of Conde in the Civil Wars during the minority of Lewis XIV I am confident the Papists would cry out against it as a great and foul Injustice done to their Church And yet why do they continually use the Protestants thus unreasonably I presume this may serve for a full Justification in reference to the Spirit of Rebellion imputed upon the account of what passed in the beginning of the Reign of Lewis XIII They cannot wrong them more than to make their Religion answerable for the weakness of some of them who were disapproved by the wisest among them who have more reason to be considered than a few who acted contrary to the Principles of the Protestant Religion as they are contained in their Confession of Faith established by their most eminent Divines as I shewed you at our third Conference So that I suppose Sir it will be needlâ—ss to run through all the several troubles which followed the first down to the year 1629. This may answer the whole Yet methinks said I you should not have done before you have said something particularly of Rochel It s Rebellion and Siege have made too great a noise in the World and perchance that which happened about this Town is what has raised the greatest cry against the French Protestants as Commonwealthsmen and Traytors Therefore I shall no more question their Loyalty and you will enable me to defend them sufficiently under the Reign of Lewis XIII as well as under those that went before if you can set me right in the excuse of Rochel It will be no hard matter for me says our Friend to satisfie you in this Point And we English are particularly obligâ—d to make out the innocence of the Protestants in this affair If any be to blame we are For it was we that engaged them in this last War But God be thanked they can charge us with nothing To make it the clearer to you we must take the Business a little higher Rochel did belong to the Kings of England being a part of their Dominion by the Marriage of Eleanor Countess of Poitou in the year 1152. with Henry II. when he was yet but Duke of Normandy But the King of France Lewis VIII assaulted and took it by force in the year 2224. It fell again into the hands of our Kings who were the rightful Lords of it in the year 1359. by the Peace of Bretegny as part of the Ransome for Iohn King of France who was taken Prisoner at the Battle of Poitiers by Edward Prince of Wales But in the year 1372. the Rochellers were so unhappy as to withdraw their Allgiance from their natural Lord our King Edward III. And to compleat their Revolt they put themselves under the powâ—r of the French King This occurrence ought to be observed though I shall say nothing of it but in Mezeray's own words This Town says he having shaken off the English Yoke desired to come under the French upon condition of preseâ—ving that liberty it had acquired by its own means And therefore it delivered it self up to the King it made so good a Bargain for it self which was agreed by Letters under the Broad Seal and the Seals of his Peers that the Castle should be demolished and that there never should be any within or near the Town c. The same Historian touches upon this in another place In consideration says he that Rochel came voluntarily into France the King Charles V. seeing that the Townsmen having of themselves quitted the Power they were under to the great hazard of their Lives could either continue free or give themselves up to whom they pleased granted them all the Priviledges they could dâ—â—â—re as That they might Coin Florins Mony of a mixt Metal 〈◊〉 the Castle should be demolished and that no other should be built in their Town And by other Letters he promises them that their Walls and Forts should stand and that he would raise none upon them He goes on with the other great Immunities that were granted to Rochel by this King and by his Successors not sticking to declare ingenuously that Henry II. and Francis I. by sometimes placing their Governors and Garisons had infringed their Priviledges He adds ' That the Rochellers looked upon this as a violation and always waited for a more favourable occasion to restore themselves to their original Right By this you see that Rochel did not deliver it self up to France but upon Conditions and so were to continue their Obedience no longer than the Articles stipulated by the Rochellers and accepted by the King of France were observed It appears that one of these Articles says expresly That they were never to build Castle or Fort either in or about the Town Notwithstanding contrary to this Agreement they raise a Fort before Rochel in time of the War which was in the Years 1621 1622. And though they promised by the Articles of Peace which were afterwards agreed upon that this Fort should be slighted yet it always continued which was the cause of those troubles that followed in the Years 1625 1626. the Rochellers being no longer obliged to keep touch with the King of France because he had broke the Treaty by vertue of which alone they became his