the Exercise of their Religion may not be established there under the pretext of that High Justice A strange surprise imposed on the King and we have cause to promise our selves that his Majesty cannot suffer this rigour which turns his favour into a punishment and depriveth them of the P. R. R. of a liberty which is of the number of those which the Edict hath most formally expressed ARTICLE III. Places of High Justice That in Places where the Lords of the P. R. R. having the Right of High Justice do exercise the same there shall be no marks of publick Exercise THis Article is incompatible with the thirty fourth of the Particulars of Nantes which expresseth That in all places where the Exercise of the said Religion shall be publick the people may be assembled and that also by the sound of a Bell and do all the Acts and Functions that appertain as well to the Exercise of their Religion as the Regulation of their Discipline as to hold Consistories Colloquies and Synods Provincial and National by the permission of his Majesty This settlement is formal for it speaks generally and without exception of all places where the Exercise is publick Therefore it intends the places of High Justice as well as other places accorded by the Edict since by the seventh Article of the Generals the right of Exercise is attributed to the Places of High-Justice and to the Fees of Knight-service in which the Lords and Gentlemen Possessors thereof may cause Sermons to be made as well for themselves their Families and Subjects as for others that will resort thither which thing makes the Exercise publick Further this thirty fourth Article of the Particulars permits in all places where the Exercise of the P. R. R. is publick to assemble the people by the sound of the Bell which Bell for assembling the people supposeth a power to have a Bell-House and the Bell-House supposeth a Temple So that according to the intention of the Edict Temples may be had in the places of High Justice And here we may perceive also by the settlement of this 34th Article that it is permitted in all places where the publick Exercise is Celebrated to hold Synods not only Provincial but National also By consequent all places of this nature of the number of which are those of the High Justice may have the marks of a publick Exercise For how can a Provincial or a National Synod be held in a place where there is neither Chair to Preach nor Bench to sit Is it credible that the Edict did command that there should be a place where the Deputies from the whole Kingdom should have liberty to Assemble in a Synod without giving power to their Ministers notwithstanding to ascend the Pulpit to make there the Sermons necessary to such Solemn Assembles Being therefore this Article cannot be made to agree unto the Edict his Majesty is most humbly besought to revoke it as also those Decrees which the Clergy have obtained by surprize for authorising so ill founded a pretention And this thing appears yet more strange because the places wherein the pretended Reformed Religion is exercised have nothing at all in outward shew which might move Jealousie to any person for they are places altogether simple and plain without Pomp without Imbellishments and without Ornaments There is nothing but a Chair and Seats without curiosity and being they have nothing but what is absolutely necessary those places cannot reasonably be deprived thereof whereunto the Edict gives right of publick Exercise ARTICLE IV. Consolation of Prisoners That the Ministers may not comfort the Prisoners in the Goals but with a low voice in a Chamber apart and assisted only with one or two Persons HEre may be seen also a manifest contrariety to the fourth Article of the particulars of Nantes where it is said As to them who shall be condemned by course of Justice the said Ministers may likewise visit and comfort them without making publick Prayers except only in places where the said publick Exercise is permitted unto them by the Edict This Article permits in the places authorised by the Edict publick Prayers to be made that is to say in a publick place at the very place of Punishment before all the great Concourse of People assembled there and the Declaration on the contrary forbids without distinction of places prayers to be made with a loud voice and even in private also in the Chambers of the Prisons with the Doors shut Are not these two settlements opposite which destroy one the other It seems likewise that the Declaration contradicts it self For if the Ministers be obliged to comfort prisoners in a Chamber apart wherefore are they commanded to speak with a low voice Since one hath free liberty to speak in a Chamber distinct from others or if it be their will that they should speak with a low voice why do they oblige them to a Chamber apart since a low voice needs not a distinct place And besides what stream of Processes will there issue from this obligation to speak with a low voice for
P. R. R. to observe the former part of this Article which Wills that their Books may not be Printed without the Attestation of approved Ministers for this is an order which is observed inviolably amongst them and which is established by their own Synods But as for the second part which forbids them to cause any Books to be Printed concerning their Religion without the permission of the Magistrates and the consent of the King's Attournies is a rigour altogether opposite to the Edict of Nantes for thus it speaks in the one and twentieth Article Let not the Books which concern the P. R. R. be Printed or sold publickly except in the Towns and places where the publick Exercise of that Religion is permitted and for other Books which are printed in other Towns let them be viewed and revised as well by the King's Officers as Divines according to the true intent of the Ordinances Where may be observed an express distinction of Books of the P. R. R. some Printed in the Towns where the publick Exercise of the P. R. R. is permitted and others which are Printed in places where this Exercise is not permitted As for those this Edict wills that they be viewed and visited by the King's Officers which indeed is but reasonable being there the P. R. R. is not openly and publickly professed But of the other the Edict speaks in a far different manner permitting to Print them and sell them publickly in the Towns and Places where the P. R. R. is prosessed without submitting them to the visitation of permission of the Kings Officers which is required in the other case Now