afraid to stain the Memory of his Father for if some may be credited he was about to have an information put in against him and to have his bones burnt as an Heretick And that he forbore this proceeding for no other reason than that his Father had been an Heretick he was thereby devested of his Estates and consequently had no right to resign them to his Son Philip indeed appear'd a great Zealot for his Religion But if you will believe the Germans the terrible hatred he had against the Protestants proceeded not so much from his love to the Catholick Church as from his violent resentment against the Lutheran Confederates who oppos'd the Design of Charles the 5th to make him associate of the Empire with Ferdinand his Brother whose Successor in the Empire Philip aspir'd to be But to return to our Subject I say the Germans fought for their Religion and Liberty by Power inherent in the Princes of the Empire who are as much Masters of their States as the Emperor of his Maurice of Saxony effected what Frederick could not He recovered the Liberty of Germany and broke the Yoke under which it groan'd Having thus justifi'd the Protestants of Germany I know of no other but the States of the United Provinces who are charg'd to have chang'd their Religion to set up and maintain a new form of Government Par. Ah! Sir as for them I advise you for your credit not to engage in their defence 'T is so publickly notorious they were Subjects of Spain and that in changing their Religion they chang'd their Master by as plain a Rebellion as ever was in the World I am so much your Friend I would not have you undertake their Cause Hug. Law No Sir I will not undertake it Grotius de antiquitate Reipublicae Batavicae 'T is done to my hand Read what the learned Grotius hath writ of the Original and Government of the Provinces of the Low-Countreys Read their Historians read ours You will find these People never were absolutely Subjects of Spain that the Earls of Holland never were their absolute Masters that the Government was mix'd partly Aristocratical partly Monarchick These Historians will tell you the Provinces of the Low-Countries were reform'd long before they took up Arms against the King of Spain that in the first Wars there was an equal if not a greater number of Roman-Catholick than of Protestant Lords and Towns engag'd against the Catholick King That the States chose the Duke of Alanson a Son of France a Roman-Catholick for their Master That before that Election they had submitted themselves to Arch-Duke Matthias a good Roman-Catholick You will see there that the horrible Cruelties of the Duke of Alva fore'd this poor People beyond the bounds of patience That Tyrant boasted he had destroy'd by the hands of the common Executioner eighteen thousand Persons and had made the Confiscations of the Condemn'd amount to eight millions of Gold yearly You may if you please read in Mezeray's Abridgement who is neither Hollander nor Hugonot Ann. 1557. That before the Duke of Alva left Spain they arrested the Marquess of Berguen and Floris de Mentmorency Montigny who were gone from the States of the Low-Countries to make their Remonstrances to King Philip The former dyed of grief or was poison'd the other was Beheaded though both were good Roman-Catholicks By which it appear'd the Councel of Spain had form'd their design against the Liberty of the Low-Countries as much at least as against their new Religion If you have a mind to hear any more of the Low-Country Wars let us read Mezeray in the same place This year said he They make the beginning of the Low-Country Wars which lasted till the Peace of Munster without intermission other than that of the Truce agreed by the mediation of Hen. 4th The fear of the Inquisition was the principal Cause of the War The Inquisition was extremely pernicious and insupportable to the Flemings for besides the two violent rigors it exercis'd against those who had embrac'd the new Opinions it broke off all Commerce c. The very Clergy was no less displeas'd at it for the seven newly erected Bishopricks taken out of the Metropolitan Diocesses of Rhemes Treves and Cologne and the Bishopricks of Liege and Munster because they had appropriated to these new erected Bishopricks the richest Abbies of the Low-Countries and bestow'd them on Prelates at the Devotion of the Councel of Spain So that under pretence of maintaining the ancient Religion the Spaniards labour'd to establish an absolute Dominion in Provinces which owe but a limited Obedience according to their Laws and their Priviledges This Sir was the true source of these Wars wherein not only the Lay-subjects of both Religions but the Roman-Catholick Clergy of the Low-Countries were engag'd against the King of Spain for the preservation of their Liberty Read Strada whom you cannot suspect of partiality in our favour and you will discover through all the Disguisements of that Author that it was not Religion but the Cruelty of the Spanish Government was the sole Cause of the revolt of those Provinces If all this will not satisfie you I will give you leave Sir to brand the memory of our Kings who maintain'd the Rights of these Provinces thought their Cause just and supported them against the enterprizes of a Master who had lost his just Rights of Lawful Soveraignty over them by endeavouring to be their Tyrant Par. I see we shall never agree in this point We were better return to our Civil Wars of France wherein those of your Religion have spilt so much Blood and appear'd always of a Spirit inclin'd to Rebellion Hug. Law If you think we have nothing to say for our selves you are very much mistaken Sir We have so many things to answer we know not what Method to put them in nor how to comprehend them in few words The Wars you would charge us with as a Crime have been Civil Wars of the same nature with others rais'd in the Bowels of a State by the discontent of the People and the jealousie of the great ones to which Religion was but an accidental ingredient This Sir I undertake to prove evidently by History But before I enter on that I beg leave to make some Reflections Is it not a great piece of injustice in those who read the History of the last Age to fix their eyes on those thirty years only which pass'd between the death of Henry the 2d and that of Henry the 3d. without taking notice of the forty years elaps'd during the Raign of Francis the 1st and Henry the 2d If they charge us with having been engag'd in the Civil Wars those thirty years ought they not to commend the patience we had for forty years before Admit it we were afterwards more impatient than we ought however 't is true that for almost half an Age we patiently endur'd unheard of Cruelties without seeking any
