Historical Defense of the Reformation, Dedication – Translators note
The Epiſtle Dedicatory of the Author, To the Right Honourable The MARQUESS of RUVIGNY, Lieutenant-General of His Majeſties Armies, AND General Deputy of the Proteſtants in FRANCE.
MY LORD,
MY firſt thoughts after I had read the Books of the Prejudices, were, not to write any Anſwer to it: For beſides that I ſaw in that Book nothing elſe but the ſame Accuſations from which our Fathers and we have already been frequently juſtified; and that moreover they were wrote there in ſo extreamly paſſionate and invenomed a stile, for my own particular I did not think my ſelf bound to follow every where thoſe perſons who ſeem to make it their deſign to load me with the number of their Volumes, affecting to take me for a Party in all the Works that they daily publiſh, and even in thoſe that are moſt remote from the chief Subject of our Controverſy. Yet when I perceived the loud Out-cries that theſe Gentlemen and their followers made about their Prejudices, to draw the applauſe of the World to themſelves, as if they had ſilenced us, and our Reformation remained over thrown under the weight of their Victory, I judged it neceſſary to enter upon this new labour, and the deference that I had for thoſe who exhorted me to undertake it, has brought forth this Treatiſe that I now give to the publick. Thoſe who ſhall take the pains to read it, will find that I have not meerly tied my ſelf to the Book that I confute, but that to ſave my ſelf the labour of doing it at twice, I have conſidered the matter in its firſt Principles, and examinëd it in its juſt extent, that I might be the better able to judge of it. I acknowledg the Subject Treated on required more Learning, readineſs, and leaſure then I was maſter of, but it may be alſo they will find in the plain and natural way wherein I have handled it, ſomething more eaſy, then if I had employed more Art and Meditation in it. It is this makes me hope, that when I ſhall not fully have anſwered the expectations of thoſe who have engaged me in this work, yet they will not read this Defence without ſome ſatiſfaction, However it be, My Lord, I take the boldneſs to preſent it to you, and to entreat the favour of you to receive it as a token of the acknowledgment that I have for ſo much goodneſs as you have teſtified towards me. I am perſwaded that thoſe of our Communion in this Kingdom will very heartily conſent, that my weak pen ſhould alſo expreſs the ſentiments that they all have of your perſon, and of the cares that you take to uphold their common intereſts. I will alſo affirm, that your Merit is ſo generally acknowledged, that when nothing ſhall be diſputed, but the just praiſes that are due to your prudence, to the wiſdom that appears throughout your whole Conduct, to the inviolable Principles of Honour and Juſtice that are the perpetual Rules of your Actions, and in a word to the great and ſolid Vertues that you practiſe with ſuch exactneſs, they can aſſure themſelves that there will be no difference about that, between thoſe of the one and the other Communion. But all thoſe Qualities that they take notice of in You, how Rich and Reſplendent ſoever they are, even in the eyes of thoſe who are deſtitute of them, would be nothing elſe but falſe dazling light, if they were not accompanied with real Piety, which only gives a value to all the Moral Virtues. You are not ignorant, My Lord, you, in whom we ſaw it but a few Months ago, how your Soul ready to take its flight, trembled and remained confounded in the view of all that humane. Righteouſneſs, and that you could find no reſt in your Spirit, any where elſe, then in the boſom of Religion and Piety. This alone was that which gave you the Tranquillity of Soul, which taught all thoſe who had the honour to come near your Bed, after what manner a good man who could reſt aſſured of Gods Mercy, and the Grace of Jeſus Chriſt, might look Death in the Face. It is this that has yet prolonged your days, or to ſpeak better, that has reſtored Life to you by an extraordinary bleſſing of heaven, little different from that which Hezechias heretofore received as the fruit of his humiliation and prayer.
Continue, MY LORD, to lay out that life which has been given you again, in the ſervice of God, and in the employments to which your calling engages you, and of which you have ſo great an account to render. Thoſe employments are certainly difficult, and if I may take the boldneſs to ſay it, they are oppreſſing, through their quality, through their numbers, and through the accidents that either accompany or follow them. But he who has called you to them, will give you ability to diſcharge them, and will ſhed abroad his bleſſing upon your cares, as far as ſhall be neceſſary for his own glory and the good of the people, in whoſe favour you labour, and he himſelf will one day give you a reward for all thoſe toilſome Labours.
Although you do not need to be excited to do good, yet I take the confidence to hope, that you will be ſome way encouraged in the Duties of your place, by the reading of this Work, which will more and more diſcover to you the Juſtice of it. You will ſee therein the Conduct of our Fathers justified, in regard of their Reformation and Separation from the Church of Rome; and by conſequence you will therein ſee not only the Right that we have, but the Obligation and indiſpenſable Neceſſity alſo wherein we are, to live apart and divided from that Church, and united among our ſelves, in a Religious and Chriſtian Society, till it ſhall pleaſe God to make the Cauſes of that Diviſion ceaſe, and joyn again that which men, I would ſay what the Court of Rome and her Council of Trent, have put aſunder. That Re-Ʋnion is a Happineſs that wee will alwayes beg of God with the moſt ardent Prayers, and which we will receive as one of his higheſt Favours, if his hand ſhould beſtow it. But it is alſo a thing which it is impoſſible for us to promiſe our ſelves: while we ſhall not ſee the ſame deſire of a good and holy Reformation (which was almoſt general in our Weſt in the daies of our Fathers) to be again revived in the Church of Rome; which yet they knew how to ſtifle with incredible ſkill. An Authour of thoſe Times, who himſelf contributed as much as any other to clude the good effects of that deſire, has not failed to own it, and which is more, to own it to be juſt. I do not deny, ſaies he, Caſſander Conſult. art. de Eccleſ.that many at the beginning were not urged by a motion of Piety, earneſtly to cry out againſt ſome manifeſt Abuſes, and I confeſs, that we muſt attribute the chief cauſe of that Diviſion that at preſent rends the Church, to thoſe who being puff'd up with a vain pride, under a pretence of Eccleſiaſtical power, contemned and haughtily and diſdainfully rejected thoſe who admoniſh'd them with reaſon and modeſty. And imediately after that ſame Author reaſoning about the means to re-eſtabliſh a holy peace between the two parties; I do not believe, adds he, that we ought ever to hope for a firm peace in the Church, if thoſe who have been the cauſe of that dis-union do not begin by themſelves; that is to ſay, unleſſe thoſe who have the Eccleſiaſtical Government in their hands, relaxe a little of that great rigour, and contribute ſomething to the peace of the Church, and unleſſe in hearkning to the ardent prayers and exhortations of the greateſt part of good men, they apply themſelves to reform thoſe manifeſt abuſes, by the Rule of the holy Scriptures and of the Antient Church, from which they have wandred. After this manner a man engaged in the Communion and Intereſts of the Church of Rome, ſpake, even in the Time of the Councill of Trent. He would indeed after that, have us alſo, whom he accuſes to have gone too far in the other extream, yield ſomething on our ſide, and that we ſhould return, as he ſpeaks, to our ſelves; but it ought not to be thought ſtrange that he being ſuch a one as he was, would lenify by that corrective the confeſſion that he made before, and it is enough for us that he has owned the force of the evil, and taken notice of the true and only remedy. God who holds the hearts of all in his hand, kindle in them the love of the true Religion, and give us all the grace to look to the Blood that has ranſomed the Church, and that firſt Spirit who conſecrated it to one onelyonly Jeſus Christ her Lord and Huſband. For it is he only who can re-unite us; without me ſates he, ye can do nothing; and he that gathereth not with me, ſcattereth abroad. I pray that the ſame God who has given you the knowledge of his Goſpell, would make you perſevere in it to the end; that he would confirm his love and fear in the ſouls of my Lords your children, who already ſo well anſwer the honour of their birth, and the cares you have taken for their Education; and laſtly, that he would more and more ſhed abroad his bleſſings over your perſon, and over all your houſe. This is that which I deſire from the bottom of my heart, and that you would do me the favour to believe that
I am, My LORD, Your Lordſhips Moſt Humble and Moſt Obedient Servant CLAƲDE.
The ATTESTATION.
WE whoſe names are underwritten, certify that we have read the Anſwer of Monſieur Claude our moſt honoured Colleague, to a Book Intituled, The Prejudices, &c. in which we have found nothing contrary to the Sentiments of the Religion which we profeſs. Signed at Paris the nine and twentieth of November, 1672.
DAILLE'
MESNARD.
The Reader is deſired to take notice, That the word Hiſtorical, in the Running-Title, was inſerted without the Tranſlators knowledge or Conſent.