The True Copy of a PETITION Presented in July 1683. To the Most Christian King BY DEPUTIES, from those of his SUBJECTS who are of the REFORMED RELIGION, whose CHURCHES have been taken from them, and Demolished. And since That, Have Assembled in the Open Fields, but after PRAYER, PREACHING, and Receiving of the HOLY SACRAMENT, Returned in all peaceable manner, to their respective Habitations.  
Translated from the French Printed Copy by a sure Hand, and reprinted at Edinburgh, Anno Dom 1683.  
TO THE KING.  
SIR,  
YOUR most humble Subjects of the Protestant Religion, not having power to resist the Motions of their Consciences, are constrained to Assemble Together, to call upon the Holy Name of God, and sing his Praises; and by this Religious Acting, to expose themselves to all the Violences and Rigour, which a too fierce zeal can infuse into the Breasts of your Officers. And because God hath established your Majesty for their Monarch, they are obliged to justify their Proceed and Behaviour before your Majesty, with all the Humility they are capable of.  
These Assemblies, SIR, do no way hurt or wound that Fidelity which your Petitioners own your Majesty; They are all accorded to sacrifice their Fortunes and their Lives for your Service. The very same Religion which constrains them to Assemble together to celebrate the Glory of God, teaches them that they can never dispense under any Pretence whatever, with that Allegiance which is due to your Majesty. Nor has your Majesty any need to publish your Declarations to enforce them to embrace a Maxim so certain, and so well grounded upon Christianity. It remains then, SIR, that your Petitioners insist upon nothing, but what is only due to God, for as to what concerns your Majesty, their past behaviour gives testimony of the reality and purity of their Intentions, and may serve as a Security to your Majesty for the future; and, in a word, your Petitioners are all ready with their Blood to sign the Oath of their Allegiance. As to what concerns their Duty towards God, your Majesty hath so much Piety to take it not amiss, that they render to that great God that Worship and Adoration which they own him, they also presume to hope, that your Majesty will have the goodness to reflect upon their Behaviour; that you will compassionate the Desolations to which their Piety exposes them; and that perhaps you will extend your Indignation against those who have by surprise obtained so many severe Decrees and Declarations against them, and yet would further provoke your Wrath against Subjects so faithful, and so innocent.  
Your Supplicants, SIR, are persuaded that God has not sent them into this World, but to glorify him; and they will rather choose to lose their Lives a thousand times, than fail of their Duty so Holy and Indispensible.  
It is in your Majesty's power to deprive them of all the Advantages of this World, and also to doom to utter Destruction: They are ready for to sacrifice all, to suffer all Miseries at your Majesty's pleasure. But it May be, when your Majesty shall consider, That your Petitioners do not give way to the Most Faithful of all your Subject's [which all the world confesses] in their Duties to God, your Majesty will not do that Injury to his Glory and to his Goodness, as to destroy a People, for no other reason meriting your Indignation.  
The Miseries of your Petitioners, SIR, only arise from the Reverence they have for the Divinity, whole Word they look upon as the only Rule of their Religious Worship.  
Were the Dispute alone concerning our opposing Men for the service of your Majesty, though all the World should rebel against your Majesty's Will, though all your other Subjects should fail of their Fidelity and Obedience, your Petitioners would inviolably stand by their August Monarch, and with pleasure spend the last drop of Blood in his Service.  
But their Unhappiness is so great, that the Declarations put forth against them, to the prejudice of so many Edicts and Decrees made by your Majesty, and the Kings your Predecessors, appear to them incompatible with the Commands of the great Creator of Heaven and Earth.  
For God hath ordained them to instruct their Children and their Families, and to declare unto them the Word of Life. He also pronounces his dreadful anathemas against them who shut the Gates of Heaven against those, to whom he freely opens them. He commands them to offer to him Hymns and spiritual Songs. Nevertheless, SIR, those Declarations that have been surreptitiously obtained against us, forbidden us to sing the Psalms of David, which do contain the Praises of God.  
In short, SIR, It is the pleasure of God that we should Assemble together in his Name, to render him the solemn Adoration and Honour which is due to him. Nevertheless, SIR, those Declarations which your Petitioners Enemies have obtained against us by repeated Surprises, forbidden them to assemble together, to render to that great God the service which is due to him.  
During this Inability of your Petitioners, to reconcile the Will of God to what is exacted from them, they find themselves constrained by their Consciences, to expose themselves to all sorts of Calamities, for the continuance of giving Glory to the Majesty of God, who will be served according to his Word.  
If the Doctrine of your Petitioners were Abominable, if their Worship were Scandalous, if they preferred the Creature in the place of the Creator, there might be some Reason to solicit your Majesty to refuse their Protection: But all their Crime, and all the Difference between theirs, and the Catholic Religion, consists in this:  
That they prefer the Word of God, before the Traditions of Men: And the true Worship of that great God, [who protests to be jealous of his honour, and that he will not yield it to any other] before the Religious Worship of the Creature.  
All Religion, SIR, to speak properly, consists only in Belief, in Prayers, and in Works: And your Petitioners believe, and hold the Creed of the Holy Apostles; and the Lords Prayer, to be the Model of those which they present to God, and the Commandments of that God are the Rule and Guidance of their Conduct and Conversation. They know ' and have no need, according to St. Paul, of knowing any other but only Jesus Christ, and him Crucified. They acknowledge God for the only true God, and for him who sent Jesus Christ; for on this Belief it is that our Lord hath founded Life Eternal.  
Their Enemies make strange Interpretations of their Opinions, and their Worship. However, SIR, your Petitioners implore the mercy of God. They trust in the incomprehensible Charity, and infinite Merits of their adorable Saviour, whom they do embrace with a constant and lively Faith. They have recourse, with all humility, to the healthful succour and grace of his holy Spirit; and to this Trinity it is, that they render their Adoration and Homage, invoking it after the same Form that the Scripture hath prescribed in his Word. They meditate upon his Wonders. They sing his Praises: And they make it their continual study to live Holily among themselves, Justly toward their Neighbour, Obediently toward your Majesty, and Religiously toward God.  
They therefore supplicate your Majesty to be the Judge, Whether your Petitioners are unworthy of your Paternal Goodness, and the Honour of your Protection. Whether they merit to be thrown into that extremity of Destruction wherein they are at present overwhelmed, sufficient enough to move the Groans of the most insensible. And lastly, SIR, Whether it be possible that they should live without continuing to assemble together, to ●ender to God the service which they own him.  
After all this, your Petitioners cannot but pray to the great God, who advances your Throne above all the Thrones of the Earth, to incline your Majesty's heart toward your Subjects, whose Innocency and Allegiance is apparent to the eyes of the whole world. And if those your poor People shall not yet be able to move the Compassion of their August Monarch, for whom they shall always retain a sincere Love, and awful Reverence, a singular Veneration, and inviolable Fidelity. They do protest before the face of that great God for whose sake they are exposed to so much Misery, That they will render him Honour and Glory in the midst of their most terrible Calamities.  
But, SIR, your Petitioners hope much better things from the Natural Equity, Goodness, and Piety of your Majesty; for which Reason, they prostrate themselves at your Royal Feet, and most humbly implore your Majesty.  
To recall all the Declarations, Decrees, and other Judgements, which have reduced them to that Deplorable Condition wherein they are, and deprive them not of the Liberty of their Consciences, and exercise of their Religion, by virtue of so many solemn Edicts, confirmed by so many Declarations granted them by your Majesty, without which it is impossible for them to live.  
[And your Petitioner shall continue to pray for the Preservation of Your Majesty's Sacred Person, your Royal Family, and the Honour and Prosperity of your Kingdom.]