degenerated, I acknowledge, into real impatience. I was unhappy at
my lonely and isolated situation, without a friend to whom I could
communicate my dearest interests; I believe I could have gone a
hundred miles to have found any one who thought and felt as I did. It
was at this moment of perplexity and weariness, on my return home, at
the close of a day's work, that the thought struck me of consulting my
wife, your present mother, and I had a presentiment that through her I
should discover what I so long wished to know. She is, as you know, a
native of Libos, and I remembered having heard her say that there were
protestants residing in that town and neighbourhood.
When the supper was ended, and we were seated by the fire, each in our
chimney-corner, she took her work, and I began the conversation nearly
in the following words:
"Annette," said I, "have I not heard you say that there are many
protestants in Libos and the neighbourhood?"
"Yes, Bayssière," she replied, "there are a great many, but they are
a good deal scattered about the country. They belong to the church of
Mont Flanquin, where their priest or minister resides."
"And do you know any of them? Have you ever spoken to them, or been at
their houses?"
"O yes, I was acquainted with many families; I knew Mr. ----, and
Mr. ----, &c. &c. (I suppress names.) I have been employed in their
houses, and seen them frequently."
"Well, then, can you tell me what sort of people they are, and what
their characters and habits?"
"O yes, I can assure you that they are the best set of people in the
world. They are esteemed, loved, and respected by every one: I never
heard any thing but good of those I knew, and they always appeared
to me to conduct themselves irreproachably."
[Illustration: PETER BAYSSIERE]
I continued to question your mother on the manner in which the
protestants brought up their children; how they treated their
servants, strangers, and the poor. I asked if domestic harmony
prevailed among them, and how they conducted themselves as parents and
children, brothers and sisters.
All her answers tended to convince me that pious protestants lived
under the influence of the word of God; and at each disclosure she
made, (though unconscious of the value I attached to it,) I said to
myself, "_This is_ the morality of the Gospel."
Satisfied on this point, I turned to another:
"How do the protestants spend their Sabbaths and festivals," I asked,
"separated as they are from each other and their church? Do they ever
assemble for prayer, or do they live without worship?"
"O, no! they don't live without worship; they have their divine
services; they are at too great a distance from their minister and
each other to meet every Sunday, but they have a church in the country
where they assemble many times in a year, I believe once a month; and
at other times they meet for prayer at their own houses." "Oh! then
they have a church near Libos? I should very much like to know," said
I, "how they conduct their worship, and what they do at their church?"
"I can tell you perfectly," replied your mother, "for I was present at
one of their assemblies. There is nothing grand or striking in their
churches; they contain neither altar, chapel, images, nor any ornament
whatever, but consist simply of four whitewashed walls. At the lower
end is a pulpit, like that used by our priest, in front of which is a
table, and around it are seats occupied by the elders. The rest of
the church is fitted up with benches, placed in order, on which the
congregation seat themselves as they enter.
"I observed that most of them, before they sat down, leaned upon the
back of the seat before them, and seemed to be in the act of prayer.
Their service was as simple as the building, devoid of ceremony. When
the congregation had assembled, one of the elders ascended the pulpit
and prayed aloud in French; then he gave notice that he was about to
read the word of God; and having requested their attention, he did
read, for some time, from a great book, which they told me was the
Holy Bible. He then offered prayers, and preached a sermon, which gave
me great pleasure at the time, but which I now forget. I well remember
that throughout the service there was no noise nor disturbance of any
kind in the church, and one feeling seemed to pervade the whole: this
struck me forcibly."
In this description of the protestant worship, imperfect as it was,
I thought I could recognise those traits of simplicity that
characterized the worship of the primitive christians: and when your
mother had finished, I said to myself, "This is indeed like the
worship recorded in the Acts of the Apostles." But I added, without
allowing her to perceive the extreme satisfaction that this
information afforded me, "Is this all you know of the protestant
worship? Did you never see them receive the sacrament?"
