August 15, 2012

Carrying the Torch

With next Friday being the 440^th anniversary of the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, I took a closer look at one of the biggest missions I have for this blog: To bring little-known martyrs to light, to lift up the names of those who gave their lives for Christ by clinging to the tenets of the Protestant Reformation. Often I do not know exactly where to look, but today I found a list I had kept of known victims of the St. Bartholomew’s. My eyes fell on Felix La Rue or Le Roux. 

He was somewhere around fifty years of age and was the son of Henry, who was thought to be a clandestine child of King Francis I. Felix supposedly had a young son who escaped. I do not know what he looked like or what he did in life; yet when my eyes fell on the name, when I realized that someone was seeing his name four hundred years after he was silenced and forgotten, I felt a great sense of elation. Then I had an interesting idea: “Adopt a martyr.”

Yes, it sounds odd. It is not meant to be an official title. But remember how people chose a POW / MIA soldier to “adopt,” to receive a picture and / or information about that person? Or when you sponser a child and are sent periodic letters, photos, and other mementoes? Or when a child “adopts” a pen-pal from another country? Adopt a few martyrs. Pick obscure people (or famous, it does not matter) from a personally-meaningful event in history such as the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, the French Wars of Religion, persecution of the Anabaptists in Switzerland or Germany, persecution of the Anglican martyrs, etc. These people could also be ancestors. Learn everything you can and write a little something about them. Keep their memories alive. Make it so they did not die to be forgotten, but rather that their lives, their dreams, and their hopes might be remembered.

When we struggle with witnessing or with keeping the faith, we should remember our adopted martyrs. And for those who choose ancestors, remember that their blood runs in your veins. If they could have the strength, courage, and steadfastness to put Christ above all else, we can as well.

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

August 14, 2012

The Freedoms of Modern Day

Sometimes, while studying the Reformation era, I am so very glad we live in tolerant times. I made a list of the freedoms we enjoy that people of the 16^th century did not:

Scenario 21^st century: Upon asked your religion, you answer “Protestant,” and get an “okay,” usually followed by an “I am . . .” and (hopefully!) constructive dialogue.

Scenario 16^th century: Upon asked your religion, you answer “Protestant,” and, depending on the country, you are shunned, imprisoned by the authorities, or attacked outright by disgruntled civilians.

Scenario 21^st century: Upon speaking the Lord’s Prayer with those of various faiths, you use the Protestant version and get a noise of interest, an acknowledgment, or indifferent silence.

Scenario 16th century: Upon speaking the Lord’s Prayer with those of various faiths, your end doxology is immediately noticed and you are either condemned or questioned until the “truth” is sufficiently known and action is taken.

Scenario 21^st century: Your faith becomes known and you suffer a loud knock on the door in the middle of the day. It is probably (a) someone attempting to drop off unwanted literature, (b) a friend or relative, or (c) the UPS or FedEx delivery person.

Scenario 16^th century: Your faith becomes known and you suffer a loud knock on the door. It is probably (a) guards and perhaps local authorities, who have prepared a jail cell and perhaps a trial (legal or not), (b) church officials who beg you to recant, or (c) friends or relatives warning you they are in danger and so are you.

Scenario 21^st century: You are told that you *must* participate in the tenets of another denomination (and you feel it is wrong to do so). You refuse and are perhaps shunned but basically left alone.

Scenario 16^th century: You are told that you *must* participate in the tenets of another denomination. Upon refusing, you are either forced to do so or are imprisoned.

I cannot fathom how much we take for granted, compared to what our spiritual predecessors suffered. Often when there is a knock on the door I think of how horrifying that unexpected pounding must have been to our ancestors living in fear. Long live the Reformation and freedom!

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

August 13, 2012

Canada’s French Catholics and the Huguenot Connection

Did you know there were once many Huguenot settlers in 17^th century Québec? For a time there was harmony (so to speak . . .) between Protestant and Catholic Frenchmen in the tenacious little village that would one day become a sprawling city. Samuel de Champlain --- many will remember him from the history textbooks --- at first gave equality to French Protestants, allowing them to live in Québec as long as they kept to themselves and did not attempt to evangelize the neighboring Native Americans. There were even Huguenot-based firms such as the De Caen Company. Many French Protestants must have believed that this was an extended opportunity to pick up in the New World where Florida’s failed Fort Caroline had left off. This all worked well . . . but not for long.

