48. Chapter 44: The Reformed Churches Survive Persecution

CHAPTER 44 The Reformed Churches Survive Persecution

1. The Reformed Church in Swit­zerland Revives and Wanes The Reformed Churches in Swit­zerland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Scotland also fell prey to Modernism and unbelief. In Switzerland a great revival took place in the early part of the nineteenth century, under the min­istry of Cesar Malan, Alexandre Vinet, and Frederic Godet. Once again the great truths of Calvinism were being taught in the pulpits. But soon Malan was forbidden to preach, and he and his followers left the State Church and organ­ized the Free Church. Gradually, however, Modernism became domi­nant in this church also. Today the Free Church in Switzerland num­bers only about ten thousand mem­bers.

2. The Huguenots in France Sur­vive Horrible Persecution The Edict of Nantes in 1598 secured to the Huguenots — the French Calvinists — a considerable measure of freedom. From that time until the revocation of that Edict in 1685 there were about a million Huguenots in France, with eight hundred churches and about that number of ministers. These Huguenots were found among all classes of society: nobles, gentry, craftsmen, professional men, and farmers. But the bulk of them be­longed to the middle class. They were the leaders in business, bank­ing, manufacturing, and the pro­fessions. In many communities in which the Huguenots were only a small minority they yet were the most influential element. "Rich as a Huguenot" became a common saying. The meeting-houses of the Hu­guenots were for the most part plain wooden structures. Some of them were very large. They had a seating capacity of seven to eight thousand, and they were always filled with eager hearers. Often four long sermons were preached on a Sunday. The Huguenots were very liberal in their financial sup­port of the work at home and of the persecuted abroad. Strict church discipline was maintained. Sabbath desecration and frivolous conduct of every sort were severely discouraged. The Huguenots at this time had four great institutions of learning — at Sedan, Montauban, Nimes, and Saumur. These schools had a large enrollment of students, and their faculties counted among their members some of the foremost scholars of the time. In 1685 Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, (ch. 35, sec. 2) which since 1598 had protected the French Protestants. Persecution was renewed. Thou­sands of members of the French Reformed Church suffered martyr­dom. Hundreds of thousands re­nounced their faith. Between five and eight hundred thousand Hu­guenots fled to Germany, the Neth­erlands, England, and America. The French Reformed Church lost nearly all its members. The feeble remnant of only a few thou­sand reorganized themselves. What now follows is one of the most heroic episodes in the whole history of the Church. This remnant retreated to the fastnesses of the wild mountain country of the Cevennes known as the Desert. A government order decreed the massacre of the Hugue­nots. Women were not excepted. Nearly all of the few ministers who remained were killed. Of those who had fled into other countries some recrossed the border to visit the scattered flocks, and were re­ceived with inexpressible joy. Even without ministers the Huguenots continued to hold their meetings at the peril of their lives. One of the bravest ministers was Brousson. He crossed and recrossed the bor­der many times, and had many marvelous and narrow escapes. But at last he was captured and exe­cuted in the presence of a crowd of ten thousand persons. They wept in sympathy with his courageous witness-bearing. Many Catholics were converted by his example of heroic faith. At last the fearful persecution drove the Huguenots to desperation and fanaticism. From 1702 to 1710 they carried on a terrible guerilla warfare against their persecutors. They themselves suffered severe losses.

3. Antoine Court and Paul Rabaut Guide the Persecuted Church

After the death of King Louis XIV in 1715 there was a let-up in persecution, but in 1724 it broke out again with new vigor. Men attending Protestant services were made galley-slaves, women were imprisoned for life. Parents who did not send their children to a Roman Catholic school were heav­ily fined. Entire communities were fined for permitting Protestant services to be held. In spite of persecution the churches in the Desert began to grow again. But their church life had become entirely disorganized. The man who did much to bring about better conditions was An­toine Court. He is known as "the Restorer of the Reformed Church in France." He was born in 1695. When he was five years old his father died. His mother, a woman of heroic character, trained him carefully in the faith of his fathers. When he was still a young child she took him to the secret Hugue­not meetings. From infancy the fear of God dwelled in his heart, and when he arrived at young man­hood he resolved to devote himself to the preaching of the Gospel.

