Religion VIII And as to the Children which shall for the future be born of those of the said Pretended Reformed Religion Our will and Pleasure is that henceforward they be baptized by the Curates of our Parishes strictly charging their respective Fathers and Mothers to take care they be sent to Church in order thereto upon Forfeiture of 500 Livres or more as it shall happen Furthermore Our will is that the said Children be afterwards educated and brought up in the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion and give an express Charge to all Our Justices to take care the same be performed accordingly IX And for a Mark of our Clemenctowards those of our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion who have retired themselves out of our Kingdom Countries and Territories before the Publication of this our present Edict our will and meaning is that in case they return thither again within the time of four Months from the time of the Publication hereof they may and it shall be lawful for them to Re-enter upon the Possession of their Goods and Estates and enjoy the same in like manner as they might have done in case they had always continued upon the place And on the contrary that the Goods of all those who within the said time of four Months shall not return into our Kingdom Countries or Territories under our Obedience which they have forsaken remain and be Confiscated in pursuance of our Declaration of the 20th of August last X. We most expresly and strictly forbid all our Subjects of the said pretended Reformed Religion them their Wives or Children to depart out of our said Kingdom Countries or Territories under our Obedience or to Transport thence their Goods or Effects upon penalty of the Gally for Men and of Confiscation of Body and Goods for Women XI Our Will and Meaning is that the Declarations made against those who shall relapse be Executed upon them according tâ— their Form and Tenor. Moreover those of the said Pretended Reformed Religion in the meantime till it shall please God to enlighten them as well as others may abide in the several respective Cities and Places of our Kingdoms Countries and Territories under our Obedience and there continue their Commerce and enjoy their Goods and Estates without being any way molested upon account of the said Pretended Reformed Religion upon condition nevertheless as aforementioned that they do not use any publick Religious Exercise nor assemble themselves upon the account of Prayer or Worship of the said Religion of what kind soever the same may be upon forfeiture above specified of Body and Goods Accordingly We Will and Command our Trusty and Beloved Counsellors the People holding our Courts of Aids at Paris Bayliffs Chief Justices Provosts and other our Justices and Officers to whom it appertains and to their Lieutenants that they cause to be Read Published and Registred this Our present Edict in their Courts and Jurisdictions even in vacation time and the same keep punctually without contravening or suffering the same to be contravened for such is Our Will and Pleasure And to the end to make it a thing firm and stable we have caused our Seal to be put to the same Given at Fountainbleau in the Month of October in the Year of Grace 1685 and of Our Reign the 43. Sealed with the Great Seal of Green-Wax upon a Red and Green string of Silk Signed LEWES This signifies the Lord Chancellors perusal VISA Le Tellier REgistred and Published the Kings Procurator or Attorney General requiring it in order to their being Executed according to Form and Tenor and the Copies being Examined and Compared sent to the several Courts of Justice Bailywicks and Sheriffs Courts of each Destrict to be there entred and Registred in like manner and charge given to the Deputies of the said Attorney General to take care to see the same Executed and put in Force and to certifie the Court thereof At Paris in the Court of Vacations the 22d of October 1685. Signed De la Baune The Profession of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Faith which the Revolting Protestants in France are to Subscribe and Swear to IN the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen I Believe and Confess with a firm Faith all and every thing and things contained in the Creed which is used by the Holy Church of Rome viz I receive and embrace most sincerely the Apostolick and Ecclesiastical Traditions and other Observances of the said Church In like manner I receive the Scriptures but in the same sense as the said Mother Church hath and doth now understand and expound the same for whom and to whom it only doth belong to judge of the Interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures and I will never take them nor understand them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers I profess that there be truly and properly seven Sacraments of the New Law instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ and necessary for the Salvation of Mankind altho not equally needful for every one viz. Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Penance Extream Unction Orders and Marriage and that they do confer Grace and that Baptism and Orders may not be reiterated without Sacriledge I receive and admit also the Ceremonies received and approved by the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of the forementioned Sacraments I receive and embrace all and every thing and things which have been determined concerning Original Sin and Justification by the holy Council of Trent I likewise profess that in the Mass there is offered up to God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the Living and Dead and that in the Holy Sacrament of the Encharist there is truly really and substantially the Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that in it there is made a change of the whole substance of the Bread into his Body and of the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood which change the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation I confess also that under one only of these two Elements whole Christ and the true Sacrament is received I constantly believe and affirm that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls there detained are relieved by the Suffrages of the Faithful In like manner I believe that the Saints reigning in Glory with Jesus Christ are to be worshipped and invocated by us and that they offer up Prayers to God for us and that their Reliques ought to be honoured Moreover I do most stedfastly avow that the Images of Jesus Christ of the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God and of other Saints ought to be kept and retained and that due Honour and Veneration must be yielded unto them Also I do affirm that the power of Indulgence was left to the Church by Christ Jesus and that the use there of is very beneficial to Christians I do acknowledg the holy Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches and I profess and swear true obedience to the Pope of Rome Successor of the Blessed St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ In like manner I own and profess without doubting all other things left defined and declared by the Holy Canons and General Councils especially by the most holy Council of Trent and withal I do condemn reject and hold for accursed all things that are contrary thereto and all those Heresies which have been condemned rejected and accursed by the Church And then swearing upon the Book of the Gospel the Party recanting must say I promise vow and swear and most constantly profess by God's assistance to keep intirely and inviolably unto death this self same Catholick and Apostolick Faith out of which no person can be saved and this I do most truly and willingly profess and that I will to the utmost of my Power endeavour that it may be maintained and upheld as far as any ways belong to my charge so help me God and the holy Virgin The Certificate which the Party Recanting is to leave with the Priest before whom he makes his Abjuration IN. N. of the Parish of N. do Certifie all whom it may Concern That having acknowledged the falseness of the pretended Reformed and the Truth of the Catholick Religion of my own Free-will without any Compulsion I have accordingly made Profession of the said Catholick and Roman Religion in the Church of N. in the hands of N. N. In Testimony of the Truth whereof I have signed this Act in the presence of the Witnesses whose Names are under written this day of the Month of the year of the Reign of our Soveraign Lord the King and of our Redemption FINIS
can be done to them at present I say at present for 't is not to be questioned but our Persecutors are contriving to extend their Cruelties farther But we must hope in the compassions of God that whatsoever intentions they may have in destroying the Protestant Religion in all places he will not permit them to effect their designs The World will surely open its Eyes and this which they now come from doing with a high hand and a worse then barbarous Fury will shew not only the Protestants but the wise and circumspect Catholicks what they are to expect both one and the other from such a sort of People In effect he that shall give himself the leisure to reflect on the matters of Fact which we come now from relating which are things certain and acted in the face of the Sun he shall see not only the Protestants supprest but the King's Honour sullied his Countreys damnified all the Princes of Europe interessed and even the Pope himself with his Church and Clergy shamefully discredited For to begin with the King himself What could be more contrary to his Dignity then to put him upon breaking his word and perswading him that he might with a safe Conscience violate revoke and annul so solemn an Edict as that of Nantes To palliate in some sort the Violence of this proceeding they make him say in this new Edict That the best and greatest part of the Reform'd Religion has imbraced the Catholick and therefore the execution of the Edict of Nantes and whatsoever else has been done in favour of the same Religion remains void But is not this an Elusion unworthy of his Majesty seeing that if this best and greatest part of his Subjects of the Reformed Religion have embraced the Catholick they have done it by force of Arms and by the cruel and furious Oppression which his own Troops have laid upon them Perhaps one might thus speak had his Subjects changed their Religion of their own free will although that in this case too the Priviledges of the Edict continue for those that remain But after having forced them to change by the horrible inhumanities of his Dragoons after having deprived them of the Liberty which the Edict gave them to say coldly that he only revokes the Edict because it is now useless is a Raillery unbefitting so great a Prince For it is as much as if he said that he was indeed obliged to continue to his Protestant Subjects all the Priviledges due to them but having himself overthrown them by a major Force he finds himself at present lawfully and fairly disengaged from this Obligation Which is just as if a Father who himself had cut his Childrens Throats should glory in the being henceforward freed from the care of nourishing and protecting them Are other Kings wont thus to express themselves in their Edicts What they make him moreover say to wit That Henry the Great his Grandfather gave only the Edict of Nantes to the Protestants that he might the better effect their re-union to the Roman Church That Lewis the 13th also his Father had the same design when he gave the Edict of Nismes and that he himself had entred therein at his coming to the Crown is but a pitiful Salvo But suppose seeing they are willing we should do so the truth of this Discourse and take we it simply and according to the Letter in the sense wherein they gave it us what can we conclude thence but these following Propositions That Henry the Great and Lewis the 13th gave only the Edicts to our Fathers to deceive them and with an intent to ruine them afterwards with the greater ease under the mask of this Fraud That not being able to do this being hindred by other affairs they have committed this important secret to his present Majesty to the end he should execute it when he met with an opportunity That his present Majesty entring into the thought of this at his first coming to the Crown he only confirm'd the Edicts and Declarations of 1643. and 1652. with other advantagious Decrees to the Reformed Religion but to impose on them the more finely lay snares in their way or if you please crown them as they crown'd of old the Sacrifices That all that has been done against them since the Peace of the Pirenees till this time according to the abridgment which we have made of it has been only the execution of a Project but of a Project far more ancient than we imagine seeing we must date it from the Edict of Nantes and ascend up to Henry the Great In fine That what has been till now has been a great mystery but is not one at present seeing the King by this new Edict discovers it to all the World that he may be applauded for it Will it not be acknowledged that the Enemies of France who are willing to discredit the Conduct of its Kings and render them odious to the World have now an happy opportunity Henry the Great gives his Edict to the Protestants with the greatest Solemnity imaginable he gives it them as a Recompence of their Services he promises solemnly to observe it and as if this was not enough he binds himself thereunto with an Oath he executes it to the utmost of his Power and they peaceably enjoy'd it to the end of his Reign yet all this is but a meer Snare for they are to be Dragoon'd at a proper time But being himself surprized by Death he could not do it but leaves it in charge to Lewis the 13th his Son Lewis the Thirteenth ascends the Throne issues out his Declaration immediately that he acknowledges the Edict of Nantes as perpetual and irrevocable it needing not a new Confirmation and that he would Religiously observe every Article of it and therefore sends Commissioners to see it actually executed When he begins a War he protests he designs not at Religion and in effect he permits the full Liberty of it in those very Towns he takes by Assault He gives his Edict of Nismes as the Edict of a Triumphant Prince yet declares therein he understands that of Nantes should be inviolably kept and shows himself to the last as good as his Word But this is only intended to lull the Protestants asleep in expectation of a favourable occasion to destroy them Lewis the Fourteenth at his coming to the Crown confirms the Edict and declares That he will maintain the Reformed in all their Priviledges he afterwards affirms in another Declaration how highly he is satisfied in their Services and mentions his design of making them to enjoy their Rights But this is but a meer amusement and an artifice to intrap them the better to colour over the project of ruining them at a convenient time What a Character now of the Kings of France will this afford to its Enemies and foreign Nations and what confidence do they think will be henceforward put in their Promises and Treaties for if they
no share in the Conversions but that they were soft and calm and voluntary and that if there were any Dragoons concerned therein 't was because the Reformed themselves desired them that they might have a handsom pretence to change their Religion Was there ever seen so much Impudence What will they not deny who can deny what 's done in the Face of the Sun and what a whole Kingdom from one end of it to the other hath seen and to this day sees For in the beginning of the year 1686. whilst I am composing this sad Rehearsal they continue to exercise in France the same Rage that ended the preceding year the same Dragoons both in Cities and Countries execute the same Fury against some lamentable Remains of Protestants who will not fall down and worship They are used like Rebels in their Persons in their Estates in their Wives and in their Children and if there be any difference 't is in this that their sufferings are still increasing Yet if we will believe the Clergy haranguing the King and the Bishop of Valence their Speaker he tells his Majesty how miraculous his Reign is seeing such infinite number of Conversions are made to the Roman Church without violences and Arms much less saith he by the force of