In the late 1620s, the Jesuits arrived. Known at the time for their zealous dislike of anything and everything Protestant, they exerted their authority to get the Huguenots banned from major activities, from fur-trading, from bartering . . . from fishing. The Huguenots’ financial lifelines had been snapped. With the Jesuits in charge, “Protestant” was an ugly word. This was one of many precursors to the 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau in France which sapped Huguenot fortunes in much the same way.

By the 1740s, however, there was a resurgence of Huguenots in Québec and beyond. French Protestants were fine merchants and businessmen and refused to leave the area. We know this because of nasty letters the officials sent back and forth to complain about the “heretic” problem :-) Although the Catholics of “New France” certainly saw no merit in the day England temporarily took control of Canada in 1764, French Protestants were enthused. There was now freedom of religion. Opportunities skyrocketed. The Huguenots were quickly learning that if they were tenacious enough, if they hung on long enough and refused to be silenced, they would usually --- after decades, perhaps --- have the opportunity for which they had waited.

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

August 12, 2012

The Reformation: Right on Time

Ah, the joys of losing one’s Internet connection :-) Without the usual resources available to me yesterday, I decided to just write from the heart, using whatever subject matter came to me. I pondered God’s hand in the spread of the Protestant Reformation. Why the 1500s? Why not the 1400s or the 1600s or any time between the beginning of Christianity and the present day? Because that was when the time was ripe. 

That was when the printing press made literature such as pamphlets and treatises abundant. That was when many nations such as Germany, unimpressed by current “salvation-buying” tactics such as indulgences and straining under the yoke of paying for St. Peter’s Basilica, said “no more.” That is when there were scholars brave enough and confident enough to stand up and say “we do not believe in the established church. We want to worship Christ as our hearts tell us to worship Him.”

Perhaps that is why I have always been particularly fascinated with the 1500s. It was a time of change and new thought. For over a thousand years there had been only the Catholic Church (except in places associated with Greek Orthodoxy). Even people who may have had issues with certain doctrines or may not have entirely believed everything they were taught were forced to continue on in the faith . . . until the Reformation. Suddenly there were other venues. If you had always secretly believed in the idea of predestination, you would join the Calvinist camp. If not, you could choose Lutheranism or Anabaptism, or Anglicanism. Suddenly men and women who had never been content in the traditional faith had a choice.

Let’s think what might have happened if the Reformation had begun in the early 1400s. Or the 1300s. Without the printing press, few people would have gotten the message. Those who did would have been quickly imprisoned and likely martyred. The medieval era was known for absolute obedience to church and local officials, and, without reasons such as abusive indulgences to fire up the common people, it is unlikely that Protestant ideas would have gotten much support.

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

August 11, 2012

**I greatly apologize for the missed day; I had no Internet connection and was unable to get a post out. That, however, did not hinder my ability to write and ponder :-)**


Lately I have been thinking about the Puritans. What is the truth about the Puritans of old? Should we lament their strictness or bless their efforts? Should we look askance at their uncompromising punishments or praise their faithfulness? On the one hand, we wonder if they were really *that* strict and if they were the somber black-clothed elders they were accused of being. On the other hand, however, it is obvious from their writings that they truly loved God and had every intention of furthering His work. I think one must take propaganda concerning the Puritans with a grain of salt. Some is likely true. Some is likely false. Whatever the “real deal,” the Puritans were knowledgeable in Scripture and wrote some beautiful poetry based on God’s truths. Today I am picking another random poem from the book “The Valley of Vision” by Arthur Bennett.

“Comforts”

Giver of all good,

Streams upon streams of love overflow my path.

Thou hast made me out of nothing,

       hast recalled me from a far country,

       hast translated me from ignorance to knowledge,

                from darkness to light,

                from death to life,

                from misery to peace,

                from folly to wisdom,

                from error to truth,

                from sin to victory.

Thanks be to thee for my high and holy calling.

I bless thee for ministering angels,

          for the comfort of thy Word,

          for the ordinances of thy church,

          for the teaching of thy Spirit,

          for thy holy sacraments,

          for the communion of saints,

          for Christian fellowship,

          for the recorded annals of holy lives,

          for examples sweet to allure,

          for beacons sad to deter.

Thy will is in all thy provisions

       to enable me to grow in grace,

          and to be meet for thy eternal presence.

My heaven-born faith gives promise of eternal sight,

      my new birth a pledge of never-ending life.

I draw near to thee, knowing thou wilt draw near to me.

I ask of thee, believing thou hast already given.

I entrust myself to thee, for thou hast redeemed me.