therefore the Declaration forbids what the Edict of Nantes permits in express terms And this is a matter very considerable and whereof they of the pretended reformed Religion have just cause to complain in that this new Declaration is more rigorous in this point than the Edict of 1576 it self notwithstanding that it was made during all the heat and animosity of the Civil Wars For the Edict of 1576. was content to require that the Books of them of the pretended Reformed Religion should be viewed and approved by the Chambers My parties of which one half was alwaies found to profess the said Religion In place whereof this new Declaration subjects them of the said pretended Reformed Religion to obtain a permission from the Magistrates and consent from the Kings Attorneys who are all of a contrary Religion This is to make it impossible for the Kings Attorneys who will never give their consent to the impression of Books which treat of another Religion than their own and to permit them to Print with this condition is to forbid them absolutely against the clear and express intent of the Edict of Nantes This then is a meer surprize of the Clergy who have passionately longed and aspired to have such an Article as this to be made as may appear by their Memoirs which were published 1661. For their desire is there found expressed thus It is requisite say they to have a Decree containing a Prohibition to print any Books which have not been formerly viewed and approved by the Kings Officers which also testifies that before this time no Decree had forbidden this and that it was formerly unknown And surely it is a matter of admiration that the Ecclesiasticks desired to obtain this prohibition for it is not for the advantage of the Catholick Roman Religion It will seem that they are afraid of the Books which they oppose and mistrust they cannot answer them They therefore of the pretended Reformed Religion hope that his Majesty according to their most humble supplication which they make unto him will revoke this Article concerning the Books of their Religion and vacate all the Decrees by which he hath been surprized in this matter ARTICLE VIII The quality of Pastors and Prohibition to speak of the Church with irreverence of holy things That the said Ministers shall not take on them the quality of Pastors of the Church but only that of Ministers of the pretended Reformed Religion as also that they shall not speak irreverently of holy things and of the Ceremonies of the Church and shall not call the Catholicks by any other name than that of Catholicks VVE cannot admire enough that they have caused to be entred in a Declaration Royal and of Consequence a Prohibition of the name Pastor For this term hath nothing considerable in it nor any thing that makes for the honour of those who bear it It is common both to good and bad Pastors and the Holy Scripture doth often cry out against false Pastors that abuse and corrupt the People They make no difficulty to give to the pretended Reformed Churches the name of a Flock by what reason then do they refuse their Ministers the name of Pastors which is relative thereto since a Pastor is he that feeds the Flock so that no more exception is to be taken against the quality of a Pastor than is against the appellation of a Minister since it doth barely set out their duty without determining whether they discharge it well or ill And this Language cannot be blamed being warranted by the example and authority of his Majesty himself For when he did them the honour to write to their national Synod at London the 30th of November 1659. The superscription of his Letter was in these Terms To our dear and well-beloved the Pastors and Elders the Deputees in the Assembly of the National Synod of our Subjects professing the pretended Reformed Religion at London The residue of this Article of the Declaration is of the same nature with the fifth Article and if there be any difference it is in this that this aggravates the other and goes above it It is an endless source and everlasting Seed of all sorts of Mischief to the Ministers who notwithstanding all the most accurate pre-caution and the most wise and modest continence will be continually halled before the Tribunals cast into Prisons ruinated in their Goods and overwhelmed in their very Persons because there will be alwayes found some ill-minded people who will accuse them for having spoken irreverently of the holy things and Ceremonies of the Catholick Apostolick Roman Church To the end therefore that they may injoy in this Realm the liberty which was granted to them by the Edict his Majesty is most ardently besought that he would cause these two Articles the fifth and the eighth to be excluded as which draw innumerable Calamities on those Persons whom he hath been pleased to declare that he will take into his Royal Protection Neither is it only the concern of the Ministers security that causes them to demand the revocation of these Articles but the repose and subsistence of all those persons in general who are of the pretended Reformed Religion For a method hath been taken up of late which doth sufficiently make known how much a Prohibition to speak of holy things and the Ceremonies of
year to year and in some Provinces from two years to two years they cannot without Colloquies held in the meanwhile intervals remedy those previsory and pressing affairs which will be now worse by delay and which for the most part require to be handled in those very places where they happen about which they easily assemble the Colloquies because they are composed of few persons and they not far distant which cannot be said of the Synods Without these little Societies which assemble easily they must suffer Vice and Scandals to take their course without providing against them Their Flocks must remain whole years and sometimes longer without Ministers when death deprives them of those that did serve them In one word so it might come to pass that they of the P. R. R. might have a whole year without Discipline For when persons of bad lives amongst them cannot be reduced to their duty there are none but the Colloquies that are capable to censure them and they will enjoy license and impunity in their sins during a whole year if the Colloquies be abolished or remitted to the times of the Synods only For this is more truly to abolish them than remit them in this manner for the Colloquies have nothing to do when once the Synods are assembled for then all their affairs may be decided in the Synods And