I say he hath written like a man of sense and consider'd well what he said And to tell you my mind I look not on this Author as an Author without Mission and without Call as a private Person who of his own head publish'd a Libel against the Hugonots 't was a business design'd That unknown Writer was put on by the same persons that constantly solicit the King to ruine the Hugonots or by the Agents of the Clergy Pro. If I may be allowed to add to the Judgment you have given I could wish that Writer had in some particulars weighed better what he said and dealt more ingenuously For instance where the Hugonots complain That in ten years three hundred of their Churches have been demolished that Author answers This is quickly said but hard to prove Pag. 6. for we aver that there have not been forty of their Churches demolish'd within these ten years If we are call'd to justifie this we cannot do it I know that in the Province of Poitou alone near forty Churches have been demolish'd And if that Paper was written by Order of the Clergy as you conjecture I wish they had taken care not to contradict themselves In the Assembly of the Clergy at Paris in May last where the Bishops at Court had Order to debate the affair of the Regale and the matter in Controversie between the King and the Pope The Agent of the Clergy who open'd the Assembly said in his Harangue that the King had demolish'd an infinite of Churches Infinite according to Mr. Churchman is confin'd in very narrow bounds being reduc'd to forty But I heard a knocking at the door and am much mistaken if it be not by our Gentlemen they are the very Men. The Hugonot Gentlemen I know not Sir what you may think of us who strangers as we are come boldly into a house so considerable as yours without having asked your leave especially since we are come with a set design to quarrel the Master of the House and oppose his sentiments We have reason to fear we shall not be very welcome But there stands a Gentleman by you hath undertaken we shall if we have presum'd too far he is to bear the blame Par. Persons of your Civility are welcome in any place And as to the Declaration of War you have made against me at your entrance I am not afraid of it there is no danger Sir of any blood to be lost in our Quarrel I am of Opinion whoever is vanquish'd will not be troubled at it I apprehend your meaning from the Discourse I have had with this Gentleman who hath given me an account of what pass'd betwixt you and him Pro. My dear Friend I am resolv'd to be even with you to day You have taken a second who is abler than I. And I shall engage you with a man too hard for you both God grant your Defeat be so happy as to dispose both of you to Conversion You shall have no more to do with me you are in good hands take my word for it I will henceforward be only a hearer The Hugonot Lawyer Since the Gentleman accepts the Challenge with so good a Grace he will not be displeas'd if I pray we may go into his Study which doubtless is well furnish'd for I foresee we shall have occasion in our Discourse to have recourse to some Books Par. With all my heart Gentlemen we will go where you please my Study is but indifferent but I believe we shall find there all the Books we shall need They go into the Parisians Study and after a turn or two take their seats and proceed in their Discourse By what I have heard from this Gentleman who hath procur'd me the pleasure of seeing you I conceive Gentlemen you approve not of the Design the King hath to reunite the Religions in his Kingdom and are not pleas'd with the Means he makes use of Hug. Law Sir We have more respect for the King then to presume to judge of his Conduct and condemn it But we cannot but see that those who give his Majesty the Counsels on which the Conduct against us is grounded are the greatest Enemies of the State All the Jealousie of the House of Austria all the Forces of Spain and of Germany will never do France so much mischief as these Politick Bigots Par. You have an ill opinion of our zealous Catholicks Methinks the name you give them is not suitable to them Besides it hath something of Contradiction in it you call them Politick Bigots Devotion is seldom joyn'd with Policy The Politicians of all ages have been always opposite to the Bigot and Devout Hug. Law Really sir they may very well be call'd Bigotted Politicians when their Devotion and Zeal for the Ruine of the poor Protestants is a meer piece of Policy their lives and their manners prove it clearly There are some among 'em to whom we do too great an Honour if we think they believe there is a God I have known some Intendants of the Provinces who had no Religion at Paris but became on the sudden in their several jurisdictions very zealous Persecutors of the Hugonots May there not be found among those of the Councel of Conscience some Persons for whose Piety you Sir would scarce pass your word I mean Bishops that keep Concubines Monks that are become Courtiers and Effeminate and these Complacent directors of Conscience who approve of all Actions so the Protestants be destroy'd the Protestants the light of whose Doctrine is too piercing and clear and exposes too much the vileness of the Actions of their Persecutors reproaches their Conduct and torments them in the very use of their pleasures Is true Devotion consistent with maxims of Morality so loose as those of our greatest Persecutors But so runs the stream thus men make their Court 't is the Mode and all the World follows it Par. I easily believe there are men of the Character you have given But I am perswaded there are of those Saints or Bigots as you call them who are really devout And I am clear of opinion they are not Enemies of the State as you say They conceive unity of Religion the greatest good imaginable and that it would be the Glory of the King to procure this good to France And this I take to be the Principle they build upon and the ground of their Actions Hug. Law I am of Opinion Sir those men may very well be call'd Enemies of the State whose Conduct tends directly to its ruin who inspire into his Majesties Subjects a mutual hatred which obliges them to look on one another as Enemies After that the late King Lewis the 13th of glorious Memory had by the Method he took to appease the late Troubles taken away the fear the Protestants were under that there were designs not only against their Liberties but their Lives it may be affirm'd the hearts of those of either Religion were so perfectly reunited
it was impossible for the Enemies of the State to find a breach to enter at But the King hath been made to tell us in one of his Arrests that the Kindness and Patience he had had for his Subjects of the pretended Reform'd Religion had heightned the adversion of his Catholick Subjects against them The Aversion the said Catholicks have always had against the said Religion and those who profess it hath been encreas'd by the publishing the said Edicts Declarations and Arrests It is really very necessary the King should be inform'd that contrary to what he hath been made believe the Edicts of Pacification had establish'd a perfect peace between both Parties and that happy union hath been considerably alter'd since the considerable Breaches that have been made of those Edicts The Roman Catholick resumes that spirit of Animosity he formerly had he looks on the Protestant as a Victim ready to be sacrific'd to his pleasure and justifies by the Conduct of his Superiors the Aversion he hath for his Countrymen and fellow Subjects The Protestant on the other side looks on the Roman Catholick as an Enemy who endeavours to ruin him He is full of diffidence and mistrusts every thing He dares not speak nor open his mind freely He is afraid of being question'd for a Word His Bowels are shut up against the poor Roman Catholick to whom he us'd to be very open-handed And he cannot forbear saying to himself doth Charity oblige me to feed an Enemy to day who perhaps will take away my Life to morrow The poor Hugonot in every Village looks upon his Magistrates and Superiors as men authoriz'd to watch all occasions to destroy him The Magistrates think themselves obliged to be harsh and severe to those who are hated by the Court They tell us every day we have Order to humble and mortifie you You may expect what you please but expect no favour Heretofore the saying was you shall have Justice done you but hope not for more Alas 'T is long since we have been in a Condition to expect any favour We should now be very well satisfi'd