I bless and adore thee, the eternal God,

     for the comfort of these thoughts,

       the joy of these hopes.   

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved 

August 09, 2012

The Huguenots and the Camisard Rebellion

If you were a French Protestant anytime between the 1530s and the 1780s, save for pockets of “normality” that were far too short, you were subject to death or at least to bitter persecution and intolerance. The Huguenots truly were a “martyr church,” but when King Louis XIV stamped out Protestantism in 1685, many could not imagine leaving their homeland. Thus they settled in the mountains and gorges of the Cévennes region. These particular Huguenots are now known as Camisards, a term which seems to come from their clothing.

Their newfound life was less violent but far from peaceful. Eventually the Huguenots hoped to return home and to restore their rights, and with these goals in mind, they launched a covert attack against the hated dragoons. The dragoons embodied cavalier cruelty in Protestant minds. These men were well-known for destroying homes and human lives with equal indifference. In 1702 the “Camisard Rebellion” began. Hidden Huguenots sallied forth out of the Cévennes to detect and battle the dragoons.

The rebellion grew hot with the murder of François de Langlade du Chayla, a Catholic of high standing in the Cévennes region. He had taken it in mind to return Cévennes Huguenots to the Catholic fold, and his inflammatory statements against Protestants made him many enemies. A few very misguided individuals put Langlade to death.  Suddenly, Catholics in the surrounding area were reminded that they had not been “cleansed” of the Protestant presence and thus took up arms against the Huguenots. The Huguenots, in return, put together a ragtag army and fought in many engagements without a clear idea of how to engage the enemy.

There were some Protestants who actually sided with the king’s army, ostensibly to avoid injury, but they were not spared. In 1703 much of the Cévennes was destroyed in raids in which the majority of homes were burned. The fighting in the Cévennes was small-scale compared to the kind of warfare there might have been if all France’s hidden Huguenots had rebelled, but here it was like a miniature battle of good versus evil. Of course, each side attributed the designation of evil to their enemies.

In the gorges and villages the guerrilla-like warfare was intense. Protestants refused to lie down and succumb as they felt they had been forced to do in 1685. A treaty known as the Calvisson Truce was finally ratified in May 1704. Soldiers fell into an uneasy silence. Many thought that, with the king having seen that they would not be repressed and that they would not allow their followers to be wooed away, he would allow them to practice Protestantism openly. This was not to be.

Fighting again broke out, and hostilities were not completely ended until 1715. By that time much of the Cévennes lay in ruins. Tensions ran high. The Protestants, who had experienced temporary euphoria with the belief that they could fight and win back their freedoms, were crushed. But they continued the ‘Church in the Desert,’ and they still met in the wilderness to sing and praise God. Such a spirit could not be crushed.

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

August 08, 2012

The Completion of the King James Bible

The year 1611 was a very important one in Christian history. This was when the King James Bible, one of the most beloved Scripture translations ever to be written, was completed by six scholars hand-picked by James I of England. Contrary to popular belief, it did not become an overnight sensation; the Geneva Bible hung on for half a century and was the choice of the Pilgrim Fathers when they blazed a path through New England and settled Plymouth Colony. Those who cherished the King James Bible might have been annoyed at the Calvinists’ refusal to move ahead with the times. Also, the Anglicans detested all those little side notes for which the Geneva Bible was famous. They complained that the notes promoted dissention and sedition and could undermine the entire English hierarchy.

So, back to 1611. One might wonder what was going on in the world at this particular time. It had been four years since English settlers had founded Jamestown, Virginia. English Puritans were perhaps readying themselves for the idea of settling in the New World. Spanish Catholics had been living in St. Augustine, Florida and its environs for forty-six years. Englishmen of differing faiths were squabbling over Bible translations, and the king hoped this “King James Version” would be the be-all and end-all. Whether or not the Puritans agreed, it was truly a magnificent creation.

There is a terrific movie called “KJB, the King James Bible: The Book That Changed the World.” Narrated by John Rhys-Davies, it takes Scripture-lovers on a journey to the English locales where history was made and where the King James translation came to life. The characters are beautifully-played and well-researched, and there were certain times when I could not help but shiver with awe and amazement and an inherent respect for God and His Word.

One of these times was when Rhys-Davies said that the translation had needed to be tested to see if it had enough of an acoustic impact. He then proceeded to read the beloved words of Scripture within a lofty cathedral in a deep and wonderful voice that is impossible to describe. And it did echo beautifully.

It is definitely an experience not to be missed.

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved