Protestant Exiles from France/Book First - Chapter 8 - Section III
III. De Luzancy.
Hippolite de Luzancy[1] was by birth a Roman Catholic, and became M.A. of the University of Paris, one of the monks of La Trappe, and an eloquent preacher, sometimes itinerating, but regularly officiating at Montdidier in Picardy. In 1672 he fled to England, and in the pulpit of the London French Church in the Savoy he abjured the Romish creed on July 11th. He had an influential and discriminating patron, the Bishop of Oxford, the Hon. and Right Rev, Henry Compton, sixth son of the second Earl of Northampton. To him he dedicated his Abjuration Sermon, of which the title-page is: “A Sermon preached in the Savoy, July 11, 1675. By Mr. De Luzancy, Licentiat in Divinity, on the Day of his Abjuration. English’d. London, Printed by W. Godbid, and are to be Sold by Moses Pitt at the Angel over against the Little North-Door of St. Paul’s Church. 1675. Where you may have the same Sermon in French, as it was Preached.” The text was John viii. 32, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” He said : “I was born in the Romish Church, I have studied her doctrine, I have been prepossessed with her opinions, and have had no small zeal for the traditions of my ancestors. But I say at the same time, and I am come hither to declare it, that that same voice which sounded in the ears of the Apostle has also sounded in mine, and that the same grace has touched my soul. I acknowledge, brethren, that I feel a great pleasure within me in making this public declaration; for — besides that in so doing I witness my faith to you — I also know the sweet disposition of your souls. You upon earth have a due sense of God’s mercies as the angels have in heaven. You rejoice no less at the conversion of sinners than at the perseverance of saints. 'Tis to the increasing of this holy joy that I purpose to set out in this Discourse the reasons that brought me to this change; they are included in these words, Ye shall know the truth. I sought after this truth with all the diligence I could. I begged of God he would open the eyes of my heart. For it is through the eyes of our heart we must see the truths of salvation; for those of the mind are never able to bring us to that height of clearness which is necessary for us. The Roman Church has not known the truth, because she has not sought it where it is to be found, and has sought it where it is not to be found.”
A Jesuit named St. Germaine having threatened to assassinate him, the King issued a proclamation for the protection of De Luzancy. The Romanists furiously and incessantly attacked his reputation, but he was supported by his noble patron, Bishop Compton, who in the end of 1675 had become the Bishop of London. However, one of the Savoy pastors, Rev. Richard Du Maresq, believing the accusations, published a sermon, with a preface, accusing De Luzancy of baseness, lying, and dissimulation. The bishop seized the pamphlet, and suspended the author from his pastoral functions. The Marquis de Ruvigny and Dr. Durel undertook to act as mediators, and Mr. Du Maresq having acknowledged the offence of printing his preface without the bishop’s imprimatur, was released from suspension. The bishop sent De Luzancy to Christ Church, Oxford, and the Chancellor (the Duke of Ormond) recommended that he should be created M.A., which was done on 26th January 1676 (n.s.). William Rogers of Lincoln’s Inn, a Romish proselyte, having circulated a pamphlet defaming De Luzancy, was, in the August following, arraigned before His Majesty in Council and severely reprimanded.
During his residence in Oxford, De Luzancy published two books, viz., “Reflections on the Council of Trent” (1677), and “A Treatise against Irreligion” (1678). His academic leisure ceased in the end of 1679, when he was presented by Bishop Compton to the vicarage of Dover-Court, in Essex; the town and chapel of Harwich were in the parish, and hereafter he is often styled minister of Harwich. On 16th November 1679 he was naturalized at Westminster as Hippolitus Luzancy. Anthony Wood sneeringly endorses the accusations against him, but the steady support which he received from his bishop seems to be his complete vindication. In Harwich he married, and lived unmolested. He interested himself in politics. From him Samuel Pepys, as an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of Harwich in the convention of Parliament summoned by the Prince of Orange, received the following letter of condolence:—
“7th January 1689. — Sir, — I have been desired by your friends to send you the enclosed paper, by which you may easily be made sensible how we are overrun with pride, heat, and faction, and unjust to ourselves to that prodigious degree as to deprive ourselves of the greatest honour and advantage which we could ever attain to, in the choice of so great and so good a man as you are. Had reason had the least place amongst us, or any love for ourselves, we had certainly carried it for you. Yet if we are not by this late defection altogether become unworthy of you, I dare almost be confident that an earlier application of the appearing of yourself or Sir Anthony Deane will put the thing out of doubt against the next parliament. A conventicle set up here, since this unhappy Liberty of Conscience, has been the cause of all this. In the meantime my poor endeavours shall not be wanting; and though my stedfastness to your interests these ten years has almost ruined me, yet I shall continue as long as I live your most humble and most obedient servant,De Luzancy.”
He was made a chaplain to the Duke of Schomberg (whose second title was Marquis of Harwich), and also to the second duke. In 1690, on the death of the first duke, he published two obituary brochures — one styled a Panegyric, and the other an Abridgment of his Life (Abrégé de la vie, &c). He has chronicled very few facts regarding the illustrious marshal, but he displays his own acknowledged eloquence to considerable advantage. He obtained the degree of B.D., and published in 1696 a volume of “Remarks on several late writings published in English by the Socinians, wherein is shown the insufficiency and weakness of their answers to the texts brought against them by the orthodox, in Four Letters, written at the request of a Socinian gentleman.” In 1701 he published “A treatise of the two sacraments of the gospel Baptism and the Lord’s Supper according to the Scriptures and the doctrine of the Fathers.” On its title-page he is styled “Vicar of Dover-Court and Harwich.” Bishop Compton continued his friend, and through his patronage he was translated to the vicarage of South-Weald on 15th December 1702. Here he spent the last years of his life. He published “A Sermon preached at the Assizes for the County of Essex, held at Chelmsford, March the 8th, 1710, before the Honourable Mr. Justice Powell. By H. de Luzancy, B.D., Vicar of Southweald, in the said County. London, 1711.” [1710 must be according to the old style.]
Mr. De Luzancy appears to have been in London in the month of April 1713, when he died. He was buried at South Weald, the 20th day of April 1713.
- ↑ Anthony a Wood calls him “Hippolytus du Chastelet de Luzancy.”