the impoverished and distressed in other quarters, and sent many donations. Among these we find a gift to the poor people of Blantyre, whose corn had been destroyed by a sudden storm of hail. Nor did she forget suffering Protestant Churches abroad. In 1588, we meet with the following_recorded deliverance, as to the Reformed Church of France: there had been a previous and similar resolution as to Geneva:-"The which day the session ordains Mr Patrick Sharp, Principal of the College of Glasgow, and Mr John Cowper, one of the ministers there, to go to the Council on Saturday next, and to propound to them the necessities of the poor brethren of France, banished to England for the religious cause, and to crave of them their support to the said poor brethren." They farther ask the Council to appoint six members of session, three to take up collections in the east of the town, and three in the west, the whole to be done with all possible diligence.

CHAPTER III.

FROM 1598 TO 1660.

We have already seen the remarkable rise and progress of the Protestant Church of France in the course of 20 years, beginning with 1560; and the serious decline which it suffered, in the same space of time, in the next 20 years, through the influence of persecution and the apostasy of leading men, particularly Henry IV. We now pursue the history from 1598. This was a memorable year, being the year when the first effectual protection was granted to the Protestant cause, under the name of the edict of Nantes. The author of this most important measure was Henry; and apostate though he was, such was the estimation in which it was held by the poor Protestants, that it procured for his name the title of "great," and for his memory the character of "blessed." Indeed, he may be said to have been the only French monarch who ever yielded cordial justice to his Protestant subjects; and well he might, for no one had better opportunities of knowing their worth. It was with no small difficulty the edict was passed, such was the force of Popish opposition; and the very provisions of the measure show how dreadful must have been the state of matters before. According to the edict, the Protestants were to have the free exercise of their religion, and access to all offices of honour. They were to be tried by judges of their own persuasion. They were to receive so many cities as pledges of security or cautionary towns,

and their churches, as well as their garrisons, were to be upheld, in part at least, from the public resources. The garrisons were to receive a yearly sum of 80,000 crowns. But, by a clause in the edict, it was provided that the Protestants were to have places of public worship only within certain limits,- -none within several miles of the capital, and they were otherwise subjected to various harassing regulations, all in deference to the Church of Rome. Still, the edict of Nantes was a mighty boon; and when we take a glance at the persecutions, issuing in civil wars, with which the country had been oppressed for many years before, we cannot wonder at the Protestant joy.

So early as the year 1525, in the very dawn of the Reformation, Popery began her efforts to extinguish the truth, by burning its professors alive; and down to 1557, or for more than 30 long years, scarcely one was permitted to pass without its complement of victims. Not less than 117 public martyrdoms were spread over this period of time. And when the Protestants, in spite of persecution, grew in numbers, and acquired sufficient strength, and were, moreover, tempted to make resistance to their oppressors, what was the result? In the course of the 40 years which elapsed from the meeting of the first General Assembly of the Protestant Church to the granting of the edict of Nantes, there were not less than 9 civil wars-4 pitched battles-300 engagements. Several hundred places, too, were besieged, and 1,000,000 of French subjects lost their lives. About 30 years later, it was estimated that not less than 150,000,000 livres had been expended in protracted wars and persecutions, and 2000 churches and as many monasteries destroyed. Infidels would fain lay the blame of all this devastation on religion. But not to plead that a considerable share of it was owing to political parties, who contended for the succession to the throne, often disguising their ambition under religious pretexts, it is to be remembered, that the aggressor was not the true religion of the Scriptures, but Popery, its

great caricature and corrupter, and that Christianity is not responsible for its misdeeds. When Protestants resisted, it was, for the most part, simply in self-defence. It is not the Gospel which creates discord, or war, or which leads to destruction. It is the depravity of man, which hates the Gospel with such thorough hatred, as to be lighted into a flame at the very sight of it. And this is no more than what our Saviour taught his Church and people to expect in every age, when he said that his coming would not bring peace, but a sword. The appalling facts to which I have referred, especially when conjoined with St Bartholomew's massacre of 70,000 persons, will enable us to understand the high importance of the edict of Nantes, imperfect and intolerant as that measure in some respects was. Under its protection the ministers who had been dispersed by persecution were recalled, and the Protestant Church made decided progress for many years. The doctrine was sound, the discipline strict, and not a few of the ministers and professors in the universities were eminent men. But Henry was assassinated in 1610, and soon the Romish principle, that faith is not to be kept with heretics, came to be exemplified in the perpetual encroachments on, and violations of, the edict. Louis XIII., son of Henry, was a bigoted Roman Catholic. He dedicated himself, and kingdom, and all that he had, to the Virgin Mary. In 1620, he established Popery in Bearn, and drove the Protestants to arms, refusing to make peace with them, except on the conditions that they would demolish their garrisons and abandon their cautionary towns, which the edict recognised. In 1625 he attacked Rochelle, one of the greatest Protestant strongholds, and after a siege of many weeks, carried it with a sacrifice of 13,000 citizens. This, in a great degree, broke the power of the Protestants, and the evil was aggravated by the success with which Richelieu, the celebrated prime minister of Louis, prevailed, by bribes, upon many of the leading Protestant chiefs, to desert the Protestant cause. Such were Dukes Sully, Bouillon, Lesdeguieres, Rohan, &c.

Amid all these discouraging circumstances, so discouraging as to drive some eminent men to England, still the Protestants, as a body, did not fall off in numbers, but rather gained during the course of this reign. The king dying in 1643, was succeeded by his son, the well-known Louis XIV., in whose hands the edict continued to receive the most cruel infractions, until, in 1685, it was, by an act of inexpressible infamy and wickedness, wholly repealed. We need scarcely add, that it led to the most serious disasters to France. We do not mean to bring the history of the Protestant Church, at present, down to this date, but shall limit ourselves by the year 1659, the year in which the last General Assembly of the Protestant Church was permitted to be held. Our survey of the spirit and proceedings of the Church will thus extend over 60 years.

To give the reader a more accurate idea of the Protestant Church of France during the period of which I write, it will be necessary, without entering into details, to be a little more specific. Starting with 1598, and running the eye along the leading events of an unfavourable character, during the next 60 years, not a few present themselves to our notice. Immediately before the granting of the protective edict, we have a remonstrance to the king, which indicates much real, though not very open, persecution. It embraces such points as-interruption of public worship-expulsion from licensed places -the seizure of the Bible and religious books-the silencing of Psalmody (the use of which seems always to have been peculiarly hateful)-forcible conformitycases of specific violence-disgusting outrages on the dead. These are stated as undeniable facts. Even in regard to the edict, the concession was most reluctant. A year elapsed between the appending of the royal signature and its formally becoming the law of the land, and that, too, though the Jesuits had been expelled the kingdom four years before, on the attempted assassination of Henry by one of their number. The reign of Louis XIII., his son and successor, lasted for 33 years;