your Edicts as by the example of your exemplary Piety If we will believe the greatest part of the Abjurations which these poor Opprest People are forc'd to make they speak indeed the same sence viz. That they have done this without being constrain'd thereto Thus is the Credulity of the publick impos'd on They have Seeds of Imposture sown at their Feet which are to grow with the time Posterity who shall see these Records will belive they contain the truth Here say they is what has bin told the King who must not have falshoods offer'd him Here is the proper acts and deeds of those that were converted Why will not then Posterity believe it seeing that at present there are indeed people impudent enough or to speak better paid well enough to publish it in strange Countries and there are found credible persons enough to believe it But I pray what likelihood is there that 150000 persons already gone out of France without any thing constraining them to it should leave their Houses their Lands of Inheritance their Effects and several their Wives and Children for to wander about the World and lead a miserable Life for a humour Is there any likelihood that Persons of Quality of both Sexes who enjoyed 10 15 20 30 thousand Livers per annum would abandon these their Estates not only for themselves but for their Successors expose themselves to the periss and incommodiousness of long Journies and reduce themselves in a manner to Beggary which is a condition the most insupportable in the world to Persons of Quality and all this without any reason without any occasion What likelihood that this 150 thousand persons who have already escap'd some of 'em into Switzerland others into Germany some into Denmark others into Holland some into Suedeland and others into England and some into America without seeing or knowing one another yet have agreed to tell the same lie and to say with one voice That the Protestants are cruelly persecuted in France and that by unheard of Severities they are forc'd to change their Religion altho' there is no such matter Is it likely that the Embassadors and Envoys of Foreign Princes should lye all of them in consórt in telling them this news wherein there is no truth But I pray If in France the Protestants thus voluntarily and without constraint change their Religion that the Dragoons are cal'd in only as their good friends whence happens this so strict general Guard on the Frontiers to hinder Peoples departure How is it that the Prisons of the Kingdom are cram'd with Fugitives stopt by the way Whence is it that those who have chang'd are watch'd with such great care to hinder their flight to the obliging them to deposit sums of money to secure them from the suspition of it This must be an Epidemical Distemper that has seiz'd on his Majesties Subjects that shall make them fly thus without reason But is not this a fine cover to say that the Protestants have themselves call'd in the Dragoons to have the better pretence to change their Religion It is about 10 or more years since there was a Bankset up to traffick for Souls Mr. Pelison has for a long time bin the great dealer of Paris in this infamous Trade of purchasing Converts These Conversions have of late bin the only way of gaining applause and recompences at Court and in a word a means of raising ones Fortune and yet we must be told that instead of being Converted by these easie ways we had rather choose the help of Dragoons that is of being pillag'd At least let any one tell us why since these pretended voluntary Conversions the People not willing to go to Mass they have bin obliged to send them Troops and use them with the same severity as before This is so gross and palpable an untruth that others have undertaken to defend these Violences as being naturally of the genuine Spirit of the Catholick Church and for this purpose they have continually in their mouths that passage of the Gospel compelle intrare compel them to come in and the persecution which the Orthodox of Africk offer'd the Donatists c. Were this a place to dispute against these furious Divines we could easily show 'em the vanity of these allegations but we shall rather ask 'em whether the Jews and Pagans had agreed upon an Edict with the Apostles when our Saviour says to them compel them to come in Has St. Augustin ever written for he is cited in this matter That we ought to be perfidious towards those whom we esteem as Hereticks when we promis'd to live with 'em like Brethren and fellow Citizens The Donatists had they any Edicts which would shelter 'em from the insults of the Orthodox If we yield to this detestable Divinity what will become of all us Christians For in short the Papist is as much an Heretick to the Protestants as the Protestants are to the Papist yet they live together in peace on the Faith of Alliances Treaties and Promises But these publick Pests as much as in them lies have brought all things into confusion and a State of War They arm the Catholicks against the Protestants teaching the Catholicks by this example that their Religion obliges him to betray and surprise the Protestants when they can do it unpunish'd and knock â—ut their Brains if they will not change their Religion They arm the Protestant against the Catholick for after all what Peace and Society can we have with People who not only make no Conscience to break their Faith but on the contrary make it a case of Conscience to break it when they shall find occasion Thus have they by their