"Yes, I have," she replied, "on that same day, which was the only time
I ever entered their church."
"Do tell me, then, how was it conducted?"
"I told you, if you remember, that there was a table in front of the
pulpit: this table was their altar; it was covered with a very white
cloth: in the middle of it were a plate of bread and two chalices of
wine. When the minister had finished preaching, he took a book, and
read from it some beautiful passages on the communion, sufferings, and
death of Christ; he also spoke of the duty of communicants; then
every one stood up while he prayed: after which he descended from the
pulpit, and came in front of the holy table; he here repeated aloud
some words which I have forgotten, and took a small piece of bread and
ate it; this done, he took the two cups in his hands, and again saying
something that I did not hear, he drank some of the wine. The elders
then approached the table, and each received a piece of bread, which
they ate, and drank a little of the wine from the cup which was
presented to them. The rest of the congregation did the same, the
women after the men; and when all had communicated, the minister
re-ascended the pulpit, gave another exhortation, offered a concluding
prayer, and closed the whole by urging upon them the care of the
poor."
"This," thought I, "is indeed the supper of the Lord!"
The conformity that I had already observed between the practices of
the protestants and those of the primitive christians, created in me a
feeling of joy which I had never before experienced. I desired, with
renewed ardour, to search to the bottom of their doctrines, and
from that time I anticipated that I might myself become a decided
Protestant. This expectation, my children, soon increased into a
certainty.
On the tenth of February last, two pamphlets fell into my hands; one
was published by a Roman Catholic priest, and contained an attack on
the protestant religion: the other was an answer, in defence of that
religion, written by a protestant minister: these were the first words
of religious controversy I had ever read, and eagerly did I devour
these two little works. That of the first (which had been written on
the occasion of a respectable family having recently embraced the
Protestant faith) contained nothing that was solid, or that I could
not have refuted in the very words of Christ and his Apostles;
therefore I did not dwell upon it. But the second, under the title
of _A Letter to Malanie_, was the very thing I wanted, and was so
anxiously desiring to find--an exposition of the protestant creed, or
at least of its most essential points. It taught me that the Gospel
was their only rule of faith, worship, and conduct: that they admitted
all that they found established by the Holy Scriptures, but rejected
every thing else, and especially prohibited the invocation of saints,
the worship of images, of relics, and of the holy Virgin. It taught
me that they worshipped God alone, through Jesus Christ his Son;
that their only hope of salvation was in his mercy, revealed in the
sacrifice of the cross of Christ; that they recognised no other
Mediator, no other Advocate, and no other Intercessor with God, than
him who gave himself as such, and who alone has the right of saying to
sinners, "Come unto me and I will give you rest." It taught me that
they believed no more than myself in purgatory, in the supremacy of
the pope, or in the real presence, &c. In short, it taught me that
the protestants received and professed no other than primitive
Christianity.
It would be impossible for me to tell you how rejoiced I was to find
my most intimate feelings expressed by a minister of a religion
founded on the Gospel. From this, and from all that your mother had
told me, I clearly saw that the Protestants were unjustly accused and
misrepresented by the wicked or the ignorant, and that they were in
truth those christians, according to the word of God, to whom the
promises of the Gospel are made. From that time I acknowledged them
as my true brethren in Christ Jesus, and my chief desire was to be
admitted into their communion.
I clearly foresaw, my children, that by making an open avowal of my
religious principles, and by publicly declaring myself a Protestant, I
should raise many violent passions against myself, and expose myself
to a thousand trials; but the truth was dearer to me than life, and
conscience spoke louder than the fear of man. I resolved, therefore,
without hesitation, to confess my Saviour before men, let the result
be what it might, and I immediately wrote to Mr. ----, the pastor
at Nérac, and the author of the letter I had read, requesting the
assistance of his experience and kind advice. In short, after I had
been eleven months in correspondence with this excellent minister of
the Lord; after I had visited him, in order to acquaint him more
fully with the state of my mind, and to enjoy the privilege of his
instruction; after I had frequently attended the performance of
Protestant worship and their different religious ordinances; after I
had carefully compared these, as well as their doctrines, with the
only standard of truth, the word of God, and was fully convinced of
their perfect accordance, I no longer saw a motive for delay, but
requested admission, and was received as a member of the Protestant
church.
