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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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t yfanmeta prejudices tfrhich sonic individuals 4 * fcw& gi& 8 jr > resritee , though they have more of less been the means of desalatirig Eurttpe during sixteen or seventeen centuries *
Paul Rabaut , as we have seen , passed the greater part of Ms Me uader persecutions , which never ruffled the se * renity of his mind ; for ! i € nwas he himself who used to ealm the indigna ^ tion of the Protestants , so difficult ^ restrain . During more than thirty years he inhabited only huts or caves , < mt of which he was hunted like a wild
beast : for a considerable time he took up his abode in a safe hiding-place , contrived for him b y one of his faithful guides , and concealed with stones and briars $ this place w&s discovered by a shepherd $ and to such a miserable condition was Rabaut reduced , that he
felt it a privation to be obliged to quit an asylum more fit for savagfe beasts than for men . Frequently it w # s by the help of sofne disguise , that he was obliged to escape : from imminent dan * gers . Paul Rabattt , at the head of the
most considerable Protestant Church throughout France , charged with the service of the arrbndlss $ ment of Nimes , ( the most populous of all , ) the duties of which he alone frequently fulfilled , enjoyed in the highest degree the confidence and esteem of his colleagues :
he was , if we may use the expression , born the President of all the Synods of Lower Languedoc , and of the National Synods ; the only use he made of his great influence was to recommend obedience and fidelity to the king ,
submission to authority , patience tinder persecution , and prayer for the welfare of the persecutors ; iri short , the sacri 4 fice of every thing except ; , ^ conscience ! for obtaining peace and good under- * standing with the members of the other communion . The eircuiJistanee which
must adorn his memory with the highest honour , in the eyes of government especially , and of all the friends of order , because it proved , oh a signal occasion , his veneration far authority and his love of peace ; is the following events ¦* - "• - v rf mix V ? ^ -r . 'h ' c- ' ¦ «' . » ' The minister D ^ subac , a pastor in Iiower Languedo ^ a m « tn ^> f sbc-andtwenty years ^ iig */^ rating fc ^^ t&m positidn ; ari < iither ;^^ t ^^
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admiration excited t by the generous devotedness rif ja young man who , with various modes of life opett to his choice , which are safe and full of brilliant prospects , voluntarily adopts that profession / which exacts every sacrifice ,
even that of life itself . This youthful pastor was arrested at Saint 4 Agreve , in Vivarais , on the Itlth erf December , 1745 ; he was at first carried to Pont Saint-Esprit , and thence to a prison at Nimes , afterwards he was to be
conducted to Montpellier to be executed . The report of his arrest spread through the country with the rapidity of lightening , and prompted the design of attempting to rescue him during his journey . Some young , unmarried men of Nimes and the neighbouring town * were determined , without other aid ,
to devote themselves to the execution of this project : they armed themselves , therefore , with fire-arms and swords , scythes , forks and other / implements of husbandry . On the other hahd , the report ol this enterprise having got abroad , the efecort which conducted the
prisoner was reinforced ; and commanded to kill him rather than suffer him to be rescued . The pastor of Ninies , being made acquainted with the intended rescue , and the measure ® taken on both sides , foresaw the fatal effects that might result from a mere
attempt on the part of the young men , which would have formed so disadvan tageous a contrast with the calm de ^ votedness with which so mairy ministers had suffered death , in the presence of
a great number of the faithful , who might have delivered them ; but who , animated by the true spirit of Christianity , had chosen rather to be peaceable witnesses of their piotis deaths ,
deriving from them motives to persevere in their faith , and to imitate the g lorious examples they afforded : he foresaw , likewise , that a spontaneous impulse wotild b ^ iTfepriSsented by * ne ^ mies , accustomed to calumny &th < consequence of a deliberate jplan '¦* revolt , aiid * would infallibly pr ^ lii ^
and increase the severity ot peweounesa of the religion he taugHt /?^ don was to ** M < m 'M& ^ m ^ L ^ ind ^^ i the . onlv pw ^ M ^ Bt ^ ^ P ^^ S ^^^^^^
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£ ^* 4 fc hfa # t N * tiemfJ ^ l £ i * 60 Ufc 133
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 133, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/5/
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