AN APPEAL TO ALL Protestant Kings, Princes, and States: Concerning the Apparent Danger of the Protestant Religion; And the Great Decay of its Interest in EUROPE.  
With a most Awakening Account of the Unjust and Cruel Methods for the Destruction thereof, that are Practised in several Countries.  
LONDON, Printed for Brabazon Alymer, at the Three Pigeons over-against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill, 1700.   

AN APPEAL TO ALL Protestant Kings, Princes and States, etc.  
NExt to the Blessing of Christianity itself, we have reason to Thank God for the Reformation, upon many Accounts. Hereby the Holy Scriptures were restored to us, which for many Ages were kept from the Laity; or locked up in an unknown Tongue.  
Hereby was our Holy Religion restored to its Native Purity; all those gross Corruptions having been purged from it, with which the Church of Rome had so defiled it, that it became, in Abundance of Instances, a quite different Religion from that which the Apostles Preached; and for which they suffered Martyrdom; and in too many, even a perfectly Contrary Religion.  
And hereby, Consequently, our hopes of Heaven are confirmed, and better grounded. We are hereby put into a much better and surer way of Pleasing God, and of Saving our Souls. And are not these Unvaluable Blessings?  
In short, it was the Reformation that restored to us true Christianity, and after our Blessed Sviour's Mind; and free us from a Religion which was devised, merely to serve the Secular Interests of the Bishop and Church of Rome.  
Nay we may Urge farther, that all good and useful Learning Revived, and now Flourisheth under it. And we may say also, that it hath greatly benefited the World by establishing Men in their just Rights, those which they were born to, and which God and Nature most manifestly designed for them; by discountenancing Arbitrary Power and Tyranny. Nothing hath been more observed, than that where the Reformation is embraced, the Government hath kept more within its due bounds; as where Popery prevails, Arbitrary Power doth most bear sway. And no Wonder; for if Moral Men can dispose Arbitrarily of Heaven itself, much more allowable is it, that they should Absolutely dispose of the things of this Life.  
And before the Reformation, the Church of Rome had so abused the World, that whatsoever she defined was a Law to all Christians, though never so contrary to Scripture or Reason. And she being sensible of the Power she had got, had no Mercy or Moderation, in the exercise thereof; but Abrogated Old Doctrines and Practices, taught and enjoined by the Apostles, and their Successors; and made and established new ones as she pleased, and found it her Interest to do. And Mankind were so captivated in their Understandings, that she could Coin no Doctrine so Absurd, or Extravagant, but the People were as ready to swallow it. Witness the Enormous Doctrines of Indulgences for Sins, as they were then Preached; and Transubstantiation.  
And though it pleased God, even in the darkest times, to preserve some few; as in the days of Ahab, who did not submit to the Romish Churches Monstrous Doctrines; did not bow the knee to Baal; but were pure as to most of them; as Primate Usher has most Learnedly showed; that so there might be a visible Church, or Nmber of Christians together, free from such Errors (which hath been a great satisfaction to those, who think such a visibility necessary to the Being of a True Church, and to the fulfilling of our Blessed Saviour's Promises concerning it) yet most part of the Western World was greatly tainted and corrupted with Her Errors. And instead of growing better, she grew every day worse and worse. New Doctrines were Coined, and worse Practices built upon them; and little left but outward Pomp and Splendour; exorbitant Riches and Authority, which our Saviour disclaimed; and no Account was made of that inward Purity, Humility and Meekness of Spirit, which he commended to his Disciples to follow him in.  
But it pleased God, in his good Time, to raise up Martin Luther, and other Reformers, to oppose the great Corruptions of the Romish Church; not by Humane Power, not by Fire and Faggot, or any other such Means as she useth; but by dint of Argument, and the force of Truth; by the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God; and by those very means by which Christianity itself prevailed against Heathenism. And in little more than Forty Years, a Reformation was Established in Four Kingdoms, viz. England, Scotland, Sweden and Denmark; and in many Dukedoms, Principalities and Free Cities in Germany; so that about Two Thirds of that large and populous Country, were become Reform. And the Reformation had got also great footing in other Countries where the Government was still Popish; as in France, Poland, Hungary and Benemia, etc.  
But as it was with Christianity in general, that for the first Four or Five Centuries it did spread farther, than it hath done in above a Thousand Years since. (Nay, it has lost much of that ground, which it had in that time gotten, viz. in Persia, ARabia, Africa, and in all the Turks Dominions) just so fares it with the Reformation. The wonderful Progress it made at first is now stopped, and it plainly goes backward. Which we cannot but ascribe to the just judgement of God, on the gross Carelessness and Unthankfulness of Protestants; they being so far from sufficiently valuing so mighty a Blessing, as neither to take care to propagate it to others, norsincerely to practise it themselves. And next it is to be ascribed to the Cunning, and Unjust and Cruel Methods of our Romish Adversaries, for the Ruining of the Protestant Religion, and Interest every where.  
Some of their Methods we call Cunning, in which it is to be wished that the Protestant Princes and States would imitate them; as their Uniting entirely for the support of their Religion: However they disagree on Secular accounts, they agree against all Protestants of all denominations. Those Popish Princes who are Mortal Enemies to each other, perfectly agree in supporting Popery, and running down the Reformation. So the Emperor and French King, during the late long and bloody War, have as it were laid their Heads together, and taken the same Measures to establish Popery, and destroy the Reformation in their Dominions, and every where else. Whereas the Protestant Princes, if they at all think of their Religion, generally only mind that part which themselves are concerned in; without regarding what becomes of others; as hath been too sadly experimented.  
But they use not only cunning Methods, but even the most Cruel, and Unjust imaginable. And Protestants read of them in the News Papers, and from time to time hear of them, but how few lay them to heart; or so much as Remember in their Prayers the deplorable Condition of other Churches! When they understand the Ruin of the Protestant Religion and Interest in some Places, by Cruel Persecution, Falsehood, and Breach of Faith; or the decay thereof in other places, by Undermining Arts, and diligent Applications, they grow never the Wiser; nor consider how soon this may be their own Case. Nay they will scarce so open their Eyes, as to take notice of those very Arts that are using against themselves, by which others have been destroyed.  
And now to Awaken all, if possible, out of this Lethargy, we will as briefly as may be give an Account, of what they of the Church of Rome have done in other Countries, for the Ruining of the Protestant Religion and Interest; and perhaps afterwards, of what they are now doing against our own Church.  
To give Instances of their Cruelties and Plicies, and of their Success against the Protestant Interest, in the several parts of Europe, is as easy as it is a Melancholy Task.  
As for those beginnings of a Reformation which were entertained, and which spread not a little in ITALY and SPAIN, the Inquisition was let lose upon them; and that bloody and barbarous Tribunal soon extinguished them.  
In BOHEMIA the Reformation was received with so much readiness, 
BOHEMIA.  that in a short time the Protestant Religion became almost the Religion of the Country. Bohemia indeed was ready for it, having struggled for some Ages before against the Usurpations of the Church of Rome, and been prepared not only by the Doctrine, but by the Sufferings of their two Countrymen, John Huss and Jerome of Prague; who had been burnt for their Religion by the Popish Council at Constance, expressly contrary to the Faith given them by the Emperor Sigismond.  
This flourishing of the Protestant Religion in Bohemia was a mighty Eyesore to the Church of Rome, and the Ruin of it was their great aim; and that which one might have hoped to have been the Eternal Establishment of it there, became the fatal opportunity of the Ruin of it; viz. the Election of a Protestant Prince from Germany to be their King.  
To understand how this became the Ruin of the Protestant Interest in Bohemia, it will be necessary to look a little into their sad History. That Kingdom hd been by their Constitution for many Ages Elective, as that great Statesman (who had been so often Ambassador abroad, and to Vienna itself) Sir Thomas Roe, has demonstrated in a Book of his called Regnum Bohemiae Electivum. The Emperors of Germany had among others been sometimes elected their King by the States of the Country; but when the Austrian Family became greater, and had Three of them, Ferdinand, Maximilian and Rodolphus, successively chosen Kings of Bohemia, they had a mind to join it to their other Dominions by making it Hereditary. In order to this, Mathias (who had himself been nominated upon the surrender of the Emperor Rodolphus, with the Consent of the States of the Country) declares his adopted Son Ferdinand Successor to the Crown of Bohemia, without any Election from the States at all. This the States of that Kingdom looking upon as a manifest infraction and subversion of the Liberties of their Nation, They reject Ferdinand, as their States had formerly done to Vladislaus 3d. for the same reasons, and Elect Frederick 5th. Count Palatine of the Rhine, a Protestant Prince, to be their King. This Act of the States is immediately called Rebellion, and the whole Popish Party catch at this opportunity, not only of being revenged on the new King and his Party, but of Extirpating the Protestant Religion out of Bohemia upon it. Popery Flies to its best Argument, that of Arms. Ferdinand, that bitter Enemy of the Protestant Religion, puts the new King under the Imperial Ban, raises a too potent Army against him, and discomifits him at the Battle of Prague. Thus Success puts an end to the New King's Power, ruins all his Friends, and the Protestant Religion in Bohemia; and I cannot but say, it's the greatest blot upon the Memory of all the Protestant Princes of that time, but especially of King James the First of England: He having been so shamefully wanting to so just a Cause, and to his own Son in Law in it.  
Thus fatal was this War to the Protestant Interest in Bohemia; and to convince the World what Regard Popery has to Rights and Laws, the Protestant Religion, and the Civil Rights and Liberties of that Country were ruined together, and both buried in the same Grave.  
The Jesuits, who had before been expelled out of that Kingdom for their wicked Pranks, the great Governors of that Emperor Ferdinand, have reason to triumph in that success against the Protestant Interest; since it not only ruined the Protestant Religion, but restored them there; and gave them for their pains in it such a share of the forfeited Estates of the Exiled Barons and Protestants as is almost incredible: They, that self-denying Order, which minds nothing but the Glory of God, possessing more Lands and Lordships in Bohemia, than the Duke of Tuscany does in Italy.  
They began with Bohemia, where the Protestant Religion is quite destroyed, and this success encouraged them to persecute the same Religion in HUNGARY; where it is almost in the same condition.  
The Reformation was so well received in Hungary, 
HUNGARY.  and so well settled there in the Year 1567., that there were ten Protestants to one Papist, before their late Persecutions; and at least 2500 Protestant Churches in that Kingdom. The Free exercise of it was established by their Laws, and their Kings sworn in their Coronation Oaths to maintain and preserve the same; but what Laws or Oaths signify against the persecuting and bloody Principles of Popery, the present State of the Reformed Religion there will plainly tell us.  
It looks like madness to attack a Religion, when it is become the Religion of the Country; when it has the establishment of the Laws and of the Constitution: but the Popish Clergy were resolved to leave no way untried to ruin the Protestant Religion in Hungary for all that. They only want a tolerable pretext to begin their persecutions of them, and such an one they thought they had got in the Year 1670. There was an Insurrection that year in Hungary, the Heads whereof Serini, Nadasti, Frangipani, the two Barkoksys, etc. were known and professed Papists; and though it was about matters purely Civil, and nothing relating either to the one Religion or the other, yet this opportunity was laid hold on by the Jesuits and others; the Protestants are accused vehemently as being guilty, or at least complices in it; and assoon as the Emperor had, upon this Insurrection, Garrisoned all the strong places of the Kingdom with his Popish Germane Soldiers, which was contrary to the Laws and Liberties of their Country, it was thought high time to begin their Persecution of the Protestants there.  
They began with the chief Patrons of the Protestants that were of the Nobility, and afterwards with the Generality of the Gentry and Citizens; imprisoning the Persons of such as did not fly, and confiscating their Estates, as guilty of Rebellion, which they proved themselves altogether innocent of. The rest of the Principal Protestants seeing that Innocence was no Protection, and that to be accused, was to be sure to be condemned, saved themselves by flight into other Countries.  
They next fell upon Persecuting the Protestant Ministers, and in several places seized the Churches and Schools into their hands; and by their intolerable proceed soon showed that the Inquiry was really not who were Rebels, but who were Protestants. The Numbers of those that fled were so great, the Persecutions and Confiscations of all they had in their hands were so intolerable, and the Insolence, and Exactions, and Outrages of the Germane Soldiers so barbarous, that the people were so enraged at last as to take up Arms to assert their Lawful Liberties against those Germane Soldiers, that were brought into their Nation contrary to the Laws of it.  
And though the Teuth part of the Protestants neither consented to, nor joined in these Tumult, yet they must all equally be made the mark of their cruel Persecutors.  
The Archbishop of Strigonium, Lord Lieutenant of Hungary, in 1673, citys some of the Protestant Ministers and Schoolmasters to appear at Presburg in September; and in March after, almost all the rest of them in the Kingdom, to answer such things as were to be laid to their charge. They were accused of conspiring with the Rebels; and knowing their Innocence, and that they might publicly, before God and the World, wipe off so foul an aspersion, they appeared according to their Citations. But when they appeared, instead of being legally proceeded against, this Archbishop, with the Bishop of Newstad, and some Temporal Lords, required of them, 1. That they should lay down their Ecclesiastical Employments, and engage never to resume them again. Or 2dly, Depart the Kingdom, never to return again, nor Preach or Teach therein, upon pain of Death and loss of Estates. Or 3dly, Embrace the Popish Religion, denying and forswearing the Protestant.  
