The Forgotten Huguenots: Part 1: Huguenot History

Introduction

Today, July 24, is the 316^th anniversary of the assassination of a local oppressor in the Cevennes region of southern France. This assassination precipitated a war that was fought between the Camisards and the Catholics at the turn of the 18^th century, right at the time John Wesley was born in England. Wesley would later refer to these people, though he knew them not as Camisards, but as the French Prophets. When a cessationist argued that there were no historical examples of Christians operating in the gifts of the Spirit, Wesley countered, “Sir, your memory fails you again…It has been heard of more than once, no further off than the days of Dauphin.” Wesley was referring to the French prophets of the Cevennes.[1]

The story of the French Prophets is a remarkable one, and it is tragic that few people know of them today. They exhibited gifts of the Spirit, including prophecy, glossolalia, words of knowledge, and miracles. Some also saw angels and they exhibited violent bodily manifestations whenever they spoke under the power of the Spirit. What is also unusual is that these same people also engaged in an armed revolt against their Catholic oppressors, and this happened at the same time the revival was taking place. What they experienced was reported by many who were present to witness it or who experienced it themselves. In addition, some who opposed them also bore witness to the great manifestations of the Spirit, though they interpreted them otherwise.

This three-part series aims to make the French Prophets more public. Every Christian who cares about her history should be aware of them, especially Pentecostals and Charismatics, for the French Prophets offer evidence that the gifts did not die out in the 2^nd or 3^rd century. Part 1 will give a brief history of the Huguenots, to provide the big picture within which the story of the French Prophets can be understood. Part 2 takes a look at these Huguenots and their bitter persecution, and see why they decided to arm themselves against their oppressors. Part three focuses on the revival that took place among the French Prophets, with eyewitness testimonies of the amazing things that happened between 1688 and 1704.

The Edict of Nantes and its Revocation

French Calvinists of the 16^th and 17^th century were known as Huguenots.[2] Though France was a Catholic nation, from the 1530s until 1562 the Huguenots were not suppressed immediately and their numbers grew to about 2 million, which was about 10% of the population of France.[3] But Protestant freedom brings Catholic wrath, and as Protestantism rose in France, so did animosity against them. The result was the French Wars of Religion, which were eight wars fought between 1562 and 1598.[4] The low point was between wars, on August 24, 1572. This was the day of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Early that morning, Huguenot leader Admiral Gaspard de Coligny was assassinated in his bedroom.[5] Over the next few days, thousands of Huguenots were killed in Paris. As days turned to weeks, the killing continued throughout France until an estimated 25,000 Huguenots had been murdered in Paris, and another 10,000-15,000 in other areas.[6] It was said that, “the rivers ran red and villagers downstream from the hostilities spent weeks burying corpses.”[7]

On April 13, 1598, King Henry IV, who converted from Protestantism to Catholicism in 1593, issued the Edict of Nantes, ending the Wars of Religion. The edict was one of the first documents in European history to grant religious rights to a minority group. The Huguenots were granted political and civil rights and the freedom of religion. Their pastors were even paid by the state.

The edict would last less than a century, however. First, in 1629 Cardinal de Richeliou revoked the political and military clauses of the edict, but Huguenots were allowed to retain their freedom of conscience. Then, in 1685, Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fountainebleau, also known as the Act of Revocation, because it revoked all rights granted by the Edict of Nantes. His soldiers, called dragoons, were billeted, or quartered, in Huguenot homes to force conversions. The dragoons enjoyed the freedom to steal from, vandalize, intimidate, or even torture resistant Huguenots. As one 19^th century historian describes it: “Troops were quartered upon Huguenot families, and the soldiers were allowed every possible licence of brutality, short only of rape and murder.”[8] Another historian said: “the persecutions which preceded and followed the Act of Revocation in 1685, kept France under a ‘perpetual St. Bartholomew for about sixty years.’”[9]

When Huguenots began fleeing the country by the thousands, Louis closed the borders, making it illegal for Protestants to flee the persecution. That statute made it difficult for poor Huguenots to flee, but Huguenot tradesmen, who could pay their way across the border and to a safe haven, fled the country in droves. As Britannica describes it:

“On October 18, 1685, Louis XIV formally revoked the Edict of Nantes and deprived the French Protestants of all religious and civil liberties. Within a few years, more than 400,000 persecuted Huguenots emigrated—to England, Prussia, Holland, and America—depriving France of its most industrious commercial class.”[10]

 

Though contemporary writers disagreed on the number who fled France, “all are agreed that the refugees were among the bravest, the most loyal, and the most industrious in the kingdom, and they carried with them the arts by which they had enriched their country.”[11] The refugees were an immediate boon to the English economy, most notably in that they taught the English how to make many of the textiles that they previously had to import. Punshon estimates that France’s financial loss due to the exodus of her craftsmen was calculated at £1.8 million annually. He concludes: “certainly the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was not only an atrocious wickedness, but an act of unparalleled folly.”[12]

The exodus of Huguenots is widely regarded as one of the leading reasons for France lagging behind other European nations in the industrial age, and it also deprived France of great thinkers and statesmen. According to Christianity Today, the National Huguenot Society lists eight U.S. Presidents as descendants of Huguenots, including George Washington, who had Huguenot grandparents.[13] Paul Revere, Alexander Hamilton, Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Winston Churchill were also of Huguenot stock.[14] Esther Forbes had this to say of France’s loss of the Huguenots: “France had opened her own veins and spilt her best blood when she drained herself of her Huguenots, and everywhere, in every country that would receive them, this amazing strain acted as a yeast.” [15]

 

But not all fled. There remained about 700,000 of Huguenots in France. These Protestants would be systematically arrested, tortured, and otherwise butchered until, in 1715, Louis XIV announced that he had stomped out all Protestantism in France. He wasn’t far from the truth. It is likely that more than 90% of the Huguenots in France had been eliminated by emigration, execution, and forced conversions.[16]

 

The new king, Louis XV, was more interested in peace and civil unity than in stomping out heresy, so the 18^th century was a more tolerable period for Huguenots. But it was not until 1787 that the Edict of Versailles, also known as the Edict of Toleration, was passed, granting full religious freedom to all non-Catholics in France. This was just two years before the attack on the Bastille that would precipitate the French Revolution.

 

In part 2 we will look more closely at the persecution these Huguenots faced, particularly in the region of the Cevennes, where they were known as Camisards. After decades of suffering through persecution, the Camisards ultimately decided to arm themselves and fight back against the Catholic forces. We will seek to understand why they did this in part 2, but their revolt also came at a time when a noteworthy revival was breaking out among them. In part 3 we will explore the remarkable things that happened during this revival.

[1] John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, vol 10 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d.), 58; cited in Eddie L. Hyatt, 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma, 2002), 88.

[2] Though some Lutherans lived in a few cities, such as Alsace, nearly all French Protestants were Calvinist.

[3] Scott M. Manetsch, “The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre” in Christian History Issue 71: Huguenots and the Wars of Religion (2001), 9; “Huguenots,” Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenots.

[4] The first war started in April, 1562 when French soldiers killed about 60 Protestants who were worshiping in a barn. It lasted about 1 year. The second was from 1567-68 and the third, from 1568-70, ending about 2 years before the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

[5] There is debate whether French king Charles IX ordered the assassination or not.

[6] Jesusman, “Huguenots and the French Reformation, Church History” Video lecture (Public domain), accessed online: https://archive.org/details/HuguenotsAndTheFrenchReformation_201608. Others argue for a much higher number.

[7] Manetsch, “Massacre,” 14.

[8] W. Morley Punshon, The Huguenots (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1859), 61. Acessed online: https://archive.org/details/huguenots00puns

[9] Samuel Smiles, The Huguenots in France: After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (London: Strahan & Co., 1879), viii, 29, quoting Charles Coquerel. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/huguenotsinfranc00smil_2.