this is also to require an impossibility to oblige them of the P. R. R. to hold their Colloquies during their Synods and that in the presence of the deputed Commissioner For there are Provinces that contain seven or eight Colloquies What means then can there be to send the Commissioners to eight places at one time Or if they will that it be done successively how tedious must those Synods henceforth be for regulating as well the general affairs of the Province as the particulars of all the several Classes And where shall they find Commissioners that will have the patience to attend so long time from their houses and to quit their charges and imployments And will the Governors of the Provinces or Lievetenants of the King suffer the Synods to continue their Assembly for many months His Majesty is therefore most instantly besought to revoke this Article which suppresseth their Colloquies and to leave matters of this concern to the terms of the Edict and Usage notwithanding all Decrees and Judgements that have been made to the contrary ART XVIII Assemblies Commissions Deliberations and Letters in the Interval of Synods Neither to make any Assemblies in the intervals of the said Synods wherein during the said interval they may receive any Candidates give Commissions or deliberate of any Affairs by circular Letters or in any other manner on any cause whatsoever on pain of being punished according to our Edicts and Ordinances IT was not enough for the Clergy to assault our Colloquies They were affraid that for want of these ordinary meetings we should attempt a supply by Assemblies extraordinary or by Letters-missives or by some other means Wherefore to the end that they might make it impossible for them of the pretended Reformed Religion to exercise their Discipline which is so formally authorized by the Edict that they might ruine them by Division the Clergy have proposed to have them forbidden all sorts of Assemblies Commissions Deliberations and common Letters for what cause soever on pain of being punished according to the rigour of the Ordinances This is a grief uncapable of any consolation to them of the said Religion to see themselves thus treated For God be praised they have done nothing wherefore their zeal to the Kings service ought to be suspected and their adherence to the good of the Estate is immovable Their conduct and their actions speak for them in the one and in the other of these two things and they shall continue all their lives in these sentiments which make one essential part of the Duty of their Consciences In the mean time if they had a design to betray their Country they could not be tyed and chained more strongly than by forbidding them all sorts of Assemblies Commissions Deliberations and Letters Above all this the passion of the Clergy cannot suffer that they should receive Candidates in the Intervals of Synods This is the effect of an animosity whereof the pretence is hard to be imagined For since we are permitted to have Ministers and since we are not hindred to receive them in the Synods what reason can the Ecclesiasticks alledge to forbid them to receive Candidates in the Intervals of Synods in which they think good that they should be examined It is manifest they can render no other reason than their own animosity which carries them on to desire that they of the pretended Reformed Religion may continue oftentimes unprovided of Ministers For if a Minister happen to die immediately after the Session of a Synod it may so fall out that his Church as a Widow shall not only keep a year of mourning but remain subjected also to two years of Widow-hood in those Provinces where the Synods assemble not but from two years to two years And it must needs be that during all this time she be deprived of the Word of God Preached and the Administration of the Sacraments that the sick die there without Consolation and Infants without Baptism This inconvenience being so much more remediless in the terme of the Declaration because by the fourteenth Article Ministers are forbidden to Preach in divers places and by that all means are taken away from a Church that is destitute to have assistance from any neighbour-Minister So a place that hath right of exercise very certain and well known shall hereby be uncapable of enjoying it notwithstanding But this mischief doth not stay here neither For if this Article of the Declaration stand we must speak no more of Synods themselves It will be impossible to call them or execute their Orders For how shall they call them if Letters-missives be forbidden Being this Assembly cannot be called but by circular Letters sent to all the Flocks of a Province to give them warning to cause their Deputies to appear in the place and time designed for holding those Assemblies And how shall they execute their Orders and Acts if Commissions and Letters be forbidden them for the Resolves of Synods are not executed but by these wayes or by deputing Commissioners to carry them to the places Or giving them charge to write letters to the persons concerned to the end they may be reduced to their duty when the Synods do sit no longer Or by Authorizing some Ministers to deliberate with their Consistories and so to conclude those affairs which the shortness of the time permits them not to project and design by the Synods Nay it will not be possible to have Ministers if Commissions have no place any more for Ministers are not installed in their charge nor invested in their Ministry but by means of Commissioners named in the Synods
for laying hands on them which cannot be done but in the intervals of Synods because the Discipline of those of the pretended Reformed Religion ordains that the Candidates who have been examined by the Synods shall make three Sermons of tryal on three Lords dayes successively before the Church whither they are sent before they can receive Imposition of Hands and power to administer the Sacraments from the Commissioners deputed for that purpose It must here be added that this Article proceeds yet farther and leaves them of the pretended Reformed Religion no more any surety for their persons or their lives For they are forbidden to deliberate of any affairs for any cause or in any manner whatsoever on pain of being punished So as soon as two or three persons of that Religion be seen together their enemies will pretend that they are consulting of affairs and bring Process against them There will be no Tranquillity for them in the Realm neither can there be any Society Conversation or