A SPEECH TO THE KING:  
Made by a MINISTER OF THE FRENCH CHURCH OF THE SAVOY, The 19th. of October, 1681. in the French Tongue.  
And published at LONDON By His MAJESTY's special Command.  
Rendered into English.  
DUBLIN, Printed by Joseph Ray at Colledge-Green, for William Mendey in the Exchange. 1681.   

A SPEECH TO THE KING, Made by a Minister of the FRENCH CHURCH of the SAVOY, the 19th. of October 1681.  
IT is not I who speak, though it is I who utter the Words, nor is it your French Church of the Savoy, though it is She, most humbly prays your Royal Audience: It is, Sir, a pious Colony of French Protestants which the Tempest daily casts into your Ports; these are the Israelites which pass through the Sea, to retire into Canaan; these are the Merchants of the Gospel, which sell all they have for the Pearl of great price, and in your Kingdom seek for the Kingdom of Heaven. These are those, Sir, who with all the reformed World, explain themselves this day by my mouth, and my mouth may be called the Echo of their voices.  
See, Sir, in our Persons they come with your Declaration in their hands, to present themselves before that most August Throne from whence it proceeded; as your Majesty hath in express terms pronounced, that you esteem it a point of honour and conscience to do them good; they also hold it a point of Conscience and honour, to come and kiss those pious hands, which have saved them from their Shipwreck, and are to them a perpetual spring of blessings and favours. They look, Sir, upon this your mysterious Declaration, given in their favour, as the Masterpiece of Providence, and if I may so call it, An admirable Apparition to the eyes of the Church, and the World itself.  
The Established Church admires it as the effect of extraordinary Piety, and the astonished World looks upon it as the Produce, of the highest Prudence; in all places this your Majesty's Oracle is heard, they tell it in Gath, and proclaim it in Ascalon, and the seven Hills Echo the noise which it every where makes, the Isles clap their hands, and the Continent answers the Isles.  
All the World speaks of it, but those, from whom a Declaration so full of Zeal, for the name of Protestants, hath taken away all pretence of calumnious talking, and condemned them to everlasting silence.  
I already hear by anticipation the voice and applauses of equitable Posterity: and it is not to be doubted that great work, both of good Policy and good Conscience, shall be equally celebrated in the Annals both of the Age and Church. This Oracle of your Majesty shall be twice in History, witness of your Wisdom and witness of your Piety; And there we shall see to appear with splendour, both Virtue human and Virtue divine; and it will be no easy task to distinguish which shines brightest, the Monarch or the Defender of the Faith.  
But, Sir, this charitable Declaration hath already found another sort of Panegyrists, whose blessings and praises (God himself the King, who makes Kings) takes pleasure to hear▪ these are our Children, Sir, those little Moses which float on the Waters, before they have scarcely touched the Earth: those poor young Orphans; those little ones of the Family of Faith, to whom the great Defender of the Faith proclaims himself Father. These are the Angels of the Earth who in consort with the Angels of Heaven do praise God for what he hath done by his Anointed. Methinks I see them in their Mother's Bosoms, attentively listening, when they relate to them what God in our days, by your means hath done for them. Methinks I see them begin to stammer out the Language of your people: to learn to bless you in more than one Tongue; and for their first Lesson, they learn, to read that tender, that Fatherly Declaration of your Majesty. Methinks, Sir, I hear them cry out when they see you appear, Let the KING live, let him live who hath made us live, and with our bodily Lives preserves our Souls.  
Methinks moreover I hear many other of Christ's Confessors, of all Estates, of all Arts, and all Orders which the World would subdue by Famine, but their Faith succoured by your Charity, hath conquered the World. I hear them, I say, speak without ceasing of your Majesty, and emulously celebrate your Royal bounty. Ah Sir! could you hear it, how pleasant would the harmony be to your Majesty's Ears! a melody a thousand times more agreeable and charming, than that which so highly pleased the Emperor Augustus, when passing along he heard the people praise him, he protested in all his life he never heard so grateful a sound; yet was that but the vain noise of some frivolous and worldly praises; but those which your Majesty receives on the part of these poor afflicted ones, are Divine, Eternal, and the same to the bottom, which the Poor will give to their Charitable Benefactors, by the mouth of our Lord himself, at the solemnity of the last day.  
But also, Sir, what occasion do you not give to these poor Jobs to sing in the night, when they see your Majesty ask for them (as I may say) the Alms of your Subjects? What comfort is it when the Defender of their Faith, doth open at once so many Fountains for their subsistence, which were prohibited them, for the hatred of their Faith, in the Country from whence they came? What sweetness is it, to see themselves enrolled amongst the natural Inhabitants of your Estates, as soon as they set their Feet upon them? How great is their Joy, that they may for the future be born, live and die in peace? I am witness, Sir, that one of them fallen sick a few days after his arrival in this County, at last gave up his pious Soul to God, blessing that Providence which had conducted him hither, to die in peace, under the shadow of your Sacred Throne, and in the bosom of your Jerusalem.  
In truth, Sir, it is impossible that so many wishes and blessings, which issue from so many faithful mouths, should not strike a great stroke in Heaven; it cannot be, but those Just ones which so highly bless the bounty of their Trajan, must obtain for his Reign the felicity of Augustus. And who knows, whether that Heaven which takes charge of all the interests of its Church, will not likewise take care of all the acknowledgements they own you, and make known by the effects the success of their Prayers? Who knows but the example of so many Protestants, marked with a good stamp, who cast themselves into the Arms of your Church, may help to disarm those which trouble its peace? Who knows but our Children who cross the Seas for security of their Salvation, may by their presence officiate as little Mediators, between Brethren animated against each other, with so much passion and so little reason? Who knows but they may relent at the sight of so piteous an object, and may hereafter make it conscience, not to rip up the Entrails of a Mother, to whom so many Confessors of the Faith (whom some have endeavoured to make Martyrs) do every day throng, to beg her Blessing as adopted Children?  
But expecting the Success of those Vows, which a just and pious acknowledgement inspire us with, retiring myself, what shall I say which may well express it to your Majesty? where shall I on this Subject find words powerful enough to explain our thoughts? for my Weakness cannot reach it in an ordinary style; and in those raptures of Admiration which I feel, I fancy it easy to raise myself to the highest flights of Eloquence, and after the example of an ancient Orator, and the sight of so many Miracles, to call the Dead to this great Spectacle. I can scarce forbear crying out, O admirable Elizabeth! O most happy James! O most great and good Charles the first, Kings of the Apocalypse! who have carried your spiritual Riches, and the Crown of your Virtues into the holy City! Great Souls! Souls divine! which have so often given ear, to the Cries and Groans of the Protestants Strangers, in this very Palace in which I speak; what will you say this day to see your pious Intentions, so faithfully and happily executed! what will you say, to see such a concourse of faithful Mourners which arrive every day, and are met on the shores! All those Assemblies and voluntary Contributions, all those pious emotions and commerce of Charity which we see this day in these fortunate Islands! what will you say to see Lazarus in the Bosom of Abraham, and upon our Earth the Representation of your▪ Heaven! what will you say to see England assume the Figure of the ancient Rome, which was called the Patroness of the world; and become after her Example the Patroness of all the Reformed world, by the pious and profound Policy of your Illustrious Successor! But what have I been doing▪ Sir, I speak to the dead: when I should have made the living speak; 'Tis the rapture in which I am, 'tis the confused motion of many passions at once, which makes me speak in this tone, and throws me beyond bounds and ordinary rules: Judge, Sir, by these extraordinary transports, the extraordinary causes which occasion them, and the impressions which your Bounties have made in our Hearts; judge how sensible we are of Gratitude for your Goodness to us, how much Ardour, Zeal, and, if I durst say it, Love itself for your Majesty; but why should I not dare it? all things ought to be permitted us in this our Ecstasy:  
Yes Sir, we love you, we love you, Sir, as the Gods o'th' Earth, (such as your Majesty) should be loved; as the Romans loved their Trajan, or their Scipio, whom they affectionately called their dear Hearts; And it is with a Passion the most strong and lively, yet the most respectful and submissive, that we are all, Sir, Your most humble, most obedient and most faithful Servants, and Subjects.  
FINIS.