AS ILLUSTRATED AT THE , TIME OF THE REFORMATION. (Translated from the French.)

It was at Geneva that the Bible and other books which brought the light into the southern half of France were printed. There, too, it was that persecuted Christians found a sure refuge, and that many zealous preachers. were more perfectly instructed in the word of God by Calvin, and then filled France from the Jura to the Pyrenees with their earnest testimony.

The seed abundantly scattered fell upon well prepared ground. Already before this, the Waldenses and the Albigenses, who occupied a part of the south of France, had, by the light of Scripture, made energetic protests against the errors of the Church of Rome. They had been crushed by the bloody crusades made against them by the pope's legates; but their descendants had kept in their hearts a deep love for the gospel, and an invincible disgust for Romish traditions and superstitions. When, therefore, the light penetrated from Germany into the north of France, and as far as Paris, it met with a most cordial reception, especially among the upper classes. The first to receive it were from the higher ranks and the cultivated people.

In 1512, five years before Luther posted his theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg, Lefevre d'Etaples, professor at the Sorbonne, had, in his commentary on the epistle to the Romans, voiced the doctrines taught later on by the German reformer. Some pious bishops, men of state in the highest posts, and powerful noble families, had declared themselves friends of the word of God. It had penetrated even into the court of Francis I. His own sister, the remarkable Marguerite de Valois, had received it in her heart. Noted for her beauty, and surrounded by luxury and the temptations of a corrupt society, she found the way to keep herself pure, "esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." She adopted the sunflower as her emblem, because it ever turns to the sun, and had linked with it the words, I seek not the things here. The following lines from her have been preserved:

Is there of woe an abyss so deep,
That, for the tenth of my sins, could be found
Enough to punish ?
Then, my Father–O what a Father!-God
Invisible, immutable, eternal,
In grace forgiving all transgression,
At Thy feet I fall as does a criminal.
O lovely Saviour, Immanuel,
The Lord, the Word, the King, through death
Of death the conqueror,
In Thy mercy I trust.
Made by faith children of God,
By faith righteous, fruitful, holy,
By faith brought nigh who once were far,
O Christ, in Thee all is mine and I abound;
I once so poor, so blind and helpless,
In Thee now so rich and great and wise.

Quite different were the sentiments of her brother, Francis I., toward the "new doctrine." Full of ambitious plans, he allowed his despicable mother, Louise of Savoy, to prejudice him against it, and so in him began a long series of kings of France who sought to drown in blood the flock of Christ and the Word of Truth, and by it brought upon themselves the judgments of God as well as ruin upon their country.

The first martyr of those dark days was a simple workman, a wool carder of the town of Meaux, called Jean Leclerc. Urged by the Spirit of God, he went from house to house preaching the gospel to the people, and testifying with energy against the misleadings of popery. For three days he was taken through the city and so beaten on his bare back that the blood flowed down from his torn flesh, and then he was branded on the forehead with a hot iron as one of the worst malefactors. At the sight of all this his mother was overcome with sorrow; but soon realizing the prospects of faith, she was lifted above all, and shouted, " Vive Jesus-Christ et ses enseignes!" (Long live Jesus-Christ and His teachings.*) *It is difficult to render this expression in English. It is like the poor, ignorant man whose heart was full of Christ, but who could not express it in words; so he shouted, " Three cheers for Jesus Christ!"* Spite of this mark of infamy, the martyr continued to bear testimony. He was seized again at Metz, and condemned to be burned alive. To satisfy the furious crowds, he was first torn with red-hot nippers, but in the midst of his sufferings he repeated aloud the words of the 112th psalm.

A few years later the Protestant community of Meaux had so grown that sixty-two of its members, men and women, were arrested at one time. At their trial fourteen of them were condemned to the gallows. They began by applying the question to them; and while the executioners were wearying themselves in dismembering the bodies of their uncomplaining victims, one of these, full of holy joy, cried out, "Courage, friends; let us not pity this poor body, in which we have so often resisted the Spirit, and sinned against God! " Then the sacrifice began, and ended while the priests chanted with all their might, " O salutary victim; I salute thee, O queen!"

Persecutions went on:a poor crippled shoemaker, called Milan, who taught the word of God to such as visited him, was dragged out of his bed of suffering, thrown into a dungeon, then taken to the scaffold. Five young students who had been at Lausanne to prepare for the ministry were returning to France to give themselves to this holy, but dangerous work. Taken by deception, they were imprisoned at Lyons, and burned alive on the place des Terreaux. Not allowed to live to serve God, they served Him in their death, and praised Him to the end by the singing of psalms.

A simple peasant called Etienne answered the judge who had condemned him, " No, you have no power to send me into death; it is rather to life you are sending me." Many priests and monks received the love of the truth, and turned away from the superstitions of Rome. This brought upon them treatment only so much the more cruel.

Admirable was the unflinching firmness of these victims when subjected to those frightful tortures. They bore them without complaint, and without ever betraying their brethren in the faith. Many had their tongues cut off before being burned alive or beheaded. It was thus made impossible for them to be witnesses of their faith from the top of the pile or of the scaffold. This was done to two workmen, exclaims, "It was a marvelous triumph, for God has shown in a visible manner how able He is to uphold youth, to strengthen old age, and to give to a feeble and delicate woman the needed courage for faithful testimony, when it pleases Him to put His elect to such a test."