could we have Justice done us for Justice requires men to keep their Promises We should esteem our selves happy enough if permitted to enjoy peaceably the Priviledges and Liberties confirm'd to us by so many Promises Edicts and Arrests You cannot believe it in our Power to look upon our approaching ruin without being troubled the same time to see others rejoyce at our fall The injuries and reproaches the Hugonots receive from the insulting Roman Catholicks pierce to the heart and make deep wounds which bleed afresh every day In a word that sweetness of Commerce and fair Correspondence that raign'd among the Subjects of France is broken and lost and instead of mutual Confidence nothing appears but a general fear and universal mistrust The Tumults in several places the demolishing and burning of Churches the Seditions rais'd against the Protestants the injuries done their Persons for two years past are convincing Proofs of what I alledge And matters were carryed on with so furious hast the King found himself oblig'd to stop the Torrent of these Violences by an Arrest You are not ignorant Sir how necessary it is for the peace of a State that the Inhabitants of a Kingdom be united among themselves by the Bonds of Amity Par. 'T is for that very reason Sir the King would reduce all his Subjects to one Religion By suffering two different parties in a State you sowe the Seed of immortal Divisions You know the troubles the Guelfes and the Ghibellines caus'd in Italy they that would maintain the peace of a State must suppress the very Name and Memory of Factions Hug. Law 'T is not with Sects in Religion as with Factions in the State the case is very different Factions of State may be suppress'd by good Conduct and destroy'd by time yet a considerable time is necessary for doing it the Example you have mention'd of the Guelses and Gibellines sufficiently proves it Those Factions raign'd several Ages nor could the Name be extinguish'd but after hundreds of years and the desolation of Italy by the fury of the Parties But to take away the difference of Sentiments in Religion is a more difficult task Fire and Faggot Gibbets and Axes signifie nothing this appears clearly by the History of the last Age. We must bear with a mischief we can neither prevent nor remove and nourish Peace between two Parties which cannot be destroy'd but may be preserv'd by permitting the difference and maintaining a War between them This seems a Paradox but is not so difficult as you may imagine Provided the stronger Party oppress not the weaker 't is certain the weaker will have for the stronger a kindness and value for the Toleration indulg'd And the stronger will permit it self to be won by the kindness and grateful acknowledgments of the weaker 'T is a matter try'd and of fresh Experience Every one knows the Union the Catholick and we Hugonots liv'd in before they inspir'd the King with a design to destroy us Par. This method of preserving Peace is not so sure as you imagine But I could heartily wish a true remedy could be found for the greatest mischief in a State which is the Disunion of its Members and the Animosity raigning between the Subjects of one Soveraign Hug. Law You will grant me then Sir that those who blow up the fire and revive these Animosities are great Enemies of the State And this they are evidently guilty of who inspire into the King Sentiments of Rigor and Severity against the Reformed But alas The matter is yet more sad they are not satisfied with endeavouring to take from the King all the goodness and kindness he once had for us but they labour all they can to root out of our hearts the Love the Respect the Veneration and the Tenderness we have for our King I aver it we love our King even to adoration we are so clearly convinc'd of his sublime Qualities it adds infinitely to our grief to find our selves so ill thought of by a Prince for whom we have so much Zeal and Admiration Is it in the power of Man to love and to fear at once the same person Oh! how shall we do it We are told every moment the King hath a design to destroy us He is represented to us with his Sword in his hand ready drawn for our ruin 'T is Publish'd 't is Printed that if he live so long as by course of Nature 't is presum'd he may he will see our Religion at an end Process verbal of the Assembly March and May 1681. If God preserve to us this great Prince so long as all good People ought to wish he will utterly suppress this Monster in his Kingdom What means this but to cast us into a general Consternation with design to stifle and destroy the love we have for our Prince and to make us look on his
Life as the greatest of our misfortunes They must have a great stock of Regeneration who can love those they esteem their Enemies yet all means possible are used to perswade us the King is the greatest Enemy we have As to the Consternation they have attain'd their ends 't is general and so great it cannot be greater Yet hitherto the Love we have for our King stands firm against this horrible Consternation because we have yet some hope the King will permit himself to be mov'd by our Prayers and Patience And if disappointed in this we will apply our selves to God for Grace not to do any thing contrary to our duty Par. To tell you the truth they slight you so much now adays they value not at all your Love or your Hatred Hug. Law Ah Sir say not so I know well enough those are the Sentiments they would inspire into his Majesty But to a Prince so sage and so good as ours it cannot be a matter of indifferency to be belov'd by his Subjects Oderint dum metuant Let them hate so they fear me is a word for a Tyrant I am sure the King cannot endure the thought of having in his Kingdom two millions of Subjects who should obey him only out of a slavish fear He is the common Father of his Countrey and I cannot but believe he takes us all for his Children Par. You have no great reason to think so to deal ingenuously with you the King takes you not for very good Subjects and means have been used to make him sensible you are troubled at his Victories and that you fear the success of his Arms and Designs no less than every good Frenchman loves and prays for it Hug. Law 'T is true Sir this is the Character they give of us to the King and endeavour to perswade us to believe to be true for by the usage we have at their hands and the Speeches they give out of us they labour to make us sensible that the Grandeur of the King will be fatal to us and that having humbled all his Enemies he will imploy his Forces for our ruin they would perswade us that our present sufferings are but an effect of former Threats The King say they is become the terror of his Enemies and the delight of his Subjects he fears nothing And having not now any other imployment for his Power will force you headlong into Ruine Ah! Sir if we were so unhappy as we are represented to behold with trouble the Glory of the King it would become them to study to reclaim us by changing their Conduct For what can give more trouble to a good Prince than to think he hath in his Countrey a great number of his Subjects oblig'd to lament his Victories to mourn amidst the publick Joyes and to look upon the Prosperity of the State as fatal and pernicious to their private Concern being assur'd when the State hath not other business it will turn its whole Force against them If we believe one God and one Providence we ought to be perswaded that God is mov'd by the Vows and Prayers of men and that the most unanimous Prayers are the most Efficacious 'T is the Interest of a Prince to use all his Subjects with equal kindness that the Union of their Hearts and Harmony of their Prayers may bring down the Blessings of Heaven on the State But there cannot be a greater Calumny and Falshood than to affirm we are troubled at the Prosperity of the State Hath any one of those of our Religion who have had the Honour to serve the King in his Armies been guilty of Cowardise or Baseness whatever Hath any of them fought with less Zeal appear'd less Brave or done less for the Victory than others in the Army What signs are there we are not pleas'd with the publick Prosperity What Cause have we given for any to think so The truth is they describe us such as they would have us to be and such as they who accuse us would be if they were in our Case But God gives us the Grace to retain true French hearts to rejoyce at the Grandeur of the King and to leave to Providence the success of our private Affairs Par. 