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CRUEL PERSECUTIONS



OF THE



PROTESTANTS



IN THE



KINGDOM OF FRANCE



FIRST AMERICAN REPRINT

OV THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Published in London in 1707

WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR

JEAN CLAUDE

BY

PUBLISHER



BOSTON,
1893



/v/v-^V



^Pl



JIG I



n



COPYRIGHT, 1893,

BY

NARCISSE CYR.



THB LIBRA&T
or CONGRESS



VASHINOTOK



<-^ w- 1 .



S:



TO THE

REV. CHARLES CHINIQUY,



THE



Venerable and Eloquent Champion

OF

EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY,



DURING MANY YEARS OF ARDUOUS LABORS AND FREQUENT
PERSECUTIONS, HAS NOT ONLY EXPOSED



THE ERRORS OF ROME,



BUT BROUGHT THOUSANDS OF SOULS TO JESUS CHRIST.



THIS FIRST AMERICAN REPRINT



ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF CLAUDE'S MASTERPIECE IS
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED



NARCISSE CYR,



CLAUDE AND HIS MASTERPIECE.



The author of this remarkable book, which is
offered to the American public for the first
time, is Jean Claude, one of the most eloquent
French Protestant ministers, and certainly the
ablest defender of the Reformed Faith in the
17th century. After he was called to the
church at Charenton — a parish which included
the Protestants of Paris and vicinity — he be-
came the natural champion of Protestantism in
France, and fought valiantly against such men
as Arnauld, Nicole and Bossuet, who was then
the Goliath of Rome.

Our author was born, in 1619, at Sauvetat, a
small town near, Agen, in the Southwest of
France. His father was a Protestant pastor,
who attended himself to the early education
of his son. The latter after going through the
usual course of study, was ordained at the age
of twenty-six, and called first to the little
church of La Freyne. He remained there
only one year, having been promoted to a



VI



more important pastorate, -that of the church
of Sainte Affrique. After eight years of
faithful work in that old interesting- town,
he was invited to the church at Nimes, then,
as now', the most important outside of Paris.
This call was highly complimentary as well
as very encouraging to the comparatively
young pastor. He was then thirty-five, a
good age to assume important and responsible
duties.

In the city of Nimes, Claude found more
ample opportunities to develop his talents for
the pulpit. A daily preaching service was held
in the church, each of the three pastors officiat-
ing in turn ; the children were taught carefully
the principles of Evangelical Christianity, thor-
oughly catechized, in the first and best sense of
the word, as they are still by the French pas-
tors ; moreover, the sick and feeble of the flock
were cared for and protected from Romish
proselytism. Such a pastorate, we can easily
understand, involved duties which greatly taxed
the time and strength of Claude ; yet he chose
to add to them the voluntary work of private
lectures to the students of the Protestant Liter-
ary and Theological Academy in that city,
lectures which were very much appreciated by
these students for the ministry.

Claude was not only an eloquent preacher



VI 1



and a faithful pastor, but a man of strong
convictions and a bold defender of what he
considered the truth. So that when a Protes-
tant, whom the court had gained to the idea of
a Reunion of the Protestants with the Catholics,
appeared in a Synod of the Lower Languedoc,
to advocate that plan, Claude opposed it with
energy and ability. He was successful, and
for that offence punished by a Decree of the
Council, which forbade him to exercise the
ministry in that Province of which Nimes was
the capital.

Claude immediately went to Paris to appeal
from this arbitrary decree ; he remained there
six months, but his efforts were unsuccessful.
His residence in the Metropolis, however, was
useful to him in more ways than one. He
became better acquainted with some of his
distinguished co-religionists, as well as with the
enemies of the Protestant faith. He was
doubtless invited to preach at Charenton, and
thus the way was prepared for his call to that
charge two or three years later.

When Claude became convinced that there
was no justice to be obtained from the govern-
ment, he returned to the south of France, and
was soon called to the important church of
Montauban, which he served faithfully until



Vlll



1666, when he accepted the most responsible
post, that of Charenton.

Even under the reign of toleration, secured
to them by the Edict of Nantes, the Huguenots
were not allowed to have a place of worship in
Paris, nor within five miles of that city. At
first, and for many years, they were obliged to
have their church at the little town of Ablon,
about eight miles from the capital, a place not
at all central for them. After many petitions
and supplications, they were permitted to ex-
change Ablon for Charenton, which is precisely
five miles southeast of ~ Paris. There a place
of worship, a Temple^ as it was called, was con-
structed by the famous architect, DeBrosses.
It was a plain building, but well adapted to the
wants of the Protestants of the Metropolis and
vicinity. Fourteen thousand persons could be
seated in it, and the three pastors who min-
istered to that parish, scattered over a large
extent of country, preached in turn eloquent
and earnest sermons to interested audiences;
hearers who came five, ten and even fifteen
miles to hear the Evangel of light and life,
which the glorious Reformation had restored
to the world.

It was from this large, appreciative and be-
loved flock that the eminent pastor was torn
away, on the very day that the Edict of Revo-



IX



cation was registered in the Parliament of
Paris. The Court would not grant him the
fifteen days allowed by the Edict to all the min-
isters, without distinction, but as soon as this
document was published in the Metropolis,
Claude was "commanded to leave Paris within
four and twenty hours, and forthwith to depart
the Kingdom. For this end they put him into
the hands of one of the King's footmen, with
orders not to leave him till he was out of his
dominions." He took the coach at Paris, the
next day, for Brussells, with his escort, who, it
is said, was very civil to himall the way to the
frontier, where they separated. The criminal,
of whom France was not worthy, had evidently
made a very favorable impression upon the
royal servant.

It is interesting to know that the senior pas-
tor of Charenton, as he journeyed through
France, received many marks of kindness, not
only from his brethren, but even from some of
his enemies.

From Brussells, Claude proceeded to Hol-
land, where many distinguished exiles had pre-
ceded him. He met there with a warm recep-
tion from his fellow countrymen and the
inhabitants of that hospitable country. He was
honored soon after his arrival with a consider-
able pension by William, the Prince of Orange^



X



a fact which shows in what high estimation
this Huguenot pastor was held. Thus relieved
from pecuniary anxiety, the old soldier of
Christ who had fought valiantly all his life in
favor of the Reformed Religion, could at last
enjoy days of a well deserved and much needed
rest. He was then sixty-six years of age. For
men like our author there is little respite in
this world, where they see so much work to be
done. While Claude found in Holland a very
congenial society — for that country had really
become a great intellectual and religious center
for the French Protestants — his heart was in
France, with his suffering brethren, and he
soon concluded that he could not better serve
the cause of religious Freedom, Humanity and
Justice, than by publishing to the Vv^orld the
details of the cruel persecutions which had pre-
ceded and followed the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, protesting before Heaven and
Earth against all the violences, persecutions and
horrors perpetrated by the agents of Louis XIV,
at the instigation of Pere La Chaise, Le Tellier
and other Jesuits.

'This book, written in French, which was then
the language not only of diplomacy and of
courts, but also that of all educated people, was
destined to be wddely read and to awaken
deep sympathy for the persecuted Huguenots



XI



while showing the persecutors in their true
light. As well says Prof. Henry M. Baird,
of the University of the City of New York, "it
was the most scathing indictment which that
generation knew of the atrocities perpetrated
by Louis XIV., and it produced such a sensa-
tion as did no other book. Louis himself
winced under the lash, and desired to destroy
every copy of the book he could lay hand
upon. It is no wonder that he persuaded the
weak king of England to cause it to be burned
by the public hangman of the city of London.
To us this is a recommendation."

It is worthy of notice that the spies of the
French monarch had discovered that a transla-
tion of this book into English was being made
and would soon be published. The French
embassador in London hastened to inform
James II of the fact, and denounced the work
as a most abominable production, not only full
of slanders against his royal master, but also
of republican and revolutionary ideas ! The
king of England showed great readiness to
please his brother monarch, and immediately
ordered the book to be suppressed and the
printer punished. All the copies of the trans-
lation that could be found, were immediately
seized and burnt publicly, by the hangman, in
the court of the Royal Exchange of the English



Xll



capital ! As for the publisher, although the
work bore no name, he was soon discovered by
the spies of Rome, imprisoned and financially
ruined. The translator was also severely pun-
ished. And yet these two men had omitted
the most forcible passages of Claude's master-
piece, in fact nearly a third of the work, so as to
evade prosecution from the government. What
would have been their fate, had they published
the book as it was in 1707 and now with its
strong but well merited denunciations of the
most outrageous persecutions that Christians
ever suffered, with its mighty protests against
the horrors perpetrated in the name- of religion,
and v/ith its most touching appeals to the con-
science of Europe, and to the entire world?