Some of those cited the Year 1673. were surprised of frighted into a consent to relinquish their Ministry, or to go into Exile; but the whole of those cited in 1674. unaimously refused, judging such a compliance (as the Author of the Brief Narrative of the State of the Protestants in Hungary, etc. printed with allowance at London, 1677. well expresses it) not only as contrary to Gods Will in his Word, and against their Consciences, but also a betraying the Cause of God, his Church, and people, together with their established Laws and Liberties. Upon this the Fiscal put in a plea against them, charging them with calling their King an Idolater, Preaching against the blessed Virgin Mary, and stirring up the people to Rebellion, and assisting the Rebels.  
But this Method failing also, the Fiscal not being able to produce so much as one Person of Integrity against them, they next tried to bring them by Threats and Promises to sign the three Propositions; and when these also failed to work upon them, they then pronounced Sentence against the Protestant Ministers the 4th of April, and against the Schoolmasters the 7th, 1674. That they should lose their Lives and Estates. A Barbarous sentence this, when no Proof had been made against them: But where will Popish Cruelty stop, when a Protestant is thus unhappily in its Power?  
A few subscribed to quit their Functions, and the rest were hurried into several Prisons. Ninety Two of them were cast into most loathsome and stinking Prisons, their Legs fettered with Turkish Chains, and driven daily to the hardest labours, and filthiest Employments, cleansing Ditches, emptying Jakes', and the like, for almost a Year; and fed in the mean time with course Bread and Water only, denied the converse of Friends or any others, and none permitted to show any Charity to them. And as if all these Barbarities were not enough, they were sometime dragged by the Hair, sometimes driven with Pikes and Muskets to the Popish Mass, and when they would not kneel there, were beaten and wounded by the Soldiers, being forbid all Praying and Singing of Psalms, and disturbed by the Soldiers, howling like Dogs, when they did.  
Nor did their Miseries how great soever end here, Forty One of them were sent by the Emperor to serve the King of Spain as Soldiers in Italy, in March, 1675. who in a terrible Journey of Seven weeks, were driven chained and fettered through Moravia, Austria, Stiria, Carntola, Istria and Italy to Naples, and endured the most Barbarous usage that Brutality and Popery could inflict. Two died in the way; at Triesta in Istria, they were robbed of that little they had left, stripped of their , and their Beards cut off, and there pressed to serve the Emperor in his Wars, which they refusing, were most Cruelly beaten; at Thiatin Six more were left in Prison unable to Travel further, their Chains having eaten into their legs, whereof Four soon died.  
The rest were sold at Naples for about Fifty Crowns a head, to serve as Slaves in the Gally's where they were put, their Hair being cut off, Two or Three in a Galley, enduring all the Miseries of that Condition and place, which is the nearest resemblance to Hell that this World can afford. Five more soon died in the Galleys of their cruel and barbarous usages; and when they were released, after Ten months' Slavery in the Gally's, by the Christian and Generous Charity of the Dutch Admiral De Ruyter in 1676, only Twenty Six were left alive. Of which Eight were brought into England, and did furnis us with this account of their dreadful Persecutions.  
This Usage of the Hungarian Protestants is such a Specime of the cruel Spirit of Popery, as can need no words to aggravate it. And after such a Havoc of their chief Men, and of their Ministers, one must expect a lamentable account of the State of the Protestant Religion in Hungary; which was in the beginning of this Emperor's Reign, in such a flourishing Condition there.  
The Wars of Hungary gave the Protestants some respite from their Perfecutions; and the success of the Turkish Arms against the Emperor in Hungary delivered them quite from them: But in this last War, as success turned to the Emperor's side, the Persecutions of the Protestants began again, who find by dear experience, that Papists can be more cruel and perfidious than Mahometans themselves. A Person of Note, who was in Hungary in April 1690. Assures us, that had the Emperor continued uncontrolled Master of Hungary, most certainly all the poor Protestant Churches there had been destroyed. Several of their Ministers declaring to him, that they lived much more easily under the Turks than under the Germans; and that (in manifest violation of Treaties and Faith given) the Popish Bishops and Priests daily deprived them of their Churches, and oppress them; and that their Poverty was unspeakable.  
We will add a part of the Letter which the Bishop of Quinque Ecclesiae then had written to the Protestants of his Diocese, which will tell us, as well as a Thousand Expresses could, what is the present case of the Protestants in Hungary.— Persuadete vobismet ipsis, si quotidie 25 Cumulos auri mihi effunderetis, non tamen Vos sub Episcopatu meo tolerarem; nam dico Bovem, Asinum, & omnia reptilia & aquatilia animalia, imo etiam Diabolum infernalem humiliandum citius Salutem aeternam adepturum, quam unum Calvinistam.  
Whether the late Coronation of the Emperor's Son King of Hungary, does prognosticate any Tranquillity to the Protestant Religion there, we must leave to time to determine: where He was neither Elected solemnly by the States, as the Laws and Constitution of that Kingdom did use to require; nor took the Old Coronation Oath, wherein among other things their Kings used to Swear to maintain and preserve the Free exercise of the Protestant Religion, established by the Laws there.  
We cannot think it had been unworthy of the care of those Protestant Princes or Ambassadors, who were the Mediators of the late Peace, betwixt the Emperor and the Turks, to have interposed their good Offices for the Security and Quiet of the Poor Remains, of the Protestant Interest now left in Hungary.  
Another terrible blow to the Protestant Interest, is the loss of one of the Protestant Electorates in GERMANY, and the appearent danger of losing another; we speak of the PALATINATE and SAXONY.  
By the devolution of the PALATINATE to a Popish Family, 
PALATINATE  the Protestants have lost a Vote in the Electoral College of the Empire; and though such a loss is great, yet the Practices of this present Elector (who had been yet as mere a Titular Prince without any Dominions, as He was during the War, but for the Protestant Prince's Interest and Care of Him) makes the World apprehend much greater Mischiefs to the Protestant Interest from him.  