Court visited many of the scat­tered groups of Huguenots, and observed their disorganized and confused condition. In August, 1715, when he was only twenty years old, he called together a synod. He had no college educa­tion, but through much reading he had educated himself. He had acquired a firm and thorough grasp of the system of Reformed doc­trine. In spite of his extreme youth, his great natural ability and powers of persuasion soon made him a recognized leader among the Huguenots. His address before the Synod put new courage and en­thusiasm into them.

Persecution had deprived the poor and oppressed Reformed Church of France of all its or­dained ministers. The French Re­formed Church, true to its Calvin­istic tradition, would have nothing of lay preachers. As a temporary measure preaching by candidates, students who had successfully com­pleted their theological course, was resorted to. But the Reformed rule that preaching should be done by ordained men only was maintained. It was agreed among the members of the French Reformed Church of the Desert that there were among them two who were qualified for the ministry: Court and Corteiz. Corteiz was the older of the two. He was sent to Switzerland to ob­tain ordination. Upon his return he ordained Court. The need of a school for the training of ministers led Court in 1730 to found a seminary in Lau­sanne in Switzerland. There it was beyond the reach of the perse­cuting government of France. The place where the seminary met was exceedingly humble. A room on a second floor served as a lecture room. Many gifted and devoted young men were trained for the ministry of the Gospel in that small and simple room. That Lausanne seminary became known as "a school of death." Most of the men trained there for the ministry of the French Reformed Church sooner or later lost their lives as victims of persecution.

Paul Rabaut was twenty-three years younger than Court. When he was twenty years old he conse­crated himself to the cause of the Reformed Church in France. Court once defined the spirit of the "Des­ert" as "a spirit of mortification, a spirit of reflection, of great wis­dom, and especially of martyrdom, which, as it teaches us to die daily to ourselves, to conquer and over­come our passions with their lusts, prepares and disposes us to lose our life courageously amid tortures and on the gallows, if Providence calls us thereto." Paul Rabaut was the embodiment of that spirit.

Rabaut studied for a time in the seminary established by Court in Lausanne. He was full of zeal and a gifted speaker, endowed with a high degree of personal magnet­ism. For fifty-six years he labored in behalf of the French Reformed Church. He suffered untold hard­ships. His life was constantly in danger, but with the wisdom of the serpent he always managed to elude arrest. He abundantly earned the title of "Apostle of the Desert."

4. The Reformed Church Survives the French Revolution

Philosophers and leaders in France were promoting a spirit of tolerance, and Anne Robert Tur­got, one of the influential thinkers of the day, induced the young king Louis XVI to decide against perse­cuting Protestants. Consequently after ninety years of persecution the Huguenots were recognized by the government.

Lafayette returned from Ameri­ca, where he had given help to Washington in the War for Inde­pendence. Filled with the spirit of civil and religious liberty, he used his influence to have all the laws against the Protestants removed. This was accomplished with the Edict of Toleration in 1787.

Two years later the French Revolution brought a new govern­ment into power. The newly formed National Assembly granted the Reformed liberty of worship and restoration of property. But in 1793 the atheists secured control of the government. They hated all religion and persecuted Catholics and Protestants alike. So complete was the horror of the period from 1793 to 1794 that it is called the Reign of Terror. Many Huguenots who had escaped the Catholic persecution fell victim to the athe­ists. The old and venerable Paul Rabaut was cast into prison. It is not possible to say how many Prot­estants as well as Catholics re­nounced their faith at this time, but the number was large. When the storm of the French Revolution had blown itself out the Reformed reorganized their churches, which had been scattered and wasted. Napoleon, who at this time became master of France, granted the Reformed and Luther­ans equality before the law with the Catholics. The government pro­vided all churches alike with finan­cial support. In return it demanded a large measure of control over the churches and their educational in­stitutions. Of the 700,000 Protestants in France today, about 620,000 are Reformed. The rest are Lutheran.

