YOur Majesty may peradventure by surpriz'd to find , that after all those great and advantageous things , your Majesty has already done for the benefit of the Church , this same Church should again this day , by her principal Ministers , pour out her Remonstrances and Complaints at the foot of your Royal Throne , and implore your Sovereign Authority against the attempts of those who are Enemies to Religion .

If , Sir , we should here suffer our selves to be wholly govern'd by the motions of our own hearts , we should then only raise our voices to make the World echo with the many and great acknowledgements the Church of France so strictly owes to your Majesties Piety and Vertue : But her immediate and pressing necessities oppose that Inclination , and compel us for some short space to suspend the Transports of our Gratitude , that we may represent to your Majesty , what you have yet remaining to do for the entire Re-establishment of Religion , wherein the principal point of our happiness does consist .

And that which does most encourage and embolden us to satisfie this pressing duty , is , that we are assur'd we have the honour to speak to a King already prepossest in our favour ; and although the hearts of Kings , according to the Oracle of the Scipture , are inscrutable , we nevertheless very well discern in that of your Majesty , your religious intentions for the Church . Piety inhabits that great , that magnanimous heart , an interiour Advocate , that pleads for us much better than we can for our selves .

Besides , Sir , what is past is a sufficient Warranty to us for what is to come , the glorious Testimonies that Religion has , upon all occasions , receiv'd of your Majesties Christian zeal , the Demolition of so many Temples that Violence had erected to the Idol of Errour ; the suppression of so many Colledges , which were the Seminaries of Perdition , wherein they infected our over credulous youth with the poyson of Untruth , the withdrawing your Majesties Royal Grace and Favour ; and those other ways mixt with severity and sweetness , contriv'd by your own Piety and Wisdom to reduce those straying Souls into the Paths of Salvation : All these great advantages , which ought to be Objects of an Eternal Gratitude to the Church , are to us almost certain presages , that your Majesty will finish what you have so happily begun , and give the last stroke to this monstrous Hydra of Heresie .

Your Majesty , Sir , may easily perfect the Work , in doing that for the particular good of Religion , which you have already done in regulating the Administration of publick Justice . You have , Sir , acquired to your self the praise and admiration of Forreign Nations , as well as those of your own People , by the Reformation of the Politic Laws of your Kingdom : Attract , Sir , also the Benedictions of Heaven upon your Person and Posterity , by reforming those Edicts and Declarations which sole Necessity , and the disorder of Affairs have wrested from the hands of the King's your Predecessors . And there are some also crept in even in these later times , which require you Majesties Application , to which the malignity of Heretics gives so false colour , and so many pernitious Interpretations , that we cannot avoid preferring our submissive Complaints , and humbly to apply our selves to your Majesty for redress .

If we will believe these Enemies of our Religion , we are not only not permitted to endeavour the Conversion of Children not yet arriv'd to fourteen years of age ; but are also forbid to receive them into the bosom of the Church , when inspir'd by God himself to desire it . But these wilfully blind People do not see , that there are things in the Order of the Church , which cannot properly be the business of Humane Regulation , forasmuch as they are already regulated by the express , either natural or positive Laws of God : They do not discern that this is to offer violence to your Majesties Zeal , Piety and Justice . For were it not in fine , to endeavour to prescribe Limits to the Divine Mercy , and to subject the Grace of the Almighty to the Authority of Humane Laws ? Our God is no more a respecter of Ages , than of Persons , saith St. Cyprian , his Spirit blows where and when it pleases him , without being subject either to time , or the Laws of men ; and if it be a Crime worthy the severest Chastisement from God , to shut a man's eyes against the Light of Truth , and to resist the Divine Attractions of Grace , is it possible , without being criminal , to shut the doors of the Church against those , who by this same Grace are brought unto it ? We are , as well as St. Paul was , Debtors to all , to Greeks and Barbarians , to the wise , and to the ignorant ; and should we deny the Bread of the Word of Life to poor Children , who desire to be instructed by us ! Should we see these innocent Souls , who are the most perfect Images of the Son of God , and the true Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven , perish before our eyes ! The Saviour of the World commands , that such be suffered to come unto him ; and shall it not be lawful for us to take them by the hand ? According to these false Maxims of the Heretics , our duty should be oppos'd against our duty , and we should , Sir , find our selves reduced to the sad necessity either of violating the Laws of God , to observe yours ; or of violating yours , to observe the Laws of God . But we are far from believing , that this can be comformable to the intentions of the most just and clear sighted of all Kings : The Rules of Christianity and Religion are too deep engraven in your Majesties Royal heart , to suffer such dangerous interpretations as these , and to clear all manner of doubt in so important an affair .

