to give the consequent narrative in the words of the Rev. John Quick (Synodicon, vol. ii. p. 105).
“The reason of the French king’s indignation against Monsieur Du Moulin, and for which he would never [thereafter] admit him to serve either in his church of Paris or in any church or university of the kingdom, as it hath been related to me by some eminent ministers of that nation, was this: when Louis XIII., by the advice of Cardinal Richelieu, his perpetual coadjutor in all affairs of state (as he called himself), did first attempt the ruin of those poor churches, Monsieur Du Moulin writ a letter to James I., King of Great Britain, in which he informed His Majesty that not only the eyes of all the Reformed Churches of France were upon him for help in this the day of their exigency and great distress, but the eyes also of all the other Reformed and Protestant churches in Europe. This letter was delivered to the king, but (as some credibly informed) dropped afterwards into the hands of the Duke of Buckingham, who sent the very original itself unto the French king. Upon the receipt whereof, he immediately issues out warrants to seize and apprehend Monsieur Du Moulin — which were not executed with that speed and secrecy but that Monsieur Du Moulin had timely notice given him by some of his friends at court to flee for his life out of the king’s reach and dominions, which he did accordingly, and was sometime afterwards called to be pastor and professor in the church and university of Sedan, a little principality, of which the Marshal Duke of Bouillon was sovereign. And here this worthy minister of Jesus Christ lived the rest of his days, dying in a good old age and full of days in the ninetieth year of his life.”
Thus his end was peace and honour, among the haunts of his childhood and youth. His last sermon, preached a month before his death, was from the text, “My flesh also shall rest in hope.” He died 10th March 1658.
Du Moulin (known to the learned as Molinaeus) was the author of eighty separate publications, enumerated by Haag — the most celebrated were, “The Buckler of the Faith” (1618), and “The Anatomy of the Mass” (1636-39). He was a prince among controversialists, and therefore the terror of the Jesuits, who made this anagram on his name:
Erit Mundo Lupus = Petrus Du Moulin.
His epitaph was written by his son and namesake, as follows:
Qui sub isto marmore quiescit olim fait
PETRUS MOLINAEUS.
Hoc sat, viator! Reliqua nosti, quisquis es
Qui nomen inclytum legis;
Laudes, Beati gloria haud desiderat,
Aut sustinet modestia.
Obiit Sedani, ad 6 Non : Mart : 1658, aet. 90.
The younger Peter Du Moulin was born in 1600, he was D.D. of Leyden, afterwards incorporated in Cambridge, and on 10th October 1656 at Oxford. As a refugee he first appears in Ireland, where during some years of the Commonwealth he was under the patronage of Richard, Earl of Cork. Next he acted as tutor in Oxford to Charles Viscount Dungarvan and Hon. Richard Boyle. He had taken orders in the Church of England, and constantly preached at Oxford in the church of St Peter-in-the-East. He became famous through his contact with the great name of Milton, whom he violently assailed in his Regii Sanguinis Clamor ad ccelum adversus parricidas Anglicanos; the little book was anonymous, but was acknowledged by the author in course of time. In 1657 he trafficked in calm waters, and published a long treatise On Peace and Contentment of Mind, which reached a third edition. At the Restoration he was made a Royal Chaplain; and being installed as Prebendary of Canterbury, he resided in that city till his death, at the age of 84, in October 1684. His sermons and other writings were admired in their day, and he was an honour to his name.
Another son[1] of the great Du Moulin was Louis Du Moulin, born in 1603. was a Doctor of Physic of Leyden, and incorporated in the same degree at Cambridge (1634) and at Oxford (1640); he was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians at London, 7th February 1649 (n.s.) Under the Parliamentarian Commissioners he was made Camden Professor of History in the University of Oxford. The Camden Society (1881) has enabled us to give the exact words of his commis-
- ↑ There were three sons; the other was Cyrus Du Moulin, who married Marie de Marbais, and died in Holland before 1680; his daughter was married in 1684 to Jacques Basnage.