Tho' He is descended from Protestant Ancestors, and when his Father was named Successor by the last Protestant Elector Charles, He gave Charles the most solemn Assurances, that there should be no Alterations made in Religion in the PALATINATE; and tho' by the Constitution of the Empire the Protestant Religion is the established Religion of the PALATINATE, all the Churches, Schools, Church-lands, Tithes, and other Ecclesiastical Revenues, being fixed in the Protestants hands by the Treaty of Westphalia, and the Popish Religion cannot so much as be exercised there without a Toleration of the Government; yet this present Prince could no sooner be restored to his Dominions by the Protestant Interest, than he set himself to banish the Protestant Religion out of his Country.  
It was great Gratitude to the Protestant Mediator and Princes in the late Peace, to turn Persecutor of their Religion, which was also by the Laws of the Empire the established Religion of his Country; but what Actions, how ungrateful or unjust soever, will Popery boggle at, to Ruin the Remains of the Reformation! What can Duty and Interest, Faith or Gratitude, signify to any Prince that is Governed by Jesuits, and the rest of the fry of Popish Priests!  
When this Prince was restored to his Dominions by the late Peace, and came into the PALATINATE, He promised and assured the Protestants, both Laity and Clergy, that He would maintain all their Privileges; and how he has made good his word we can already show.  
He began with a Proclamation, that the New Style should be observed, and the Popish Holidays kept through the whole Palatinate, and that the Protestant Burying places should be common. He has taken from the Protestants the Cloister and Church at Heidelburg, and the Seven Latin Schools, and is erecting Cloisters for the Franciscans, Augustins and Capuchins, and a Seminary for the Jesuits. These are busy to get into their Clutches the Cathedral Church there, and the Collegium sapientiae.  
He has taken away from the Protestants the Cathedral Churches at Weinham, Frankendale and Ladenburg, and other places, and from the Ecclesiastical Council (who are reduced to Two, tho' they should be Six, with a Precedent) and the Verwaltung their ancient Privileges and Rights, and the Revenues, Liberties and Properties, and the freedom of disposing the Ecclesiastical Incomes; and has given to the Romish Priests all Incomes, Lands and Tithes, which belonged to the Ministers, and allows now only to each Minister for the Maintenance of himself and Family Yearly, one hundred Gilders, which is not Ten Pounds Sterling, Twenty Sacks of Corn, and a Fudder of Wine. By such an allowance He cannot but hope to starve the Ministers out of his Country, and make them leave their Flocks for a Prey to the Popish Wolves.  
At Creutznach He has taken away the Church, with the Latin Schools, which were built and endowed but Thirty Years ago for their Ministers and Schoolmasters; all the Houses that belong to Protestant Alms, and Hospitals, are taken away by force, with those belonging to Protestant Ministers and Schoolmasters. It is forbidden upon pain of Death to expound the 80th Question in the Palatinate Catechism, which treats of the difference betwixt the Lord's Supper and the Popish Mass.  
He has published a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, which is the Ape of that we had in England, and is as much an infraction of the Treaty of Westphalia, as ours was of the Laws of England. From this one would expect his people might espouse, or be of, which Religion they should think fit. It's so far from that, that they will not suffer any Papist to turn Protestant, and have already put several persons into prisons for having agian embraced the Protestant Religion, which they had been forced to feign to quit, by the violent Persecutions of the French, while they were in the late War in possession of the Palatinate.  
The Minister of Sekenheim was committed close Prisoner, and fined 200 Florins, because he had at the Request of the Mother admitted a young Woman to the Holy Communion, though she had been bred a Protestant; and all because her Father was a Papist.  
The Minister of Wiselock (to omit more instances, hundreds of which they writ from thence, they could furnish us with) was carried to Heidelburg, kept close Prisoner there, and forced to pay a Fine of 50 Florins to get out, because he had baptised, at the request of both the Parents, their Child, the Father being a Papist.  
In short, for all this Jesuitical Declaration about Liberty of Conscience, it's already Law there, that if either of the Parents be Popish, the Children shall be brought up Papists, and compelled to embrace the Popish Religion; and the Ministers are forbid under pain of imprisonment, and a Fine of Fifty Rixdollars, to admit any such to their Communion.  
Such a Violation of their Laws and Liberties, and such Usages were sure to beget Complaints from the Protestants to their Prince; and how have they been redressed? some of the Complainants have been most cruelly beaten, and thrown into Prisons, and others have had the Elector's Dragoons quartered upon them, who have broken their Doors and Windows to make forcible entrance, and have turned their Wives and Children out of doors: and the Inspectors themselves, when they have complained of such Barbarities to the Governors under this Prince, have no other answer, but that the Ministers were Rebels, and that they ought not to concern themselves for them, lest they incur themselves for it his Electoral Highness' Displeasure.  
What the Memorials at Ratisbon about this matter, and the Interpositions of several Protestant Kings and Princes in their behalf, have signified, the World now knows, that Prince wonders at the Impudence of his Subjects for such complaint; declares he will go on in his own way; which, by what ha' been practised there already, can end in nothing less than the Extirpation of the Protesant Religion out of the Palatinate.  
What Changes in SAXONY, 
SAXONY.  the perversion of that Elector to the Popish Religion, is like to produce must be left to time. Saxony is a Country, where if their Laws are to be regarded, Popery was never to take root or grow again. However a Popish Governor has been put over this Country by their Elector, and Mass appears publicly at Dresden.  
The Election and settlement of their Elector as King of Poland has no little exhausted Saxony of its Wealth, its Arms and Ammunition; but if its Laws and Religion must be given up for it too, it will be the dear4est price that ever was paid for the Crown of Poland; and that this is to be the price of it, there is too much reason to fear.  
The Poles are dissatisfied about the reality of his Conversion; his Germane Forces are hated there, and knocked on the head more for being Protestants than Saxons; they refuse the Crowning his Queen, except she will become Papist: What will not this King then do to appease the Poles, and please the Pope, and those of that Religion? If the Queen should be perverted also (which God avert) the Electoral Prince will questionless be brought up in that way; and then, if not sooner, Father Vota and the Jesuits of Poland, can teach their Prince how to trample upon all Laws and Liberties, and to ruin the Protestant Religion in Saxony, as well as the Jesuits of Dusseldorp have taught the Elector Palatine to do in the Palatinate.  
The Popish party never want will, opportunity is all they want to subvert the Protestant Interest, wherever they can: and assoon as they can get this in Saxony, we shall be sure to hear of their Persecutions and Barbarities.  
And for the late PEACE at RESWICK, whatever Repose it has given to Europe, the Protestant Interest is very little indebted to it, That Peace has taken from its Strength, and from its Security. It has lost by it the Great City of Strasburgh; which the French King glories in, as restored to the Church of Rome; and the 4th Article of it is like to be a perpetual bone of Contention, by giving Popery such an handle to usurp upon the Protestants, wherever they have a power.  
