[121] Pages 48, 49.
[122] Mémoire Hist. pp. 65, 66.
[123] M. C. Coquerel, Histoire des Eglises du Désert, vol. ii. pp. 168-170.
[124] The edition from which this translation is made, was revised by the author in 1851. Since that time, the voice of France is silenced by tyranny and oppression; the Roman Catholic priesthood is gaining strength, and commencing its work of persecution; and two prisoners, for the political offence of liberty of thought and speech, have been sentenced to transportation at Cayenne, by the mere order of a minister of police, without the form of a trial!—Trans.
[125] A word of explanation is necessary in respect of the restriction with regard to other ecclesiastics than the proper curates; there were, even then, priests, either complaisant or venal enough, to bless the marriages of the Reformed for a certain price, and without any examination. As public opinion gradually grew satisfied with the laws against the Calvinists, the number of these priests also increased to such an extent, that the bargains became an open kind of traffic, of which, however, the rich alone could avail themselves. Many of the Protestants, besides, declined, from conscientious motives, to incur even the appearance of hypocrisy by inscribing their marriages upon the registers of the priests.
[126] J. Pons, Notice Biographique, &c.
[127] Archives du Christianisme, vol. xx. p. 293.
[128] In many respects, the celebrated George Whitfield seems to have resembled Rabaut; his voice could also be heard at an immense distance, and from his published discourses, no one would suppose that their effect upon his hearers could have been so startling.—Trans.
[129] Vol. ii. p. 347.
[130] Les Toulousaines, Lettre xxii.