Modernism has also invaded the ranks of the Reformed Church in France. Only a few churches are thoroughly Reformed in the his­torical sense.

5. The Reformed Church in Ger­many Grows and Then De­clines The Treaty of the Peace of West­phalia in 1648 (ch. 32, sec. 6) gave to the Reformed in Germany the same rights and privileges en­joyed by the Lutherans. The Re­formed were a large and important element in the population of the Rhine provinces and in the prov­ince of Brandenburg, now known as Prussia. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 thou­sands of Huguenots or French Re­formed found refuge in Branden­burg. The province of the Palatinate on the upper Rhine probably con­tained the largest number of Re­formed people in Germany. In this province is located the city of Heidelberg with its renowned uni­versity. Here in the sixteenth cen­tury two professors, Ursinus and Olevianus, wrote the Heidelberg Catechism — one of the clearest and most complete expressions of Reformed interpretation of the Bible. It was published in 1563. The University of Heidelberg was the stronghold and educational center for the Reformed in Ger­many. By the Peace of Westphalia it was guaranteed to the Reformed as their university. But the Jesuits wormed their way in and cunning­ly began to undermine the position of the Reformed professors. In 1719 a new edition of the Heidel­berg Catechism was published. This Catechism contains the ex­pression that "the Popish mass is an accursed idolatry." The Jesuits used all their influence to have this new edition suppressed. In this they were unsuccessful, but the Re­formed were robbed of the largest of the two Heidelberg churches that were left to them. In process of time Modernism crept in and increased its influence among the Reformed in Germany. The University of Heidelberg, once a nursing mother of Calvinism, by the beginning of the nineteenth century had become one of the chief centers of Rationalism in that country. In 1817 the King of Prussia by royal decree forced the union of the Lutheran and Reformed churches. The weakened Reformed Church offered but feeble resist­ance. Since this union the Re­formed Church has practically ceased to exist in Germany, except in two small districts bordering on the Netherlands.

6. Lay-Patronage Divides the Pres­byterian Church in Scotland

During the reign of William and Mary the Presbyterian Church be­came the State Church of Scotland. Under their successor, Queen Anne, Parliament passed a law which was to cause endless diffi­culty. It was the act restoring the principle of lay-patronage, which gave to the king and lords the right to appoint ministers of their own choosing to the pulpits of Scotland whenever they became vacant. Often ministers were ap­pointed whom the congregations did not want. In this way the act caused an immense amount of trouble, and to a large extent shaped the history thereafter of the Presbyterian Church in Scot­land. The first rupture in the Scottish Church took place when Ebenezer Erskine and several other minis­ters were deposed because they boldly denounced lay-patronage (1740). Another secession took place as the result of the refusal of Thomas Gillespie to take part in the installation of a minister ap­pointed according to the principle of lay-patronage. The various secessions received strong support especially among those who took their religion seri­ously. In 1847 the groups that had withdrawn joined to form the United Presbyterian Church. The State Church through these withdrawals was tapped of much of its spiritual strength. Besides, Liberalism crept into Scotland also, and resulted in what was called Moderatism. The system of lay-patronage favored the appoint­ment of ministers who were Mod­erates, or Liberals, even though the congregations wanted men who were true to the historical faith. Rather than submit to this system, some 474 ministers under the lead­ership of Thomas Chalmers with­drew from the Presbyterian State Church in 1843 and organized the Free Church of Scotland.

Chalmers, a true champion of the historical faith in Scotland, was outstanding as a preacher, so­cial reformer, theological teacher, and leader. The most religious and devoted element had now left the State Church. In all about one third of the membership had withdrawn. But it was not all to the disad­vantage of the State Church. The spirit and enthusiasm of the Se­ceders in time aroused new zeal in the State Church itself. And in 1874 the system of lay-patronage was finally abolished. In 1900 the Free Church of Scot­land and the United Presbyterian Church joined to form the United Free Church of Scotland.

7. The Reformed Church in the Netherlands Deteriorates and Revives The Synod of Dort, held in the Netherlands in the years 1618 and 1619, condemned Arminianism and clearly set forth the Reformed Doc­trine in a statement of faith called the Canons of Dort. These Canons together with the Heidelberg Cate­chism and the Belgic Confession form the doctrinal standards of the Reformed Church in the Neth­erlands (ch. 38, sec. 4). But the Synod of Dort was not able to remove Arminianism from the Netherlands, nor was it able to prevent the rise of new depar­tures from historic Protestantism. When the nineteenth century opened, the life of the Reformed Church was at a very low ebb. Re­formed doctrine was ridiculed as old fashioned and out of date.

However, before the nineteenth century was many years old, signs of new life began to appear, and by the time it drew to a close the situation had changed completely. There were many influences affect­ing the Church at this time.

First of all there was the influ­ence of Cesar Malan and Alex­andre Vinet (ch. 44, sec. 1), which made itself felt also in the Nether­lands and resulted in an important revival of religion among the higher classes in that country.

"DE LANGE JAN," MIDDELBURG
Like so many old churches in the Nether­lands, this structure, now belonging to the Reformed Church, was in its beginning a Roman Catholic cathe­dral. It was occupied by the follow­ers of the Reformation as early as 1574. The stately tower, almost 300 feet high, is familiarly known as the "Lange Jan," or "Tall John." It was damaged during World War II but is being restored.

Then there were a few ministers in the Reformed State Church and thousands of its members, especial­ly among the lower and middle classes, who had remained true to the faith of the fathers. These tried to make the Church again live up to its Creed and Church Order; but they met with strong opposi­tion from authorities in the State and Church. In 1834 a large se­cession from the State Church took place. In spite of persecution by the authorities and by mobs, the Seceders organized themselves as the Christian Reformed Church and in 1854 founded a theological school in Kampen for the training of their ministers. This Secession Movement of 1834 in the Nether­lands and its theological school of Kampen became of importance for the history of the Church not only in that country but also in the United States. But God’s great instrument for bringing about a very remarkable revival of historic Calvinism in the Netherlands was Abraham Kuyper.

8. Abraham Kuyper Is Converted

Abraham Kuyper was born on October 29, 1837, in the little town of Maassluis. The child’s head was enormously large and the parents were worried. They took him to a famous specialist in Germany. After the specialist had carefully examined the child he turned to the anxious parents and said, "You need not worry; it’s all brains." As a student he attended the University of Leyden, Here a book which he wrote in Latin won the first prize in a nation-wide contest. Meanwhile in the university he im­bibed the principles of Modernism.

Upon graduation Kuyper became minister in the country church of Beesd. In this church there were many members who clung stead­fastly to the old Reformed truth. In talking over the Sunday ser­mons with him they were not afraid to contradict their learned university-trained pastor. Espe­cially his frequent conversations with one old lady of the church made a deep impression upon the young minister. He now turned to the works of Calvin and made a serious study of them in the origin­al Latin. This study changed the young Kuyper from a Modernist to a convinced Calvinist. From that time on to the end of his life he was the great champion of a re­vived Calvinism.