The Elector Palatine has begun in part of his Dominions; the Prince of Salm has by Dragoons and Arms brought Popery into, and usurped some Churches in the Dominions of the Landgravine of Daun; and the Rhingraves of Chamback and Growiler have carried to Ratisbone as grievous complaints against this New Persecutor, the Prinoe of Salm, who is a Subject of the Emperors. The Usurpations and Violences of the Popish party against the Protestants, have been so many and so unjust, that they have become the Subjects of several Memorials to the Diet at Ratisbone; and the Protestant Princes Ministers have received so little Justice, and so little Satisfaction from the Popish ones, that all business whatever is at a stand in the Diet; and the Protestants have now generously resolved they will treat no more about any business whatever of the Empire, till they have had satisfaction for these unjust Usurpations upon the Protestant Interest.  
And it is certainly time for the Protestant Princes and States to look well about them, when the Emperor, for all his Obligations to the Protestant Allies, could so readily sign such an Article with the French King. This Article was a trick fit for a Pope's Nuncio, than for the Baron de Zeiler, the Emperor's Minister there; but what better could be expected from a Renegado?  
We have seen how the Zealots of the Rmish Church, have by their Usage of the poor Protestants in Bohemia and Hungary, deserved that black Character of Ravening Wolves in Sheep's Clothing, with which our Blessed Saviour Stigmatised the Scribes and Pharisees: But there is no Nation wherein they have so filled up the measure of their Fathers, as in the Kingdom of France.  
This Country is so spacious a Field of Blood, 
FANCE.  that to take an exact Survey of it as such, would be an endless Work. But we shall abundantly expose the Bloody Spirit of Popery, as it hath showed itself there, by that time we have reflected upon, tho' with all possible brevity, the Bartholomew Massacre under Charles the 9th; and the Methods that have been taken for the extripation of the Reformed Religion, from time to time, in the Reign of the present King.  
As to that Masterpiece of Devilish Cruelty, next to the Gun. Powder Plot here, we will take the Account thereof from Mezerai, who cannot be suspected of exceeding the Truth, because he was'a Romanist, and Historiographer of France. It lasted, saith he, seven whole days (that is in the City of Paris) the three first viz. from Sunday (a Blessed day to begin such a work upon) the Feast of St. Bartholomew, till Tuesday, in its greatest fury; the four other, with somewhat more of abatement. During which time were murdered near five Thousand Persons, by divers sorts of Deaths; and many, by more than one; and, among others, five or six hundred Gentlemen. Neither the Aged, nor the tender Infants were spared, nor Women great with Child. Some were stabbed, others hewn in pieces with Halberds, or shot with Muskets, or Pistols: Some thrown headlong out of the Windows; many dragged to the River and drowned; and divers had their Brains beaten out with Mallets, Clubs, or such like Instruments. Seven or Eight hundred had thrust themselves into Prisons, hoping to find Shelter under the wings of Justice; but the Captation, appointed for this Execution, caused them to be hauled out, and brought to a place near Lavaleé de Misere, or the Valley of Misery; where they knocked out their Brains with Pole-Axes, and cast them into the River. A Butcher going to the Lovure on Tuesday, told the King that he had dispatched one hundred and fifty the night before; and a Gold Wiredrawer often boasted, showing his Arm, that he had killed four hundred for his Share. Opon Tuesday, the third day of the Massacre, the King heard Mass, to return Solemn Thanks to God for the Precious Victory obtained over Heresy; and Commanded that Medals should be Coined to preserve the Memory thereof. And there was wonderful need of a Memorial for that, which can never be forgot while any thing is remembered.  
During two Months, proceeds Mezerai, this Horrible Tempest over-ran all France, more or less, according to the dispositions of the Countries and their Governors: And he computes, that those who were destroyed in the several Countries were above Twenty Five Thousand; whereas there are other Historians who will have them, together with those Murdered in Paris, to be no fewer than Seventy Five Thousand; nay some, at the least, One hundred Thousand.  
Then Mezerai tells us what Entertainment the News of this Massacre met with in Rome, and in Spain. The Court of Rome, saith he, and the Council of Spain, were filled with inexpressible joy upon the Tidings of the S. Bartholomew: The Pope (viz. Gregory the 13th) went in procession (he should have said on foot too; as he did, to show the greater Piety and Devotion, upon a so extraordinary Religious occasion) to the Church of St. Lewis, to render Thanks to God for so happy a success. And a Panegyrical Act thereof was Represented before King Philip, under the Title of the Triumphs of the Church Militant. And a Church Militant she is indeed.  
There was also a Panegyric made upon this Glorious Atchieument, which Mezerai omits, by the famous Muretus, before the Pope, in which he thus Compliments His Holiness, What more acceptable News could you have received; and what more Auspicious beginning of your Pontificate could we have wished for! And among other flights of his Rhetoric, he makes the Stars to have seemed brighter than Ordinary, that night when the Massacre began; and the River Sein to have swelled itself, to carry off the Carcases of the impure Wretches with the greater rapidity.  
There was likewise another Medal Ordered by the Pope, many of which may be seen in the Closets of those who are Curious in Coins; the Inscription of which is Strages Vgonottorum, The Slaughter of the Hugonots: And a destroying Angel with a Sword in his hand.  
From this horrible Massacre, we pass over about Eighty Years, to the time when the Claws of the Popish Clergy were grown longer, than they had been for many Years before; and especially during the Reign of Henry the 4th, whose favour to the Protestants, at last procured him His fatal Stab: And to the Conclusion of the Minority of the King now Reigning; and till his affairs were such, as would make it Consistent with his Politics to give ear to the Advice, and pressing importunities of his Clergy.  
