his church, he printed the sermon which he had preached on that occasion; it was published with the title: “Le Juif Baptisé — sermon presché dans l’Eglise Francoise de la Savoye. Par Monsieur de Breval, Docteur en Theologie, Chappelain Ordinaire de Sa Majesté, et un des Pasteurs de cette Eglise. A Londres, imprimé par Thomas Niewcomb, et se vend chez Hen. Herringman, Libraire dans la Nouvelle Bourse, et chez Wil. Nott dans le vieux Mail aux Armes de la Reyne, 1671.”
In May 1671 he was made a prebendary of Rochester. On 11th February 1672 (n.s.), John Evelyn notes:— “In the afternoon that famous proselyte, Monsieur Brevall, preached at the Abbey in English extremely well, and with much eloquence; he had been a Capuchin, but much better learned than most of that order.” He was made a Prebendary of Westminster, 21st Nov. 1675, and in the same year he was, by royal command, created S. T. P. of Cambridge. He became Rector of Milton, Kent, on 12th July 1680, but continued to reside at Westminster. He died 26th January 1708 (n.s.), and was buried in Westminster Abbey. By Susanna Samoline, his wife (who died 4th July 1719, aged seventy-three), he had three sons, Theophilus, Henry, and John-Durant, and four daughters, Dorothy, Catherine, Frances, wife of Stephen Monginot Dampierre, and Mary Ann. The youngest son, known as Captain Breval, was an author of poems, and of several folio volumes of travels, well printed and illustrated. (See Chapter XIII.)
II. Berault.
Pierre Berault, a zealous son of Roman Catholic parents, was born in France in 1642, and entered a monastery in 1659, where he resided for eleven years, intending to go out as a missionary preacher. He has given the following account of himself:—
“The special motives which induced me to enter into a Covent, being about seventeen years old, was to preach the holy gospel unto them that I did believe deceived, and to give the light of the truth to the Protestants which I thought to live amidst the darkness of ignorance. I continued in that resolution about eleven years, and being ready to perform it, that which happened to St. Paul almost happened unto me. . . . When I was ready to ask and receive letters to Turkie or England, that I might bring unto the Roman Church those that I could find separated from her, whether they were men or women, and being ready to perform my resolution, I heard an inward voice saying unto me, Thy zeal is not just; those which thou wilt persecute are the true children of God. Astonished by that voice which spoke to my heart, I answered, Lord, let me know the truth. And after I had several times instantly begged that favour from the Lord, his Divine Providence presented me two books, The Perpetuity of Faith, written by one Claude, minister, living at Paris, and Calvin’s Institutions. And after I had examined and compared these two books with the Holy Scripture, and discoursed some few days with the said Claude, minister, I found that this inward voice which spoke to my heart was true. Therefore, leaving my first resolution, I came into England, not that I might bring unto the Roman those that I should find separated from her, but that I might separate them that I should find of that communion.
The above particulars are quoted from a neat little book which he published at London in 1680, entitled, “The Church of Rome evidently proved heretick, by Peter Berault, D., who abjured all the errors of the said church at London in the Savoy, upon the 2d day of April 1671.” Dedicated to the Right Reverend Lord Henry, Bishop of London. The Romanists boast of their devotional books. In order to explain and illustrate the devotions of good Protestants, Berault, in 1682, published a little manual in French and English, interleaved, with the titles:— “Le Veritable et Assuré Chemin du Ciel en Francois et en Anglois. The true and certain Way to Heaven, both in French and English.” Dedicated “to the Right Honourable George Berkeley, Lord Berkeley, Mowbray, Seagrave, and Bruce, Baron of Berkeley Castle, who had the honour to be sworn one of His Majesty’s Privy Council, July 17, 1678, — since, by His Majesty’s gracious patents of creation, made Viscount Duresly and Earl of Berkeley, on the one-and-thirtieth year of His
Parisian Abbé; but he also conferred with a Protestant minister as frequently, although secretly. The Abbé did not confine his arguments to ecclesiasticism and theology, but dilated, in magnificent style, on the worldly advantages which he could promise him. But when the enquirer announced his determination to be baptized in the Reformed Church, the Abbé had recourse to tremendous threats, not only of the persecution of the proselyte in the event of such baptism, but also of the royal vengeance against all the Reformed congregations of France. Protestant friends, therefore, suggested that the candidate for baptism should go to Amsterdam or to London. The first opportunity was for London. There he was anew received as an enquirer by Dr. de Breval, with consent of the Bishop of London. The bishop had a final interview with him, and sanctioned his baptism on the next Lord’s Day within the French Church in the Savoy.