Thank God, the government which burnt
Claude's book, disappeared two years later, and
a new era dawned for England when William
of Orange landed on the British Isle, accompan-
ied by his Huguenot regiments, his best and
most heroic soldiers.

Claude, alas, was not privileged to hail that
glorious day, but he lived long enough to see
of the fruits of his last labors in behalf of his
persecuted brethren, and his end was peace and
joy. Having been called to deliver the sermon
on Christmas, 1666, he preached with his
ordinary unction. The Princess of Orange was



Xlil



present and enjoyed the discourse as usual.
The preacher was apparently well, but that
very day was taken ill and died on the 13th of
January following. Not much is known of his
illness, but enough to warrant the statement
that he died a most edifying death, sustained
by that Faith, " which is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."

Claude, by giving the details of the cruel
persecutions suffered by the Prench Protes-
tants at the close of the 17th century, has left
to the world a legacy, whose value can hardly
be overestimated. His graphic account has
stirred the hearts of thousands in Europe and
will have the same effect in America. The
reprint of this book has been greatly encouraged
by a number of our representative men in this
country who have become acquainted with its
contents. It comes opportunely with its les-
sons and warnings at the present time. The
learned Prof. Coussirat, of the Presbyterian
College of Montreal, a descendant of the
Huguenots, did not exaggerate the importance
of the present reprint when he wrote to the
undersigned : " You are doing a good work in
showing free American citizens what they may
expect, should the Catholic church ever obtain
supremacy in the United States." He further
called attention to a fact, too much overlooked



XIV



in this country, saying : " It is certain that
Rome has never repudiated the acts of her
agents, nor has she ever given up her pre-
tended right to coerce those whom she stig-
matizes as heretics. God grant that Claude's
Flamtes des Protestants may be a warning to
Americans ! "

Narcisse Cyr,



A



the COMPLAINTS,

AND

el PERSECUTIONS

OF THE



I N T H £

KINGDOM of FRANCE.




I O N D O N,
Printed by W. REDMAYNE. 1707.



^



TO THE
MOST REVEREND

FATHER IN GOD,

His Grace the Lord Archbishop

OF

CANTERBURY,

And the Right Reverend Father
in God the Lord Bishop

OF
LONDON.

MY LORDS,

I have newly caused to be translated
into English the Book intituled, The Com-
plaints OF THE Protestants in the
Kingdom of France with this design, to



4 The Epistle Dedicatory.

let Great Britain know and understand by
Examples, how it is that Popery, when it
has the power on its Side uses to proceed
against all them that are not of its own
Communion; and how much this united
Kingdom is therefore indebted to the
Divine Goodness, for having both hitherto
preserved, and for Posterity also secured
it from those great Evils, which so con-
siderable a Part of those professing with
them the same Holy Faith have suffered,
and still do suffer, in other Parts.

This YOUR LORDSHIPS know per-
fectly well ; and have no need to be told it
over again ; But the Generality of People
in this Nation are greatly Ignorant in this
Matter, and can hardly be persuaded to
believe the Excess, Violence and Barbarity
which by our Enemies has been and still is
used. Wherefore for the Information of
such, and for the disappointment of the
Emissaries of France, who would gladly
have the Remembrance hereof to be lost;
I have thought it might be very proper to
address to YOUR LORDSHIPS the Part
I have in this valuable Piece ; which is the



The Epistle Dedicatory, 5

Translation of it ; and lay before your
Eyes the matters which it contains, both
because 'tis well known how your LORD-
SHIPS have, as with all your might, so
with a Success answerable, labored to dis-
sipate the Storm, which lately seem'd to
gather here, and threaten this flourishing
Kingdom with the like Calamities : And
how you have moreover greatly refreshed
and comforted the French Protestants,
who fled hither for Refuge, as became true
Fathers in Christ.

