ardent Calvinist, to establish a school of prophets in Dauphiné. Da Serre chose fifteen country boys, and as many country girls, as best suited to his purpose. He made them,' says Mr. Brueys,* ‹ learn by heart those passages in the Book of Revelations, which mention Antichrist, the destruction of his empire, and the deliverance of his church. He told them that the Pope was Antichrist, that the empire about to be destroyed was Popery, and that the delivery of the Church denoted the establishment of the Reformed Creed. He also taught them some surprising tricks: as, to bear blows on the head without appearing to feel them; throw themselves backward; to keep their eyes shut, swelling their throats and stomachs; to remain in this state as it were asleep during some minutes, and, when they awoke, to say every thing that came into their heads.' When they were sufficiently instructed," says the author of the Memoirs, " Du Serre breathed into their mouths, with some ridiculous ceremonies, and then sent them, full of the honour which they had received, on their mission. They dispersed themselves, accordingly, over the Vivarais and the Cevennes. There they found partisans, and persuaded them to meet in assemblies. Over these the missionary prophet presided;-he preached, prophesied, fell into convulsions, appeared to be in ecstacy, and did every thing likely to seduce a gross and credulous multitude. Illusion and fanaticism were thus rapidly propagated. The gift of prophecy was communicated by the first prophets to others: at length every one wished to be inspired."

Some of these inspired persons found their way into England: at first they were received with compassion, and with the respect that compassion generally inspires; but they soon ceased to be respected.

II.-Troubles in the Cevennes.

"In 1702," contiuues the author of the Memoirs, "there was a rapid growth of this evil in the Cevennes, a territory full of mountains, and chosen perhaps on that account for the first scene of the sedition. The number of the seditious increased prodigiously: fanatic assemblies, crying for revenge and exasperating a simple and discontented peasantry, were held every where. These provocations soon produced their effects. On the 24th June, 1702, a band of Protestants burst into the mansion of the Abbé Chaylu, archpriest of Mende, and director of the missions at Pont-du-Monteverd. They

* Page 107.

massacred him in the most barbarous manner, inflicting upon him forty-two wounds, of which twenty-four were mortal. A priest and two persons residing in his house, were killed with him: they also flung into the sea two priests in the neighbouring parishes. It is said, (for we wish to dissemble nothing,) that the Abbé Chaylu, besides his character of missionary, which rendered him odious to the Protestants, had also incurred their hatred by his severity in their regard. This accusation, brought against him by the Protestant historians, has not been wholly refuted by the Catholics. However this may be, the assassination of this minister was the signal of the war. The assassins, bewildered by the exploit, run to others. They possessed themselves of a neighbouring castle, and massacred the inhabitants. Finding arms in it, they increased the number of their body, formed others, appointed chiefs, and began their excursions. On the 15th of August, they murdered a Protestant gentleman, who had been converted to the Catholic religion. Soon they began to burn the churches. Several priests and missionaries received death from their hands. Catholics, who could be reproached with nothing but their zeal-even women, were massacred without pity; and, in an instant, the whole country became a theatre of fury, of house-burning, and bloodshed. An author who cannot be suspected* computes, that in the single month of January, 1703, the insurgents burned forty parishes, castles, or houses, and killed more than eighty persons. This author was a Protestant: he boasts of his impartiality; it appears nowhere, except in the title of his book. He always finds a reason for excusing his own party; and, in many parts of his book, affects to be agreeably witty on the terror of the priests, whom the massacres of their brethren forced to retire to other towns. We shall not enter into the details of this war. On each side it was tenable. The cruelties of one party led the other to make reprisals.

"At first, punishments were inflicted to frighten the rebels; and the Cevennes became the theatre of sanguinary atrocities and rigorous executions. At length, a military force was sent against the rebels, under the command of Marshal Villars. He reduced the greater part of them to subjection.

"A renewal of the troubles was expected in 1705: the 25th of

"The Count de Gébélin, father of the author of Le Monde Premetif, in his work entitled, 'Historides Troubles des Cevennes, ou de la Guerre des Camisards,' par l'auteur du Patriote Francais impartial. Villefranc, 1760. 3 vols. 8vo."

August had been fixed upon for a general insurrection. It had been concerted by some Camisards, who had secretly made their way into France. Nothing less was proposed than to draw the whole province of Languedoc into a revolt, and a great number of Protestants had entered into the conspiracy. It came to the knowledge of the Duke of Berwick, who commanded the French troops in that province. Many of the conspirators were arrested; and the French government was terrified at the sight of the danger which they had run.

"In 1706 and 1709, some partial revolts took place. Several priests perished in them: these were always the chief objects of the hatred of the seditious. When the priests fell into their hands, they were either put to death immediately, or made to expire in cruel and refined tortures. All the histories of the times attest those cruelties.

"A curious account of the afflicting history of these countries, at this time, may be seen in the letters of M. Fléchiér, the bishop of Nismes. In these, the pious and charitable prelate deplores, with great feeling, these sufferings of the church and of humanity. What he says of the Protestants should have the more weight, as his moderation and indulgence in their regard are known; and it is also known, that he disapproved the measures of rigour which some persons then adopted in their regard, and which he himself considered to be as little conformable to the welfare of the state, as they were to the interest and spirit of religion." All his biographers agree, that the tears both of Protestants and Catholics accompanied him to his grave.