'T is true you have cunning enough to put a good Face on your Matters and to colour your Designs with appearances of Loyalty but you have in your hearts a hidden inclination to revolt Hug. Law But is it fit to charge the Innocent with the blackest of Crimes without Proof 'T is said we have a secret disposition to Rebellion How do they prove it What do they mean by it In my Opinion the Design of Rebels is to change the form of Government of a State as the Fanaticks did in England by Cromwell or to call in a stranger into the Countrey and submit to new Dominion I know but these two ends of Rebellion for to make Insurrection for Insurrections sake to raise Tumults for no other end but to make a busle is a Design fit only for Fools and Mad-men Can we be lyable to the least Suspition of the former Have we given by any of our Actions any colour to believe we desire a change of the present form of Government and to see the Monarchy turn'd into a popular State What should we get by it Can we promise our selves greater safety when expos'd to the Authority and Fury of so wild and unreasonable a Beast as the Multitude As to the second what advantage can we expect by changing our Master Are we desirous to be under the Dominion of Spain Do men think we shall gain by the shift Or do they believe we have such Maggots in our Brains as to desire the English may abandon their Isles and come once more and conquer our Continent Or that the Hollanders quitting their Marshes should possess themselves of this Kingdom Nothing but Frenzy can make men capable of Chimaeras as these so that they who charge us with being Enemies to the State have as little sense as Charity in their Censure Par. I perceive by my friends eyes he burns with impatience to propose his Objections out of a Book in his hand Hug. Law What Book is it Pro. 'T is the Letter of a Churchman to a Friend Hug. Law I know it very well without hearing more of it I have read that Libel and easily comprehend what Objections may be rais'd out of it But Sir give us leave before we enter into that great affair to finish what we have begun The Apology you obliged me to make hath put me out of my way for we began with proving that the Enemies of the Reformed are Enemies of the State I have already made it appear by shewing that they disunite the Kings Subjects that they root out of the Kings heart the Fatherly kindness he had for us and endeavour to root out of ours the Love we have for the greatest of our Kings This concerns the Vitals of the
State it attacks the Principles by which it subsists For the bond of Love between the King and his Subjects is that which unites all the parts of this great and vast Body But 't is fit I represent to you those horrible Calamities these Enemies of France would plunge the Kingdom in They would bring back again the last Age and revive the Reigns of Henry the 2d and Charles the 9th In a word they would set up new Gibbets and kindle new Fires against the Reformed Can France expect a great Mischief Par. Y' are much mistaken Sir there 's no such intention Some Zealots may desire such a thing but the King hath not any such Design Hug. Law I believe you Sir We know the Goodness and Clemency of the King and that he naturally hates all Violence We see every day the Prudence of his Ministers But men are led where they never had intention to go they are mov'd by degrees to revoke all the Edicts of Pacification If Matters be carryed on with that Violence they have been for some years and especially within few months past the Business will be quickly at an end they will shortly perswade the King three fourths of the Hugonots of his Kingdom are converted They will tell him the residue is nothing or not worth the thinking of And so prevail with him to suppress the Edicts Thus shall near two millions of Souls remain debarr'd the exercise of their Religion 'T is a violent State in which Consciences cannot stay long The Ministers shall be forbidden to Preach on pain of death Yet they will Preach as before in the like case in Caves and Woods and Cellars and Darkness And instead of preaching in a few places they will preach in every place It cannot be but they will be discover'd exercising a Religion prohibited by the State and incur the Penalties to be inflicted by the late Edicts And according to the Severity of those Penalties they will be Imprison'd Banish'd Hang'd Consider how much it will grate the good nature of the King to see himself oblig'd to permit his Subjects to be put to a thousand Tortures for no other reason but having a desire to serve God I foresee Matters may be carryed yet farther Among two or three hundred thousand Persons able to bear Arms remaining still of that Religion 't is impossible but there is a great number of Fools impatient and desperate In plurality of Voyces Fools are always too hard for the Wise who are often oblig'd to permit themselves to be carryed away with the stream of the major Vote Such heady and impatient People instead of Submitting will Mutiny make Parties take up Arms. And then will the King be forc'd to draw Rivers of Blood out of the hearts of his Subjects Par. Ay Ay Sir there is great cause to fear you you are in a powerful and formidable Condition Where are your Chiefs where your strong Towns Where your Money Where your Forraign Allyances You have nothing to support you but the indulgence of our Kings Hug. Law Pardon me if I tell you you do not apprehend me my design is not to put you in fear but move you to pity I do not say but the King may with all the ease imaginable dissipate the Forces of any Faction that should rebel against him I am fully convinc'd of it not only by your Reasons but some stronger Arguments You say the Reformed have neither Chiefs nor Towns nor Money Have you forgot that saying of the Poet Furor arma ministrat Fury never wants Weapons they who have no Towns may take some Those who want Money may Rob and Plunder Despair can effect what Valour and Courage never durst undertake A State that has lying close in its Bowels two millions of Male-contents though but Women and Children and the dregs of Mankind is in danger of suffering terrible Revolutions After the Massacre of St. Bartholomew the Hugonots had none to head them Dandelot was dead the Admiral assassinated all the Flower of their Nobility murther'd and the Princes of the Blood Prisoners yet they never spoke bigger never insisted on higher Terms than then But I expect not any benefit to the Reformed from such Revolutions because God never blesses the designs of defending a Religion by Arms of Rebelling against our Prince and making War under pretences of Piety The furies of Civil War being absolutely inconsistent with Charity Such heady and impatient people by taking Arms will act against the Principles of Religion and I aver it particularly against the Principles of the Reformed They are to expect no other success but to be massacred by the People and the Arms of their Soveraign They would occasion as heretofore millions of Innocents to perish with them The King would certainly master them but would be griev'd to see his Countreys drown'd with the Blood of his Subjects What greater misfortune than this to a Prince so good-natur'd as ours Besides a State busied in reducing rebellious Subjects is in a manner abandon'd to strangers who fill and tear it in pieces with Factions foment Divisions take advantage of Disorders and draw Blood from all parts of it while it self opens the Veins on every side Those Gentlemen who constantly solicit the King to Rigor against us are certainly weary of the prosperity of the State they have no mind to see France any longer the most flourishing Kingdom of Europe They would bring back that Age wherein the Realm divided against it self call'd in the Duke of Parma the Flemings and Spaniards to enrich themselves with the pillages of the Towns and desolation of the Provinces Par. I see Gentlemen the alarm you have taken hath stirr'd your fancy and put you in a heat You go on too far and too fast there is a design to Ruine you 't is confest but 't is by undermining you by degrees Those very men you call Enemies of the State have no mind to see the effusion of your Blood Hug. Law Were those men guilty of no other mischief but a design to deprive the King of such a multitude of faithful Subjects they very well deserved to be call'd Enemies of the State I hope those of the Reformed Religion will never permit themselves to run into the Extremities I spoke of But they will do all they can to go seek in other Countreys the peace and the quiet they are denyed in their own I have told you already their Consternation is great and universal And all the considerable persons of our body seek only a Gate to go out at and a means to remove out of his Majesties sight the Objects that displease him Par. I cannot think they would be much troubled at your departure out of the Kingdom Hug. Law Whether they would be troubled I know not but I very well know they would have cause enough to be troubled The Count de los Balbazes during his stay at Paris being in company of several Ministers of forraign Princes they
naked forc'd them to seek a lively-hood in forraign Regions and live on the Alms of people unknown endeavour to rob them of their sole support the reputation of their Innocence by perswading the World they are men of Rebellious Principles Enemies to Government particularly Monarchy This of all their Sufferings is the only one they are impatient of and could not submit to without a Defence My Lord The Sufferings of the French Protestants the injustice of their Persecution the ill consequences that may attend it and the clearing of their Loyalty are the principal Subjects of the following Discourses The three first particulars are peculiar to those of the Reformed Religion in France The last so far concerns the whole Protestant Party of Europe as the common Enemy charges them all with Principles of Rebellion The Author though he apply himself chiefly to vindicate the Reformed of France hath not forgot to add somewhat in justification of other Protestants and by a just Translation of the Crime laid the Guilt of Rebellious Principles and Practises at the doors of their Enemies The sight of misery especially undeserv'd melts a generous soul into pity and compassion but of all the Sufferings our nature is subject to those undergone for Conscience and Religion are the most glorious and best deserve Commiseration when out of sence of Duty to the Soveraign of the World for an inward and innocent satisfaction of mind and hopes of pleasure purely spiritual invisible and fature men slight all the pleasures of sence and with true Magnanimity not only contemn worldly advantages but chearfully endure the smartest Afflictions and Tortures Criminals have that benefit of the Laws they offend they are allow'd to plead for themselves An Innocent Sufferer hath right to Compassion and Favour especially a Sufferer on the account of Religion and who on that account hath been forc'd to seek in strange Countries the right deny'd him in his own Such My Lord are these Protestant Exiles who barr'd access to the French King their Lord fled for refuge to the Throne of our most Gracious Prince who in Commiseration to the distressed Protestants hath made his Kingdoms a general Sanctuary where they who could not have justice quiet or security at home find safety protection and favour with the benefit of Laws and kind influences of a Government infinitely more Gentle than those they were born under My Lord 'T is the Glory of the Mighty to protect the Innocent Nothing makes power look so venerable and divine as imploying it aright The highest pleasure and best fruit of greatness is the conscience to have used it well That excellent Prince who esteemed the day lost wherein he had not obliged some of his Inferiors was the Darling of Mankind His memory is blest to this day when others who mov'd in the same Sphear but made ill use of their greatness are mentioned with abhorrence Persons of eminent dignity and power draw the eyes of inferiour mankind as those Luminous bodies that move in the upper Regions which all look at but with aspects different as the Apprehensions they have of them Those they conceive of a malignant nature they look on with horrour but those they apprehend benign and good they behold with pleasure and delight with hope and confidence with respect and veneration My Lord Allow me the liberty to tell your Lordship that among the Stars of the greater magnitude in our Horizon the Distressed Protestants fix their Eyes on you as one of no less Propitious than Powerful Influence Their envious Enemies have endeavoured to blast their Reputation and by Calumny and unjust aspersions to rob them of the benefit of that justice they might pretend to at home and to represent them unworthy any favour abroad This oblig'd them to a Vindication of themselves in their own Language But that being not universally understood in this Kingdom where they are so neerly concern'd to stand right in the opinion of the most loyal and best Reformed Church of the World I thought it not altogether unuseful to them to have their Defence publish'd in English for general satisfaction The same malice that assaulted their Innocence by unjust Aspersions will be too apt to cavil at their Vindication and cry down their defence The Justice of their Cause without the assistance of a powerful patronage may be too weak to protect them And for The last Efforts of Afflicted Innocence The just Vindication of Persecuted Protestants what Patronage more suitable what Protection more agreeable than His whose noble Extraction and generous Temper naturally incline to pity the miserable to protect the Innocent and succour the injur'd Whose integrity and soundness in the Protestant Religion have render'd him eminent for piety vertue and worth and whose ample fortune dignity and honour no less justly than signally distinguish him from other Men And for that this Character belongs peculiarly to your Lordship be pleas'd to excuse the liberty I take to beg these Discourses may appear in English under your Lordships Auspicious Name and that you will believe nothing but the lustre of your great Qualities and the glory of your Name appearing so proper to protect and grace a Tract of this nature and the opinion of your goodness and