And whereas there are large Accounts published, of the Methods that were from this time taken, to destroy the Protestant Religion by degrees; because the Protestants were much too considerable a Party, for the Overhastily adventuring upon Violent proceed, those Methods are comprised by a very late Author under twelve Heads, 
In his History of the Persecutions of t●● Reformed Church of France, etc. Printed in London, 1699.  with Enlargments upon each; he saying that it would be a difficult matter to give an exact account of these Methods; Humane Malice having never produced such a Multiplicity, and every day having brought forth new ones for Twenty Five Years together: That is, to the Revocation of the Edict of Nants. The brevity we are confined to permits the Instancing in but a very sew of them. One most cruel method was, the putting down of all Protestant Judges, in contradiction to the Thirtieth Article of the Edict, which establisheth an equal number of Popish and Protestant one's. And by this infraction thereof, innumerable Protestant Families were utterly ruined by the Partiality of the Judges. Those of them who were honestly inclined, not daring to do them Justice in Causes between Protestants and Papists, for the Clamour that was still made in their Ears, by the Priests and Monks especially, of their being Heretics; and of a Religion which the King abhors. Another Method of Persecution was, the making them uncapable of holding any Dignities, Public Offices or Employments whatsoever: And afterwards of following any Professions, even that of Midwifery. Which greatly scared the poor Protestants, as apprehending that the Cruel design of the Egyptian Midwives Laying the Israelitish Women, was now to be executed by the Popish ones, upon their Infants. But afterwards they did more than apprehend, by another of their Methods, a design against their dear Children, which was unspeakably more terrifying. This was their taking the most effectual Courses they could devise, to scare the younger to the Popish Religion, and to corrupt the Elder; viz. 1. By prohibiting their Parents to send them abroad before they were full Sixteen Years Old. 2. By seizing of Children in many places, to put them into their Seminaries. 3. By ordering that the Children of Fourteen Years Old and under, of all such as had by any means whatever embraced Popery, should be Educated therein; and that no Protestant Minister should dare to receive any such into his Church, on pain of Banishment and Confiscation. 4. By including in the same Declaration, the Children of those who should be reported by Priests, to have changed their Religion on their Deathbeds; from which 'twas impossible to exclude them. And what Priest of them can be true to his Religion, and boggle at any lie which tends to its Service? 5. By impowering the Popish Midwives to christian the Children of Protestants: By which means the Priests could lay claim to them from their Infancy. 6. By ordering the Admission of them, even at Seven Years Old, to abjure the Religion of their Fathers, without any hindrance or molestation. 7. By ordering that those Children shall have their Choice, either to live with their Parents, or elsewhere; their Parents paying a Pension for their Education proportionable to their Estates; to which the Declaration Obligeth them. And it is strange if the Priests could not find out effectual ways, more than enough, to persuade such poor young things to say or swear any thing, and then to Inveigle them from their Parents. 8. By ordering Protestant Parents, who have any Children in Foreign Countries, to recall them home, upon pain of being deprived of the Profits of their Estates. Here are Instances of Persecution with a vengeance. We will mention but one more of their Methods, and that is the Quartering of Soldiers upon the Protestants. And the Outrages committed by these Instruments of Conversion upon their Landlords and their Families, which we have certain accounts of, are not only too many to be Enumerated; but also, a very great part of them, not to be related without horror.  
Their first converting Pranks were played in Poicton, and Saingtone in 1681, and the town of Bergerac; where Capuchin Friars were quartered with the Soldiers, to animate those of them, who might happen to be too tender hearted in the Execution of their Office. And inexpressible Cruelties were exercised on Persons of both Sexes, and all Ages. The poor Wretches in Poicton that were overcome by intolerable Torments, did quickly after protest against what they had done, as that which ought not to pass for an Abjuration of their Religion; and this brought on them a Second Persecution. The Protestants of Languedoc, Guienne, and very many other parts of France, did quickly after drink of the same Cup, with those of Poictou, etc. In all which, by the Bishops, Priests, and Jesuits Advice to the several Intendants, the Troops treated them alike barbarously. They set the Soles of the Feet of some against the Fire; or clapped red hot Shovels to them: They half-roasted others: Others they stripped naked, and when they had used them with such immodesty, as ought not to be related, they stuck them with Pins from Head to Foot. They dragged others half dead to their Churches, where their Presence was made an Abjuration of their Religion: They took others by their Noses with red hot Tongues: They hung up others, both Men and Women, by their Feet, or Hair; and smoked them with wet Hay till almost Choked; and when they were taken down, if they still refused to abjure, they presently hung them up again: They kept others for a week together, from the least wink of Sleep, by pinching them, and throwing Buckets of Water upon their Faces, plucking off their Beards, and by holoding over their Heads Kettles turned downwards, and making a noise upon them, till they had lost their Senses.  
The foresaid Author saith, He knew an honest Gentleman, who had been proof against most of the other Cruelties, overcome at last by this exquisite Torment. For whole weeks together, they beat Drums by the Beds of Sick Persons: They, in several places, tied Fathers and Husbands to their Bedposts, and Ravished their Wives and Daughters before their Eyes: They plucked off the Nails of the Fingers and Toes of others: They blew up Men and Women with Bellows, till they were almost burst. But nothing like a complete List can be given of the various sorts of horrid Cruelties, the devilish Inventions of the execrable Miscreants suggested to them.  
But the Popish Clergy were put greatly to their Wits, to persuade the King to any of their most Christian Methods, for the rooting out of Heresy: or to let them lose to the Converting of Heretics, by the only Arguments they are good at. Which have since made them so well known by the Title, of the Dragoon Apostles. And 'twould take up more time than we have here to spare, to set down all the Motives by which they at last prevailed with his Majesty. It may suffice to take notice of but one of them; and a very surprising one it is, it being taken from the extraordinary Merits of the Protestants. For they pretended to the King, that if they had preserved the State, they might as well have Overturned it, had they chosen of side with the Prince of Condé; and consequently, upon the least offence, they may do it hereafter. Wherefore the Service they had done, ought no longer to be otherwise regarded, than as a plain proof of the Mischief they may be capable of doing, whensoever they may meet with an Opportunity. And there was a necessity of their pressing this Argument, because the King's backwardness to a compliance, wa● chief from the Remembrance he had of his great Obligations to the Protestants; and his having publicly owned in a Declaration of 1652, their Fidelity and great Services; and their having been Proclaimed at Court, and in the Field: The Queen-Mother having likewise, upon several Occasions, acknowledged that they had preserved the State. And (to use the words of the aforesaid Author, who hath done us great Service, in collecting the foregoing Instances of the French Papists Cruelty) the now mentioned Argument was a refined Piece of Policy, which the King was so convinced by, that he delivered up his Reformed Subjects, to the Cruelty and violence of the Ciergy.  
And now 'tis no wonder that after the Edict of Nants had so long retained but little more than its Name, it should at last lose that too; and be totally Abrogated, as it was in the Year 1685. Although it was declared to be Perpetual and Irrevocable by Henry the fourth, who first Granted it to the Protestants, as owing his Crown to them; and was twice Confirmed by his Son Lewis the thirteenth (he in the mean time declaring a Confirmation needless) and again, twice more by the present King, who had the same Reason to Confirm it, were it needful, that his Grandfather had to Grant it, as hath been shown. And therefore the Treatment which the Protestants have had, first in the Violations, and now in the Revocation of this Edict, and what hath followed ever since, is far worse than practising upon the Godly Doctrine of the Council of Constance, that Faith is not to be kept with Heretics; since there is added to the horrible Injustice and Perfidiousness thereof, the most Prodigious Ingratitude.  