[10] Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Edict of Nantes” in Encyclopaedia Britannica online, https://www.britannica.com/event/Edict-of-Nantes. The number of 400,000 seems to include all who left throughout the 18^th century. Van Ruymbeke (“Escape from Babylon”) asserts: “Historians estimate that about 180,000 Huguenots left France between 1680 and 1705.”

[11] Punshon, Huguenots, 64.

[12] Punshon, Huguenots, 67.

[13] Editors, “Huguenots: History and Massacre” online article: Christianity.com. https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1501-1600/huguenots-driven-out-of-france-11630022.html.

[14] “List of Huguenots” Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Huguenots.

[15] Esther Forbes, Paul Revere and the World He Lived In (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1942), 4-5. Accessed online: https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.505262/2015.505262.paul-revere#page/n21/mode/2up/search/yeast.

[16] “Huguenots,” Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenots.

Jesus Doesn’t Always Pay Attention to You

When I said Good morning to Jesus today per my usual practice, something unusual happened: I saw an image of him looking the other way. Without thinking twice I raised my voice and tried to get his attention. Then when I took the time to think twice I wondered if it was a biblical idea for Jesus to not pay attention to me when I address him. Then a Scripture came to mind that told me it was biblical.

In Mark 6, the disciples are in a boat during a storm and Jesus is seen walking on the water. Verse 48 says, “he was about to pass by them.” But the disciples cried out in fear and at that moment Jesus spoke to them and climbed into the boat. The interesting thing about this story is that Jesus knew the disciples were struggling to get the boat to shore. The reason he walked on the water was to get their attention. Yet he would not do anything to help them until they got his attention.

Jesus is the answer to all our problems and he is always present to help in our times of need, but sometimes I think we take him for granted and simply assume that he is automatically going to step in and help. But sometimes we need to do something to get his attention. Sometimes it is not enough to just utter a quiet prayer. Sometimes we need to cry out to him or do something unusual that catches his attention.

Do you remember the persistent widow? In this parable the woman asked for justice against her adversary, but the judge paid no attention to her request. She did not give up. Instead, she kept pleading her case. This caught the judge’s attention and he eventually gave in and granted her request (Lk 18:2-5). Or what about the man who had an unexpected visitor and knocked on his friend’s door asking for bread? The friend had no desire to help him, but because he kept knocking, the friend got up and gave him bread.

The judge said the widow was bothering him (Lk 18:5). The friend said, “Don’t bother me” (Lk 11:7). Yet both of these people got what they wanted because they bothered to keep asking and refused to give up. You are never a bother to God, but even if you were, the Scripture tells us to keep bothering him until he responds and grants you your request, because persistence catches God’s attention.

Does God seem to be ignoring you when you pray? Do you sometimes think he is not paying attention to your needs? Perhaps this is a divine set-up designed to test your persistence. Are you willing to cry out as the disciples did? They feared they were about to die. Have you ever cried out like that? The lesson Jesus gives about the persistent widow is that when God’s people “cry out to him day and night, he will not “keep putting them off” (Lk 18:7). He will grant them their righteous requests. Are you willing to be persistent enough to catch God’s attention?

Have you cried out to God day and night for anything? Is your need great enough to be this persistent? I believe God’s delay in responding to us is sometimes a tactic to draw out of us a greater sense of desperation and a greater dependence upon him. When we put our whole heart into seeking him, then and only then do we find him (Jer 29:13).

When we cry out to God we tell him how desperate we are for him and that our whole trust is in him to deliver us, We don’t trust in man we don’t trust in our selves. God is our only hope. The disciples did not even know it was Jesus they were seeing on the water. They thought it was a ghost, which, according to “urban legend” of the day, meant they were about to die. They cried out in fear, not in faith, and Jesus, though mistaken for a ghost, still responded and entered their boat and rescued them. How much more will God respond to you, who are knowingly crying out to your God, and who are crying out in faith, knowing he is the only one who can save you?

Don’t give up. Keep seeking God. Whatever it is you want from him, keep asking and never give up, and he will grant you your request. That is his promise. I believe God is telling his church today to pursue Jesus with reckless abandon. To pursue with the intent of never giving up until we obtain the prize. I believe this is the attitude God wants us to have as we pursue revival and ask God for a Great Awakening in our country. It matters not how long we cry out to God, we will not cease, day or night, until we see God move in our midst like never before. Will you join me in persistently praying for an awakening in America until we catch God’s attention and he responds? It is not too late, but the need it urgent. Don’t give up on America. Let’s be persistent and see what God will do.

The “Forth” Great Awakening

It is hard to believe that it has been 19 years since the Brownsville revival began, on Father’s Day, June 18, 1995. Many of us who were involved in that move of God believed then, and still do now, that the revival God started in Pensacola, FL would issue into a much bigger, national move of the Spirit. Leaders of Brownsville used the term, “Jesus revolution” to express the vision God gave us of what he wanted to do in America in the 21st century.

To understand what a revolution whose roots trace back to a Father’s Day revival might be like, we can learn from the revolution started by our founding Fathers. I do not think the leaders of Great Britain understood what kind of people they were dealing with when their passing of unfair tax laws and general disregard for the concerns of the colonists led them to the brink of revolution. These were no ordinary people who settled the untamed territory that is now the eastern seaboard of the United States.

The leaders and the general population of the colonies were primarily the product of pioneers, those who forsook the comfortable life of England and risked everything to start anew in a strange and dangerous land. Only the most adventurous, risk-taking, and desperate sort of people would cross a ocean into an unknown future¬¬ – a people whose vision for change is stronger than their fear of the unknown; a people willing to do whatever it takes, and sacrifice whatever is necessary in order to make their future, rather than sit back and take whatever comes their way, attributing it to fate.

This impetuous fortitude was bred into the proceeding generations of Americans until we reached the age of revolution, in which a small band of fearless leaders stood up to the greatest empire on earth, not because they believed they were strong enough to win, but because they knew what they stood for was worth dying for, and they were willing to die for it even though they knew they were not strong enough to win on their own. People like this do not sit by idly while a disinterested superpower levies tax after tax to fund their empire without due concern for the well being of the people. Had Britain understood the kind of people they were dealing with, they might have handled things differently.

Today, the American church is faced with a government that not only lacks concern for their cause, but sometimes displays an attitude of antagonism against it. President Obama’s health care “reform” that forces businesses to fund abortions despite it being against their religious convictions is one example of this disdain of American religious conscience. In England, a same-sex couple is trying to make it mandatory for churches to perform same sex weddings. American courts have required businesses to sell items such as cakes and floral arrangements to same-sex couples for gay weddings, without regard for their religious convictions. Will it be long before the Supreme Court orders conservative Christian pastors to perform same-sex weddings in America?

What will it take for the American church to wake up and realize the religious liberties our founding Fathers fought and died for have been taken away from us? Will it be too late when it happens? I don’t think so. The same revolutionary spirit that was in the Fathers is still in the souls of Americans today, and the Holy Spirit is already beginning to awaken the church in preparation for what I believe will be called the Fourth Great Awakening. Only I think it will also be called the “forth” awakening, because it is one in which the church will move forth into her destiny, bringing radical change to a society whose moral structure has been shaken off of a shifting foundation of situational ethics that lack any moral absolutes. Yes, the church of this awakening will be an active church, one that not only prays, but also does. One that has a lot to say, but also backs up those words with corresponding actions. This will be a church that the world cannot ignore and can no longer oppress.

We have an advantage the colonies did not have: the Bill of Rights is already in effect, and it protects our religious freedom. But the freedom God will bring is much greater than the right to practice one’s religion. It is the freedom from sin that enables people to live out their religion without hypocrisy and compromise. This new awakening will bring with it the power of God to set people free from same-sex attraction, from the pain of an abusive past, and from every addiction. This is an awakening that is needed today, not tomorrow, and we need to pray for it to come quickly, before it is too late.

How will this awakening, this Jesus revolution, come and what will it look like? I plan to walk out a few of the principles and particulars in the articles that follow. Until then, let us keep watch and see that our own lives are awakened to God and his purposes for this generation.

By life or by death – Phil 1:20