Subjects The Affairs of Europe disposing the late King our Soveraign Lord Charles I. to interpose for a Pacification The Rochellers and such other Protestants of France as had engaged in their Quarrel agreed to refer all their Concerns to him And he obtained it for them a second time that this Fort which was so great an eye-sore to Rochel should be demolished for which he was Guarantee by an Authentick Declaration that his Embassadors gave in Writing I will read it to you We Henry Rich Baron of Kensington â—arl of Holland Captain of the Guards to the King of Great Britain Knight of the Order of the Garter and Counsellor of State and Dudley Carleton Knight Counsellor of State and Vicechamberlain of His Majesties Houshold Embassadors Extraordinary from His said Majesty to the Most Christian King To all present and to come Greeting It so falling out that Montmartin and Manial Deputies-General of the Reformed Churches of France and other particular Deputies of the Dukes of Rohan and Soubise with those of several Towns and Provinces who were engaged with them have made their Peace with the Most Christiaâ— King By our advice and interposition it is agreed and consented to 〈◊〉 the said King their Soveraign And the Deputies have released many things which they esteemed very important for their security and all conformable to their â—dicts and Declarations which they had express order to insist upon at the Treaty of Peace and which they had resolutely persisted in saving the obedience they owe and desire to pay their King and Soveraign and saving the respect and deference they would shew to the so express Summons and Demands of the most Serene King of Great Britain our Master in
Pope has declared a Prince deprived of his Sâ—ates his Subjects may set up the Standard of Rebellion declare War against him refuse him Obedience and kill him if they can meet with him provided it be with arms in their hand and by the ordinary course of War I cannot comprehend how one â—an be secured of the Fidelity of those who hold such like Maxims For in fine Kings are not infallible and if they happen to do any thing that the Court of Rome judges worthy of Excommunication and Intâ—rdiction they are Kings without Kingdoms and Subjects accoâ—ding to our Clergy of France as well as according to the Divines of Italy But perhaps the Sorbonne which is the Depository of the Frenâ—h Divinity does not receive these Maxims so fatal to the safety of Kiâ—gs Let us see what it has done In the Month of December 1587 because Henry the Third for the security of his Person and of his State made a Treaty with the Rütres or the German Protestants the Sorboâ—ne without staying for the Decisions of Rome made a private determination which said That the Government might be taken from Princes who were not found such as they ought to be as the adminiâ—tration from a suspected Tutor This was known by the King he sent for the Sorbonne some days after and complained of it After the death of the Princes of Guise which happen'd at Blois the Sorbonne did much worse they declared and caused to be published in all parts of Paris That all the People of that Kingdom were Absolved from the Oaths of Fidelity that they had sworn to Henry of Valois hereâ—ofore their King they raâ—ed his name out of the publick Prayers and made known to the People that they might with safe Conscience unitâ— aâ—m and contribute to make War against him as a Tyrant If I would add to that the Story that I know this Gentleman told you concerning the Death of the late King of England we should find that the Sorbonne has â—ver been of the same Opinion This is the truth of it every time that our Kings affairs shall carry them to extremity against the Court of Rome the Clergy of France will suppress their discontents while matters go well for the Court of France but if things turn other ways the Maxims of our Divines against the King will be sure to break out Every sincere person will allow â—haâ— it has never been otherwise than so and that it will be always thus which may be observed in the very least disputes I was willing to read all these passages to you out of The Policy of the Clergy of France because the Author of that excellent piece proves there exceedâ—ng well all that I prâ—mâ—sed to shew you for the close of our Conferences which is that the Papists are truly Guilty of the Conspiracies and Rebellions which Monsieur Maimbourg would falsly fasten upon the Hugonots Of this the Murder of Henry the Third that of Henry the Fourth the violence of the League the several attempts against Queen Elizabeth King Iames and our holy Martyr Charles the Firâ—t not to mention the late Plot that has made such a noise in the World are undeniable proofs But you have seen likewise which ought to awaken the Protestant Princes to a purpose that all these black attempts have not been the fruit of impatience and human frailty under the temptation of some severe persecution but the natural Consequence and effect of the Principles