And now the Floodgates were set wide open, for an Inundation of all manner of Miseries, not only upon the Protestants in very many Parts of France, (as it hath been shown they were for some years before) but from one end of the Kingdom to the other. And the Popish Laity of all Ranks, are become very many of them, every whit as Cruel as the worst of the Clergy; even as the Bloodiest of the Jesuits themselves. And 'tis merely owing to the very Special Providence of God, that all those are not alike Miserable, who have not Abjured, and been unable to make their Escape out of the Kingdom. Though those who have had the happiness of escaping (having been forced to leave their Estates behind them) have multitudes of them undergone great want and penury ever since: The Charities they have had, bearing but little proportion to the necessities of so vast a number.  
It remains now, that we give some instances of Particular Protestants dreadful Sufferings: And we shall make a virtue of the necessity we are under of continuing our brevity, since those good Christians, whose Tempers are very impressible, may think it a Cruelty next to feeling such things, to be detained long upon so Terrible a Subject.  
We begin with one Mr. Rimbau, an Example of the Second Persecution in the Province of Poictou, we mentioned but now. He was a Farmer of the Lady Baroniere, and lived in the Parish of Vanzai. He was not only dragged along the Streets to the Church, to subscribe his Abjuration, which he courageously refused; but so besmeared with Blood and Dirt with being haled up and down, that he seemed no longer a Man, but some strange Beast. Whereupon the Soldiers cried Halloo to the Dogs, who fell upon him, and tore him almost in pieces. And thus doing, they had more mercy on him, than he could have expected in the hands of the Soldiers; for they quickly gave him a deliverance from all future as well as the present Miseries.  
But in the other Instances, we will confine ourselves within the Compass of a few years past. One Elias Neau published here, this Year, an Account of his extreme Sufferings; out of which we give these following particulars. He saith, that, being bred at Sea, having left France upon the account of his Religion, in the Year 1679. he was made Captain of a Ship bound for Jamaica; and was taken on the 29th of August, 1692. by a French Privateer, and put in prison at St. Malo, where he lay Four Months: That after neither Promises nor Threats could prevail upon him, he was condemned to the Galleys, and tied to the great Chain, with men condemned for horrible Crimes, as Murders, Roberies, and Rapes; and being ordered to Marseilles, there to be put on board, which is near 500 Miles ' from St. Malo; in that long Journey, he (with his comfortable Companions) was lodged every Night like Beasts in a Stable. That at his Journeys End, being put into the Galley called the Magnanimous, and six other Protestants joined to him, he was loaded with two Chains, hereas the rest had but one; because God had made him an Instrument of strengthening three of them, who had been too timorous and complying; and also of Converting a Popish Slave. Upon these accounts, his Enemies quickly after obtained an Order from the Court to transfer him from the Galleys, into the Prison of the Citadel of Marseilles, where his Condition was far worse than before. And on May 3, 1694. he was put into a Dungeon, where he lay a whole Year upon the bare Stones; and strict Orders were given that no body should speak with him. But, saith he, 
☜  God out of his infinite love afforded me here such Comforts, that I little regarded the Miseries I was reduced to. There, he saith, he saw no body for near a Year; and the Priest belonging to the Governor at last coming to see him, he cried out, Lord! in what a Condition are you! But, he replied, Sir, 
☜  do not pity me; for could you see the Secret Pleasures my Heart experienceth, you would think me too happy. The Priest was so Compassionate, as afterwards to send him a Straw Bed. He continued there Twenty Two Months, without Changing any . Afterwards he was removed into another Prison; and on May 20,— 96, was put into a Hole under ground, till the First of July, where he was sent with a distracted Man, that had been a generous Confessor, whose Brains were turned by Cruel Torments, to the Castle of though, about Five Miles from Marseilles; where they were put into another Hole, on the Twentieth of August. It was perfectly dark, so stinking and dirty, that, he saith, he verily believes, there is not a more dismal place in the whole World. That all their Senses were attacked at once, Sight by darkness, Taste by hunger, Smell by filthy stench, Feeling by Lice, and other Vermin, and Hearing by the horrid Blasphemies and Curses of the Soldiers, who brought them their Food. Having continued Six Months in that pit, his Fellow-Sufferer died; and as that poor Man was in his Agony, as Crazed as for the most part he was, he testified his aversion, by making a sign, to the Priest's coming to him, upon hearing the Soldiers say, the Chaplain must be sent for. By the way, who can express the Barbarities of those, who could not be satisfied to Torment a poor Creature to distraction, but must after that persist to use him thus Devilishly? Then he saith, upon the Death of this Confessor, he was put into another Pit, with Three other Protestants, where their  rotten upon their backs, with the dampness of the place: But, through the goodness of God, he was released by the means of the Earl of Portland, than Ambassador in France, on July the Third following; having been made in the first Year of King William's Reign, a Free Denizen of England.  
He next adjoins a List of the Protestant Slaves, aboard the Galleys, near the time of his writing this Narrative; and the number amounts to 290, besides very many whose Names are unknown; it being a difficult matter to write, they are so strictly observed. He adds, that Twenty Two of them were lately set at liberty, by the solicitation of the Dutch Ambassador; do●● they have been sufficiently recruited by One Hun●●●d and Forty, who came from Orange, whither they went to pray to God; besides many more afterwards. And what the usage of these poor Galleyslaves is, he tells us p. 7, 8, 9 viz. That they set them upon a Form, fettered with heavy Chains of about Ten, or Twelve Foot long: That they have nothing but Beans for their Food, with about 14 Ounces of Course Bread a Day; and are devoured in the Winter by Lice, and in Summer by Bugs and Fleas; and forced to lie one over another, like Hogs in a Sty. But he adds, that he takes no Notice of the barbarity, exercised towards them by the Officers of the Galleys; which is beyond imagination.  
The sad Story of the Admirable Christian, and French Minister, Mons. Claude Brousson, is much too long for us to insert; and all we can say of him is, that he was at last broken upon the Wheel: And a most wonderful Example he gave of Christian fortitude.  
Two Gentlemen, called Trovilla and Laborde, having escaped from France, certified under their hands, July 25,— 98, that in the May before, a surrogate sent a young Gentlewoman, of about 14 Years Old, into the Nunnery of St. Ursula, with orders that no Body should see her, or speak with her. That she was dragged every day to Mass; but not being to be prevailed upon to kneel, or turn her face before the Altar, the Abbess, with the help of some Nuns, bound her hands; but the Merciless Nuns regarded not her Cries, till one of them happened to see her almost dead; upon which she was untied, and confined to a dark Chamber; where she was exposed to bad Wether, seen by none, and had no light for a fortnight; till she was taken so ill, that they began to fear her life. And Death was too great a favour to be over freely granted.  
