The Acts of Famous National Councils of the Reformed Churches in France, Introduction 2 · Section 26
SECT. XXVI.
If a man be ſick, and by reaſon of poverty is carried to the Hoſpital, his Entertainment will be very harſh and cruel; unleſs he renounceth his Religion, he ſhall have no attendance, but die miſerably. A Daniſh Gentleman was carried to the Hoſpital at Paris, called l' Hoſtel Dieu, being mortally wounded; The Papiſts earneſtly preſs him to renounce his Hereſie, but finding him fixt and immoveable in it, they make uſe of falſe Apparitions of ſuppoſed Devils, appearing with a Death's Head, in which they had put lighted Candles, telling this poor young Gentleman, that he ſhould be damned, if he did not change his Religion, and of a Lutheran become a Catholick. They follow him ſo often and cloſely with theſe Mormo's, that being worn out with terrors, he died in deſpair. This happened Jan. 24. 1666.
The Liberty of Conſcience formerly granted is miſerably abridged, and the Inquiſition in effect ſet up; no Proteſtant daring to diſcover his Faith before the Papiſts, leſt he ſhould be proſecuted for Blaſphemy.
The Sick cannot lye quiet in their Beds, in their own Houſes, no more than in Hoſpitals, without being perſecuted with the continual Sollicitations of Prieſts and Monks to change their Religion, they having got liberty to enter their Houſes at pleaſure, which to dying men, tho' never ſo well ſetled in their Religion, muſt needs be a very grievous torment.
The Prieſts with this Licence do frequently and falſly pretend, that the deceaſed party by ſigns or otherwiſe diſcovered a deſire, that their Children ſhould be bred up in the Popiſh Religion. Thus did they deal with Monſieur Roſſell, a Miniſter in Xaintonge.
If a man in a violent Feaver, tho' under a delirium, do but let fall the leaſt expreſſion, the Prieſt ſnatcheth at it immediately, and pretends there is a real Converſion, and then all the Friends and Relations of this delirious perſon are driven out of the Chamber, even his own Wife and his Children are taken into cuſtody. And if he chance to recover, they will force him to go to Maſs, or elſe put the Decree againſt Apoſtates in execution againſt him.
If a ſick man be in his right ſenſes, they will then by ſubtil inſnaring Queſtions interrogate him, whether he would not imbrace a true Faith, a good, ſound and orthodox Doctrine, and whether he deſireth not to die in the boſom of the true Church. If he anſwer, that he doth, or not, 'tis all as one, he is perſecuted to death. Take an inſtance or two out of Les derniers Efforts de l' Innocence affligée, p. 62, 63, 64.
In the Suburbs of St. Marcel in Paris, a poor Woman lay delirious, The Commiſſary and Prieſts of the Pariſh enter into her Chamber, drive out all her Relations and Friends that attended her, and made her ſpeak what they pleaſed; then they go and fetch the conſecrated Hoſt and holy Oils for her viaticum: and leſt any one in their abſence ſhould get into the Chamber, they lock it, and carry away the Key with them. In the mean while this ſick Woman returns to her right ſenſes, but is affrighted at the ſight of a Croſs at her Bed's foot, which they had left behind them. She immediately conjectures what had befallen her during her delirium; and thereupon ariſeth, goeth to the door to ſave herſelf; but finding it ſhut, ſhe reſolves to eſcape by the window. This was too bold an Enterpriſe for ſo feeble a creature; and as ſhe was ſliding down from the third ſtory, ſhe falls upon the Pavement, and with the violence of the fall, dieth in the place.
There was another ſorrowful Accident at Ville Dieu, a Village in Poictou. The Curate and Sexton of the Pariſh viſit an aged perſon upon his ſick bed. They drive away from him all his Children, terribly threatning them, that if ever they came near him any more they ſhould be hanged. Theſe poor Creatures terrified with theſe and other Perſecutions, which they had already ſuffered, fled into the Woods, not daring to return to aſſiſt their afflicted Father. In their abſence the old man ſtands his ground ſtoutly, againſt all the Aſſaults, Temptations and Vexations of this Irreligious Curate and Sexton; and finding they could not prevail upon him, they at laſt forſake him. This poor man was now left ſuccourleſs, and dies of famine. For when he was found dead, he had eaten the fleſh off his Hands for hunger.