On the twenty-third of the December following, I went to Nérac, and on
Christmas day, in the presence of the whole congregation, having, as I
trust, first given my heart unto the Lord, I became publicly united to
his saints, and received the sacred _symbols_ of the body and blood of
my Saviour at the Lord's Supper, and pledged myself to remain faithful
to him till death. I trust that he will vouchsafe to me his assistance
for the fulfilment of this promise, and manifest his strength in my
weakness.
Thus it was, my beloved children, that I became a member of
the Reformed Church of Christ. I have now explained to you the
circumstances and motives that have led me to its sanctuary. In the
presence of God I attest the truth of all I have now written. The
ranks of the true church are not recruited by means of bribery,
deceit, fraud, false miracles, or compulsion; all means are rejected
but _instruction, reason_, and persuasion. This church has been
formed, and still exists, notwithstanding the blows that have been
levelled at it; and it will for ever continue, in spite of all the
rage of hell; sustained by the simple exhibition of that Gospel which
is its only guide and support.
May it please that God whom I supplicate for the salvation of all men,
and more especially for the conversion and prosperity of my enemies,
to give his grace to you, my children, that you may be found among the
number of those who shall be saved. Happy should I be, not only to be
your natural father, but also your spiritual father! Happy, indeed,
should I be, if at that great day, when we shall appear before God
to receive the sentence of our eternal destiny, I might be able to
present myself and you, without fear, and say, "Here, Lord, am I, and
the children thou hast given me."
P. BAYSSIERE.
_Montaigut, Dec_. 31, 1826.
THE HISTORY
OF A
BIBLE.
HISTORY OF A BIBLE.
After remaining a close prisoner for some months in a bookseller's
shop, I was liberated, and taken to the country to be a companion to a
young gentleman who had lately become major. The moment I entered the
parlour where he sat, he rose up and took me in his hands, expressing
his surprise at the elegance of my dress, which was scarlet,
embroidered with gold. The whole family seemed greatly pleased with my
appearance; but they would not permit me to say one word. After their
curiosity was satisfied they desired me to sit down upon a chair in
the corner of the room. In the evening I was taken up stairs, and
confined in the family prison, called by them the library. Several
thousand prisoners were under the same sentence, standing in rows
around the room; they had their names written upon their foreheads,
but none of them were allowed to speak.
We all remained in this silent, inactive posture for some years. Now
and then a stranger was admitted to see us: these generally wondered
at our number, beauty, and the order in which we stood; but our young
jailor would never allow a person to touch us, or take us from our
cell.
A gentleman came in one morning and spoke in high commendation of some
Arabians and Turks who stood at my right side; he said they
would afford fine entertainment on a winter evening. Upon this
recommendation they were all discharged from prison, and taken down
stairs. After they had finished their fund of stories, and had not
a word more to say, they were remanded back to prison, and one, who
called himself Don Quixotte, was set at liberty. This man, being
extremely witty, afforded fine sport for William, (for that was our
proprietor's name.) Indeed, for more than a fortnight he kept the
whole house in what is called good humour. After Quixotte had
concluded his harangues, William chose a "Man of Feeling" for his
companion, who wrought upon his passions in a way which pleased him
vastly. William now began to put a higher value upon his prisoners,
and to use them much more politely. Almost daily he held a little
chit-chat with one prisoner or another. Mr. Hume related to him the
history of England down to the Revolution, which he interspersed with
a number of anecdotes about Germany, France, Italy, and various other
kingdoms. Dr. Robertson then described the state of South America when
first discovered, and related the horrid barbarities committed by the
Spaniards when they stole it from the natives. William wept when he heard
of their savage treatment of Montezuma. Rollin next spoke; he related to
him the rise and fall of ancient empires; he told him that God was supreme
governor among the nations; that he raises up one to great power and
splendour, and putteth down another. He told him, what he did not know
before, that God had often revealed to some men events which were to
happen hundreds of years afterwards, and directed him to converse with me,
and I could fully inform him on that subject. William resolved to
converse with me at a future period, but having heard some of his
relations speak rather disrespectfully of me, he was in no hurry.
