Peace and Priests and Jesuits, can wean us from party feuds, and alarm us again into the dread and horror of Popery, This is the lesson, which we are now called to learn. undisturbed tranquillity could not have taught it. but a siege can put an end to party quarrels in the garrison. Nothing but the Pope, "the man of Macedon," at our gates could bring us to unite. There is no alternative. We must either unite, or surrender. Nothing The great majority of the people of England are sincerely attached to the English Church. They have always considered it the strength and glory of the Protestant Reformation. But that Church would cease to command their love, if it became allied to Popery. Rather than submit to the Confessional, they would sacrifice the Establishment. Rather than symbolize with the Church of Rome, they would quit the Church of England. The fairest, the noblest form of Protestantism would then expire. She would fall a guilty The suicide. But Protestantism would survive the disaster. cause of the Reformation is imperishable. It can never die, till liberty is destroyed, the Confessional established, and the Bible prohibited. APPENDIX. THE FRENCH PROTESTANT CHURCH-ITS PERSECUTIONS. A.D. 1550-1850. PLANS ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANTS—THEIR CONNECTION WITH THE Protestants of France have always been viewed with much interest and solicitude by the Protestants of England. In their earliest records, they are generally styled Lutherans, -not perhaps so much from any attachment to the peculiar doctrines of the Saxon Reformer, as from their strong opposition to the Church of Rome. Certain it is, that about the middle of the 16th Century they entered into a fraternal communion with the Church of Geneva. This resulted partly from the vicinity of Switzerland, and still more from the extraordinary zeal and exertions of Calvin, Beza, and Farel. They early acquired the name of Huguenots, but its origin and etymology are uncertain. The storms of persecution soon awaited them,—yet several princes of the royal family, and numbers amongst the nobility adopted their sentiments. No part of the Reformed Church has been so frequently and so severely tried, as the Protestants of France. So early as 1548, they underwent a dreadful persecution under Henry II. After a solemn procession, many were burnt near Boulogne. The king, who was present at this spectacle, was shocked to such a degree, that he could never forget it, and complained to the end of his life, that at certain times it seemed present to his eye and haunted his understanding.* Even the peace which they obtained from Henry III. in 1576, was only the prelude to that long civil war which the house of Guise, instigated by the Roman Pontiffs, had devised for their destruction. But the Huguenots, headed by leaders of illustrions rank, combated for their religion with various success. These civil commotions which depopulated France, carried on with all the horrors of pillage and massacre, were at length calmed by the fortitude and prudence of Henry IV. He granted to his Protestant subjects the Edict of Nantes, but fell a victim to the revenge of Rome.† The French Protestants were early distinguished by men * Modern Universal History, vol. xx. p. 402 Part I. pp. 55-57. of the most profound learning and the most devoted piety. We have already mentioned the names of Calvin, Beza, and Farel, to which may be added Chamier, Viret, Marot, Malorat, Daillé, Drelincourt, Claude, Blondel, Sully, and a host of others. But the historic splendour of the French Protestant Church did not long survive the massacre of St. Bartholomew, A.D. 1571. The nobility soon discovered, that Protestantism was not fashionable at Court, and gradually went over to Romanism. Still, considerable numbers of the middle orders remained stedfast to their faith. Devoted to commerce and manufactures, these descendants of the ancient Huguenots became peaceable and submissive subjects, and wealthy and industrious citizens. They ceased to act as a political party in the State, and remained only a religious sect, professedly protected by the Edict of Nantes. We say, professedly, for though the letter of the Edict remained, its spirit was continually violated. The The Protestants were viewed by the Catholics with habitual feelings of scorn and hostility. Frequent Edicts of the provincial Parliaments were directed against them. Courts of Law, under shallow pretences, often closed their temples. If any of their places of worship fell down, they were not permitted to rebuild them—nay, they were often disturbed, when they assembled in the neighbouring fields for public worship. Their burial-grounds were often closed, and as a mark of inferiority, they were compelled to inter their dead, either after sunset, or before day-break. It was thus that our celebrated poet of the "The Night Thoughts" was compelled to bury his beloved Narcissa, by moonlight and with his own hands. "With pious sacrilege, a grave I stole ; With impious piety, that grave I wrong'd; Short in my duty, coward in my grief." Book iii. v.172. They were forbidden to call their religion, The Reformed, because it was deemed only a pretended reformation; or to style their Pastors, Ministers of the Word of GOD, because the Word they taught was defamed as false and corrupt. They were not permitted to offend the ears of their Catholic neighbours by singing psalms in their families, or ringing bells on festivals. To these minor persecutions, others were added which more seriously injured their social condition. Though not excluded from incorporated trades or professions, their admission was very limited, and they seldom rose to the higher offices. Yet notwithstanding these invidious distinctions, the Protestants and Papists lived in harmony. They often intermarried, engaged in the same occupations, and parted amicably on the Sunday, the one to attend mass, the other to listen to his Pastor. In the natural course of events, Protestantism would thus have continued in France, professed by a numerous body of the more pious, grave, and industrious, though deserted by the gay, the formal, and the ambitious.* This state of things continued till the later years of Louis XIV., when, as an expiation for the irregularities of private life, his Jesuit Confessors urged him to undertake the conversion of his Protestant subjects. His intrigue with Madame de Montespan was the occasion of that remorse, which finally terminated in the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. At first, he was content to attempt to bribe. A considerable sum was placed at the disposal of the bishops, to decoy Protestants from their faith. As might be expected, amongst a numerous body, many were found to yield to the temptation. The south of France resembled a venal borough. It became the abode of bribery and corruption. But as Louis increased in years, his intellects decayed and his superstition strength* Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxvi. pp. 120-140. |