YOUR LORDSHIPS are not ignorant,
how they then made their Complaints, and
their Protestations against the persecu-
tion of France : Nor can it be a Secret to
you what was done here, consequently
to the publishing this true and faithful
Memorial of theirs, to give a just Repre-
sentation of their State. But the Copies
hereof were not only suppressed, but pro-
hibited so strictly, and in such a manner
watch'd as they were hardly ever known
to this Nation, as I can find. And hence
it is that the very Children of the Refugees
themselves, who either came hither very



6 The Epistle Dedicatory,

young, or else are born here, do not know
the Cause of the Exile and Transmigration
of their Fathers and Mothers ; a thing
which they certainly ought to be well in-
formed of, and never to forget. It is with
a Prospect of perpetuating to future Gen-
erations the sad Remembrance of the Sub-
version of the State and Condition of the
Protestants of France, by the unjust Rev-
ocation of the Edict of Nantes, that one
who is a refugee here has caused the said
Book, containing their Complaints and
Protestations to be reprinted for all the
rest.

And whereas by a Declaration of King
Charles II. of the 28th of July, 168 1,
YOUR LORDSHIPS are marked out ex-
presly by the Dignities of the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Bishop of Lon-
don, on purpose to receive the Petitions
and Complaints of the distressed Refugees,
in order to be communicated as need shall
require; YOUR LORDSHIPS are there-
fore humbly supplicated to cast your Eyes
upon the Preface of this Book, which
showes the several Estates of these poor



The Epistle Dedicatory, 'j

persecuted People, as it is at present, to-
which either by the Lapse of Time, or hj
the Juncture of War, or both, great Num^
bers of them have been reduced.

The poor among them are hence forc'd?
to cry again for your Help at this time :
And they presume also to promise them -
selves the same from your great Charity,^:
and that from you, Her Majesty shall be
informed of the pressing Necessity there
is to recommend it to her British Parlia-
ment, in Order to the Relief of their ex-
treme Poverty and Indigence. And this
they are the more encouraged to, since
under the late Reign the House of Com-
mons did make no Scruple to acknowledge,,
and publicly notify, that all things con-
sider'd these Poor were not any charge at
all to the Nation : And since that the;
House of Lords also under the present
happy Reign of her Majesty has declar'di
to the Kingdom that the foreign Protes-
tants are profitable to it.

Nevertheless, the Old, the Sick, the
Widows, the Orphans, and all those whO)
are uncapable among them to get thein



8 The Epistle Dedicatory,

Livelihood, being by long Continuance of
the Persecution in the Country of their
Nativity left destitute of everything, do
liere implore as with one common Voice
the Pity of YOUR LORDSHIPS, and
beseech your Help, so far at least as to re-
quest in their Favour from this charitable
Nation the Conveniences of Life in so
abounding a Country as this, where Provi-
dence has cast them.* And
* Your Lordship, fQj- ^g much as Humau

â– will see their Num-
ber, Names, Ages, Naturc has uccd of bcmg
QuaHtiesandHab. gustaiucd by Food and

itatioiis by a New / -^ _ ^

List that is a mak- raiment no Ics 3 in time of
^^^* War than in time of Peace,

they hope that YOUR LORDSHIPS
will be pleased, notwithstanding the great
Occasions of the Nation, to solicit for them
the Means whereby they may subsist, both
now and hereafter; as being Objects
spoil'd of their Goods, and all they had in
the World, who have been constrained to
forsake their ungrateful Country, because
they would not bow the Knee to Baal.

For these Reasons and the Royal Decla-
ration that I alledge, which never has been



The Epistle Dedicatory. g

altered, I take the Liberty to put this
Book^ which contains a short but faithful
Recital of Matter of Fact, under the Pro-
tection of the Two most worthy Prelates
of Europe. All the Refugees have ex-
perienced in generak the Effects of your
Christian Compassion and Generosity :
They desire gratefully to acknowledge as
much, both before God and before the
World. What you, my Lords, have done
for them so honourably, and so piously,
they must all with one Mouth and one
Heart needs own and confess. May
YOUR LORDSHIPS continue to them
always the same Good Will and Affection,
and also survive their Miseries.

Now I cannot here mention their Ac-
knowledgements, without being oblig'd to
speak at the same time of your Benefac-
tions : And here indeed would be the
Place to publish them to the World, for
the Promotion of Piety and Charity ; but
this I dare not undertake, but shall leave
to some others to perform who can do it
better. In the mean while least my
Silence on this Head might be of bad Con-



10 The Epistle Dedicatory.

sequence and Example, I could not but
give this small Hint : Tho' I forbear,
YOUR LORDSHIPS may be assured
there is no person has a deeper Sense
than I of your eminent Qualities and Ser-
vices in Favour both of Religion and of
the State ; and am not the less for conceal-
ing my name.



