gives them and of which a wife man hath said Chi non ha Paura non sente il malo he who hath no fear can feel no harm No Party should take an advantage of another and I believe that if we served God well and honoured the King we should all agree with so much sweetness that one might see faith truly universal justly Apostolical and truly Christian shine out clearely 30. If to produce unity wee must have the same thoughts let us all respect follow without wrangling the good will of our Soveraign let us not be obstinate in our private faith but let us be fixed in that which hath appeared at all times Catholique and which we have equally respect for and confiance in All of us have the Confession of Faith which is called the Apostolical Symbol we have almost in the same words as they recite them in the Mass the Confession of Faith of the Council of Nice such a collection of Faith signed by 318 Bishops was a conclusion of that worthy Assembly to whom Rome sent two Deputies the Articles of faith were received by the Church which was not Arian and since none of bur Churches are so let us be satisfied with that Confession truly Catholique and let us hold to it Let us Reason together with freindship The Confession of the Symbol of Nice touched without doubt all the Articles of the Christian Faith which the truly faithfull believe or ought to believe to satisfy their consciences so worthy an Assembly was the first that Christianity saw in its quiet after the dreadfull Persecutions It was under the Authority of Constantine the great who was converted from Idolatry to the Faith it was as the Resurrection of the Gospel which untill then was preached in hidden places in Caves and dark holes of the earth By the happy Miracle of a new Life Jesus Christ increased by his Divine Power the light of Faith and the sweetness of tranquillity it was necessary in so considerable a meeting to inform Christians very well what they were obliged to believe always in all parts of the World and in all Nations where Religion could be found It was absolutely necessary also to inform by a publique Act the Soul of the newly Converted Emperour of all the Mysteries which make Christian Religion Divine and True and the Emperor ought to Regulate his Faith by that general approved Confession signed by all the good Bishops In short this Confession of Faith so Authentique and so wisely Established was received by all Christianity as an abridgment of the Gospel with this assurance that those who believe these Propositions would have that true and entire Faith which Christ requires in his Faithfulones All these Circumstances witness that the Articles proposed since that time were not believed then since they could not forget to Record them and that this Council principally Assembled against the impious subtleties of Arius treated of all the Mysteries of Religion and by a common Agreement made a general Declaration of them that they put into it all that is necessary to Salvation not only to correct present Errors but to hinder new ones and if the blind obedience which Worshipped the Decrees of the Church and the Patriarch of Rome had been a difference necessary to Salvation the Roman Deputies would not have sail'd to present it The Emperour nor the Fathers of the Council would not have neglected to put in that Article which goeth at present for the most Fundamental Ground of Faith and instead of these Words One Holy and Apostolical Church we should read these the Roman Church only I wonder that if the Greeks complain of that which the Latines have added to the Articles of the Procession of the holy Spirit Filioque we should not complain of them that they have added And the Roman Church After having confirmed this Truth that the Confession of Faith published by the Council of Nice being received by all Christians establisheth them in a most Holy and Pious Unity let us agree according to the will of the King in the French Church in that manner which the first and principal Council of Christians regulated our common Faith since in the third Age it regulated the Faith of Constantine the great and all Christianity we may joine to these those who condemned the Heresy of Nestorius and Eutichus in short we are united if true Antiquity Governs us 20. Let us consider the difference of the first Council held at Nice which cements us all with the last held at Trent which divides us I am not willing to utter the least unbeseeming Word but I must say keeping the Truth which I love that there is a great difference between him whom the Spirit of the holy Scriptures Governs and him that takes his from the Valises or Clok-bag of Rome In the Council of Nice we have nothing which is not proposed in Holy Writ by the Ministry of Christ and his Apostles In that of Trent we see all is Proposed Resolved and Ordained according to the prescribed Order of the Romane Legates and according to the Popes interest The first which bindes us with the Truth of God unties us with Pleasure the other which makes all submit to the Vanities of the Pope divides us even to Fury But to make the Purity of that Faith appear the better which can give us that Admirable Peace I will employ this Page to set down Word for Word the Confession of Faith Writ at the Council of Nice so as it is sang in the Romane Mass from whence I took it with exact Faithfulness The Creed I Believe in One God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things Visible and Invisible and in One Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of his Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being of one Substance with the Father by whom all things were made Who for us Men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man and was Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate He suffered and was Buried and the third Day he Rose again according to the Scriptures and Ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the Right Hand of the Father And he shall come again with Glory to Judg both the Quick and the Dead whose Kingdom shall have no End And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Life who procedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is Worshipped and Glorified who spake by the Prophets And I Believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledg one Baptisme for the Remission of Sins and I look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come Amen We are Piously and Christianly United by this Creed and if any thing be omitted in it it is so clear
Constantine the Great order the Bishops to assemble at Nice where he himself sate President in person the Bishops of those times made no Scruple of proposing Eclesiastiques to the Prince since they presented him with an Account of all their Disputes and though he would not judg of them but cast the Writings into the Fire yet his great Discretion was a prudent Management of his Grandeur either to Confound or Convert them Those that shall read that which passed in the Churches some Ages after will see that the Sovereign-Authority of Princes hath regulated the conduct of Synods after they had assembled them the Emperour Arcadius sent Count Candigian to Rule in his Name the Synod at Ephesus that of Chalcedon had for its Soveraign President the Emperour Mortian or the Commissaries whom he Deputed and that of Constantinople held in the Imperial Palace was governed by the order of Constantine Le-Barbu the Emperour The celebrated Author of the History of the Councel of Trent specified all these passages to draw this conclusion in the second Book that it was a custom very proper where they governed with Liberty which was when the world was without a Pope il che come e un uso molto proprio diove si Governa in Liberta quale era all hora quando il mondo era senza Papa When the Empire of the West was governed by the house of France Charlemaing the Emperour preserved his Power Gloriously which his Successors have lost by too much yielding The Acts of the Council of Mayence held in the Year 813 under the Authority of that Emperour began with these Words to Charles Augustus Governor of the true Religion and Frotector of the Holy Church of God Another Council held at the same Place gave the same Title to Lewis the Emperour surnamed the Debonair and in the Records of the Synod named Francisque we may read the procedings of Carloman under the title of Duke Prince of the French who spoke in this manner we have ordained Bishops in every City and have Established over them the Arch-Bishop Boniface All those who have any knowledg in History know that the Bishops of Rome whom they give out and believe at present to be so soveraignly Soveraign have written to the Emperours as to their Masters and asked Pardons or Favours intreated to have Synods in the stile of humble Suppliants We read that the Emperour Charlemaign took without contradiction the liberty of chusing the Bishops of Rome The Books of Stella Platin and of Sigonius testify that this right was preserved a long time after When the Empire passed into the house of Saxony Otho deposed Pope John the Thirteenth and put Leo the Eighth in his Place and another Otho caused the Eyes of John the Seventeeth to be put out because he resisted Bruno a Germane named Gregory the Fifth which the Emperour had chose Bishop of Rome Let the Wise and Prudent search over the Antiquities in the Hebrew and Christan Churches and they will find that Princes have never made any scruple to regulate Religion 9. If Authority upholds my thoughts reason either natural or politique will be advantagious to them since that Monarchs cannot as sure themselves of the wellfare of their Countrey the dignity of their condition nor the quiet of their minds if they take no care in the government of Religion Let us consider the condition of Sovereigns without having any respect to the practice of Religion we cannot deny that they are established in the conduct of two things which appears more important in the politique state the first is War against a forreign enemy the second is Justice against the wicked men in his own nation These two actions which ought to take up all royal Authority obliged the Hebrewes when they demanded a King to say that we also may be like all the nations and that our King may judg us and go out before us and fight our battels Sam. 1.8.20 But since one cannot reject the thoughts of St. Paul when he saith that righteousness is profitable for all things one ought to believe that war is an unhappiness and that justice cannot subsist without true Piety from whence it was that the generous and wise Joshua seeing himself ready to make war against the Infidels heard these Words Streng then thy self and be not dismaied the Lord is with thee whither thou goest And when he went to do justice to Hacon he said to the People Sanctify your selves for to morrow and say to the sinners give I pray you glory to the God of Israel Joshua 7.19 17 from whence I conclude that the King who will succeed well in both his politique Employs ought necessarily to take a special care to establish the true Religion and to rule his conduct he ought to remember that which God said to Joshua Fortify thy self more more to the end thou mayst take care to do according to all the law which Moses my servant hath commanded thee and turn neither to the right hand nor to the left that thou mayst prosper whither soever thou goest Josh 1.7 He ought to remember the command of God which orders that the King sitting upon the throne of his Kingdome should take a Copy of the written Law and read it every day that he might learn to Fear the Lord Let not his Heart be lifted up above his brethren let him not turn from this Law neither to the right nor left hand Let his dayes be long and let him reign him and his Posterity in the midst of Gods people I know not how one can maintain after this reason confirmed by Sacred Authority that the King doth an unjust Action if he takes care of Religion is it not the perfect Equity of the divine Law which conducts principally the orders of War and rules of Justice and cannot one easily prove that War is a tyrannick usurper or a savage beastliness if not bridled by Religion is it not true that without Piety which begets the fear of God the Authority of the Magistrate is barbarously Executed unprofitably Established for without Religion men would be as imaged Lions but Justice would destroy them all if she were strong enough but where she suffers all she is found weak if then the King is the first Captain and the first Magistrate of his Kingdome he may name himself and ought to appear the principal Bishop 10. The King may find a great advantage in the words of St. Paul who speakes very Christianly when he ordered that Subjects should be held under the Powers Authorized by God not only to shun the violence of anger but to acquit themselves also of the duties of conscience This Doctrine establisheth obedience in the Subject more strongly by Religion than by Force If then the King will preserve himself in a just and full Authority his care must be to endeavour to Establish true Religion which tyeth the Subjects more to his will than Force or
Punishments which make the People fear the effects of its violence judg consequently what is the Conclusion of the interested hypocritical Party who leave the Princes but a mean power of making themselves to be obeyed in taking away from them the care of Godliness which is the strongest and most sure power The fear of Punishment may hinder the riseing of rebels but true Religion will stifle the design and not admit a thought of it 11. When a Monarch understands that a good Conscience is the strongest and most assured Principle to hold the Subjects in a sweet obedience and when he is perswaded that minds which are Led or conducted by true Piety stifle all the motions of Rebellion by the fear of the judgments of God his own interest with the publique peace will engage him to take care to establish Religion which hinders them from committing actions of disobedience The well fare of his State and the quiet of his Person ought to make him act so judiciously as not to permit that pretence to Religion should imprint in the minds of his People a false Godlyness which inclines them to despise his Person and Ordinances under pretence of revengeing Gods quarrel and protecting the interest of the Church The Age in which we live as well as those which have gone before us have proved what dreadfull effects false interested Piety have produced against our Kings and on the contrarie the holy History and some Chronicles of State shew us how much a good Conscience and true Religion are respectfull to their King even in the hearts of those Subjects who are harshly treated by them David being unjustly persecuted by his prince Saul might have found an occasion to take away his life secretly in the darkness of a Cave but his good Conscience obliged him to respect an unjust enemy of whom he might have rid himself if he had not feared to offend against the justice of God after the mischance or rather the decree of the judgment of God that caused Saul to perish Conscience alone produced and governed by a true Religion obliged David to weep for it and to reveng the death of that wicked Prince whom God himself had rejected Religion truly Christian counsels such practices of patience and goodness with which he King ought to be satisfied but that Religion which perswades co contrary maximes is dangerous and the King may render himself judg of it at least he may believe himself master in his own house without being subject to those who would limit his power and who teach the common people to watch for an opportunity of revolting and disobedience Charles the 8th being at Rome in the time of Pope Alexander the 6th of the house of Borgir who became an odious hated wicked man was intreated by all the Cardinals except two to defend the holy Church against the violence of that Pope who was rather a successor of Judas then of St. Peter and given more to the Alcoran than to the Gospel There are no true and natural French men who will contest with the King the power of repressing the boldness of those pretended Devoto's who teach that Kings Excommunicated by the Pope are no more Kings and that they are no more any thing to their subjects being nothing to the Pope I dare not Speak the rest it being so full of horror see the Censure of Sorbonne against Vernant and Guimenaeus Can one believe that Lewis the 12th had no right to suppress the wicked doctrine and hector like piety off Julius 2d who committed so many wickednesses against the quiet of this excellent Prince that he caused to be stamped upon his coin I will destroy the whore of Babylon The King of Navar John 2d deposed by the same Pope ought he in his condition to detest or adore the Religious thoughts of this very Pope told him by a Spanird in these words I must aid the King of Spain and employ my two Swords both Spiritual and temporal against France and Navar who are enemies to all honest people Pope Sixtus the 5th was resolved to Excommunicate Henry King of Navar and Henry Prince Conde his Bull said that he would draw the sword of Vengeance against Henry late King of Navar and Henry Prince of Conde a Bastard and Detestable Generation that he did declare them and their Successors to be deprived of all their Lordships Lands and Dignities Had not these Princes some right to resist this violence and cause to be Preached one to his Subjects and the other to his Vassals that Religion and Conscience obliged them not to follow the Passions and Usurpations of this Roman Bishop Royal Dignity is of a larger extent than vulgar thoughts can apprehend and beyond the limits which the Ambitious and Covetuous men do prescribe it for their own advantage by an affected or ignorant malice This Royal greatness is joyned to the Pontifical by a kind of necessity from which it cannot be parted neither by Reason nor Conscience and though the King doth not execute actually the functions of it yet he ought to render them so really effected that true Judgment and Power should maintain them and put them in good order The animated heats against my Proposition opposeth the punishment of King Hozias when he offered Incense upon the Altar of perfumes but those who consider his crime will find that he offended by neglect or by Pride against an express order Established by Divine Authority which ordained that the Levites only should serve in the Ministry excluding every other Family and Person whether Royal or not If this Prince had commanded the Sacrifices and Incense to be performed as God had ordered him I do not believe that he had been reproved either by God or Man My notion proves it self by the words of the high Priest which attributes to the King only the sin of contradicting Gods order in these words 2 Chron. 26.18 It appertaineth not unto thee to burn Incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the Sons of Aaron that are Consecrated to burn Incense in the 4. Chap. of Numb you may see the Law expresly So Uzza not being of the Family of Levi was stricken by God because he stretched forth his hand to touch and bear up the Ark 1 Chron. 13.9 These examples cannot prove but that a Christian King may have the care of Religion and of the Law of God The Head and Finisher of our Faith Jesus Christ the Son of the living God hath not bound the exercises of Religion to some particular people conditions all those who have Authority do not sin if they imploy it in the Service of the all-powerful God if a Father oweth this justice to his Children a King certainly is ingaged to it for his Subjects Do you think that the King doth commit an Injustice against God when he causeth Justice to be Executed among men 12. Since all which I have shewed proveth that the King may and ought
in Conscience to have the care of Religion since he may desire most Lawfully that there be but one Religion in his Government I believe that the first Idea which can open the way to effect it is to resolve that no stranger shall govern it and according to my thoughts all the French of either Religion wish or ought passionately to wish for it both in Reason and Conscience for when the King gives or permits to a Stranger the Government of Religion in his Kingdome he keeps to himself the least part of his Riches and puts into the hands of another power which it may be will War against him the Government of those affections which tye most effectually Subjects to Princes What should one say if the King should suffer himself to be perswaded to take a Polonian to Command all his Army in chief or a Spaniard for his Lord-Chancellour by what Reason can one oblige him to have a Patriarch of Greece Alexandria or Italy Must the King commit that which is most considerable for his quiet and safety to such an Authority as doth not care for his welfare or it may be are Enemies to it All France sighs at the remembrance of these Devotions rather promoted by Devils themselves than by Diabolical men which made Clement Jacobin John Chastel Ravillas and generally all the League act by a hellish zeal All this mystery of Iniquity took its birth progress and execution from a false principle of Conscience which the Out-landish Beast caused to be proposed to the people and which had at the bottom nothing but a fatal machin of Interest and Ambition I have read in Avila an Italian Author that Jacobin the Murderer of Hen. 3. was a false devote and a furious Zealot for the Orders of the Pope We read in lib. 95. of the History written by Mouns the President of Thou that Pope Sixtus the Fifth commended in a full Consistory this horrible action with large praises admiring the Vertue of this man the strength of his Courage and his ardent Love towards God Cum virtutem hominis animi robur ferventem erga Deum amorem suprà Eliazarem Juditham multis verbis extollit John Chastel was another devote and the decree of Parliament given against his wicked act is Excommunicated in Rome of whom the wise Cardinal of Ossat spake in this sort to the Cardinal Aldobrandin as he himself reported If the King had any cause to fear to be Murdered he should rather fear the Hugonots whom he had forsaken and who had cause to complain of him but they have attempted nothing like this neither against him nor against the five Kings his Predecessors whatever Butchery they have made of them Ravillac another devoto began his day by the Confession Mass or Communion and imploy'd the rest of it to follow the Kings Coach to find the occasion which he met with to the great dammage of the Kingdome after 6 months spent in his Devotions and his Indefatigable cares The Zeal of a desperate man which he witnessed in his torments and at the point of his death sheweth us what a dangerous thing it is for a Stranger to govern the Consciences when the Natural King hath nothing but the Political to govern 13. Can a State be happily Govern'd when two Monarchs are equally considered in it their Interests do undoubtedly divide and part their minds hearts and hands this division produceth Confusions without Remedy the wisest men commit the greatest errors in this Mist which permits not the right discerning of Justice or Injustice between these two parties But if one be perswaded that one of these two Monarchs is infallible and that one is obliged by Conscience to take his part all the people will take his Interest and look upon all that which opposeth his design as a Horror and a Curse If a Stranger or the Pope Establisheth his power in France by the principles of Conscience his Authority must infallibly triumph over that of the King who is the lawful Prince of it and this cannot be avoided for the Superstitious will fear to be Condemned and the Perfidious Interested ones make the weak capacities of others serve for their more bold designs and the besotted Worshippers will believe to gain as many Crowns in Heaven as they kill Protestants What Prince can be safe reading and believing the discourse of the Crowning of the Pope attributed to Innocent the 3d. and saying these great words I bear the Mitre because of my Priesthood the Crown because I am King Establishing my self next under him who writ upon his Thing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords What wonder is there that so many people did rise against Hen. 3d. and afterwards against the generous and good King Hen. 4th Few persons could resist those barking Hypocrites who being ingaged in the Popes party did publish through all the Kingdom That whosoever should serve the Prince could never escape Damnation that Kings lose their Power in losing the Friendship of the Pope and being in that condition they merit neither Respect nor Love Judg Sir if the King hath not a just Interest and a lawful Right to cause his Nation to love a Religion which hath but one God one Heaven and one Monarch upon Earth 14. If the King designs this Unity of which you tell me the true fear of God ought to possess his Soul he ought to think that he is a Soveraign over his People but yet that he is neither Master of nor Companion with God and then he will account it his greatest glory to appear a faithful Servant in the house of the Almighty this title was given to Moses when he governed the Hebrews David and Solomon were honoured with that quality Certainly to serve God is truly to Reign his Majesty ought to take this Resolution not to consider the Interests Flatteries the Threatnings Opinions or the Wills of Men but only the Truth of God which conducts to true Justice Princes are obliged to know that God alone is the Monarch of Consciences and his Law only ought to instruct and his Authority to engage When they say that the King permits Liberty of Consciences they understand the liberty of exercising it or the liberty of appearing what one is since the freedome of thoughts answers but to God only It is certain then that the King desiring to draw his Subjects into one Religion cannot succeed more nobly nor more usefully then in establishing the way and orders of God the common Father of all no body can exclaim against his Powers censure his Word nor condemn his Ordinances Excellent Kings are marked with the quality of Princes according to Gods own heart because they have care to order to be done not what mens hearts desire but what God loves Sovereigns who render themselves subject to the Wills of men whither to their own Subjects or Strangers divide Opinions and give birth to War but if they appear faithful Servants to
God and requite no more from the people but what God himself requireth then the people give to Caesar and to God that justice and obedience which is due to them by one and the same act because Caesar desires all and only that which GodS Wills 15. When the vulgar speak of the uniting of the two Religions in France they speak of a thing impossible because they consist of Propositions which are named Contradictories of which the first are necessarily false if the Opposites are true in this condition they can never be united as may be seen by these Examples one maintaining that the body of Christ in his very Flesh Blood and Bones is really present in the Sacrament the other saying that there is no reality of flesh though there be a real presence and spiritual grace Can these two Notions unite and be conjoyned one saith the souls separated from the bodies being in a state of grace burn in a fire under-ground to satisfie for their sins the other holds that souls justified by grace have no obstacle which can hinder them from possessing or injoying glory One affirmeth that the Pope is Monarch of all Kings and Bishops with the same power which Christ had when he was upon the Earth the other is perswaded that this Bishop hath not this power and that he can neither maintain it without error nor exercise it without Tyranny these propositions can never agree and if one would speak rightly of the design of his Majesty we must interpret it a unity of good Society which may be effected but not a unity of Conformity which can never be 16. I believe that according to the Kings will those of both Religions may agree in the same thoughts and make but one Religion both good and pious In the fourth Age all Christendom was divided upon the Propositions of the Divinity of Christ these two Propositions viz. Christ is God in substance and Christ is not God in substance but by resemblance are discourses and notions never to be reconciled In a word after many unjust Fends of the one and other Party all did agree after the Truth was justly known and sincerely sought after We might experiment the same unity if minds would cease to be prae-possess'd by Interest or Custome Let us search with sincerity the will of God and the reality of his thoughts and then we shall easily be of one mind piously following that which God bids us 17. This Union of Minds in the same apprehensions of things cannot be done with fatisfaction if as some pragmatically say the King should use his absolute Authority without suffering any disputes about it One I Will is not enough to perswade the profound Reason of the Soul One I Will not cannot root out the first Impressions all the effects that these commands can produce is terrour or dissembling one may study to hide one self for fear of anger for the respect one ought to have for his Majesty but every one will keep those thoughts which he thinks necessary for his Salvation What pleasure can the King have to see his Realm full of Dissemblers who fear his Anger or of miserable ones if he should use Violence 18. They rank that which you told me of the Embassage to Rome to obtain a permission for a Conference about Religion Amongst the ill news we hear His Majesty hath too much knowledg of the practices of the Romish Court to expect that the Pope should give him liberty to argue against him and his Universal Power Dare the Signiorle of Venice ask the King of Spain the power to debate whither the Dutchie of Milan and the Kingdome of Naples belong to him by a Ligitimate Right Can one believe that Romane Polity hath ever been so civil to praise Catholick Majesty to ordain a conference upon the posession of Sicily and that it hath ever asked the liberty to publish the Bull in canâ Domini in the Lords Supper by which that King is Excommunicated The King is not under Age let him govern his Subjects in the fear of God even from the bottom of our Souls we all desire it and those who would not have it so are neither Rational nor French-men Can we be in a better hand than that of a King who speaks our own Language whom Nature engageth to cherish his Country whose Inclinations are agreeable to our Climate which is his and whose Interests are necessarily tyed to ours Let the King freely take his own let no body dispute it in his Kingdome let no Stranger rule over us It is one of the most horrible punishments which God hath brought upon his people of which the Hebrews complain most bitterly and which may be compared to the crime of which the Lord himself complains in Jerem. 2.25 But thou sayest there is no hope no for I have loved Strangers and after them will I go and in Jerem. 5. You shall serve Strangers in Lament 2. Our Heritage hath been overturned by Strangers Is not the King a Christian and The most Christian King is he not a Sacred person is he not the Lords Anoynted ought he to ask the Pope leave to search the true Law of God and to offer it naked to his people Let the King speak as the generous Henry le Grand for his Marquisdome of Salus he answered to all the cunning devices of Pope Clement the 8th and the addresses of Cardinal Aldobrandin and the Artifices of the Duke of Savoy with these words I will have my Own It is the Kings right to propose the Law of God as t is his duty to search and meditate it hath not he as well as the Prince of Rome both Moses and the Prophets the Holy History the Doctrine of the Apostles and the Confession of Faith of the Council of Nice hath he not as much Ingenuity and as Penetrating a Wit as the Pope to discern Good from Evil Truth from Falshood and Sincerity from Interest hath he not more Zeal or more Natural Inclination for the good of his Subjects than a Stranger who appears to all reasonable men to make no Conscience of any thing if he can but raise never so little his glory and advantage by it Will he take measure from the Pope to oblige the French to give their Souls to God rendring their Respects to their King can any one believe that France hath no body in it who is enlivened with a Zeal by a sincere and unspotted Soul and by an inlightened Piety Can his Majesty expect Know ledge and Conscience from Italy to make us Famous and Conduct us 13. Believe Sr. that if the King hath designed that of which we discourse he hath too much Grandeur and Light in his Mind to commit it to the Pope or acquaint him with it 19. If the Pope should admit of this Conference he would never suffer that any thing should be concluded on to his disadvantage no one hates his own Flesh The Council of Trent was