Huguenots of the Seventeenth Century by Charles Tylor and published by Classics Publishing.
The “Revocation of the Edict of Nantes” is an historical phrase which may be familiar to most readers. Comparatively few, however, would seem to have a distinct idea of what the Edict of Nantes was, or how it came to be revoked, or of the prolonged and terrible persecution with which its revocation was connected. In the present volume, after a brief account of the promulgation of the Edict by Henry IV, the steps are traced by which, through nearly a century, efforts were incessantly made to undo his work; and the narrative of the sufferings of the Huguenot Church is continued to the year 1700.
It’s a sad story, and would be utterly dark if were it not illumined by heavenly light. It brings before us, in high relief, human depravity, human weakness, and the power of Divine Grace. We see, as in the persecution of the Early Church under Decius, whole communities giving way before the terrible storm; but we see the great majority, when the first shock was over, return to their allegiance; whilst a good number never yielded, but endured torments as cruel, and perhaps more prolonged, than any other company of martyrs whom the Church loves to honour. Their memory is sacred; their example animating; and the narrative of their sufferings and of the triumph of their faith awakens our warmest sympathy.
