Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A42500
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The bloudy Babylon: or, A collection of some particulars concerning the persecution raging in France against the Protestants from the peace of Reswick, to the martyrdom of the Reverend Monsieur Brousson, inclusively. In a letter to a lord.
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Gaujac, Peter Gally de.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing G373E; ESTC R210995
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22,135
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32
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Gres because he absconds with Four of his Children In fine one cannot enumerate all the Particulars as it should be The Hope we had and which they gave us from all Places of an approaching Ease and Delivery has been the cause of our Ruine Many who were very Rich are not now worth a Farthing Good God! who would have believed that so many Potent Princes who are our Brethren in Christ would have abandoned us But you will say They could not sue for the Restitution of our Edicts because 't was too much But they could at least have asked that we might have had leave to depart this Kingdom without any disturbance or that they would put us to death all at once The thing was very possible since it hath been already done But they think of us no more than if we were not in the World Sure we must have greatly offended God seeing he permits Princes and our Brethren in Christ to forsake us However we must hope that God Almighty will come to us in due time He is a God to help in Extremity alas he must then come aâ—â—y very speedily for we are at our last Gasp We see now that whosoever hopes in him shall never perish We continue to desire the Prayers of the Church From Niort in Poitou July the 13th 1698. A Gentleman Refugee in London received a Letter wherein he is told That they expected there the Mareschal D'Estreés accompanied with Soldiers not only to hinder the New Converts from making their Escape but also to work out their sincere Conversion And that there are Dragoons quarter'd at Coâ—longe Fontenay Chastagnerage c. upon the New Converts who do not perform all the Duties of Good Catholicks and live at Rack and Manger upon them and they that refuse to obey are ruined by Amerciaments for the payment of which they are forced to sell their Beds from under them July the 25th 1698. TWo Gentlemen called Trouilla and Laborde lately come from France Certifie under their Hands That in May last the Sieur Darhets Surrogate of Mr. Pinon Intendant of Bearn came to Orthes and being attended with four Guards or Sergeants went into a School and ordered the Schoolmaster to bid his Scholars repeat their Popish Catechism by heart before him which thing a Boy Ten years old and Son to Mr. Cafaudonec Merchant refusing to do he was by order of the said Surrogate immediately shut up in the School by his Guards and whip'd by the School Master to the very bloud insomuch as he had died by the blows had not a Doctor ordered some Remedies to prevent it These two Gentlemen do further Certifie that the same day the said Surrogate sent a Gentlewoman Fourteen or Fifteen years old into the Nunnery of St. Vrsula with order to let no body see and speak with her She was dragg'd every day to Mass but they could never prevail upon her to turn her Face and kneel before the Altar insomuch as the Abbess with the help of some Nuns having bound her Hands behind her back with Ropes tied her fast to a Pew and let her continue a whole Day in that Posture This Gentlewoman by striving to be rid of her pains made the Rope slip as far as her Neck but then she was almost strangled and called for help but the merciless Nuns did not cae for her Cries till one of them came into the Church and saw her almost dead Thereupon she went immediately and acquainted the Abbess with it who being an Eye-witness of the danger she was in did untie her and confined her to a Dark Chamber where she was exposed to bad Weather seen by no body and no light allowed her for a Fortnight till she was taken so ill that they began to fear her Life and therefore the Nuns let her go out of the Nunnery by the special leave of Mr. Darbes who had before seen the Declaration of a Surgeon about the dangerous Condition of the said Gentlewoman The Persecution doth not rage on the Land only but also on the Sea for enquiring of one Mr. Anthony Capion who came lately from Marseilles where he was a great sufferer about the lamentable Condition of those Protestants who have been sent to the Galleys upon account of Religion he delivered into my hands a List of the Names Country Number and the date of the Condemnation of every one of them It would be too long to relate all these Particulars we shall have shortly the opportunity to do it only we will say for the present That the Number of them amounts to 277. Some Popish Slaves who have been converted by the Instruction Patience and good Behaviour of the Protestants in Chains being included And that the said Gentleman certified under his Hand August 2. 1698. That the Marquis of Mommort Intendant of the Galleys there being informed that Mr. Lansonieres formerly a Counsellor in Poitou and Ten years since Slave there upon account of Religion did as well as one Mr. Serres formerly Student in Divinity distribute some Alms which was given them to the other Confessors ordered some Men to constrain them by a severe Bastinado to declare from whence they had received the said Money which thing they refusing to do he sent them into a dark and stinking Dungeon wherein they as well as many others have been for these Two years shut up close Prisoners That in the Castle called Casteldy there are two other Confessors named Paul Ragaâ— and John Monier of Sainte Croix in Cevennes detained two years and an half in a Dungeon where they never see the Light and in the Fort called Saint John there is one Mr. Lefevure of Champagne who has been Prisoner Ten years The they will not give leave to any of them to write to their Friends in order to be relieved by them That two Sergeants of the Garrisons that are at the Forâ—s St. Nicolas and St. John in that City having given some of them Paper and Ink to write a Letter and being taken in the Fact were immediately Condemn'd and Hang'd on the Rampire thô Mr. Serres Junior being brought before the Council of War and before these two Sergeants begg'd on his Knees the favour of dying in the Room of the Sergeant who had furnish'd him with the means of writing but a Consolatory Letter but to no purpose The said Gentleman declares further That there was a Young Gentlewoman of 18 Years of Age who when she was a dying refused to perform the Duty usual to Papists on such Occasions but after her death her Corps was drawn Naked throughout all the Streets of Marseilles by the Hangman and buried under the Stones the Rabble threw at it And that another Confessor being very Sick desired to be blouded but the Commander came to him with his Pistol cocked in his Hand and pointing at his Head told him He had nothing else for him but Pistols to break his Pate A Copy of the Affidavit taken by Catherine de
