A Secession⤒🔗

A century and a half ago the Seces­sion from the Reformed State Church took place in The Netherlands. It was an act of obedience which would have far-reaching consequences.

We know how violently the leaders of church and state reacted. Those who followed the Secession were persecuted; they were pestered with fines; they were deprived of their livelihood; they served jail terms; the roughest footsoldiers were billeted in their homes; they endured slander and violence. This persecution of the followers of the Secession took place in accordance with government regula­tions dating from the time of Napoleon, which allowed only such religious gather­ings as were arranged by officially recog­nized churches. The sanctions they encountered was partly a reflection of earlier French persecution practices. That was particularly so in the case of "dragooneering," the billeting of "dra­goons," musket soldiers, who were to be fed and bedded and who delighted in making life most miserable for their vic­tims. In earlier times the measure was used on a large scale in France against the Huguenots.

A Church of Martyrs←⤒🔗

It is hardly possible to find one church in Europe that has suffered per­secution as heavy as the church of the Reformation in France. The Biblical doctrine taught by Calvin had taken firm root among the French. For quite some time there was even the likelihood that a majority of the French population could be won for the Reformation. A considerable number of French noble­men also chose for Calvinism.

But things turned out differently. The night of St. Bartholomew, August 24, 1572, cost 20,000 Reformed believers their lives! Even part of the high-ranking nobility fell victim to the slaughter. And yet, that was not the end of Calvinism in France. Many churches continued to function, especially in the South. But they encountered continuous armed conflicts. In France there were no less than ten "Huguenot wars," real civil wars!

Henry IV, who had been a Protestant, but who returned to the Roman Catholic Church in order to gain access to the throne of France, proclaimed the Edict of Nantes in 1598. Under this pact the Huguenots were to be granted com­plete freedom of religion throughout France (Paris excepted), and a number of "free cities" were allocated to them as a token and security for the mainte­nance of their rights.

However, Henry's successors were quick to cut back on those privileges. All kinds of vocations and functions were listed as off limits to Protestants. Any­one aspiring to a government office had to be a Roman Catholic. The same ap­plied to officer promotions in the army. All this caused a great amount of defec­tion from the faith especially among the nobles.

The manner in which the Huguenot communities had developed was quite different from that of other parts of the population. The Huguenots were willing to work hard and bring great sacrifices, for example, for their schools. There were three Calvinistic universities. Many industries were led by Calvinists.

These things provoked the anger and envy of the Roman Catholic popu­lation, which was only too willing to sup­port the attempts of kings to undermine the position of the Huguenots. The free cities were taken away, and the pester­ing returned with more than a little ven­geance.

Quarterings←⤒🔗

When the "Sun King," Louis XIV, ascended to the throne of France, the position of the Huguenots became ex­tremely precarious. The king ordered that in case of quartering of "dragoons," twice as many of these rough soldiers had to be billeted with the Protestants than in the Roman Catholic homes. The extremely riotous behavior of those folks, and the shameless way they treated their hosts, was never pun­ished. Instead it was even encouraged as an effective cure to bring about the "repentance" of their hapless victims. Under the terrible pressure many Hugue­nots did indeed turn to Roman Catholi­cism. They were only outward manifes­tations of repentance, but that was all the King needed. Others fled across the bor­der where freedom of religion was a reality.

Withdrawal of the Edict of Nantes←⤒🔗

In 1685 Louis XIV withdrew the Edict of Nantes. Every Protestant had to join the Roman Catholic Church. Those who didn't were either thrown into jail, sent to penal camps, or sent to the gal­leys. Emigration was ruled out, unless one had a letter from one's bishop certi­fying that the bearer was a faithful Ro­man Catholic.

Notwithstanding this restriction, tens of thousands of Huguenots man­aged to flee across the border, leaving behind them everything that could not be bundled up and taken along. They escaped to Switzerland, Germany, Hol­land, and England, where as fellow be­lievers from the oppression they were re­ceived with open arms. Their industrial experience, for example, in textile-making, and their work ethics tended to increase the prosperity among their new hosts. In Holland they opened Eglises Walones, where the gospel was preached in French. Their descendants are still part of the Dutch population. A part of that Huguenot community emigrated from Holland to South Africa. That ex­plains the many French names you find there besides the Dutch ones.

In this way an estimated fifty thou­sand families fled via every known or un­known trail from France. The loss to France from this departure of its most dedicated and capable citizens became the gain of the surrounding nations, where the fugitives created new prosper­ity wherever they went.

Those who remained in France faced extremely heavy times. They were pilloried, they were locked up, they were flogged, and for some even the gallows were set up. Ministers who were caught as they secretly preached the Word of God were almost invariably put to death. Protestant parents were robbed of their children who were then placed in mon­asteries, where they were brought up Roman Catholics. This extreme pressure was too much for many. Only three words were necessary to escape this ordeal: "Je me réunis." Anyone who so would "reunite" himself with the Roman Church would be free. Many ut­tered those fatal words. Other refused and — if they were men — were imme­diately sent to the galleys. But it was their courageous example that caused many who had given in, to recant. They, too, were promptly chained to the rowing benches, where the murderous labor and the inhuman treatment killed most of them very shortly.

Tour de Constance←⤒🔗

The women were mostly sent to prison. In the gloomy "Tour de Con­stance," a fortress in the Moors, thirty-three women were locked up for life. There were only a few who succumbed and uttered the words "Je me réunis." Of the others, the jail warden had to report "Her faith has remained un­changed" year after year.

One of those women, Marie Frizel, was in jail for forty-one years, and left the dungeon in 1767, at the age of sev­enty-six. Another prisoner, Marie Du­rand, was jailed as a young woman of twenty one, "because she is the sister of a preacher," according to the official ac­cusation. She was freed in 1768, fifty-nine years old, physically a wreck, but with an unbroken spirit. The release of the last of these prisoners was the result of the "Enlightenment," the new philos­ophy which in 1789 would cause the out­burst of the French Revolution. It also brought an end to the fanatic persecu­tion of Protestant believers.

A Worse Enemy←⤒🔗

The French church of the Reforma­tion, decimated and trodden underfoot, did not go under. As the church in the desert, she continued, gathering in caves in the mountainous landscape, chased, and fleeing from place to place through the wilderness. Ministers who were caught were hanged, but the pure preaching continued.

But then an even more dangerous enemy reared its head. Young theological students were mostly educated in Swit­zerland, across the border. Via that door Arminianism and rationalism found their entrance into the churches, and apostasy gradually took hold of the French churches. The church became vulnerable to the spirit of revolu­tion. Under Napoleon the Huguenot churches finally regained their religious freedom. However, by then the strength of many congregations had been broken, even though there are still those who adhere to the pure gospel of Christ to this very day.

The gradual infestation with an alien gospel is a greater danger to the church of Christ than the worst possible excesses of persecution.

And what About Us?←⤒🔗

Next year it will be three centuries ago that the Edict of Nantes was with­drawn. This year it was one and half cen­turies ago that the Secession took place.

Those first "seceded people" were called all kinds of names — even "barn­yard animals" — in the official govern­ment documents! They were fined, put in prison, and slandered. Their liveli­hood was threatened, and they were pes­tered with the treatment that had been copied directly from the French: they got more than their share of quartering, hav­ing hordes of vicious soldiers billeted in their homes. But it did not cause the downfall of the church. She grew, and a little less than a century ago, in 1886 a second reformation took place to strengthen her position.

Until decay set in, when philosoph­ical constructions which went beyond God's revealed Word were declared to be divine truths. Faithful believers who refused to accept those binding points of doctrine were thrown out, prompting the formation of a separate church federa­tion in 1944. From that moment on the spirit of error has become stronger and stronger in the church of the Secession which had once been so richly blessed.

We have no business applauding ourselves and our foresight as people who were proven right. It is nothing but God's grace, His covenant faithfulness that caused His church to continue notwithstanding oppression and prevailing apostasy.

Therefore, we must, now and ever, thank Him for His deliverances in 1834, 1886, and in 1944. We must never relent in our prayers that He may sustain us and keep us faithful to His Word. And, seeing the desperate position of the be­lievers who remained in those Reformed churches which are now in bondage of an unscriptural set of rules, we must put in the greater effort to so confess our faith in our daily walk of life, that they may be provoked to jealousy, so that many of those who are concerned about what is taking place there, may learn to move back to the road of obedience. Great is God's mercy. It triumphs over judgment.

Many times He delivered them,
but they were rebellious in their purposes,
and were brought low through their iniquity.
Nevertheless He regarded their distress,
when He heard their cry.
He remembered for their sake His covenant,
and relented according to the abun­dance of His steadfast love.
He caused them to be pitied by all those who held them captive.
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to Thy holy Name and glory in Thy praise.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, "Amen!"
Praise the Lord!Psalm 106:43-48