[453] "To the faithful dispersed in some isles of France." The
peninsula of Arvert on the coast of Saintonge, peopled by fishermen
and pirates, received the first seeds of the Gospel from some
refugees driven away by persecution from the neighbouring towns.
"The seed sown was afterwards fertilized by some monks preaching
a kind of half truth, as regarded doctrine, and reproving vices;
so that in a little time we saw (in that country) a strange
alteration."--Beza, _Hist. Eccl._, tom. i. p. 101. From the point of
Arvert, the Reformation spread into the adjoining islets, and there
made numerous disciples, in spite of the rigours of the Parliament
of Bourdeaux. A great missionary, Philibert Hamelin, regulated
this movement. From Tours originally, he at first preached the
Reformed doctrine with success at Saintes. Seized in that town, he
miraculously escaped death, and sought an asylum at Geneva, where
he followed the calling of a printer. But the ardour of his zeal
soon led him to betake himself once more to the perilous apostolate,
which was to close with martyrdom. He revisited La Saìntonge,
visited his brethren dispersed among the islands, organized their
churches, and taken a second time, he perished at the stake at
Bourdeaux, the 18th April 1557. The journal of another glorious
missionary of the Reformation, Bernard Palissy, may be consulted as
to the ministry and death of Hamelin.
Religious counsels, and announcement of the sending of a
minister.
_This 12th of October 1553._
VERY DEAR BRETHREN,--We have to praise God that in the captivity
wherein you are, he vouchsafes you the strength you ask, to worship
him in purity, fearing more the being deprived of his grace, than
exposing yourself to the dangers which may perhaps be about to
occur to you, owing to the malice of the adversaries; for the
brother who is bearer of the present letter,[454] has declared to
us that you have requested him to return to you whenever he could;
and that you desire to be by all means exhorted to what is right,
and confirmed in the faith of the Gospel; and, indeed, now-a-days,
there is greater need of this than ever. It remains that this holy
zeal of yours be firm, so that you may continue to advance in the
path of salvation. As for the man, you know him; and on our part,
seeing he has here approved himself a God-fearing man, has had
his conversation among us holy and without reproach, and has also
always followed good and wholesome teaching, we doubt not that he
will comport himself faithfully among you, and labour for your
edification. As to the advice which he has asked of us in your name,
this is the order which it appears to us you have to maintain, both
as to prayer to God in beginning, and as to being taught by him
and others that God shall give you, and to whom he has bestowed
grace to minister to you. Thereupon, see that you take courage to
separate yourselves from idolatries, from all superstitions, which
are contrary to the service of God, and to the acknowledgment and
confession which all Christians owe to him, for to that are we
called. When, in course of time, God has so prospered you, that
you are, as it were, an ecclesiastical body maintaining the order
already mentioned, and that there are some resolved to withdraw
themselves from prevailing pollutions, then you may have the use of
the sacraments. But we are nowise of opinion that you should begin
by them, or even that you should be in a hurry to partake of the
holy Supper, until you have some order established among you. And
indeed it is much better for you to abstain from it, so that thus
you may be led to seek the means which will render you capable of
receiving it. That is, as we have already said, that you may be
accustomed to meet together in God's name, being as it were one
body; and that you may be separated from the idolatries which it is
not lawful to mix up with things holy. Nay, it would not be lawful
for a man to administer the sacraments to you, unless he recognized
you as a flock of Jesus Christ, and found among you the form of a
church. Meanwhile, take courage and devote yourselves wholly to God,
who has purchased us so dearly by his own Son, and yield him the
homage of body and soul, showing that you account his glory more
precious than all besides; and that you set a higher value upon the
eternal salvation which is prepared for you in heaven, than you do
on this transitory life.
[454] Philibert Hamelin.
Wherefore, very dear brethren, making an end for the present, we
shall pray this merciful God to complete what he has begun in you,
to increase you in all spiritual blessings, and to have you in his
holy protection.
CHARLES D'ESPEVILLE,
As well in his own name, as in that of his brethren.
[_Fr. copy._--_Arch. of the Company of Geneva._ Vol. A.]