The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-25
THE EDICT OF NANTES,

THE EDICT OF NANTES.
The bicentenary Of the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, celebrated in New York city
and elsewhere on Th thursday last, recalls an act
Of fanatacism and bigotry which, though it re-
coiled upon the king and the country guilty
of it, was scarcely less barbarous and brutal
than was the massacre of st. Bartholomew
Day. The action of Henry ~ in granting the
concessions of that famous edict may be re-
garded as an apology to his conscience
for foreswearing his religion, after years
of contest and bloodshed, in order to
secure and hold the throne of France, which
he did until an assassin put an end to his life.
But however unworthy may have been the
origin Of the edict, it did much to remove the
odium that attached to the name Huguenot,
or at least it lifted from those who bore that
name the prosecutions which they had suf-
fered because Of their attempts to secede from
the Catholic Church. For eighty-seven years
the edict Git was given forth in 1599) had stood
between them and their prosecutors and kept
them from being annihilated by their re-
~lentless enemies. But in 1855 the pressure
brought against Louis XIV proved too great
for him to withstand, and On the 18th of Octo-
Der of that year, he signed the revocation,
which, four days later, was passed by the Par
lament then assembled. The prosecuted HUI
g%uonots could not mistake the significance of
this remarkable action. 1t meant ban
ishment or death. The pr~econcerted
slaughter Of 1872 was recalled,
and the new religionists fed for
their lives until a million of the best people
of France had escaped from her borders to find
refuge and religious liberty elsewhere.
On it's surface, the i'll advised action of
Louis XIV and his Parliament was well-nigh
a death blow to Professionalism as believed in
by the Huguenots of France. It must have
looked to them as though religious freedom
were at an end. But instead of following the
footsteps of the valiant but ambitious
Henry of Navarro and abjuring
their faith, the great body of
them were faithful, and suffered Punishment
rather than recant. AS a result the world
was sown with the seed scattered by France.
A harvest sprung up in Belgium and Holland.
The crop fourished in England, and on the
western shores of the Atlantic it found foot
hold. Everywhere they vent the integrity
and virtue of these expatriated people car
ried blessing and prosperity. The seed
that found Judgment in America bore rare
fruit of political liberty. The descendants
of those who suffered so much for religious
liberty were quick to stand out against polit-
ical oppression and wrong. The men who,
escaping from the fanaticism of Louis, peo-
pied South Carolina, reared descendants that
gave to the cause of American liberty such
men as Henry and John Laurens, and Marion,
and Jay, and others-men who, by their
lives and fortunes, helped pave the way to
American independence. Thus, when persecu-
ton ran mad it's victims were forced to larger
fields, and grew and multiplied as they never
could have hoped to had they remained unmo-
Tested in France. The revocation of that
merciful edict served only to scatter the fire,
and the flames kindled and spread beyond the
control of France and the intolerant men
who then ruled it. If ever the hand of Provi-
dence was barred in hehalf of a people it
was when these miserable victims of
oppression and tyranny left home and
country and fled for refuge to alien lands,
among strange peoples. The world has rolled
onward since. the fatefhl day of Oct. %, 1856.
The Edict of Nantes is written in the hearts of
humanity. No king nor parliament can re-
woke it. The churches are free to 60 where
they will, and the people in the churches are
in the enjoyment Of greater liberty than ever
before since history has made record. Each
man is king over his own conscience, and God
alone writes the edicts Of the modern world.
INn