condescension to vouchsafe it that honour could have inspir'd me with this presumption For which I humbly beg pardon who am My Lord Your Lordships most humble and most Devoted Servant W. Vaughan TO THE PROTESTANT ENGLISH READER Suave mari magno jactantibus aequora ventis Eterrâ magnum alterius spectare Laborem Sed tua res agitur Paries ubi proximus ardet Reader I Presume you sensible of your happiness in being born and bred a Member of a Protestant Church wherein Piety is consistent with sound reasoning and a Man may be Religious without forfeiting his Senses or renouncing his Judgment I doubt not but you esteem it a Blessing to be subject to a Government the best constituted of any and Laws so equally tender of the Prerogative of the Soveraign and Priviledge of the Subject as best conduces to the common welfare of both and you must be unworthy the Name I address'd you by if you do not value it as the greatest Blessing on Earth that the Church and State are under the Protection and Government of a most Gracious and Excellent Prince But that which the Subject of the following Discourses prompts me particularly to mind you of is the immediate source of our envy'd felicity that our Prince is not only most gracious most wise and most just but that he is a sincerely Protestant Prince A favour of Heaven to which we principally owe the preservation of our Rights sacred and civil the exercise of our Religion and benefit of our Laws The miserable condition of the Protestants in France who sigh forth their just but fruitless Complaints in the following sheets are an Evidence too clear and too sad That Edicts and Arrests Priviledges and Immunities
Conduct that would oblige him to oppress millions of Subjects to whom he ought to be and had often declared himself a Father and by Persecution of Innocents to depopulate his Kingdom which he found too thin planted to serve his great designs They considered him too jealous of his Authority to allow any subject or party how great soever to attempt without permission from him upon any priviledge or right of their fellow-Subjects But they knew that Achilles impenetrable in all other parts was vulnerable in one that the Fort is not impregnable which has one weakness by which it may be mastered They were at a fault but pursued their Game and at last hit the Scent They considered the French King an Ambitious Prince jealous of his authority and as impatient of a Traytor as of a Superiour They confess it inhumane as well as unchristian to murder Innocents and Massacre men for differences in opinion which they could no more help than those of their constitution They admit the Popes invading the Liberties of the Gallican Church an Usurpation not to be tolerated by so great a Monarch they own it unworthy the Justice of so excellent a Prince to violate the Priviledges granted his Subjects by his Ancestors they grant it to be against the interest of the State to lay waste his Provinces and depopulate his Countries by forcing his Subjects into forreign parts But they conceive it just to punish Criminals they think it both expedient and necessary to root out Traytors and extirpate Rebels to destroy Vipers which eat out their way through the Bowels of their Mother to exterminate those Subjects who to support a Faction and maintain a particular interest of Religion would ruine their Countrey and while he carries the terrour of his Arms into Forreign Regions would put all the Provinces of his Kingdom into a Combustion and oblige him to withdraw his Forces from prosecuting his Rights and advancing his Glory by Conquests abroad to quench with the bloud of Civil War the flames that would be kindled in the heart of France That their zeal for his Service and Glory had discovered in his Kingdom a Seminary of such Monsters which must be suppressed That they were numerous and powerful and they durst not attack them without particular Commission and the favour of his Authority That they were a Race of Traytors who envyed the glorious success of his Arms and malign'd his Triumphs men of Rebellious Principles that sucked in Treason with their Milk that were Enemies to Government especially Monarchy that insisted on Rights and pretended to Priviledges independent of his pleasure That presumed to think his Authority bounded by Laws and that his Will is to be controll'd by Edicts and directed by Councels That those upstart Innovators of the pretended Reformed Religion were the men they meant That Seed of Hereticks that Hydra of Apostates the Glory of whose ruine was reserved for his Reign That the Rights they pretend to by Law may by Law be destroyed That the illness of their Principles hath forfeited their Priviledges That the Roman Catholicks had a Law and by that Law the Hugonots ought to be destroyed That a Monarch without Dispotical Authority cannot be great That blind obedience in the Church is a preparative absolutely necessary for Arbitrary Government in the State That those Innovators allow the use of private judgment presume to censure the actions of their Superiors and dispute the Commands they ought to obey Talibus insidiis By such Delusions as these by such artifice and cunning was that Prince impos'd upon to permit them to be persecuted as dissaffected to the State whom he loved as his best Subjects And the same time he opposes the Usurpations of the Pope and shakes off his yoke he is perswaded to deliver up to the fury of Papists his Protestant Subjects whose greatest Crime is their having renounced the pretended Supremacy of the Roman See And to prevent the redress they might expect for their Grievances from the Justice and Clemency of their Prince when rightly informed by their humble Addresses their Enemies have so prepossessed him to their prejudice they are barred access to his Throne denyed Justice in his Courts and their Petitions of Right rejected as Criminal and stigmatized with the odious Title of insolent Remonstrances The Defence of the French Protestants against the Charge of Rebellious Principles and Practices is partly the Subject of the subsequent Discourses I pretend not to anticipate their Apology by saying any thing for them but desire the Reader to peruse what they say for themselves and that he will learn by their Misfortunes to value the happiness of being subject to a Protestant Prince and wish and endeavour as far as is consistent with Piety Loyalty and Justice to render that Happiness perpetual Modern Rome pretends no less than the Ancient to Empire and Soveraignty This pretended to Empire over the Body and Estate that sets up a claim to a spiritual Soveraignty over Souls to serve the design of exercising a Temporal Dominion over Persons and Possessions Modern Rome impatient of a Rival in Authority hath long considered the Reformed Church as old Rome did Carthage an Enemy without whose extirpation it could not safely subsist and hath Decreed an irreconcileable and eternal Hostility against it And where Hostility is Decreed the Maxim is currant Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat Fraud and Force are equally allowed for the Destruction of an Enemy Carthage might more reasonably have expected sincere and perpetual Amity from Rome than those of the Reformed Religion may expect from the Papacy which looks upon them not only as Enemies but Rebels and Apostates and solemnly devotes them to Destruction here and Damnation hereafter If these Inferences seem ill grounded or uncharitable and inconsistent with the Principles of Christianity allowed by those of the Roman Religion let it be considered whether that Religion hath not long degenerated from a Guide to eternity into a meer instrument of State and is not principally made use of to support the Grandeur of the Papal Chair and the Luxury of his Court That it thinks not it self sufficiently supported without an Inquisition to root out Dissenters under the title of Hereticks and where the prudence of Princes hath kept out the Inquisition and denyed the Popâ—â— that colour of Law to exterminate their Subjects the Protestants have been murdered by whole-sale in general Massacres since they could not be re-tail'd to Death by Information and Process That it makes subjection to the Pope necessary to Salvation that it declares Protestants Hereticks and reputes Hereticks Outlaws and Enemies of Mankind with whom no Faith is to be kept These are the genuine causes of the Miseries of Protestants under Princes infected with the Doctrine of Rome hence proceed those Violations of Priviledges breach of Edicts and Laws in their favour denyal of Justice and ruine of their Fortunes and Lives What Law can bind a
true is it that the Ambition of the great ones was the cause of these Wars on the one side and the other Hath not the Duke of Alanson Brother of Charles the ninth and Henry the third been seen at the head of Thirty Thousand of these Male-Contents Yet he was no Hugonot nor ever favour'd them of the Religion Were not Marshal Danville and several other firm and profest Roman Catholicks engag'd for the same Party By which it appears all those Wars were the Wars of the Discontented in general whether Catholicks or Hugonots To Conclude Sir for justifying our Hugonots in these Wars I can prove they had not any design but to preserve themselves the State and the Illustrious Princes of the Family of Bourbon now Regnant On the contrary the opposite Party was a Spanish Faction who covered their Designs with the Specious Vail of Religion but were Enemies to the State and would have put the Crown upon the Heads of Strangers Par. As to the last Article I pray Sir ingage not in the proof of it Repetitions are troublesom to the Speaker and no less tedious and unpleasant to the hearer This Gentleman hath acquainted us with what you have to say on that Subject for he hath endeavor'd to prove the faction of the Guises would have taken away from the Branch of Bourbon their Lives and the Crown to bring France under the Dominion of a Stranger 'T is possible there might be some such design but the faults of others do not justify us If the faction of the Guises had Criminal designs are you therefore more innocent Hug. Law Sir that which hath been said by us on this Subject is not the hundredth part of what may be said to prove the faction of the house of Guise which call'd it self the Holy Union and went under the name of the League from the year 1576. to the year 1600. was altogether Spanish and an Enemy to the State and that our Party which was wholly opposite to the other was altogether French But I will comply with your desires and say no more of it provided you will in requital answer a question I am going to ask you What reason you Gentlemen of the Roman Catholick Religion have to Condemn the Protestants for their pretended Rebellions against their Princes on the account of Religion Par. 'T is on this Ground That Subjects owe absolute obedience to their Soveraign's in all things That the Soveraign is Master of the Religion of his Countrey And that Subjects have no right to demand toleration of a Religion different from that of the State Hug. Law You have answered just as I expected And according to these Maxims you argue very right For if a Prince is absolute Master of the Religion of his People as of other their Concerns if Subjects are obliged to follow always the Religion of their Soveraign doubtless there is reason to charge them with Rebellion who with Arms in their hands desire to be tolerated in the Exercise of a Religion different from that of the State But Sir have you thought well of the Maxim you propos'd Do you remember 't is the Maxim of Hobbs in his Politicks You know how famous Spinosa was for Impiety He was for allowing every one Liberty to think and speak what he pleas'd concerning Religion yet attributes to the Soveraign an absolute Authority over the Religion of the State You know these two men are an Object of Execration to all Divines and that they are generally look'd upon as great Enemies of Religion And amongst all their Maxims this in particular hath been look'd upon as one of the most Pernicious Consider a little how far it may be carry'd If the Prince be Master of Religion you Catholicks must be Reformed in England and Holland and so must the Lutherans in Denmark and Swede and the Christians of the East must turn Mahometans in Persia and Turkey If therefore this may peradventure be a false Maxim as certainly it is is it so great a Crime to be of a Religion different from that of the State And if you are of a Religion different from that of your Prince is it a Crime to obtain from him a toleration to exercise it in private or publick Par. Either you misapprehend me or I have not well express'd my self I design not to assert the Empire of Kings extends to the Conscience or that they are Masters of the Religion of the heart I know very well we are to obey God rather than Men I coufess it allowable and frequently necessary to be of a Religion different from that of our Prince In a word 't is no Crime to desire permission of the Prince to make publick profession of a Religion different from his My meaning was that the Prince is Master of the External part of Religion That if he will not permit any Religion but his when we cannot obey we may die patiently without making other defence than our Sufferings Because true Religion ought not to make use of force and Arms for its establishment Princes are infinitely to blame when they violently oppose the Establishment of the true Religion but they are answerable only to God for it Hug. Law In this sence I confess your Maxim is pious and bears the Character of the Primitive Christian Morality And now Sir I have you where I wish'd you I ask you with confidence what ground you Roman Catholicks have to charge us with the violation of this Maxim If you think it good why d' you not observe it If you observe it not why make you such ado why clamour you so much against others who do not observe it You may very well be allow'd Gentlemen to make the like Objection against the Reformed You who are of a Religion whose History if written would be a continual Series of Rebellion against Soveraigns of Attempts against their Authority Conspiracies against their Lives and Assassinations committed upon their Persons for the sake of Religion and under pretence of maintaining it You know the History of past Ages and the present and cannot be ignorant that when a Prince meddles never so little with what you call the Estate the Immunities and Priviledges of the Church though these things concern not the grounds of Religion he is call'd impious an Heretick and a favourer of Hereticks and permission is given to rebel against him For an Abby for the Revenues of a Bishoprick taken into the hands of a Prince for the Rights of Regale for Nomination to some Benefices what a bustle is made what extravagant Insolences are not committed According to that pious Maxim upon which you ground your Charge against us and so cruelly prosecute it those who labour for the maintenance of Religion are to be meerly patient and ought not to make use of any means that may diminish or indanger the Authority of the Prince But will you cast your eye upon the Conduct of the League that Holy Vnion which in 1576.