9. Kuyper Gives a Half Century of Strong Leadership

Fired with a deep religious zeal and enthusiasm, and consumed with a desire to restore the Re­formed Church of the fathers, that it might again bless the nation of Holland, Kuyper began an activity which was to stretch over half a century and amaze both friend and foe. As St. Augustine’s City of God had inspired Charlemagne, Pope Gregory VII, and Calvin, so it inspired Kuyper. He entered upon his tremendous labors not only to restore the Church, but to apply the principles of Christianity to every domain of life: the po­litical, the social, the industrial, and the cultural, as well as the ec­clesiastical. From the little country church of Beesd he went to the big city church of Utrecht, and from there to the still larger church of Am­sterdam. He organized a Christian political party, and entered the Dutch Parliament. In 1880 he founded in Amsterdam the Free University based upon Reformed principles. It was given this name because it was free from the con­trol of Church and State. Kuyper became the leading professor. In 1886 he led a second large secession from the State Church of the Netherlands. And in 1892 he was foremost in helping to bring about in the Synod of Am­sterdam the union of the Christian Reformed Church with this new seceding group, under the name of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. This new denomina­tion consisted of seven hundred churches and three hundred thou­sand members. From 1901 to 1905 he was prime minister of the Netherlands. Kuyper preached, lectured, taught, took part in the debates of the Dutch Parliament, and wrote. He was great as a speaker, but he was even greater as a writer. He is­sued pamphlet after pamphlet. He also wrote many books, besides edi­torials for weekly and daily papers.

There were thousands who heard his voice. In 1898 he made a speak­ing tour through the United States. There were hundreds of thousands — in the Netherlands, in Germany, France, Switzerland, England, Scotland, the United States, Cana­da, South Africa, and the East Indies — who read his writings. Many of Kuyper’s works have been translated into English. Several Americans have learned Dutch in order to be able to read Kuyper’s books in the original.

Kuyper possessed in a very high degree the marvelous gift of expressing deep thoughts in a clear, simple, and interesting way. He was a great scholar of enormous learning, a keen and profound thinker, and a superlative stylist.

ABRAHAM KUYPER 10. Kuyper’s Method of Reform Is Different

Since the Reformation there had been many departures from his­toric Protestant doctrine. A num­ber of these departures had three things in common. In the first place, the Baptist, Quaker, Pietist, Moravian, and Methodist move­ments all originated in a reaction against the deadness and inactivity of the historic Protestant churches. In the second place, they adhered to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. In the third place, they tried to cure the admittedly bad conditions in the historic Prot­estant churches by unchurchly methods.

Kuyper’s work was also a reac­tion against the conditions of the times, but to make that reaction effective he employed an entirely different method. In the first place, he returned to historic Protestant­ism. He battled against ancient and more recent heresies. And while none of the groups that had departed from historic Protestant­ism did much or anything to stem the rising tide of Modernism, Kuyper opposed it with all his might. In the second place, he fought persistently against the bad condi­tions in the Church by laboring to reform the Church itself; and ­this is the important thing — in doing so he employed churchly methods. In the third place, he devoted himself untiringly to arousing the Church from its deadness; he spurred the members on to an ac­tivity far surpassing Methodist zeal. He inspired them not only to carry on home and foreign mission work, but to carry the banner of the cross also into the fields of edu­cation, politics, social reform, and labor. He did not, as did the other groups, slight doctrine; he knew that the life and growth of the Church depends upon a steady, systematic teaching of Scriptural truth in all its breadth and depth and richness. In striving to carry the banner of the cross into all spheres of life, Abraham Kuyper avoided the mis­take of trying to accomplish this by having the Church dictate to the State. Instead he came forward with an entirely new solution. He accepted the Baptist demand of separation of Church and State but he would not, as they did, separate religion from politics. He organ­ized a Christian political party. This party was to work out a Christian political program with­out interference or dictation by the Church.

Kuyper had many co-laborers. Some of them, as for example L. F. Rutgers and Herman Bavinck, were men of extraordinary ability. But Kuyper stands alone as the pioneering genius. Nowhere else in the world did such a wonderful re­vival of historic Protestantism take place as in the little country of Holland. In the revival of a sound and active Christianity, his influence is felt today far beyond the narrow boundaries of his small native land — in South Africa, in the East Indies, in certain parts of South America, in Canada, and in the United States of America.