of the Roman Religion as we are assured by those very men who pass for the Oracles of this Religion For you have seen just now out of Authentick pieces that the Pope the Cardinals and all the Divines of Italy who are the Pillars of the Roman Catholike Religion all the Regulars of France who draw after them more then three fourths of the French Papists and the Sorbonne it self when the rod is not over it own publickly that the Pope may Excommunicate Kings when he judges them Hereticks or countenancers of Heriticks to interdict their Kingdoms absolve their subjects from their Allegiance and expose them to the fury of all the World You have also seen that the whole Clergy of France was of this opinion by the mouth of Cardinal Perron so that this pernicious Doctrine is the vowed Faith of the whole Popish Gallican Church as well as of the Court of Rome the great depository of the Roman Religion and all its misteries From whence evidently follows what the Author of The Policy of the Clergy of France infers That there is no safety for the Crown nor for the life of Kings whether they be Protestants themselves or only protect such as are whilst they are beset with Papists so that there is not the same reason to tolerate Popery in Protestant Kingdoms as there is to toâ—erate Protestants in Popish Kingdoms Monsieur Maimbourg would make us believe that all this is but a poor shift And to convince us of it he says that we need but to consider these two things First that there are not to be found more detestable Conspiracies then those the Hugonots have made against their Kings c. Secondly that it is by no means thâ— belief of the Roman Catholicks princes that a Pope may depose Princes though they were Heretiâ—ks acquit their subjects from their Allegiance and bestow their Dominions upon those that can first take them But I have evidently shewed you the falsness of the first assertion and for the second it is expresly disproved by those undeniable proofs the Author of The Policy of the Clergy has produced to shew that the Roman Catholicks hold that belief which Monsieur Maimbourg afâ—irms they do not You say Monsieur Maimbourg that it is by no means your belief that a Pope can depose Princes c. At this rate the Pope who is the head of your Church this head for whose infallibility you have so much disputed knows not the belief of your Church for he believes that by the principles of the Church of Rome he has the power which you seem to deny him The Cardinals the Bishops and all the Divines of Italy all your Regulars all your Clergy of France speaking by the mouth of your Cardinal du Perron your Sorbonne it self so renowned for its great number of able men did not know in so important a case what was the belief of your Church For they have all held that it believes the Pope can depose Princes c. At least he should have given some answers to the Authentick Acts and notorious matters of fact which the Author of The Policy of the Clergy had quoted to this purpose To say nothing of all this and to think it enough to say at randome It is by no means our belief that a Pope may depose Princes even though they were Hereticks c. this is to pass the sentence of an unjust judge who rather then fairly to confess his errour makes no conscience of denying
sight of several Proclamations That they ruine all the Protestants that are Taxable in France by a Secret they have found out to Tax the people at Will and then make one or more responsible for all the rest That they are barbarously cruel upon the least complaint of any thing that falls from them in the height of their misfortunes That they Demolish their best Established Temples upon the least pretence and that besides all this they condemn them to the Galleys if they offer to quit the Realm to serve God according to a good Conscience in any other Countrey with a Fine of a thousand Crowns for the first Fault and Corporal Punishment for the rest upon their Friends that shall any way countenance directly or indirectly their departure out of the Realm I have read the Proclamation and you may read it says our Friend when you please for it lies there upon my Table The strangest thing in it is that they glory of their pretended Conversions in Poitou and elsewhere as if they had been carried on with all the gentleness and Christian temper imaginable when all Europe knows they have used no other but carnal means and since I am provoked to say it the Devil's Weapons the allurement of Riches Promises of worldly Advantages Threats Force and a thousand unheard of Cruelties whereby they have brought the poor People to this hard choice either to turn Papist or perish by Hunger and ill usage And many times we see their Consciences will not suffer them to continue in that Communion they have been thus forced into for they come over by Flocks and the Prisons in France are full of these pretended Relaps But because you know all this already I proceed now says he to the Justification of our poor persecuted