Your Lordships,



Most Humble
Faithful and
Obedient Servant.



THE

PREFACE.



This Book was first published in
French in the Year 1686, and then
Translated into English ; a Copy
whereof a Merchant of London sent
to one of his brothers in France ; and
some time after acquainted him, that
upon the instances of the French
Ambassador at this Court, the same
had been order'd to be burnt, and
the Translator and Printer thereof
almost ruin'd by Imprisonments and
Fines, and that the Papists took a
great deal of Care to suppress all the
Copies, least the Nation should be
made acquainted with the Truths
contained therein ; where the Cruel-



14 The Preface,

ties exercis'd against the Protestants
of France, who would not abjure their
Religion, and embrace the Romish, are
so truly represented: 'Twas at the
same time that Preparations were
making in order to put the same
methods in practice against the Pro-
testants in England, where the Pope
kept openly a Nuncio, besides sev-
eral Monks and Jesuits : There were
also several Writers, as Sir Roger
L*Estrange and others, imploy'd, and
well paid, to assert that there was no
Persecution in France, but contrari-
wise voluntary Conversions to the
Romish Religion; ^ And that as to
the great number of People who left
their Country to come over into this,
under pretence of Religion, they did
it only for private ends and self inter-
est. But these Impostures were soon
born down by the sight of so many
poor Wretches that throng'd hither
for Refuge from those dreadful ca-
lamities which were inflicted on
them ; The consideration of which
made the Nation seriously think of



The Preface, 15

securing the Protestant Religion,
which its Enemies design'd to destroy
here as they had done in France and
elsewhere.

Some Years after, the Gentleman
who had received this Book mEnglish,
came over to augment the number of
the Refugees in this Kingdom, and
inquiring after it, 'twas impossible for
him to light on any other Copy here :
But having been told since, that the
Anonimous Author, was that Excel-
lent Man of God, the late Mr. Claude,
Minister of Paris, who died in Hol-
land soon after he had written this
Book, by this means he got one in
French: and very lately by the care
of a *" Reverend Divine, another in
English, (perhaps the only one ex-
tant.) which being compar'd together,
it appears, that the Translator for
some regard he had to those times,
when the Enemies of our Holy
Religion were in great credit did
designedly omit several matters of
fact, and them the most important to
the Cause of the Refugees ; inso-

*Doctor Manningham.



1 6 The Preface,

much, that above the fourth part of it
was cut off in the Translation ; tho'
the Translator far'd none the better
for it.

Seeing then the great efforts made
to suppress this Book, it the rather
deserves to be preserv'd among Pro-
testants to all Posterity. And for as
much as the Refugees in this King-
dom durst not by reason of the strict
Prohibition keep any of them, 'tis
thought of the utmost Importance to
revive it again, especially at this Junc-
ture, which seems so much more fav-
orable than the former, and to offer
it intire as if it were a new Work to
the Nation, according to the Re-
fugees first intent, in which view it is
now reprinted in both Languages, for
the convenience of those that under-
stand but one.

The .Public will see that this Book
is an Abridgment of the cruel and
inhumane Persecution, exercis'd a-
gainst the Protestants in France for
several Years together, to the Pre-
judice of the Edict of Nantes, and its



The Preface.. 1 7

dismal consequences to the begin-
ning of the Year 1686. 'Tis likewise
a solemn Protestation of above 150,-
000 Refugees in several Protestant
States, who both for themselves and
their Brethren, that could not escape
the hands of the Dragoons, do call
to Heaven and Earth for vengence of
the outrages done to them or their
Relations, as also for the Cruelties
still exercis'd against those that have
the misfortune to be yet kept in
Prisons, Dungeons, Convents, or Gal-
leys, for the sake of their Religion, to
the prejudice of Natural Rights,
Treaties, Public Faith, Edicts, Prom-
ises and Oaths. 'Tis to be hoped
there are other writers since Mr.
Claude^ who wall have gather'd to-
gether the further Transactions re-
lating to this subject, in order to
transmit the Memory thereof to Pos-
terity, inspight of the Disguises and
Lies, the Authors of those Evils, and
malicious Reports have spread a-