The secret history of White-Hall, from the restoration of Charles II down to the abdication of the late K. James writ at the request of a noble lord, and conveyed to him in letters, by ̲̲̲late secretary-interpreter to the Marquess of Louvois, who by that means had the perusal of all the private minutes between England and France for many years : the whole consisting of secret memoirs, which have hitherto lain conceal'd, as not being discoverable by any other hand / publish'd from the original papers, by D. Jones, gent.

LETTER VI. (Book 6)

Of the Unjust Complaints of the French Clergy, against the Reformed in France.

My Lord,

THE Ruin of the Reformed in this Kingdom is as much precipitated, as that of a Protestant Church is designed some∣where else, and which I believe your Lord∣ship, by this time, is pretty well per∣swaded of; and to this end the Popish Cler∣gy have accosted the King with a severe Remonstrance against them, the sum where∣of, for want of more entertaining News, I shall write to your Lordship at this time: They began with the hardiest Lie they could have invented, saying, That there was nothing included in their Complaint, but what was most necessary, and could be most clearly jnstified and made good. Whereas it is most evident, that every ti∣tle of it tends to Destroy and Persecute, and is grounded upon the most manifest Falsities in the World: then they begin to charge the Reformed with Calumniating, and falsly Accuting the Catholicks, that they did not believe the Truths of the Faith, as they express it; whereas the Protestant Divines here, have so far been complyant, as to testifie from time to time, that the

Roman Church retained still those Truths that were Essential to Christianity, In that she makes Profession to Believe in one God in three; the Incarnation of the Son of God; the Redemption of Sinners by the Price of his Blood; and divers other Arti∣cles contained in the Antient Creeds; then they proceeded, saying, That the design of the Pastoral Advertisement in 1681, was to oblige the Reformed to acknowledge, that their Separation was not grounded but up∣on Suppositions and Jealousies, and they hugged themselves, that the many Conversi∣ons which had been wrought since that time, have been almost all procured by this consi∣deration; which they call an Invincible Ar∣gument, that as there could never have been any Just Cause of Separation, all those alleadged by the pretended Reformed, could never have any sollidity; That the Protestant Ministers did their utmost to hinder the People to profit by that same Advertisement, either by deterring of them from Reading of the same, or else by giving false Explications thereof, as they were wont to do of the Holy Scriptures, and Works of the Fathers: Adding farther, That the Exercise of the Reformed Re∣ligion had been permitted by the King's Predecessors, provisionally only, and by rea∣sons which have no longer subsistance: that tho' the Clergy had very good Reasons to urge it so as to require a Revocation of the

Edicts which contained this permission, yet that it was not their present design to insist upon that Point: that it was now the only favour they pray'd for, for to re∣press the Calumnies of the Reformed against the Roman Church, which were not, and which could not be allowed by any Edict, being an unhappy Liberty, which the Mi∣nisters themselves might be ashamed of: that such a supposition and Calumny were Crimes Condemn'd by all Laws both Hu∣mane and Divine, and that the Reformed durst not maintain, that those excesses ought to be permitted, nor to make their Complaints, if the King should forbid them to commit them.

Then they went to speak of the Method they had thought on, to make the King acquainted with the truth of their Com∣plaints: they drew up in Two Collumnes the Doctrine of the Church of Rome, and that, which they said, the Reformed imputed to them, to the end it might be easier for the King to compare them; and said most Ma∣lignantly, That they had avoided the Rela∣ting of many thing; which exceeded all the bounds of Modesty, and which St. Paul himself would not have as much as named amon•• the Faithful, to the end they might create a Suspicion, by these pretended Ca∣lumnies, of somewhat that was yet blacker then what had appear'd in the passages which they had recited. They protested,

that they would never have made any com∣plaint of the Reformed, had the matters in question referred only to the Persons of the Bishops; and that on the contrary, they would have been content to be depri∣ved of their Power, in order to testifie, by their Patience, and voluntary Forgetful∣ness of those Outrages that were done them, that singular Charity which they re∣tained for them; but that they could not neglect the Honour of the Church, attack'd by the Calumny of the Ministers, nor the Conversion and Salvation of a great num∣ber of her Children, which they retained in the Error of their false suppositions; wherefore they concluded after all, that the King would be pleased to repress a Malignity that was so contrary to the Prin∣ciples of Christianity, as also to the Rules of Natural Justice; and that consequently,

1. That he would renew the Prohibiti∣ons already made to the Reformed of using Injurious and Opprobrious Terms, in speak∣ing of the Articles and Mysteries of the Ro∣man Faith.

2. That he should forbid them to attri∣bute to the Catholick Faith any other Doctrine then that of its profession of Faith, nor any of those Errors which they had had till then, the rashness to impute unto her.

You need not doubt, my Lord, of the Success of this Remonstrance, and of a De∣claration in time, Answering all the Points hereof to the full. There is room enough for Reflecting upon the Courts Conduct herein, but I shall forbear that part, leaving it entire∣ly to your Lordship's known Wisdom and Judgment, and crave leave both now and al∣ways, to profess how much I am, and desire to approve my self to be,

My Lord,

Your Honours to Serve and Obey.

Paris, Nov. 27. 1685. N. S.