and the other False was That he had endeavoured to bring during the late War the Enemy into the Kingdom and stirr up a Rebellion Mr. Brousson confessed the former but denied peremptorily and absolutely the second Article And every one knows that 't is the Custom of Papists to charge the Protestants with Crimes against the State in order to Extenuate their own Barbarity and Eclipse the Glory of the Sufferings and Martyrdoms of the Reformed But the Truth is the thing was resolved before hand Mr. Brousson was to die And therefore he was condemned to be put to the Rack and Tortured both Ordinary and Extraordinary and next to be broken alive upon the Wheel When they came to read the Sentence to him he shewed an undaunted Courage and a great Resignation to God's Will The Reading of his Sentence being over he was brought and presented to the Torture and being stretched Naked on the Bench he said to the Commissary That he had told the Truth of what they had asked him concerning himself That if they had forgot any thing else he was ready to give a Faithful answer to it but as to his Brethren it was to no purpose to urge him to declare them for he had rather be torn in pieces than to betray his Ministry As soon as he had declared this he was taken off the Bench and excused the Rack upon which he said I will magnifie the Lord as long as I live c. The Courage Mildness and Innocence the Intendant discovered in the secret Conferences he had with his Prisoner prevailed I think upon him to abate something of his Cruelty When these things were thus practised within the Citadel they were Erecting without in a Place called L'Esplonade a Scaffold whither Mr. Brousson was brought in his ordinary Habit about Four of the Clock the same Afternoon without having his Hands or Feet tied and attended by the Abbot Camarignam I saw him going to Execution earnestly Praying and looking stedfastly up to Heaven One cannot express the Mildness and Courage wherewith he went and ascended the Scaffold One might easily discover the Calmness of his Soul by his chearful Countenance in his way to the Place of Execution and all the while hear the Sighings and Groans of the People who bewailed the hard Fate of a Man of so great Merit and Piety Having ascended the Scaffold he began to deliver his Dying Speech which was no doubt as Pious and Comfortable as his Life had before been but we were hinder'd from hearing much of it because on such Occasions the Papists beat Drums to prevent by their Noise the good Effect of the pious Exhortations and Prayers of the Reformed Martyrs This was the Reason why Mr. Brousson put off his own Cloths and yielded both his Hands and Feet to be fastned on the Cross saying That he esteemed himself very happy in that his Death had some likeness with that of his Saviour 'T was only at that time they read to him that Clause of his Sentence whereby he was to be Strangled before he was broken upon the Wheel The Executioner after having fastned him went down under the Scaffold and having half-strangled him the Billet broke which accident made Mr. Brousson come to himself again and the Abbot Camarignam hearing him pray to God came near him to whom Mr. Brousson said Sir I pray God Almighty reward your Charity towards me and grant us the favour to see one another in his Paradise These were the last Words of his for he was immediately Strangled and Broken upon the Wheel This great Man hath been lamented by all the Papists themselves have been amazed at this sight of Courage and Resolution and the Protestants though sorry for his loss were yet Comforted for so great an Example of Resignation to God and Zeal and Constancy for the Defence of his Gospel and indeed this is an illustrious and extraordinary Instance in the Age we live in wherein we see so little Zeal for the True Religion and and so very great though Blind Zeal for propagating the False one by Persecution and shedding of Bloud Mr. Brousson's Death was a Sermon more Moving and Eloquent than all those he delilivered in his Life time I do not make any question but the Intendant Baville might say of Mr. Brousson with as much reason as he did concerning another Minister he had some years before put to Death If the Hugonots serve the same God we do there will be a sad reckoning for him and other Papists And one enquiring of the Executioner about Mr. Brousson a little after the Execution He answered That if he durst speak he could say much but could not forbear saying That he died like a Saint I thought My Lord to have brought here my Task to an End but am prevented by a New Declaration against the French Protestants whereby the French King will have them to know what Usage they are for the future to Expect in case they do not turn good Catholicks the Abstract whereof I now give your Lordship The Declaration was given at Versailles the 13th of December 1698. and Registred in Parliament Wherein his Majesty enjoyns the Execution of this Edict in October 1685. repealing the Edict of Nantes and of others made in pursuance thereof Forbids all his Subjects to Exercise the Pretended Reformed Religion to meet together in any Place on this account in any Number or on any pretence whatsover And to harbour any Ministers and directly or indirectly to hold any Correspondence with them He admonishes and enjoins all Archbishops and Bishops to employ their utmost Zeal in the Instruction of the New Converts and to order their Curates at least on Sundays and Holidays to read Instructions and Catechisms to them He recommends especially to the Lords of Mannors and the said New Converts to assist exactly at Divine Service and Commands them that they always behave themselves therein with Reverence especially during the time of the Celebrating the Holy-Mass and adore on their Knees the most Holy Sacrament on the Altar and observe Abstinency from Flesh He Commandeth all the New Converts to cause their Children to be Baptized in their Parish-Churches within 24 Hours after their Birth and all the Midwives to give the Curate of the Place Notice of the Birth of such Children He enjoyns the establishment in all Parishes as much as is possible Masters and Mistresses in order to Instruct particularly the Children born of Parents formerly Protestants all Guardians to send them to the Schools and Catechisms and bring them before the Archbishop or Bishop when they shall require it in the Course of their Visitations He commandeth all Physicians Apothecaries and Chirurgeons who shall be called to visit Sick Persons to give notice thereof to the Curates of their Parishes that the Patient may from time to time receive the Benefit of the Sacraments And in fine That no Person shall be admitted into any publick Place Office and Employment