At length my prison door was unlocked, and I was conducted to his
bed-room.
[Illustration: HISTORY OF A BIBLE.]
My first salutation struck William. In the beginning, said I, God made
the heavens and the earth; and then proceeded to make man, whom he
placed in a garden, with permission to eat of every tree that was in
it, except one. I then related the history of Adam, the first man:
how he was urged and prevailed upon by the devil not to mind God's
prohibition, but to eat of the forbidden tree; and how by this
abominable act he had plunged himself and posterity into misery.
William not relishing this conversation, closed my mouth, desiring me
to say no more at that time.
A few days afterwards he allowed me to talk of the wickedness of
the old world: how God sent Noah to reprove their iniquity, and to
threaten the destruction of the whole world, if they did not repent
and turn to the Lord; that the world were deaf to his remonstrances;
and that God at last desired Noah to build an ark of wood, such as
would contain himself and family; for he was soon to destroy the
inhabitants of the earth by a deluge of water. This conversation was
rather more relished than the former.
The next opportunity, I gave him a history of the ancient patriarchs,
showing the simplicity, integrity, and holiness of their lives,
extolling their faith in God, and promptness in obeying all his
commandments. William became much more thoughtful than I had seen him
upon any former occasion. What I told him he generally related to his
friends at table. Their conversation was now more manly and rational;
formerly they conversed only about horses, hounds, dress, &c. now
about the history of the world, its creation, the remarkable men
who had lived in it, the different changes which had taken place in
empires, kingdoms, &c.
He was wonderfully taken with the account I gave of that nation whom
God had chosen for his own people, viz. the Jews. I told him how
wonderfully God had delivered them from captivity in Egypt; how he
drowned in the Red Sea an army of Egyptians, with their king at their
head, who were pursuing the Jews. But when I told him of the holy law
of God, and expatiated a little upon it, he shrugged up his shoulders
and said it was too strict for him. Well, William, said I, cursed is
every one who continueth not in _all things_ written or commanded in
that law. He pushed me aside, ran down stairs, and soon became sick
and feverish. His mother begged of him to tell her of his sudden
distress. He said I had alarmed him exceedingly; that he found himself
a great sinner, and saw no mercy for him in the world to come. His
mother came running up stairs, and in the heat of passion locked me
into my old cell, where I remained in close confinement for some days.
But William could not dispense with my company; accordingly I was sent
for. I found him very pale and pensive; however, I faithfully told
him, that the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart are only evil,
and that continually. He said he lately began to feel that; he had
tried to make it better, but could not. Upon this a stranger entered
the room, and I was hid at the back of a sofa, because the family were
quite ashamed that I should be seen talking with William. The stranger
remarked that he had seen him talking with me, assured him that I
would do him much more harm than good: that I had occasioned great
confusion in the world, by driving many people mad. On this, they all
joined in scandalizing my character, and I was again confined to my
old cell.
But when my God enables me to fix an arrow in any sinner's heart, the
whole universe cannot draw it out. William was always uneasy when I
was not with him; consequently he paid me many a stolen visit. I told
him one day not to trust in riches, for they often took to themselves
wings, and flew from one man to another, as God directed them. Job
once possessed houses, lands, sheep, a flourishing family, all of
which were taken from him in a few hours; but God never forsook him.