We are formerly permitted to go visit the sick of the pretended Reform'd Religion , without being call'd ; and we found by happy experience , that many who all the the time of their lives , had been obstinate Confederates with Errour , became at their death faithful Confessors of the Truth : The sickness that weakned their Bodies , serv'd to fortifie their Faith ; disabus'd with the vanities of the World , they more Willingly gave ear to the admonitions of Conscience ; the approaches of death , dissipated the illusions of life ; and whether it were that Grace was no more strong , or that their hearts were grown more flexible to Instruction , their souls , even when half separated from the body , began with pleasure to relish Christian Verities . But how go matters now since we have been forbid to visit these sick persons ? what desires soever these poor Wretches have to reconcile themselves to God and the Church , how importunate soever they are to have Priest , who is that Charitable man in the Gospel whose assistance they stand in need of , to plunge them into the healing Pool of Repentance ? Those about them oppose these just desires , not one will do that good Office for them , and all their Friends conspire to stifle these good Dispositions , or to render them fruitless ; and pretending them to be but idle ravings of an Imagination disordered by the violence of the Disease , with all possible caution and endeavour , hinder the Church from being made acquainted with it . What can there be then , Sir , more just to remedy so criminal a Vexation , than to suffer the Pastors of the Church , unsent for , to go and visit these sick persons , to the end they may truly discover their real Inclination ? Is it not to allow those of the Religion a sufficient Toleration , and full liberty of Conscience , seeing it is to make them absolute Masters of their own free choice even to death , and to take order , that Parents and Relations may not exercise over them the most insolent and cruel of all Tyrannies , in taking this Liberty from them ?

But being , Sir , it would be the greatest rudeness and injustice , too much to abuse your Majesties more precious leisure , we shall pass over the other grievances we have to represent , in silence ; of which also the Commissioners your Majesty has graciously appointed to be present at our Conferences , may give a more full account : But , Sir , the goodness of God prompts us to renew one most humble request ; a Suit that we have often preferr'd , but shall never cease to sigh , till your Majesty shall do us the grace to grant it . Which is by a solemn Law , and that under very severe penalties , to forbid all your Catholick Subjects to change their Religion , seeing that this pretended Liberty of Conscience is look'd upon by all the Catholics , as a Precipice set before their feet , as a Pit-fall made to trap their simplicity , and as a door set open to all manner of Licenciousness . Take from them , Sir , take from them this fatal Liberty , and settle them in a blessed necessity of being always faithful . Such a Law as this cannot possibly interfere with the Edicts that permit Liberty of Conscience , forasmuch as those Edicts having only respect to them , by whom they were with the greatest importunity solicited , and for whom alone they were made , can no ways comprehend the Catholics , by whom they have ever been loath'd and abhorr'd .

Besides , Sir , if these of the Reform'd Religion are tolerated to continue in their false Belief , why shall not the Catholics be permitted to bind themselves fast and firm to the true Religion , by all the Ties that may prevent the inconstancy of Humane Fancy ? The Law , Sir , that we humbly propose to your Majesty is the strongest of all those Ties , and in imposing it upon your Catholic Subjects , your Majesty will not fortifie their own resolutions , yield to their own desires , authorize their own wishes , and fasten , as I may say , the sacred Knots by which they desire irrevocably to bind themselves to the Faith of the Holy Church : And we have reason , Sir , to hope your Majesty will not deny them a means they intreat from you of assuring their Salvation ; or rather that you will not deny it to God Almighty , who this day by my mouth requires it at your hands .

What Sir , can you deny him , after all the Prosperities he had showr'd upon your head ? What Success has he not bless'd your Arms withal , when animated by your Royal Presence ? It appears as if your Enemies were multiplied to no other end , but only to multiply your Victories . All your Campagns have been signal , either by the taking of some considerable Place , or some Province , and your Majesty has so accustom'd us to see nothing in the History of your Reign , but Victory upon Victory , and Conquest upon Conquest ; that having made us to forget that the chance of Arms is uncertain , it now appears strange , that it can be so much as once contrary to us .

Is it not to God that you stand oblig'd for these glorious Successes ? Yes doubtless , Sir , it is ; and it now remains , that you give the last and highest Testimony of your Acknowledgment , by making use of your Authority for the utter Extirpation of Heresie .

Your Majesty has done nothing hitherto for the glory of your Name , that can parallel the Renown of such an Enterprize . Actions that point at Religion , carry with them a Character of Glory , that other Exploits , how Heroic soever , can pretend no Title to : That which is enough to create a Hero in War , is not sufficient to make a Hero in Religion : The Re-establishment of Altars in a conquer'd Country , is more glorious than the Conquest it self : Catholics restor'd to liberty , do better adorn a Triumph , than conquer'd E●●●●●s , and the Titles of Protector of the Faith , and Defendor of the Church , sound much better in christian ears , than those of Conqueror and Invincible .

O how happy had the Church been , if the Jealousie of your Enemies would have suffered your Majesties zeal to have acted at its own liberty and full extent ! We should then , Sir , no more need to petition you in the behalf of Religion : Your Majesty had prevented our desires , and even out-done our greatest expectation . Your Enemies , 't is true , have attempted to thwart your great and pious designs ; but , Sir , these weak oppositions , ought only to serve to augment the force of your zeal . Let these Maligners of your Glory , and the Prosperity of the Church , learn to their cost , to know , that you can at the same time both sight for your Dominions , and labour for Religion ; that like those Illustrious Restaurators of the Old Jerusalem , you can hold your Sword in one hand , and build the Walls of the Holy City with the other . That is to say , that you can at once both make your Enemies feel the power of your Arms , and the Enemies of God feel the power of your Laws .

It is , 't is true , sometimes an Heroic Vertue in those who command the Reins of Empire , and to whom all things ought to be submitted , themselves to give place to time , and to certain Conjunctures that happen in affairs : But , Sir , here the Cause of God is only in question ; consult nothing but your heart in this case , resign your self up to the Conduct of your own zeal , do as your Piety shall inspire you ; the zeal of the House of God has sometimes holy Transports , preferable to that equal temper , which is the perfection of all other Vertues ; and the same God who is the mover of those religious Sallies , is Warranty for their Event .

What ought you not to expect from that transcendent Genius , that raises you so high above the rest of men ? What ought you not to expect from that Supreme Valour , the too liberal Fountain , 't is true , of our fears and apprehensions for your Majesties safety ; but that renders you , Sir , the terror of your Enemies .

What glory will it be to your Majesty , when future Ages shall know , that if the Kingdom of France , happy under your Reign , has withdrawn and pull'd in its Frontiers on every side , the Church more happy has extended hers into the heart of France . Posterity will then know , that if the felicity of Augustus , occasioned the felicity of his Dominions , the felicity of Lewis the Great , has created the felicity both of his Kingdom and the Church ; and they will then also know , that as this Spouse of Jesus Christ has delivered you in Baptism from the servitude of sin , you also delivered her in your Kingdom , from the oppression of Heresie ; that as she admits you to the participation of her Sacraments , you have admitted her to a share in your Victories ; and in a word , that as she daily sacrifices upon her Altars whatever she has of more precious and adorable for the Conservation of your sacred Person , you have also sacrific'd your most precious time , and best endeavours , to procure her all the advantages she either can , or ought to expect from a most Christian Prince .

Your Majesty then , Sir , sees your self engag'd both in Piety to God , and upon the account of your own particular Glory , to support the Interest of Religion . What , Sir , can we more desire ? We have nothing more to beg of you , in order to the Gratification of our desires for the Prosperity of the Church , and shall never think we hazard the Cause of God , when whe absolutely resign our selves with an entire confidence to your Majesties perfect Wisdom , and Powerful Protection .