Commerce amongst them without danger His Majesty is therefore besought with all the Ardour of which his Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion are capable that he would take off this Prohibition and take away an Article so fatal to their repose ARTICLE XIX The Validity of Marriages That the Ministers Consistories and Synods of the said pretended Reformed Religion take not on them to judge of the validity of Marriages made and contracted by those of the said pretended Reformed Religion AN Article needs not for a thing which they of the pretended Reformed Religion have never designed to undertake They leave it to the Magistrates to judge of the validity of Marriages and their Ministers do pretend nothing therein only their calling obligeth them to reprove and censure the incestuous and the King without doubt doth not intend to deprive them of this power which is given them by their Discipline the exercise whereof is authorized by the Edict of Nantes ARTICLE XX. Those that are sent to Catholick Colledges The like Prohibition is also made to their Consistories and Synods to Censure or otherwise to punish Fathers Mothers and Tutors who send their Children or Pupils to the Catholick Colledges or Schools or elsewhere to be instructed by Catholick Masters notwithstanding that the said Children be not constrained to imbrace their Religion THis Prohibition cannot stand with the thirty fourth Article of the Particulars of Nantes by which it is permitted to them of the pretended Reformed Religion to exercise all Acts and Functions that belong to the regulation of their Discipline And it may be seen in this Discipline the fourteenth Chapter and fourteenth Article that it is forbidden to Fathers and Mothers of that Religion to send their Children to the Colledges and Schools of those of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion This is therefore a manifest repeal of the Edict to take from the Consistories and Synods the power of censuring Fathers and Mothers in this case being that Censure is part of that Discipline the exercise whereof is established by the Edict This doth not hinder but that when the Regents of Colledges and Masters of Schools are of sufficient discretion and fidelity not to discourse of Religion to Infants their Fathers Mothers and Tutors may send them to their Classes to be there instructed for this is a daily practice But if they do attempt to induce them to change their Religion can the Consistories then be blamed for doing their duty in advertizing Fathers and Mothers to withdraw their Children from a place where they believe their Souls are in danger This Article then is of the number of those of which the Edict demands the Revocation ARTICLE XXI Bonefires That when Bonefires are to be made by the Order of his Majesty in publick places and when execution is done upon Criminals of the P. R. R. there Ministers and others of the P. R. R. shall not have power to sing Psalms THe prosperity of the King and of the Estate will alwayes produce sentiments of Joy and Gladness in the hearts of those of the P. R. R. as becomes the true and faithfull Subjects of his Majesty They will render thanks unto God publickly in their Temples and also bless him privately in their houses That it is to no purpose to forbid them to sing Psalms in publick places on what occasion soever and the Clergy have made use of this prohibition only to make shew that they attempt things which never came once in their thoughts ARTICLE XXII Burials in Churches or Church-yards That the dead Bodies of those of the said P. R. R. may not be interred in the Church-yards of the Catholicks nor in their Churches upon pretext that the Tombs of their Ancestors were there or that they had there any right of Lordship or Patronage THis Prohibition is also needless for that they of the said Religion have never had any thoughts of interring their dead in the Churches nor in the Church-yards of them of the C. R. R. But this Article that speaks of Patronages gives occasion to them of the P. R. R. to complain unto his Majesty of the wrong which is done them in all the Provinces of the Realm by hindering them to enjoy their right of Patronage which was left them by the thirty fourth Article of the generals of the Edict of Nantes and confirmed by an authentick Decree of the Council of Estate July 10 1651. by which his Majesty doth keep and confirm his Subjects of the P. R. R. in the possession and enjoyment of naming capable persons to the Benefices of which they are Patrons with the charge only of naming Persons that are Catholicks of whom it gives them power to make the said nominations and presentations which being done the Bishops Arch-Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Collators shall be obliged to admitt in the ordinary Form such nominations and presentations as shall be so made His said Majesty Ordaining that this Regulation should be executed from point to point according to the form and tenure thereof notwithstanding all Judgements to the contrary If the Clergy have gotten any Decrees since this differing therefrom they are Decrees gotten by Surprize and which ought not to be put in ballance with this of 1651 which was granted in Foro contradictorio and upon full Cognizance of the Cause They of the P. R. R. do therefore promise themselves from the Kings Justice that the consideration of his own Ordinance joyned with the authority of the Edict which in the eighty ninth Article willeth that all Lords Knights Gentlemen and others of what quality or condition soever they be of the P. R. R. shall be effectually preserved in the enjoyment of all their Goods Rights Nominations reasons and actions will cause him to maintain his Subjects of the said Religion in a right which doth appertain so legitimately unto them and which is annexed to their Fees and Lands which they possess If there be any small appearance of difficulty in
