The Acts of Famous National Councils of the Reformed Churches in France, 28 (3rd Charenton) · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. A Copy of the Second Letter writ unto the King.
Sire,
17. WE have deputed the Sieurs de L' Angle and Cottiby Paſtors, and de Morande and Pellue Elders, to lay at your Majesty's Feet our moſt humble Thanks for your great Goodneſs, (we having, opened and finiſhed our Synod under your Royal Authority) and to petition your Majeſty, as we do from the very bottom of our Souls, that you would hear graciouſly the moſt humble Requeſts of your moſt faithful and moſt obedient Subjects of our Religion, who in divers parts of this Kingdom are mourning and groaning for being deprived of the means of ſerving God according to the Dictates of their Conſciences, and that Liberty which hath been granted by the Kings, your Majeſty's Predeceſſors, of moſt glorious Memory, and confirmed by your Majeſty, at your firſt coming to the Crown, unto them. They do alſo ſorrowfully complain, that through the Rigour of ſome of your Officers, they be excluded all Employments; and cannot, though they have ſerved Apprenticeſhips, be admitted to ſet up as Masters for themſelves in any one kind of Trade whatſoever: Such injurious Actions as theſe, quite contrary to the intention of your Edicts, depriving them of all honeſt ways of gaining their Livelyhoods, as your Majesties other Subjects do. Theſe things, Sire, ſhall be more particularly reported in our Bill of Grievances, which we preſume to preſent unto you, and to which we hope your Majeſty will vouchſafe us a favourable Anſwer: That ſo your Throne being ſupported by Piety and Juſtice during your Majeſty's moſt happy Reign, Mercy and Truth may meet together, Righteouſneſs and Peace may kiſs and embrace each other, and all ſorts of Vertues may abound and flouriſh, and Heaven may pour down its most precious Benedictions upon your Sacred Perſon and People: And after you have lived many a long Year, enjoyed the Glorious Victories, and magnificent Triumphs of David, the continunl Peace, Felicity and Riches of Solomon, we may end our days praiſing God, and bleſſing your Majeſty, and leave unto our Poſterity after us this Title, in which, Sire, we do moſt and principally glory, of being for ever,
From Charenton, January 26th, 1645. Sire, Your Majeſties moſt Humble, moſt Faithful, and moſt Obedient Subjects and Servants, the Paſtors and Elders aſſembled in our National Synod by your Majeſties Permiſſion at Charenton, and in the Name of all.
Garriſſoles Moderator.
Baſnage Aſſeſſor.
Scribes.
Blondel and
Le Coq.
A Copy of the Second Letter written by the Synod unto the Queen.
Madam,
AS we began this Aſſembly with moſt ſincere Profeſſions and Proteſtations of our inviolable Loyalties, ſo do we now conclude it with our moſt humble Thanks and Acknowledgment for your Majeſty's Bounty and Clemency extended to us. We ſhould, Madam, be taxed with Ingratitude, if we had not a deep Senſe of the King's and your Favours, becauſe it was through your Majeſties gracious Permiſſion that we obtained the Priviledg of Convening in this Synod. Incomparable is the Wiſdom of your Regency, who now ſit at the Helm of the French Empire, and govern it with ſuch Happineſs, that whilſt the Neighbour Kingdoms are ſhattered to pieces with the dreadful Stems of War, France only enjoyeth a moſt happy Calm, a moſt bleſſed and peaceful Tranquility. We have had the Happineſs to follow our Buſineſs quietly, and to meet with no diſturbance during the whole Seſſion, under the Covert of your Royal Protection. And your Majeſty hath deigned another Addition to your former Favours, in granting us a General Deputy, by whoſe mouth our moſt humble Petitions may come into your Sacred Preſence; and you have from the Fountain of your Liberality poured out ſo many Illuſtrious Tokens of your Grace and Bounty upon us, that our Hearts are most ſenſibly affected with Gratitude unto your Majeſty. And therefore have we once more preſumed to ſend the Sieurs de L'Angle and Cottiby Paſtors, together with the Sieurs de Morande and Pellue Elders, to tender unto your Majeſty our moſt humble and repeated Thanksgivings, and to implore the Protection of your Sovereign Juſtice for all thoſe, who living in Communion with us under the benefit of your Edicts, confirmed by his Majeſty at his firſt coming unto the Crown, do yet ſuffer, contrary to your Intention, and to your Royal Clemency, very many and ſore Troubles in all the Provinces of the Kingdom. If, Madam, an aſſurance of having numberleſs Hearts at your Devotion, Hearts burning with Zeal and Love for the Service of our lawful Prince, and who be rooted through an inviolable Fidelity in this Generous Deſign, never in the least to yield to any of your People in any Points of Duty, in the moſt abſolute and moſt entire Obedience, and who are immovably reſolved to live and die in your and his Majeſty's Service, be capable of exciting our just Hopes, We, Madam, will live in this Perſuaſion, that we ſhall gain and merit the continuance of your Favour, which will be an univerſal Remedy for all our Maladies; that ſo to the natural Obligations of Loyal Subjects, of truly Godly Chriſtians, we may have theſe alſo ſuperadded, of Servants, loaden and enriched with your Royal Favours and Benefits, and who deſire only to enjoy our Lives, that we may ſpend them in moſt ardent Prayers, for the preſervation of the Sacred Perſon of our King, the dear Son of your Majeſty, a King obtain'd of God by the common united Supplications of all France, that the Divine Bleſſing may be upon his blooming Youth, that his Scepter may be eſtabliſhed, which is now ſupported by your Majeſty's Hands, to the perpetual Glory of your Majeſty. We being for ever,
From Charenton, January 26th, 1645. Madam, Of Your Sacred Majeſty, The moſt Humble, the moſt Faithful, and moſt Obedient Subjects and Servants, the Paſtors and Elders aſſembled in the National Synod at Charenton, and in the Name of them all.
Garriſſoles Moderator.
Baſnage Aſſeſſor.
Scribes.
Blondel &
Le Coq.