Brethren I am very well satisfied that this groundless Accusation as if they were Seditious Firebrands and Enemies to Monarchs and Monarchy has given them no prejudice with you If Accusation were enough to render guilty of this Crime Moses and Christ the old and new people of God had certainly lost their Cause The Enemy of Truth has ever made this his Charge against the Innocence of Gods Children Moses was accused for Seducing the people Elias for Troubling Israel Ieremiah That he did not pray for the Prosperity of this people but their mischief the People of God That they designed to revolt from the King of Persia Iesus Christ himself That he perverted the people and forbad to pay Tribute to Caesar and his Apostles That they were common Pests Movers of Sedition and that turned the World upside down You have read Turtullians Apologetick and Arnobius against the Gentiles You see there how the most innocent of the Primitive Christians and the meekest of Men were charged with the same Crime Our Protestants of France have no reason to expect other measure than that of their Saviour and the Saints departed since it is the same Religion they strive for And by the Grace of God we shall with as much ease acquit them of all those Imputations laid to their charge There is certainly no stronger Proof of what the Opinions of a Church are than the publick Declarations her self has made of her Principles by open Professions or Confessions of Faith these are authentick pieces composed with the approbation of the whole Body and published on purpose to declare to the World what in sincerity such a Church believes in matters of Religion The Protestant Church of France has not been wanting in this particular but has composed and published a Confession of Faith that all the World might be sure what really are her thoughts and belief And certainly without the highest injustice we cannot reject what she has thus made Protestation of Then I told our Friend you need not enlarge upon this point for no Man of sense will dispute this Principle with you Let us come to the Question I shall soon dispatch it says he I will read to you the two last Articles of our Protestants Confession of Faith We believe That God will have the World governed by Laws and Policies to the end there may be a restraint upon the inordinate Appetites of Men and for this end that he has appointed Kingdoms Commonwealths and all other sorts of Government Hereditary or otherwise and whatever appertains to the dispensation of Justice and that he himself will be acknowledged the Author of it For this cause he has put the Sword inâ—o the Magistrates Hand to punish Faults committed not only against the second Table but likewise against the first We ought therefore for God's sake not only to submit to the Government of Superiors but also to honour them and hold them in such regard as esteeming them his Lieutenants and Officers whom he has constituted to exercise a Lawful and Sacred Trust. We hold it therefore our Duty to obey their Laws and Statutes to pay Tributes Imposts and other Duties and to bear the Yoke of Subjection with a cheerful and good will be they Infidels provided the Sovereign Empire of God be kept entire Thus we detest those that would reject Authority put all things in common and overthrow the course of Justice Here you see the Confession of the Protestants of France where you find they make it a part of their Religion and Faith to believe that it is God who appoints Kingdoms Hereditary and others That we ought to Honour Princes and hold them in all Reverence as the Lieutenants and Officers of God to obey them to pay them Tribute to submit to them with a good will though they happen to be of another Religion than ours and they reject with horror all those that reject the Powers Can any thing be said stronger or with greater exactness Moreover these Protestants of France have a Liturgy a Form of Common-Prayers as well as our Church of England There it is that in the presence of God and speaking to God they do confirm by a publick Act of Worship all that they say of Kings and Potentates in their Confession of Faith After they have said to God We have thy Precept to pray for those whom thou hast set over us Superiors and Governors they add We Beseech thee therefore O heavenly Father for all Kings and Princes thy Servants to whom thou hast committed the dispensation of Iustice and particularly for the King c. If ever we ought to believe Mens words no doubt it is when they speak to God in the Act and fervor of their Devotion If a man be not wicked to the last degree or an Athiest he will then at least speak the thoughts of his Heart And upon such an account it is that the Protestants of France own in conformity to their Confession of Faith That it is God who has set Rulers over them to Govern That all Princes are the Servants of God That the Justice they dispence to men is that of God himself of which God