Children Thus Your Majesty shall see continued in Your Kingdom a Generation of Male-Contents of Dissmblers of Profane Rebellious and ill Christians such will be the good Catholicks begot of those Parents who are at this day forc'd to change their Religion Among this wretched Multitude there will doubtless be some who totally forgetting their duty will take desperate Resolutions and choose rather to die in a violent manner than to live reduc'd to a condition wherein they betray their Conscience and suffer a thousand Calamities and it cannot but infinitely grieve Your Majesties good Nature and Clemency to see your self forc'd to revive the Age of Massacres Our zeal for Your Majesties Service holds out hitherto against the sence of our present Sufferings and the fear of future ills Your Majesty hath not in Your Armies by Sea or Land an Hugonot Officer who is not ready to sacrifice his Life in Your Service There is not Your Kingdom a Protestant who doth not venerate I may say adore Your Majesty as the brightest Image God hath given of himself to the World we hope they will always look upon the Thunderbolts that come from your hand with that respect and fear they regard those that fall from Heaven but we hope also Your Majesty in imitation of that Divinity whose Image you are will pity so many miserable Persons who groan under their Sufferings without murmuring against the hand that causes them Especially when you consider these Wretches have all Europe to witness their faithfulness to Your Service and the World sees them free from the least stain of Rebellion Your Majesty will not permit us to be persecuted any longer for no other reason but because as 't is suppos'd we are not illuminated Alas Sir 't is a Grace that depends not upon our selves 't is not a thing within the power of Man nor is it an effect of fear punishments and tortures We doubt not but if Your Majesty would take the pains to cast Your Eye upon the Arrests and Orders exhorted from Your Majesty against us and the Consequences of them they would appear dreadful and horrible Your Majesty should see Trade interrupted and spoil'd Your Towns desolate by the desertion of the Inhabitants and a great breach in Your State by the loss of so many considerable Members of it ready to fly out of it you should see your Neighbours enrich'd and fortify'd by the spoils of Your Kingdom France in many places become a vast Desart and a considerable number of unhappy Consciences groaning under a cruel Servitude they are reduc'd to You should see a People in despair capable of the most violent Resolutions against themselves We hope Sir that God the Protector of Afflicted Innocents will lay open all these Considerations to Your Majesties Eyes that you may act as the common Father of Your Subjects We remember Sir that kind and excellent Expression of Your Majesty not long since That You consider'd us all as Your Children and would have given Your Right Hand for our Conversion Here we see Your Majesty in Your Natural state and admire the genuine goodness of Your temper and are perswaded 't is not without violence you are obliged to arm Your self against us as if we were Your Enemies When Children have attain'd the age of discretion their Parents use only the ways of perswasion to reduce them to Duty because the heart is not won but by fair and gentle means and our Spirits naturally abhor and resist force We hope therefore Your Majesty will again awaken Your Paternal Compassions towards those Children whom you look upon as gone astray and that you will leave it to Heaven and it's Grace to reduce them into the right way if out of it and that You will not permit our Consciences to be dragg'd into Paths which we are not perswaded are right 'T is this hope alone Sir keeps us from falling into despair this only supports us this will ever make us most earnest Petitioners to Heaven for the preservation of Your Royal Person for Your Glory and the good Success of all Your Designs Prov. What think you of it Sir Par. I am not surpriz'd at it these poor People are so restless in their misery 't is no wonder they toss and tumble themselves every way but they are very simple if they think they can find a way to convey such a Paper to His Majesty the Avenues are all block'd up And should it come to the Kings Hands he is beset round with those shall take effectual order he shall not alter his Mind I should think it best to let them have it again but that if you restore it they will bevex'd we have seen it 'T is better pretend we know nothing of it nor say a word of it to them they will think they have lost it elsewhere Prov. I will be advis'd by you Farewel Sir 't is high time to leave you to your Repose The Printer to the Reader The Copy of the following Letter being come to my hands I thought it not improper to be communicated to the Publick because it concerns the present State of the Religion in France the Subject of this Work SIR YOu desire I would inform you what you are to believe of the Reports spread in the Province you are in of the great Mitigations lately happen'd as 't is said in the Affairs of our Religion A Man cannot write with much certainty of these matters yet I will venture to comply with your desires never were Reports more groundless than those for matters are so far from being mitigated they begin to be worse than ever The business between the Bayliff of Charanton and the Gentlemen of the Consistory is reviv'd You know without doubt that the King upon the Petition they presented him had order'd the Bayliff not to proceed any further and gave them leave in the mean time to apply themselves if they saw cause to the Parliament for Remedy but within these five or six days the Chancellor said to the Deputy-General it was much wondred the Consistory had not sued forth an Appeal from the Sentence of the Bayliff that they must look to it for if they would not appeal the King would take off the Prohibition and give the Bayliff leave to proceed What is the meaning of this but to let us see they intend to Exterminate us for questionless you remember one Article of that Sentence was that we should pay the Sacrament such respect as is due to it Whether what was said to Monsieur Ruvigny will take effect I know not but you know well enough that in what concerns us they do not their business by half but go through with their work The Provinces of Poitou and Aunix are in a condition that deserves all manner of Compassion all acts of the most Barbarous Cruelty are exercis'd in those Countries the Relations we have thence would break your heart 'T is true the Troops are drawn out which is the only ground