William's friends got him persuaded to take a tour for a few weeks, to
remove the gloom which hung upon his mind. He did so; but he returned
more dejected than ever. The moment he arrived I was sent for to talk
with him. I directed him to behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the
sins of the world: I said there was no other name given under heaven
among men, but the name of Jesus, by which they could be saved; that
God so loved the world as to send his Son into it, to save it by his
death. I then went over the whole history of the Saviour, from
his birth at Bethlehem to his death on Calvary; describing his
resurrection, and pointing out the evidence of it; then led his
attention to Bethany, describing the marvellous circumstances
attending his ascension to his Father; and testified to him the
wonderful effects which followed in the immense increase of
conversions to the faith. I then enlarged upon Christ's commission
to his apostles, commanding them to publish to every creature under
heaven the glad news that Christ had died for the _ungodly_; had
finished redemption, and ascended up on high to receive gifts for men,
and to bestow them on all who believed God's testimony concerning him.
God opened the mind of William to perceive the importance and truth of
these things. He began to hope in God, through the offering of his Son
a sacrifice for sin. I advised him now to follow holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord in heaven, or can continue to see
his glory on earth; to have no fellowship with wicked men; to be a
faithful steward of whatever God had given him. I told him how Christ
rewarded those who overcame all their enemies through faith in his
blood, and by believing the word of his testimony. This conversation
made him very happy, and he left me, rejoicing in the Lord.
Sometime after, he came with a sorrowful heart, complaining that he
did not feel the Lord's presence; that God had forsaken him. I assured
him that was impossible; for God expressly says he will _never_ leave
nor forsake his people; and that he changes not in his love to them. I
warned him to be cautious how he spoke against God, for such language
is calling God a liar. I told him likewise, that the church had once
preferred a similar complaint against her God; upon which Jehovah
protested that it was possible for a mother to forsake her infant
child, but impossible for him ever to leave or to forsake his people;
for he had pledged his _word_ to the contrary. Wherefore I warned
him to be no more faithless, but believing; and by doing so he would
glorify God greatly before men: it would tend to make men think more
favourably of God, and probably lead some to seek an interest in his
favor, who otherwise would not. Upon this he cried out with tears,
Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. I change in my love, but thou
changest not. William left me, determined to rejoice evermore, and to
pray without ceasing.
At first his friends thought religion had made him less happy than he
was before; now they declared they had never seen him in such good
spirits, and so truly happy. They began to wish they were like him.
William longed for the coming of the Lord, while they trembled at the
very thought of it: they rather wished he might never come. This was a
great advantage he had over them by the grace and tender mercy of
the Lord. He exhorted them to come to the same Saviour, and he would
receive them also with open arms.
William was afterwards brought into great affliction. I told him God
sent it to him for good, to make him more holy, humble, dead to sin
and the world, and more fit for heaven. He believed me, and praised
God for his attention to him, to send this messenger of affliction to
do him good. A person who came in, expressed sorrow at seeing him so
pained. William replied, don't sorrow for me; rejoice rather, because
God has said that our light afflictions, which are but for a moment,
work out for us a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory. I
am willing to be sick, or to die, or to recover, just as God pleases;
whatever pleases him pleases me.
I was never from him during his sickness; he praised God daily that he
had ever seen me. He was happy only when he talked with me or about
me. He recommended me to all who came near him, declaring that my
words created a heaven in his soul. He found me to be the mouth of God
to him.
William was completely recovered from his indisposition, by which his
knowledge of God, and experience of his faithfulness and love, was
much increased. I continued his bosom companion for many years. He
talked in the fear of God, and in the comforts of his Holy Spirit,
till at length he entered, with triumph, into the eternal joy of his
Lord.
* * * * *
After conducting William to the gates of the New Jerusalem, I was sent
for to reside with a young man in the middling ranks of life, who had
received a liberal and religious education from his parents, lately
removed from this poor world. The effects of their example and counsel
were evident in all his conduct. He lived what men call a _good
moral life_, his deportment was very agreeable, and his sobriety was
commended by many. He regularly conversed with me twice every day, and
prayed in his closet morning and evening. On Sabbath I talked to him
from dinner to tea, and from tea to supper.