Roman Religion in their Dominions Might he not very justly say to the Huguenots says he speaking to the King of France either see that these Princes allow the free exercise of my Religion with them or do not think to have the free exercise of yours and theirs in France If it be expected that we should consider the Edicts which have been here made in your behalf let them shew then the like favour to the Catholicks Monsieur Maimbourg calls this a powerful argument which overthrows the Huguenots But as to that I remit him to the Author of the Critique General of his History He will there find his dream entertained as it deserves It is sufficient for my purpose to let you see that what the Author of the Policy of the Clergy urges to prove that the Papists upon account of the principles of their Religion are always to be feared in Protestant States is no Poor groundlâ—ss evasion as Monsieur Maimbourg would have us believe And that you may be the better judge of it give me leave to read all that this exellent Author has writ upon the Subject I am confident after you have heard it read you will not less wonder then I do at the confidence of the Jesuite who never appears more positive then where he has least reason So then our friend read to me this following discourse Hugonot Princes cannot allow the same toleration to Catholicks in their States that Catholick Princes can allow to Hugonots because Protestant Princes cannot be assured of the fidelity of their Catholick Subjects by reason they have taken Oaths of fidelity to another Prince whom they look upon as greater than all Kings It is the Pope and this Prince is a sworn â—nemy of the Protestants He obliges the People to believe that a Soveraign turned Heretick has forfeited all the Rights of Soveraignty that they owe him no Obedience that they may with impunity revolt from him that they may fall upon him as an Enemy of the Christian Name even to assassinate him See the Iesuits Morals cap. 3. Book the third And thereupon he cited to me Mariana Carolus Scribanus Ribadinera Tolet Gretser Hereau Amicus Lesâ—ius Valentia Dicatillus and several others that are cited by the Iansenists in the Book of the Jâ—suits Morals and by the Ministers All these Authors said he to me teach conformably to the Divinity of Rome that a Heretick Prince and Excommunicated by the Pope is but a private person against whom Arms may be taken that he may be likewise Assassinated or poysoned He added to this the examples of the many Parricides that have been committed or attempted in pursuance of these Maxims How many times said he would they have Assassinated Queen Elizabeth Prince William of Orange was twice Assassinated and lost his Life the Second time Henry the Third was not he killed by a Iacobin as Excommunicated by the Pope and stript of the Royal Dignity Iohn Chastel did not he attempt the same thing upon Henry the Fourth And did not Ravilliac out of a false Zeal Assassinate him After which he gave me an account of the Gun-powder Plot in England by which in the year 1606. the Catholicks had undertaken to blow up the King and all the Grandees of the Kingdom by a Mine they had made under the Parliament House He told me of the Jesuits Garnet and Oldcorn Chief of that Conspiracy who were put into the number of the Martyrs whether they would or no for the Jesuit Garnet going to Execution some one of his Companions telling him soâ—tly in his Ear that he was going to be a Martyr he answered Nunâ—uâ—m audivi parricidam esse Martyrem I never heard that a Parricide was a Martyr He related to me a hundred scandalous Stories of that nature Amongst others he told me one that extreamly surprized me he read it to me with all its circumstances in a little Book that had been published by an English Minister who calls himself the King of Englands Chaplain Thus it is in short A Divine who had been the Chaplain of King Charles who was beheaded turnd Catholick some time before his Masters Death and the English Jesuits put such confidence in him that they imparted to him a very dreadful thing It was a Consultation allowed of by the Pope about the means of re-establishing the Catholick Religion in England The English Catholicks seeing that the King was a Prisoner in the hands of the Independants formed the Resolution of laying hold on that occasion to dâ—stroy the Protestant and re-establish the Catholick Religion They concluded that the only means of re-establishing the Catholick Religion and of laying aside all the Laws that had been made against it in England was to dispatch the King and destroy Monarchy That they might be authorized and maintained in this great Undertaking they deputed eighteen Father-Jesuits to Rome to demand the Popes advice The matter was agitated in secret Assemblies and it was concluded that it was permitted and just to put the King to Death Those Deputies in their passage through Paris consulted the Sorbonne who without waiting for the Opinion of Rome had judged that that enterprise was just and lawful and upon the return of the Jesuites who had taken the