We have already expressed, and we unreservedly repeat, our condemnation of that part of the Edict of Revocation which banished the Calvinist ministers. We admit, that upon this account much of the barbarities which followed are chargeable upon the monarch, or rather upon his advisers. But we claim the same justice for Catholics. If these have ever been driven by any persecution into excesses of any description, the authors or inflictors of these persecutions should always bear their due share of blame.

III.-Discovery of much secret Socinianism among the Reformed.

In the last of the six eloquent Addresses of Bossuet to the Protestants, he proves to them, from the confessions of Jurieu, that, before the close of the seventeenth century, Socinianism abounded in the seven United Provinces; and that the dispersion of the French Calvinists, in consequence of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, revealed to the terrified Protestants of the original creeds of the

Reformed Churches, the terrible preponderance of Socinianism, even in the Lutheran and Calvinistic Churches on the Continent. The ministers of these churches, being, by Jurieu's account, no longer under the control of the civil power, disseminated their Socinian principles every where, with the greatest activity and success. Even in England, Jurieu pretended to discover some effects of their exertions among their brethren in faith. He mentions that, in 1698, thirtyfour French refugee ministers, residing in London, addressed a letter to the Synod of Calvinists, then sitting at Amsterdam, in which they declared that Socinianism spread so rapidly, that if the ecclesiastical assemblies applied no remedy to it, or applied to it palliatives only, the evil would be incurable.

It certainly has ever since been on the increase in the Protestant Churches beyond the Channel. Dr. Jebb, the learned Protestant bishop of Limerick, in his Appendix to his Sermons,* asks, "If it be not a striking fact, that every reformed church with which we are acquainted, except our own, has been more or less advancing towards Socinianism?"-The Rev. Mr. Rose, in a sermon preached by him at Cambridge, and dedicated to the Bishop of Chester, thus describes the state of religion in Protestant Germany: "It is," he says, "the mere shadow of a name. The ABDICATION OF CHRISTIANITY is not confined either to the Lutheran or the Calvinistic profession, but extends its baneful and withering influence with equal force over each."+ S.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Catholic Miscellany.

SINCE the passing of the two acts in our favour, in the years 1778 and 1791, what has been, and is, the state of the Protestant mind, on what is called the Catholic question? Has it been stationary, or retrogade, or progressive? The period cannot have passed without exciting attention, according to the situation in which each Catholic has stood. He has seen various attempts, unsuccess

* Page 367.

"The State of the Protestant Religion in Germany, in a Series of Discourses, preached before the University of Cambridge, by the Rev. Hugh James Rose, M. A., of Trinity College, and Vicar of Horsham, Sussex. 8vo. 1825. pp. 9, 10."

C. M.-VOL. VIII, No. 70.

G G

1

fully made for further relief; when the tables of both houses were loaded with counter-petitions, worded in the strongest terms of reprobation. How such petitions are got up is well known; still, to a certain extent, they express the general feeling, and will necessarily influence the decisions of parliament. It must, however, be admitted, that some progress has been made. With pleasure the mind turns to London and Westminster, and to the great manufacturing districts, where men associate most, and where they read and reason. In the agricultural counties, where there is little mental exercises, prejudices must remain, as they are impressed from the cradle, and often aggravated by the warning voice from the pulpit, Be aware of the papists! I am ready to give every praise to the zeal of many honourable men among us, who, by circulating many instructive tracts, have opened to all the easy means of information. -But how is it with the clergy? Here presents itself a problem, which I cannot solve. Men of high education, great acquirements in every branch of learning, liberal, social, and kind-hearted in all the relations of life, pertinaciously cherish, or profess to cherish, opinions against their Catholic brethren-for such they sometimes call them-which, after all that has been said and written, they must know rest on no truth. As British subjects, on oath, we have repelled every charge; as Christians, we have solemnly proclaimed our faith. All goes for nothing: while, in the common concerns of society our simple word is taken, and we are acknowledged to be honourable, faithful, and sincere. Under what influence does this happen? Say, I will not, that intolerance on the Catholic question opens the way to preferment; and that the problem is thus solved. It has been said, should it ever be conceded, that Catholics fairly state their own faith, the consequence becomes obvious, that the Reformation, so called, resting on the proclaimed errors of popery, was a trick artfully devised, and that to continue in it must be criminal. No concessions, therefore, must be made. When I read that sacred volume, which these honourable men profess to make the sole rule of their faith and conduct, passages sometimes force a comparison on my mind, stating, as they do, what was the obstinacy of other priests, when, in the fullest evidence, facts were presented to their eyes and ears. "If we let this man alone," they said, (John, xi.)" all men will believe in him and the Romans will come, and take away our place and nation."-" If, my Lords," lately exclaimed a venerable peer, you ever pass this Catholic bill, the destruction of the church will immediately follow, and soon after it that of the

: