Dauphiné (France) -- Description and travel; Huguenots; Waldenses
The Marquis, who governed Languedoc for many years, was further of
opinion that the intelligence of the Protestants was in a great
measure due to the instructions of their pastors. "It is certain,"
said he, "that one of the things which holds the Huguenots to their
religion is the amount of information which they receive from their
instructors, and which it is not thought necessary to give in ours.
The Huguenots _will_ be instructed, and it is a general complaint
amongst the new converts not to find in our religion the same mental
and moral discipline they find in their own."
Baville, the intendant, made an observation to a similar effect in a
confidential communication which he made to the authorities at Paris
in 1697, in which he boasted that the Protestants had now all been
converted, and that there were 198,483 new converts in Languedoc.
"Generally speaking," he said, "the new converts are much better off,
being more laborious and industrious than the old Catholics of the
province. The new converts must not be regarded as Catholics; they
almost all preserve in their heart their attachment to their former
religion. They may confess and communicate as much as you will,
because they are menaced and forced to do so by the secular power. But
this only leads to sacrilege. To gain them, _their hearts must be
won_. It is there that religion resides, and it can only be solely
established by effecting that conquest."
From the number, as well as the wealth and education, of the
Protestants of Languedoc, it is reasonable to suppose that the
emigration from this quarter of France should have been very
considerable during the persecutions which followed the Revocation. Of
course nearly all the pastors fled, death being their punishment if
they remained in France. Hence many of the most celebrated French
preachers in Holland, Germany, and England were pastors banished from
Languedoc. Claude and Saurin both belonged to the province; and among
the London preachers were the Dubourdieus, the Bertheaus, Graverol,
and Pégorier.
It is also interesting to find how many of the distinguished Huguenots
who settled in England came from Languedoc. The Romillys and Layards
came from Montpellier; the Saurins from Nismes; the Gaussens from
Lunel; and the Bosanquets from Caila;[32] besides the Auriols,
Arnauds, Péchels, De Beauvoirs, Durands, Portals, Boileaus, D'Albiacs,
D'Oliers, Rious, and Vignoles, all of whom belonged to the Huguenot
landed gentry of Languedoc, who fled and sacrificed everything rather
than conform to the religion of Louis XIV.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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