in Estate to choose one And by the same reason the children of those who actually profess the P. R. R. ought not they be Baptized and trained up in the same Religion being the same with their Fathers and wherein they were born and being that whilst they are yet in their Infancy they are not capable to choose a different one This were to tear away from Fathers their Bowels thus to ravish from them their Infants and to cause them to be Baptized in a Church and instructed in a Religion which they have renounced And we must talk no more of Liberty of Conscience in a Realm where it is given and authorized solemnly by so many Edicts if this prohibition take place This is to chase out of France all those persons how many soever there be who have imbraced the pretended Reformed Religion within this eighty years For where is that Father that can resolve to see his Infants in whom he hopes to live after his Death lead whether he will or not into a Communion from whom he is retired as not finding there any repose for his Conscience where is there a father that can digest the mortal displeasure to see himself bereaved of the fruits of his Marriage and to be condemned afterwards to pay them a Pension as we have seen examples in divers places and particularly in Rouen in the person of one named Bindel Painter whose Children are brought up in this manner If then his Majesty be touched with any Compassion towards his poor and humble Subjects of the P. R. R. he is besought herein to lend an ear unto their grief and cause these terms to be put out of this present Article which seem to have been slipped into it and added thereto by surprize against the intention of so wise a Soveraign For the other part of this Article which imports that the Infants whose Fathers are departed in the Catholick Religion shall be brought up in the same Religion they intend not at all against it provided it be intended of Infants that are under twelve years for Fe-males and fourteen years Males according to the Decrees of the Council regulating the age from which Infants may change their Religion But here is cause to complain of two things in this matter The one that notwithstanding by the Edict of Nantes and by two Decrees made in Council of the twenty eighth of September 1663 and of the twenty fourth of April 1665. the same thing hath been Decreed for the Infants whose Fathers have dyed in the P. R. R i. e. that their Infants should be brought up in the same Religion and for this purpose should be committed into the hands of their Mothers Tutors or other kindred of the pretended Reformed Religion Yet notwithstanding they have nor here made this Article reciprocal From whence they may in time infer that in this they have derogated from the Edict and Decrees of the Council which were before For this cause the King rejecting these words which have been will be pleased to render this Article reciprocal for them of the P. R. R. as well as for them of the C. A. R. The other cause of complaint is that even since the two Decrees came to be published they have not ceased to hale away also by force from the Kindred of the P. R. R. Infants whose Fathers and Mothers have alwayes been of this Religion and dyed therein Moreover now very lately the Parliament of Rouen by an Arrest of the first of February 1668. have decreed that a little Maid whose Father and Mother were departed in the P. R. R. should be taken out of the hands of her Kindred of that Religion notwithstanding they offered to bring her up for nothing that she might be put into the hands of her Tutor who is of the C. A. R. The reason which serves them to authorize such violences to the prejudice of the preceding Decrees is say they because these Decrees of the Council are not Registred and by consequence oblige not albeit that the last of the fourteenth of April 1665. enjoynes all Officers to be conformable thereunto and to cause it to be executed under pain of Rebellion The King therefore to give some means unto his Subjects of the P. R. R. whereby his orders may take effect in this important matter is besought to make thereof an Authentick Declaration which may be Registred in the Parliaments ARTICLE XLVI Schools That they of the said P. R. R. may not keep any Schools for the instruction of their own Children or others but in places where they have right to the publick exercise of their Religion according to the 13th Article of the particulars of the Edict of Nantes in which Schools whether they be in the Towns or in the Suburbs they may not teach save only to Read Write and Arithmetick TO understand well what the Schools of those of the P. R. R. are it is necessary to observe that they are of three sorts The first are their Academies and Colledges where they teach their Divinity The second are publick Schools where they may teach Grammar and Humane Learning with open doors The third sort are particular petty Schools which they keep with their doors shut where the Infants of the said Religion learn to Read Write and Arithmetick only For their Academies and Colledges they are fixed to certain places and they shall not be insisted on here because this Article deals not with their concerns For the publick Schools the Edict permits them in all Towns and in all places where the exercise is publick as the 37th Article of the Particulars doth prove They of the said Religion saith it may not keep publick Schools save only in the Towns and places where the publick Exercise thereof is permitted But as for petty Schools the Edict supposeth them as permitted in all places indifferently by natural reason and equity which authorises Fathers no less to give instruction than bread unto their Children and as well to nourish their Spirits by a familiar Instruction as to sustain their Bodies by an ordinary nourishment So that it cannot be doubted that this is the intent of the Edict for that when it forbids to have Schools elsewhere than in places where the Exercise is permitted it speaks expresly of publick Schools whence it results that it leaves a liberty for particular Schools in other places where the publick Exercise is not had In effect this practice hath alwayes been followed since the Edict and Parliaments have formally authorized this usage by their Decrees The Parliament of Rouen have granted many on this occasion and two remarkable ones amongst others The one in the Month of May 1605. By which notwithstanding the opposition of the Abbess of Montivilliers one named Haise was permitted to teach to Write and Read in that Town of Montivilliers notwithstanding that there was no exercise of the P. R. R. neither in the Town nor in the Suburbs nor within more than
Notwithstanding the Clergy would not have given themselves the trouble to copy out so long an Article for nothing And this without doubt is their design Namely to cut off the end of this twentieth Article of the Edict in which it is ordained That the inquisition after the violation of the Feasts should not be made by any other than the Officers of Justice And in place of those words they substituted these That the Feasts should be declared by the sound of a Bell or proclaimed by the diligence of the Consuls or Aldermen but this addition is of little benefit instead whereof the end of the twentieth Article is absolutely necessary to repress the ill humour of the Parish Priest and other Ecclesiasticks who will pretend to be Competent Parties against them of the P. R. R. in the not observation of Feasts and who will bring against them an infinity of Suits if they be not excluded from this inquiry by attributing it to the Officers of Justice only Therefore this Article of the Declaration making a breach upon the Edict ought to be expunged to the end that that of the Edict may abide in force ARTICLE LIV. Sale of Meats on dayes forbidden That they of the P. R. R. may not retail or sell Victuals publickly on the dayes which the Catholick Church hath appointed for abstinence therefrom THis Prohibition is needlesly made against them of the P. R. R. For they will not give this occasion of offence to the Catholicks ARTICLE LV. Ringing of Bells That the Bells in the Temples of them of the P. R. R. in the places where the exercise is permitted cease to Ring from Holy Thursday at ten of the Clock in the morning untill Holy Saturday at mid day as those of the Catholicks are wont to do IF the Bells of those of the P. R. R. were rung at divers hours of the day If they were in great number to make much noise or had a shrill sound or had an harmonious chime like those which are heard on the Feast dayes and upon occasions of Joy it would be thought less strange that they would impose silence on them so long as those of the Catholicks are silent But those Bells which are never more than one in every Temple and which ring not but one moment in the day to give notice of the hour of the Sermon and whose sound is exceeding simple there is no more reason to cause the Bell to cease which calls to the Temple than that of the Clock which tells the hour of the Sermon and Prayers ARTICLE LVI Bells in Temples in places of Citadels and Garrisons That in Towns and Places where there are Citadels or Garrisons by our Order they aforesaid of the P. R. R. may not assemble by the sound of a Bell nor place any in their Temples THe same design which the Clergy have already made appear in divers Articles is remarkable also in this It is this that they would bring the Fidelity of those of the P. R. R. into suspition as if there were some cause to fear that they would make use of their Bells as a signal to betray the Places where there were a Citadel or a Garrison But the knowledge which his Majesty hath of their inviolable zeal and faithful affection which they have unto his Service will cause him to pierce through all the vain Clouds of unjust suspitions which they would give him and to revoke an Article so injurious to his Subjects whose obedience is without reproach and who deserve not in this point to be treated otherwise than the rest of their fellow Citizens and Country Men. ARTICLE LVII Judgment of the validity of Marriages And being we have been informed of certain actions occurring not yet decided by any Decrees to prevent altercations and differences betwixt our Catholick Subjects and those of the P. R. R. We ordain that the Marriages made and contracted in the Catholick Churches or before their proper Rector shall not be judged but by the Officials of the Bishops who may take Cognizance of their validity or invalidity And if the said Marriages be made in the Temples of those of the said Religion or before their Ministers in this case if the Defender be a Catholick the said Officials shall have the Cognizance thereof in like manner and if the Defender be of the P. R. R. the Royal Judges shall have the Cognizance thereof and by Appeal the Chambers of the Edict THis is a rude blow which the Clergy would reach the Edict of Nantes in favour of the Officials of the Bishops For the Edict in the 41 Article of the Particulars had ordained that the Cognizance of Processes concerning Marriages should appertain to the Judges Royal and by Appeal to the Chambers of the Edict then when both Parties are of the P. R. R. not attributing the Cognizance to the Officials but when the one of the Parties is of the C. A. R. R. And so much the more if he be Defendant But the Article of the Declaration is contrary hereunto in two manners For first It wills that the Marriages which are made before the Parish Priests or in the Catholick Churches should be judged by the Officials of the Bishops though the Defendant be of the P. R. R. Secondly this Article is couched in such sort that even when both the Parties are of the P. R. R. It gives to understand that notwithstanding if their Marriages were made in the Churches of those of the C. A. R. R. or before their Papish Priests it should belong for all that to the Officials to take Cognizance and Judge thereof Thus here they of the P. R. R. who are in no sort at all justifiable by the Ecclesiasticks are subjected unto their Tribunals and what may they expect from Judges prejudiced and passionate but rigorous condemnations This Article then takes them of the P. R. R. out of the hands of the Kings Judges to put them in the hands of the Officials This is properly to repeal the Edict whose settlement in this matter is so Just and so Reasonable that the new Commentator who hath imployed all his Spirits to endeavour to take away this Sacred Buckler of the Edict from them of the P. R. R. hath notwithstanding said nothing at all to elude this 41 Article of the Particulars on the contrary he hath elsewhere confirmed it by the conference of Fleix on the 23 Article of the Generals So also the usage hath alwayes been hitherto conformable to the Edict They of the P. R. R. have hitherto never pleaded in causes Matrimonial but before the Judges Royal and those of the Chamber of the Edict This is therefore an innovation which the King out of the design which he hath to cause the Edict of Nantes to be exactly observed without doubt cannot suffer ARTICLE LVIII Tythes infeoft That Criminal Causes in which the Ecclesiasticks are Defendants may be handled before the Royal Judges and the Stewards and in
Declaration on the contrary Banisheth them from all places of the whole Realm one part of them of that Religion i. e. those who return thereto after some slight change The first Article of the Particulars is also more considerable and more express For it gives such an extent to this liberty of Conscience that no person is therefrom excluded making use of these words The sixth Article of the said Edict touching liberty of Conscience and permission to all his Majesties Subjects to live and abide in this Realm shall take place and be observed according to its form and tenure as well for Ministers and Schoolmasters as for all others who are or shall be of the said R. whether they be Inhabitants of this Kingdom or others It cannot be doubted that this Settlement doth comprize those whom they call Relapsed since it speaks not only those which are but those also which shall be of the P. R. R. authorizing also those persons that may return thereunto hereafter as well as those who have not departed from it at all This hath been so constant from the time of the Edict that the Edict it self wills that this Liberty of Conscience should be extended unto those who before were returned to the P. R. R and that it hath in it one Article to hinder all inquiry after them notwithstanding any security that they might have given for assurance of the contrary This is in the ninth Article which imports That those of the P. R. R. should not be any ways constrained nor continue obliged by reason of any abjurations promises or Oaths which they have made heretofore or securities that they had given concerning any matter of Religion and that they might not be molested or troubled therefore in any sort whatsoever It is therefore without all reason that any one should make use of this Article against them who after the Edict re-assume the Religion which they had abjured as if the intention of the Law-giver had respected that only which was past For before the Edict the Liberty of Conscience not well established throughout the Realm and the Records being full of Decrees of Arrests against the Bodies and other rigorous sentences against those who notwithstanding their abjurations and securities had changed once more it was therefore necessary to provide for that But by the Edict this liberty being so plainly and generally granted to all people as is seen by the Articles already rehearsed the thing was not afterwards any more in question and there were no more Sureties to be taken of those who after their abjuration should change in the future for that they were comprised in the common liberty of all persons within the Realm It is not possible to have any doubt of this matter when it is considered that until the Declaration 1663 there was never any inquiry nor pursuit made against those who returned in this manner An indubitable proof that they were within the terms of the benefit of the Edict Otherwise we must accuse all the Attourney-Generals and all their Substitutes to have been ignorant of their duty or not to have executed their Office for so long a space of time And how come the Ecclesiasticks that are so active and so vigilant against those who depart from their Communion to enter into another which they hate to have slept so many years without enterprising to disquiet them by Justice That Decree it self given by the Council of Estate September 18 1664 to declare that the Ordinance of the King against the Relapsed might have no effect retroactive against them who before were returned from the P. R. R. is an evident testimony that this is a new Law contrary to the intention of the Edict that since the Edict until then there had been no pursuit made against these persons and that they had not pretended only so much as to have right to do For he that hath acted against the Law is a debtor to the Law Being then they have let pass sixty five years without demanding any thing against the pretended Relapsed it is concluded that they were not Debtors and that they had not transgressed the Edict Satis est argumenti nihil esse debitum Naevio quod tam diu nihil petivit Orat. pro Quinctio It is argument enough that there is nothing due unto Naevius because of so long time he hath demanded nothing As the Roman Orator speaks Of Apostates The same reasons which have been alledged for those whom they named Relapsed serve equally for those whom they qualifie as Apostates For the liberty of Conscience is acquired by the Edict to all sorts of persons whether Ecclesiasticks or Laicks Where the question was of regulating the Interests of the Ecclesiasticks who before the Edict changed their Religion there was nothing at all touched concerning their Subsistence or abode within the Realm because that was presupposed as certain and assured by the Liberty of Conscience given universally unto all but provision was only made for their Marriages to declare them good and valid and the succession to their Moveables Purchases and Acquisitions were confirmed to their Children by the thirty ninth Article of the Particulars Is it possible that the condition of these Persons is made worse by the Edict which is the foundation of the publick Liberty This is a thing not conceivable and notwithstanding that would come to pass if the Marriages of the Ecclesiastick and Religious Persons which were before the Edict being authorized it were not permitted to others who would imitate them at this day to live only in France and to continue in the possession of their Goods This were to bring them back to be under the Yoak of the Edict of Charles the Ninth That Edict which was made in 1563. in the midst of the height of the Wars and in the greatest aversation of Spirits For in the twelfth Article it is ordained that the Professed Religious Men and Women who had liberty given them to depart out of their Monasteries during and since the Troubles should return to their Monasteries to live there according to the Constitutions of the C. A. R. C. Otherwise they should be obliged to depart the Kingdom It s known that this Edict and all those that followed were abrogated by that of Nantes in the ninety first Article so that this were to bring back the settlement of the Edict 1663. and to evacuate that of Nantes which had annulled the other The Ecclesiasticks themselves ought to hinder them of their Orders from being thus handled by the Maxim which they teach That the intention of the Priest is necessary to the Sacraments For what intention can they have who are retained by constraint in a Religion which they believe not to be Orthodox For this cause it is to be hoped that his Majesty seeing things by Lights much clearer than those of passionate Persons will re-establish that Liberty which they inforce themselves to very ill purpose to destroy and
take Cognizance or to Judge of the Criminal Process of them of the P. R. R. And this Ordinance reversing it wills that all guilty and accused af the Crime of Relapse Apostasie or Blasphemies uttered against the Mysteries of the Catholick Religion shall be judged by the Parliaments every one in his Precinct with Prohibition to the Chambers of the Edict to take Cognizance thereof directly or indirectly under what pretext or occasion soever upon pain of nullity evacuation of proceedings Expenses Charges Damages and Interests of the Parties and greatter if need require The Ecclesiasticks then can never attempt any thing more highly against the Edict then in suggesting this Declaration and it is clear that they had not pursued thus far but to the end their Prey might not escape them because the animosity of the Parliaments is so great against them of the P. R. R. that they are infallibly lost if they be left in their power There have been infinite vexatious experiences had of this and that we may not pass from the matter that is here in question a Decree was made by the Parliament of Tolouse Feb. 23 1665. against one named John Gayrard who had forsaken his Religion and was returned on the second of April 1662. a year before the first Declaration against the pretended Relapsed Notwithstanding by this Decree he was condemned to be delivered into the hands of the Executioner of the Haut Justice to be led with a Halter ahout his Neck in his Shirt his Head and Feet bare on a Lords day before the Cathedral Church of Montauban at the close of the great Mass where being on his knees he should ask Pardon of God the King and Justice for his misdeeds be banished the Town and Shrievalty of Montauban for three years and condemned in a hundred Livers for a Fine and in the Charges and sent back to the Consuls of Montauban to cause this Decree to be put in Execution In pursuit whereof having been re-closed three Months in the Prisons of Tolouse he was led to that of Montauban where he hath been ever since and there he is at present So it comes to pass that this Parliament gives it self all license not only to surpass the rigour of the Declarations in turning one part of his Banishment into a reparation much more infamous and insupportable but which is more they have condemned a man who according to the Decree of the Council of Estate of the 18th of September 1664. ought to have been absolved and discharged of all penalties because he was re-entred into his Religion a Year before the first of the Declarations by which they would prevail against him But we need not be surprised at this proceeding of the Parliament of Tholouse For in all times it hath made appear in all sorts of occasions and excessive hate against them of the P. R. R. So far that King Charles the IX having ordained by his Edict of 1570. that untill such times as the Chambers of the Edict should be Established they of the said Religion might refuse in the Parliaments four Judges of the Chamber wherein their Process were depending without expressing any cause and without prejudice to the ordinary right of Chalenges but as for the Parliament of Tholouse it was declared to be wholly refusable in process wherein they of that Religion were interested And in case they could not agree of another Parliament it was ordered that the Parties should be sent back to the Court of Requests to be there Judged with final determination Afterward in the Year 1573. when the Towns of the P. R. R. gave Hostages to the same King it was Decreed that they might be sent to any Town of the Kingdom which it pleased him saving that of Tholouse the Royal authority the publick Faith and the Law of Nations being not judged a sufficient warrant from the violence of that Parliament Also in the Edict of 1577. which in the 32 and 33. Articles did import that the Catholick Officers serving the Chambers of the Edict were to be taken from the Parliaments that of Tholouse was excepted and it was ordained that the Catholick Commissioners of the Chamber of the Edict in Languedoc should be taken from other Parliaments or from the Grand Council which was executed in that sort till the Parliament being displeased to see themselves so Chastized promised to moderate it self and to do Justice But they have not observed their Promise and have alwayes continued to give such great proofs of their ill will that there is now no more cause to trust them than heretofore The grief is that the other Parliaments have imitated their example and a certain spirit of fierceness and aversion hath so pre-possessed them for some time that they of the P. R. R. can well say that they and their Liberties are at an end if they must abide under a Jurisdiction so contrary and averse Witness the Decree of the Parliament of Remes against James Caillion Seiur de la Touche and the Parliaments of Pau Bordeaux and Rouen have done of late things which render them no less formidable The King therefore who will not see his Subjects to perish miserably of whom he knows himself that he hath no cause to complain will be pleased to revoke this rigorous Declaration which subjects them unto Parliaments in many of which there are not so much as any Counsellors of the P. R. R. for to defend their innocence He will maintain of his Justice and equitable Goodness the Chambers of the Edict in their power without permitting any breach to be made upon their Jurisdiction He will remove the Prohibitions gotten by surprize against those who are painted out under the name of Relapsed Apostates and Blasphemers leaving to all his Subjects full liberty of Conscience which the Edicts confirmed by his Majesty have established throughout the Realm and for that person named Gayrard in particular your Majesty is besought to cause him to be freed from Prison by evacuating the Decree made against him by the Parliament of Tolouse and ordaining that the warrant of his imprisonment be cancelled and the Gaoler constrained by all sorts of means and even arrest of his body it self to suffer him to depart A brief Table of the Estate of those of the P. R. R. After all these several observations which a hard necessity hath in a manner haled from the breast of those of the P. R. R. It is now easie to judge unto what extremity they are reduced and how deplorable their condition is if the King to whom they look as their only support on Earth do not suffer himself to be touched with their supplications and their Tears For at length what can be thought of their Estate They behold the most part of their Temples to be condemned and demolished in all the Provinces of the Realm so that a possession of threescore and ten years and titles authentick could not save them They dare no more