Journey to Rome they communicated to the Sorbonnits the Popes Answer of which several Copies were taken The Deputies who had been at Rome being returned to London confirmed the Catholicks in their Design To compass this point they thrust themselves in amongst the Independants by dissembling their Religion They persuaded those people that the King must be put to Death and it cost that poor Prince his Life some Months after But the Death of King Charles not having had all the Consequences that was hoped and all Europe having cryed out with horrour against the Parricide committed upon the Person of that poor Prince they would have called in again all the Copies that had been made of the Consultation of the Pope and of that of Sorbonne but this English Chaplain who had turned Catholick would not restore his and he has communicated it since the return of the Family of the Stuarts to the Crown of England to several persons who are still alive and were Eye witnesses of what I have now told you Par. I never heard this before But the English Calvinists not Producing any authentick pieces to prove this accusation it may be looked upon as a Calumny Prov. My Hugâ—not Gentleman would not answer for it for he is very just However he added that what rendred it very probable is that this Conduct is a sequel of the Divinity of the zealous Catholicks of Spaim Italy and even of France Morâ—over there are several Circumstancâ—s which render the thing apparent For example he that lately published this story had already once published it in the year 1662 to answer a little Book that insulted over the English Calvinists in that they had put their King to death The
Divine who knew the story that I have related published it to prove that the Catholicks were guilty of the Crime which the Calvinists were accused of When this story came to light there was a great alarme in the House of the Queen-Mother of the King of England that House being full of Jesuits and even that great Lord who had lead the Jesuits to Rome and had made himself chief of that Conspiracy was one of the principal Officers of the House They immediately demanded Justice of the King by the means of the Queen-Mother for the injury that he who had published this scandalous story had done them The Doctor offered to prove his Accusation and to produce his Witnesses who were still living The great Lord and Officer of the Queens House and the Jesuits seeing the resolution of this Man durst not push him on they only obtain'd from the King by the means of the Queen-Mother that he should be silenced You must avow that there are but few that are innocent who would have been so easie in so terrible an Accusation Besides it is certain that this Consultation of Rome has been seen by several persons If it is false it must have been forged by this Chaplain who was turned Catholick and who shewed it since tho it must be confessed that this is not very likely However as all this is reduceed to a single Witness my Gentleman acknowledged that the proof was not wholly in forme but he stood much upon the late Conspiracy of England which was discovered two years ago by which half the Kingdom was to have had their Throats cut to become Masters of the rest Prov. Be it as it will my Hugonot Gentleman concluded from all this that a Protestant Prince can never be assured of the Fidelity of his Catholick Subjects On the contrary said he the Protestants are subject to their Prince out of Conscience and out of a Principle of their Religion They acknowledge no other Superiour than their King and do not believe that for the cause of Heresie it is permitted either to kill a lawful Prince or to refuse him obedience They oppose against us said he to me the English and Holland Catholicks But what has been promised to those people that has not been performed The United Provinces of the Low Countries are entred into the Union with this Condition of not suffering any other Religion in their States than the Protestant Though England was reformed under Edward the 6 th afterwards under Elizabeth by several Acts of Parliament which are the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom it was ordered that no other Religion should be suffered than that the Anglicane Church made choice of and that they would not suffâ—r the Assemblies of those whom they at present call Nonconformists It was even forbidden to the Priests and Monks to set Foot in England and to make any abode there However they have not kept up to this rigour and every one knows that there is at present above ten thousand Priests and Monks disguised in England and that there has ever been so Wherefore more has been given to the Catholicks than was promised them But in France where we live under favourable Edicts they have promised us what they have not performed It is only against us that they make profession of not performing what they have promised The Edicts of Pacification are in all the Forms that perpetual Laws ought to be they are verified