We have a Copy of an Affidavit, published by ●n, French Protestant Minister, (to whose Papers we are obliged for several of these Narratives) of Catharine de Gaudeul, who made Oath before Justice Ellis, August 8, 1698. That she being put into the Prison at Paris, called La Salpetriere, for her Religion, two Protestant Women, born in Meaux, were also sent thither for the same Cause, and used with great Cruelty. And because they could not be persuaded to turn, one of them, being clad in a wet Sheet, was shut into a Room with two Mad Women; who fell upon her, and dispatched her, by plucking her Bowels out of her Body; which was afterward boiled and dissected by Surgeons. That her Fellow-Sufferer, named Sarah, was sent next to the said Mad Women; who pacified them a little by giving them what Money she had; but she afterward received many blows and wounds from them. That when the said Sarah came out of that Room, she told the other Prisoners, that she trod upon the Guts of her Friend; and that the Mad Women threatened her to do as much to herself. And that the said Fact was so Notorious in the Prison, that many of the Prisoners, Papists as well as others, did often Charge the Governess and her Assistant with the Murder.  
What follows we have in a Letter from Montpellier, November 4, 1698. New Style. A great number of Protestants having met together on the Hills of Vivares, there were killed on the spot 350 of them; one of the Dragoons seeing a Woman lying dead on the ground, with her Child still in her Arms, drawing near, it smiled on him; but the Barbarous Wretch was so far from being moved with the Smiles of the Innocent Creature, that he thrust his Dagger into its Breast; and lifting it up, cried to his Comrade, hay, dost thou not see this Frog? This Diabolical Action being complained of to the Intendant, he would take no Notice of it.  
This shall be our last instance: But as much haste as we make to be rid of this most grievous and painful work, we must farther add, that God only knows when there will be a stop put to these fearful Cruelties; or the least mitigation of them. For whereas the French Protestants had longed most vehemently for the Peace, scarce questioning but to have a share in the Blessings thereof; never were poor Creatures more lamentably disappointed. For the Peace, which England, and so many other Countries, greatly Rejoiced in, hath not done so well for them as but to leave them as they were; but has made their case far more deplorable than it was (for at least some years) while the War lasted: Which diverted the Persecutors from being so closely intent, as now they are, on the Prosecution of their Devilish Design.  
And, to come to a Conclusion of this Tragical Account, As the Prophet thus bewailed his countrymen's Babilonish Captivity, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see, if there be any Sorrow like unto my Sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me, in the day of his Fierce Anger. So we may see these poor Christians making their Moan, if it be possible, even more Pathetically. For in a Letter from Castres', in the Upper Languedoc (Extracts of which, with many other, are Published by the aforesaid French Protestant Minister) dated the 18th of May— 98, are the following heart-piercing expressions: Who is able to give a full description of our Miseries! It is impossible for an Humane Soul to reach it. Our Calamities are so great, that no body can express them, etc. Good God who would have believed, that so many Potent Princes, who are our Brethren in Christ, would have Abandoned us! They might at least have Asked, that we might have leave to departed this Kingdom; or that they would put us to death all at once. But they think of us no more, than if we were not in the World. Surely we must needs have greatly offended God, seeing He permits Princes, and our Brethren in Christ, to forsake us. However we must hope that God Almighty will come to us in due time. He is a God to help in Extremity. Alas, He must then Come away very speedily; for we are at our last Gasp.  
And the like we have in another Letter from the same Place, Dated May 10th, 1698. But we will only recite a Wonderful, and as Comfortable a passage here, after dismal Complaints, viz. Good God why should we not all persist in the Faith, both Men and Women! For even Children of Ten Years Old hold out; and there is not one among them willing to yield. This is a Miracle which God Almighty sets before our Eyes, and which we must make good use of. And well may We cry, Good God what Tongue can express the Cruelty of those, who can find in their hearts to make their Fellow-Subjects (we hate to say their Fellow-Christians) to bemoan themselves so as to melt a Stone! What Fancy can Form a complete Idea of the Savage Fierceness of these Roman Catholics, (as they will needs be called) what Pencil can draw their Inhumanity to the Life, when they have Power in their hands proportionable to their Zeal against what they call Heresy! Wolves and Tigers are gentle Lambs compared with those, who can be so outrageous upon no provocation; and without pretending any incitement, but that those they Torture, dare not make so bold with God and their Consciences, as to Abjure a Religion, the truth of which they have undoubted Assurance of. Who that are but one remove from the Nature of the Infernal Spirits, can be so Barbarous towards innocent and inoffensive People, to say no better of them! Can we call Popery a Religion, that makes its Professors such Monsters and Originals of Cruelty, as Irreligion itself can make none like them? Is that the Catholic Church of Christ, or the Chief Synagogue of Satan, that can excite her Children to the most Diabolical Practices; and pretend to make them not only Lawful, but even Meritorious?  
And is it now possible, since the State of the Protestant Religion and Interest is such at this day, as is briefly Represented in the Entrance into this Appeal, that any Protestant Prince or State should want a very vigorous Sense, of what infinite importance it is, to prevent the farther Growth of Popery in their respective Dominions? Can they find it difficult to persuade themselves, to provide to the utmost of their Power, for their security from again falling under a Bondage, in comparison of which that was a very light one, the Ancient Israelites felt under the Cruel Pharaoh? Can they think it worth their while, to be hearty concerned about any Public Affair, and neglect this which is so apparently of the highest importance imaginable, both to their own and their People's Eternal Welfare, and Temporal too; nay, is (as these Leaves have shown us) of absolute necessity to their but Tolerable Condition in this World? GOD FORBIDDEN!  
We should likewise have given an Account of the late Cruelties which have been Practised by the Papists, in the Principality of Orange, and in Piedmont, but that they are generally the very same with those in the Kingdom of France.  
FINIS.   

ERRATA.  
Page 32. Line 6. for where read when. Ibid. l. 20. for Barbarities r. Barbarity.   

AN Account of the Societies for Reformation of Manners, in London and Westminster, and other Parts of the Kingdom. With a Persuasive to Persons of all Ranks, to be Zealous and Diligent in Promoting the Execution of the Laws against Profaneness and Debauchery, for the Effecting a National Reformation. Published with the Approbation of a Considerable Number of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal. Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill, over-against the Royal Exchange, 1700.