by the Parliaments they are confirmed by a hundred Declarations which followed by Consequence and by a thousand Royal Words In fine they have been laid as irrevocable Laws and as foundations of the Peace of the State We rely upon the good Faith of so many promises and on a sudden we see snatcht from us what we looked upon as our greatest security and which we had possessed for above a hundred years Thus there is neither Title nor Prescription nor Edicts nor Acts nor Declarations which can put us in Safety This is what he told me and I avow to you that this part put me in pain for I am a Slave to my Word and an Idolater of good Faith I look upon it as the only Rampart of Civil Society and I conceive that States and Publick persons are no lâ—ss obliged to keep what they promise than particular men Far. That is true But do not you know that the safety of the people and the publick good is the Soveraign Law Very often we must suffer and even do some Evil for the good of the State Peaces and Treaties are daily broken which have been solemnly sworn because that the publick interest requires it should be so Prov. My Hugonot made himself that difficulty and told me thereupon When War is declared against Neighbours to the prejudice of Treties of Peace and Alliances this is done in the Forms They publish Manifesto's they expose or at least they suppose Grievances and Infractions in the Articles of the Treaty that have been made by those against whom War is declared When a Soveraign revokes the Graces that he had done his Subjects it is ever under pretence that they have rendered themselves unworthy of them But are we accused or can we be accused of having tampered in any Conspiracy of having had Intelligence with the Enemies of the State of having wanted Love Fidelity and Obedience towards our Soveraigns If it be so let us be brought to Tryal let the Criminals be informed against and let the Innocent be distinguished from those that are Guilty We speak boldly thâ—rein because we are certain they can reproach us with nothing and we know that his Majesty himself has very often given Testimony of our Fidelity He knows that we did not enter into any of the Parties that have been made against his Service since he has been upon the Throne During the troubles of his minority it may be said that none but those Cities we were Masters of remained Loyal When the Gates of Orleans were shut upon the King he went to Gien and that City was going to be guilty of the same Crime without the vigour of a Hugonot who made way with his Sword in his hand to the Bridge and let it down himself This action was known and recompenced for the King immediately made him Noble who had done it We had not any part in the disturbances of Bordeaux in those of Britany and Auvergue nor in the Conspiracy of the Chevalier do Roban Not one Hugonot was engaged in these Criminal Cases The King has been pleased to acknowledge it and we look upon the Testimony of so great a King as a great Recompence But our Enemies who continually sollicit him to our ruin ought to be mindful that it would be more civil in them to leave the King the liberty of following his inclinations These would without doubt move him to preserve the effects of his kindness for people who have preserved for him an inviolable Fidelity This is what
that in words in which his heart gives him the lie And I beseech you consider what he adds to make us believe that the Roman Catholicks have not that belief which the Popes themselves attribute to them So far from that says he that our most Christian Kings who are known alwais to have been the most zealous asserters of the Catholick Faith and the chiefest Protectors of the Holy See to which they have inviolably held in all times notwithstanding all the disputes they have had with some Popes about temporal concerns and the rights of their Crown which they are bound never to relinquish our Kings I say have ever protested against this claim which is grounded upon a Doctrine that all our Doctors have ever condemned as point blanck against the Divine Law To this purpose may be seen the Remonstrances and Protestations which I have said that Charles the Ninth addressed to Pope Pius the Fourth upon the account of Queen Jane of Navarre as obstinate a Heretick as she was What can be said to such childish stuff Is it not an excellent way of arguing The Kings of France do not believe the Pope has that power over them as he challenges to him self therefore it is by no means the belief of the Roman Catholicks that the Pope has such a power so that Princes who are Protestants or protect such as are can be in no danger either of life or Crown from their Popish subjects The Remonstrances and the Protestations which Monsieur Maimbourg makes such a noise with did they prevail that more than half the Papists of France should noâ— rise against their King Henry the Third so soon as ever the Pope had thundred out his â—xcommunication against him This crowd of people of Churchmen and of Fryars who by Monsieur Maimbourg's own confession entred into a League with so much heat against this pooâ— Prince did they not make it appear plainly that the good Catholick subjects take much notice of the particular belief and the weighty Protestations of the French Kings when the Pope has pronounced Anathema The almost perpetual Conspiracies of our Papists against the sacred Majesty of our Kings and against their faithful Subjects are likewise a strong evidence of Monsieur Maimbourg's sound reasoning Do not the Catholicks of England plainly shew that they take these particular decisions of the French Kings for the rule of their Faith and of their practice But this assertion All our Doctors have ever condemned the Doctrine upon which is grounded the claim of Popes against Kings as directly opposite to the Divine Law is such a piece of confidence as it may be never was the like I must confess I could not have believed that what is said of the Jesuitical impudence could have gone thus far What then Is it that Anthony Santarel the Jesuite who has written That a Pope has power to depose Kings discharge their Subjects from the obedience they owe them and deprive them of their Kingdoms for Heresy nay if they governe negligently or are not useful to their Kingdom that Cardinal Bellermin who was likewise a Jesuite and has maintained That the Pope may absolve Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance and deprive Kings of their Dominion that a thousand other Priests of the same Society quoted in the second part of the moral Divinity of the Jesuits ought not to be reckoned among the Doctors of the Church of Rome that Monsieur Maimbourg pronounces so positively All our Doctors have ever condemned this Doctrine as directly opposite to the Divine Law But perchance Monsieur Maimbourg since he left the Society has almost as good an opinion of the Jesuits as their good friend sof the Port Royal No doubt he has taken up the same prejudice which these Gentlemen have done that those Jesuits are no other in the Harvest of the Church than the tares that annoy the good Corne and that they ought not to be reckoned among the Christian Doctors However he ought to have the best intelligence and know them better than any man At least he should not have forgotten that he was informed how the whole Sorbonne in a body declared it self in this point of the same judgment with the Jesuites upon the particular case of Henry the Third He should as little forget that Cardinal du Perron in one of the greatest assemblies of the World maintained with open face not in behalf of the Jesuits but of the whole Clergy of France and as the mouth of all the Prelates of the Kingdom that the Pope has all that power over Kings which the Jeâ—uâ—ts attribute to him Therefore not to sâ—ay longer upon these â—â—â—llings of Monsieur Maimbourg you may easily see says our friend that as much as it is false that the Protestants who abhor all those principles above mentioned are to be suspected by any King of any Religion whatever in whose Dominion they abide so far certain and undeniablâ— is it that Roman-Catholick Subjects of what Countrey soever from the cursed tenents oâ— their Religion ought to be dreaded by their Kings whether Protestants or favourers of such I told our friend interrupting of him that I was already fully satisfied of the second Article neither can I imagine how it is possible that any man in this Kingdom should doubt of it after the no less cleer then convincing proofs that our worthy Bishop of Lincolne has brought in his learned Observations upon the Bull of Pius the Fifth for the pretended Excommunication of our renowned Queen Elizabeth As to the Loyalty and honest intentions of the Protestants of France I am likewise fully satisfied by all that you hâ—ve said And I make no question but they that have been so good Subjects in a Kingdom where their Loyalty has undergon such rough Tryals will be all zeal and flame in the service and for the Honour of our good King who takes them into his Protection with so much charity and compassion But pray tell me before we part what do you think of a little story which Monsieur Maimbourg has printed at the end of his Libell under the Title of The Declaration of the Dutchess of York I could tell you a great many things upon this subject said our friend For I have the whole History of it I have it here in English But to speak particularly to it would force me to discover too many misteries It would carry us a great way and is much more proper for another time I will only tell you that this Declaration was drawn up for quite another person then the late Dutchess of York and it were easie to prove that the greater part of what is there said does not at all sute with this Lady It was from much a different principle to what is reported in this piece that she made so suddain a change of her Religion And they who were by when she lay a dying have testified of quite other thoughts then those they have made